What is a "Container"

I'm a little puzzled this morning - and not only because of the new puzzle cache that was published by King Boreas! I checked the morning email and found an email from the local cache approver, Surfer Joe, regarding one of my caches, Strange Walk. It seems that the Geocaching guidelines define that a cache should have a "container" and a log. So if that 's the case, hiding an object that is signed directly isn't a geocache.

Two things you need to keep in mind while reading this post.
1. I know Surfer Joe is just doing his job. It's nothing personal.
2. I really like GC1AJAT and the cache owner. It's nothing personal against them or their cache hide. It just happens to be that's the cache the Surfer Joe picked as an example.

I particularly like Strange Walk because it is unique, hard to find, and made cachers think differently. There are quite a few caches out there in the Twin Cities that use the same definition of "container" as I did with Strange Walk. I can think of at least three that I've found in the last 2-3 weeks. Matter of fact, one of my memorable finds is in the Roseville area from about a year ago. That cache used an old stump as the "container." That seems normal, right? The difference was that when you found it you didn't pull a peanut butter jar out of the stump. Instead, you had to sign part of the stump itself (ok I better quit so I don't give this cache away). So, this type of hide and "container" is nothing new in the caching world, nor in the local area.

It's this inconsistency it deciding when this type of cache is ok and when it isn't that makes it particularly difficult for me to swallow. It seems that by adding a piece of paper to the object that it suddenly becomes a "container." But signing the object directly isn't good enough.

In the case of GC1AJAT, the hider did a good job of trying to keep water off of a paper log. They attached a piece of Plexiglas to the object and placed the log between the Plexiglas and the object. It appears that by doing that they've now created a "container" out of the object. I can certainly see that there is now a cavity where a piece of paper can be placed and removed, and I can see how it could be loosely called a "container."

I personally enjoy finding caches that make me think differently, do something a little different, or discover a new type of cache placement. So, naturally I try to make my cache hides be something that I would enjoy if I were finding it. I think Strange Walk is that type of cache. However, I guess it doesn't meet the rules of the game. I suppose I'll have to stick to hiding those pesky micro and nano caches around the urban areas I cache in.

Maybe Strange Walk will be back and maybe it won't. But if it does return it will probably have to be a new "container."