Geopause, also known as Mid Cacher Crisis, is an affliction many geocachers suffer after a decade or two of geocaching. It is more pronounced in seasoned geocachers although it has been seen in all adults. The early stages of Geopause are often overlooked.
Stages of Geopause to look for:
- The Introspective Phase
There is a time in a geocacher's career they realize the goals they set out early in their geocaching life have not been fulfilled. There may be Challenge grids left unaccomplished. They may lament over the lack of finds in other states, provinces or other countries. Geocachers begin to feel that their find count is inadequate and DNF's become a greater source of stress. It's during this period geocachers become withdrawn. You may find them on their phones or desktop computers looking at far-off geocache hides around the world. Depression often sets in.
- The Blame Phase
Children who loved geocaching in elementary school undoubtedly find other interests in their teens. Their unwillingness to go geocaching with mom or dad becomes a source of frustration. Spouses who obliged the geocacher's obsession while dating have become too busy with other tasks during marriage. Work and home life tend to be seen as an antithesis to geocaching. At this stage geocachers begin to lash out. The family's lack of geocaching related enthusiasm is blamed for a seemingly low smiley count and the geocacher will exhibit a range of emotions from sulking to temper tantrums to absolute rage. Be this as it may, this is still considered an internalized phase as it is unclear if the geocacher truly knows the motivations behind his or her emotional outbursts.
- The Fancy 4X4 Phase.
Behavior will substantially change at this point. Geocachers may buy a whole new cammo-based wardrobe or acquire the most expensive GPS. The need to geocache farther from home might urge a soccer mom car trade-in to a high powered 4X4 -- and they will proudly parade their vehicle from Event to Event making sure all will see it with the bait of a car travel bug tag. Their hides will revert from micros to regulars while their cammos become more elaborate. Still, the geo-related upgrades are only compensation. The feeling of inadequacy remains.
- The Anger Phase
During this phase the geocacher may chastise the geocaching community itself -- complaining internally at the lack of favourite points for what they believe are the best geocache hides ever. The geocacher may secretly accuse those with higher smiley counts as primarily bogus finds. This is also known as the catch-up phase as the find count for the inflicted geocacher increases over previous years. The degree to which this behavior is exhibited varies among individuals but it ranges from severe to bat crap crazy. For many geocachers this is the final stage.
5) Acceptance
Few geocachers with documented cases of Geopause have been known to reach this phase. It is acceptance that some goals are unattainable. Geocachers find solice for what they have accomplished and find comfort in their current status within the geocaching community. The need to be the fastest to the FTF or to have more smilies than their neighbors tend to vanish. Geocaching reverts from a lifestyle to a game.
Be aware of the stages of Geopause and do your best to be patient with those inflicted.
Any area I've cached, there have always been plently of caches that don't require a TOTT -- so no, you don't need one, but it might come in handy, depending on what you want to find.
Around where I live, probably the most common TOTT is a long pole to get caches down from trees. Don't exchange this for a ladder -- a lot of the caches are up in thin spindly trees growing on uneven ground. They're designed for you to get them with a pole, with both feet on the ground. You can buy golf ball retrievers for not too much money at a sporting goods store, these usually work well.
Other TOTTs I've seen are batteries for gadget caches or a UV flashlight. If you read the cache page, you should be able to get a sense of what you need. But every so often, a cache owner will get creative and make you use something you've never thought of before ;)