Finding A Puzzle Cache Without Solving It

This article was originally published on Cache Up NB. It has been mirrored here for archive purposes only.

According to my geocaching profile, I have found 354 puzzle caches. Those are puzzle caches where I have gone out and signed the log and claimed as a find. After all, that is the only requirement to log the find isn’t it?

Some would disagree. Of those 354 finds, I doubt even 50 of those puzzles were solved by me. Most of them were solved by other people I know that I was with when out caching. Or someone gave me the finals, or through some other means other than actually solving the puzzle, I was able to get the final coordinates and sign the log.

In parts of the world, this would be considered cheating. In fact, it goes back to Sgt Pick’s article about cache owner’s intent. Did the owner’s of these caches that I did not solve care whether or not I simply used someone else’s coordinates to find the end?

Puzzle caches are put out for a variety of reasons and I am sure that there are some puzzles that are more about the solving of the puzzle vs the actual find. Ron’s pirate cache in Irishtown park is one I did solve and loved every minute of it. But some of the other puzzle caches are less about the creativity, and more about simply having a puzzle to solve to get the final.

I tend to think that for a cache owner who hides a puzzle cache, they must know that a large portion of people will skip it because it is a puzzle. I would tend to think that a cache owner would rather have their cache found, then just sitting there and never being seen by anyone. I know for my own puzzle caches, I’d rather them be found than to just have them sitting there rotting.

What’s your take? Do you consider it “cheating” to find someone’s puzzle cache without solving the puzzle?