Silverquill's Blog

How I Waymark

silverquills — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 09:51:31 +0000

GETTING STARTED

We know that there as many ways to enjoy waymarking as there are people who play the game. And, frequently one waymark may enjoy different aspects of the hobby, or interests will shift. Ours is a multidimensional hobby.

When I first started waymarking, there were relatively few categories, so choices were limited. I was still fairly new to geocaching and had never logged a virtual cache or locationless cache, and really didn’t know what they were. So, I was basically approaching it as an entirely new game. This freed me up from any geocaching bias or hang-ups.

Initially I was attracted to a few categories that I found particularly interesting. Libraries and fire stations were among these, but I began to look for things like unique weather vanes and mail boxes. Just because they were so obvious, McDonalds restaurants were good targets as well. When I saw a number of states with historical markers categories, I volunteered to run categories for New Hampshire and Vermont. These were eventually Groundspeak created these and I began my first experience as a category manager. (That’s a topic for another blog entry, though). When I traveled, I always wanted to stop at these places, but never seemed to have the time. But now, I had a reason to stop at every road-side marker I saw and read about some aspect of history. That was all before group management was institute and before the ability to create one’s own categories existed.

FAVORITE CATEGORY WAYMARKING

So, my main approach has been as a “favorite category” waymarker. My top ten categories account for one-third of all my waymarks. It seems that categories that have to do with history or art in some way attract me the most. They offer the greatest chance to learn something. When the National Register of Historic Places category came along, that quickly became my favorite – now with 333 waymarks, and more in the queue to post. If the American Guide Series had come along sooner, I’m sure I’d been more active in that category. I’ve been able to post waymarks in the Historical Markers categories for 17 U.S. states. This would be more, but it is difficult to find markers left to post in some states I’ve visited.

Then there are what I might call “civic categories” - sites that most towns have that define their character. These are things like City Halls, Municipal Parks, Fire Stations, Libraries, Post Offices, Welcome and Populations Signs (when they qualify), These are ones I look for when I visit a new town. Of course, I’ve never met a museum of any kind that I didn’t like! And, the art related categories are fascinating, especially those for various types of sculptures and murals. And, I find it hard to pass up a war memorial of any kind. I’d have more entries into those categories, but it is very confusing to keep them straight with their varied requirements. It will be a major project to sort through them all and get them to the right home.

Nature categories are the ones that I wish I could add more waymarks to. I have a fascination with waterfalls, and wish I could visit them ALL! I’d like to more hiking and exploring, and capturing these places in waymarks, but I make it to few mountain summits these days. The last one, with the young teachers from my school, was a real cardio workout - and I had neither camera nor GPSr! Bummer.

Then there are those odd-ball categories, several of which I initially thought were really lousy category ideas, but which somehow captured my imagination. Manhole Covers and Neon signs are a couple that come to mind, and Zinc Headstones. But, I must say, that there are very few of the waymark games that have attracted me. But, maybe I’ll try my hand at GPS track art one of these days.

GRID WAYMARKING

I think the creation of the category grid with its icons was a brilliant idea. I was indifferent to it at first, but then found that it did make hunting for waymarks in specific categories more fun. I’m not much interested in “bingo’” or other grid games. I had a neat pattern once, but then the icons shifted and messed it up, so it seems a bit pointless. I am trying to eliminate “orphan squares” (ones that touch no adjacent icon” and have just one block of nine in the bottom box like that. If I could just have got to the right terminal at Logan airport with the rolling ball sculpture . . . . Anyway, I’ve had more of an interest lately in filling out the grid, though there are just some that I can’t get here in Korea. So, I’m going through the list to see what categories I might already have in my file somewhere, or could cross post, or could reasonably attain. The scavenger hunt aspect does have its appeal.

CLUSTER WAYMARKING

Another approach I tend to take is what might be called cluster waymarking. So, I’ve pretty well blanketed the towns where I’ve lived - Manchester, New Hampshire (though its big enough to have waymarks left), Portsmouth, Ohio, and my mother’s small town of Myrtle Point, Oregon. I made a pretty good dent in some places I’ve visited like Maui and Avalon, California, too. Even with this, I’ve only created one waymark for the Lucky 7 category. And, I’m also what I’d call an opportunistic waymark. By that I mean that most of my waymarks are just places that I happen to pass in my travels. Sure, there are some that I specifically look for, particularly in the National Register of Historic Places, but the majority are “discoveries.”

CROSS-POSTING

Actually, I think one of the fascinating things that has developed in waymarking with the development of so many categories, is seeing the many cross-posting opportunities. While I’m not in favor of redundant categories, or ones that are totally nested within another (with a few exceptions), when categories overlap there is a chance to learn even more. Each category highlights a different aspect of a site or object. And, cross-posting makes a contribution to each category, which I think is important. If someone is searching by category, then a waymark may be missed if it is posted in only one category. So, I tend to cross-post a lot. Often, when a new category is created, I’ll find something in my files that I can use. And, it is not uncommon to find something that has already been waymarked in one category by someone else, but can be used for another category.

There are some categories that I don’t post much in because every waymark would be a cross-post. A good example is Wikipedia entries. If I were to post every waymark I have that has a Wikipedia entry I’d increase my total by 50% or more. Add to that Tourist Destinations, and a few other broad categories and it would be totally out of hand. So, I tend to be very selective about cross-posting to those type of categories.

VISITING WAYMARKS

Personally, I’ve never understood the rationale for posting visits for one’s own waymarks. I see the purpose of visits as adding information and photos to an existing waymark, sharing thoughts and experiences about the visit, or leaving other personal comments. So, I guess there are times one might want to add these kinds of things, which wouldn’t be appropriate in the primary description, to one’s own waymark, but just routinely adding a visit seems pointless. But, that is just my personal take on the issue. I’ve also never understood the strong emotions this topic has stirred up from time to time. If one wants to “visit” one’s own waymark, then that is fine! We can all enjoy this in our own way, and it shouldn’t detract from the way someone else wants to enjoy the game!

Nearly all of my visits are to waymarks that I had visited with the intention of creating a waymark. Either they were already waymarked, or someone got them posted before I got around to it. I’ll admit that sometimes I don’t bother posting my visit, but I really should. I enjoy reading visit logs to my waymarks and seeing new photos, so I should contribute where I can. I don’t think I’ve ever intentionally sought out a waymark with the intention of posting a visit. I also do not police the visit logs I receive. While I don’t enjoy the ones that say, “Been here many times.” with no photo, it doesn’t really bother me. If logging those visits like that means something to someone, then its fine with me – doesn’t hurt me or lessen my enjoyment. Why bother getting into a big hassle about deleting waymarks and demanding things from visitors? The exception might be an obvious “armchair” waymark visitor, but I don’t think I’ve run into many of those.

WHAT NEXT?

Finally, in the “loner vs social” waymarking discussion, I do both. Geocaching has been a great family pastime, but no one else shares my enthusiasm for waymarking. My wife is kind enough to help me and put up with my constant conversation and we are often out together when I’m waymarking. Sometimes I’ll go on an outing by myself specifically to do waymarking, but usually we’re together. Occasionally I’ve taken my dog (which we left behind) but the constant stopping, the in and out of the car, the up and down, just didn’t work too well. A different breed would be different story, though. And, I’ve never been waymarking with another waymarker. The only fellow-waymarkers I’ve met have been at geocaching events.

What’s next? Well, apart from working my huge backlog, and working on filling in the grid, I hope to create some high quality waymarks of Korean historical site. Korea has an extensive classification system with good documentation, so they are particularly fascinating.

Waymarking: The Beginning

silverquills — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 08:52:06 +0000

WAYMARKING – The Beginning

Truthfully, I don’t remember just how I discovered waymarking. I assume it was while searching on line for something, or maybe I saw something about it on the Geocaching web site. But, when I read about it, I was immediately fascinated by the concept. I supposed it appealed to my collecting instincts. I still have boxes filled with stamps, a hobby that has been fun, off and on since I was a boy. During my more active days as a ham radio operator, I achieved the goal of making two-way radio contact with stations in all 3,076 U.S. counties. We called it “county hunting.” Waymarking would allow me to record and document all sorts of things! I just didn’t realize how MANY things there would eventually be to waymark. And, I cold play with my new GPS thingy like I did with geocaching. Sounded like fun!

Whatever the case, my first waymark posted was on Feb. 21, 2006. It was a McDonalds in beautiful Alton Bay, New Hampshire . Remember that in those early days we had far, far fewer categories to choose from. Those early waymarks were pretty minimal, even for that category. Learning to write a decent waymark took a little learning, and an adjustment in thinking as to what really constitutes a good quality waymark.

My waymark number 5,000 was posted on Sep. 6, 2009, a little more than 3 1/2 years later. It took that long primarily because of the time required to process photos, do the research for each waymark, and write them up, and then post them. I think we all know by now that those elements are the major part of waymarking. I won’t reveal the number, but let’s just say that I still have a LOT of waymarks waiting to be posted! While some waymarks certainly require more time than others to create, some do take a substantial amount of research, and I’ve tried to balance my waymarking along the spectrum.

WAYMARKING - Its Value

Without a doubt, as far as I’m concerned, the greatest thing about waymarking is its capacity to let me learn about things I never would have learned in any other way. Sometimes it comes from participating in a category about which I know very little, but discover fascinating new things in the process. Other times research has revealed intriguing details about local things, or things I had just taken for granted, having never taken time to find out the stories surrounding them. I think that, if done right, waymarking can be promoted and used as an educational activity, both in waymark creation and visiting. Although it will be the subject of a subsequent entry, I will just say here that having had the privilege of reviewing waymarks in a wide array of categories has also been a significant part of this educational experience. I’ll try to give some examples of this in subsequent entries.

Related to this, waymarking just gives one a different way of looking at the world. Things that had previously gone unnoticed or unappreciated, now become the objects of scrutiny. This phenomenon ranges from scanning for unique weather vanes (an early category) to stopping at all those historical markers that used to just pass by and actually reading the plaques on monuments and buildings. Cemeteries become places of history and a hike in the woods turns into a hunt for waterfalls, trail heads, omnivorous trees, bridges, and scenic overlooks. Of course, with the plethora of commercial categories, a drive or walk down a city street can become sensory overload if one tries to imagine all of the possible waymarks along the way! But, developing “waymarking eyes,” brings a lot of things into focus, previously missed, even if they are not potential waymarks.

Waymarking Blog Introduction

silverquills — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 11:35:03 +0000

Today is a good day to start a WAYMARKING BLOG for silverquill.

Other than an old Xanga, created just so I could prove to my daughter that her old father could do it, this is my first real blog. I think the tools have gotten so much better, but it will take some time to explore them and come up with something worthwhile that looks good.

Today, I posted my waymark number 5,000.

I’m not much of a milestone keeper, but this has been a personal goal of mine. So, I wanted to make something special out of it. The waymark is of the Jeondong Catholic Church in Jeonju, Korea. This church was built in 1908-1914 on the site of the first Korea Christian Martyrs in 1781, and is designated Korean National Treasure No. 288.

Because of his leadership and guiding spirit, I asked BruceS to do the honors in approving it. Thank you, Bruce! And, I believe saopaolo1 reviewed my number 4,999 – fitting to have these two pioneers do the honors.

Since I am starting this blog so late in my waymarking experience, the first things will be some reminiscences. And, I’ll leave that for a later entry while I play around with this a little, and work on pulling together some highlights.

I did get a new photo for the blog header. It is a view from Cape Perpetua, the highest spot on the Oregon coast, looking south. It is one of the most spectacular vistas anywhere! Every summer our family would travel from the dry, northeast corner of Oregon (Pendleton and Milton-Freewater) to camp at the Cape Perpetua Forest Service Camp. That little spot of beach became very special to us. Eventually the family moved to Myrtle Point, on the southern coast, just inland from Coos Bay about 25 miles. There is nothing like a walk on an Oregon beach!