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Okay, I know that it only stopped snowing a month ago, but the thought occurred to me, what do you do to adjust to caching in the winter? It seems that some of you don’t even slow down. Is it a non-issue? Or do you mostly urban cache or seek larger containers in general? I want to know how I’m going to feed the rat this winter.
Just like the Mail delivery man/woman….we geocache through rain, snow, heat etc.
Actually, winter is my 2nd favorite season to cache in (no woodticks and no mosquitoes).
Make sure you have “winter” clothing including good foot protection and you’ll be fine.
Also, hunt caches that say they are “winter friendly.” We also expect our “no finds” to go up during the winter months….but at least we are still out there. TamiThe trick is to only seek caches that have been found shortly after a recent snowfall. Then follow the track to the cache area and only look where the snow is already cleared away!
Truthfully though, if you add one point to the terrain and difficulty, that’s what winter caching is. It just take a bit longer sometimes! Several pairs of dry warm gloves for digging and/or those cheap hand warmers in the pockets.
Team GeoPink
– Jeff
Co-conspirator to make the world a better place…I wouldn’t give up the opportunity to cache and make snow angels too. I just need to go with friends so I will have help getting back to my feet (Thanks Tim & Carol).
The Winter issues … in order of evilness:
(1) Less Daylight (bring flashlights, quit your job).
(2) It’s Cold (let the kids close the car window).
(3) The snow is too deep, hides the cache or the good parking spots (drop the kids off near the cache and go to Outback Steakhouse, but remember to pick them up again).
(4) Stuff Freezes tight (those portable torches work well).
(5) Sometimes the tracks of others will make it too easy to find the cache, or too many foot prints will lead you in the wrong direction (let others throw snow in your face to lessen your ability to see).
(6) (HIDING CACHES ONLY) If you hide a cache, unless it snows again, the first finder has an advantage (simply have the kids trample every inch of snow within a 300 foot circle, but make sure the circle is “off center” or Jeff T. will catch on to your plan).
The GOOD things are … no bugs, no leaves to mess with your GPSr and frozen creeks (be careful).
8 inches of snow indeed poses a slight problem. Sometimes the caches are winter friendly and in plainview, which is always an impressive feat by the cache hider.
We just made it through our first winter of geocaching and it was really nice. We usually get out and snowshoe anyway so we just had more of a reason to get out shoeing. Knowing that the bears and skunks were hibernating along with not having to deal with ticks, mosquitoes, stinging nettle, underbrush, picker bushes, heat rash etc. really made winter caching a lot of fun. The roads are frozen so we did not have to deal with the possibility of getting stuck in the mud. We were able to get some water only ones too, we walked right to them which was great since we don’t have a boat.
Timberline EchoesWe also found out that the term “winter friendly” has different meanings to different people. When we hide ours and label them as winter friendly it is because they are eye level and out of the snow.
Timberline EchoesThe one thing I would up buying during my first winter caching was some snowpants for myself. I always seemed to get all wet looking for stuff in the snow. Snowpants = dry and warm. Of course it all depends on the amount of snowfall…
Team LightningBugs
* * * * * * * * * *quote:
Originally posted by WISearchers:
8 inches of snow indeed poses a slight problem. Sometimes the caches are winter friendly and in plainview, which is always an impressive feat by the cache hider.And if you’re lucky you can turn a winter caching excursion into a great downhill slide, right guys?! LOL!
After riding the slide you can walk across some really cool ice patches and do several touch-&-go’s with some of your favorite cachers.
Then of course there’s the flight to 1000 and the celebratory meal…
Okay, I’m done ranting…I guess the point I’m rambling to make is that it doesn’t matter what the weather is doing. If you want to cache you’ll find a way to do it. (Am I too far off topic here? Sorry…I’ve spent the last few days jumping in and out of the gc forums.
MB
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