New Caches in Central WI

[gotta run]

Deleting a log just because you’re annoyed with what a finder said? 🙄

On the Left Side of the Road...

[-cheeto-]

But it would be better if cache owners were around to take care of maintenance issues rather than depending on the other cachers in the area to pick up their archived caches, add logbooks, check on missing caches, etc.

I don’t live in the area nor have I done any of the caches mentioned… but here are a couple ideas to mill over. If you are determined to place new caches (like I am) and you know you cannot dedicate the time involved to be a cache owner (you say this in your own words here in this thread) I think you have a couple options that might help you A. Be able to place caches as that’s what it sounds like you like (and want) to do and B. Not be badgered by your local caching community for caches in ill-repair.

1. Get in touch with area cachers and develop a network of friends. Askl one or more of these folks to be your “trail hand” or “trail boss” which is someone that will help out with cache maintenance during those times that you are busy with coursework, holidays, medical issues, what have you. That person or persons can just place a watch on the caches they are helping with and they would be able to replace logs, containers, whatever. Of course you have to find willing and able people to do so and thats why the first sentence is critical here.

2. Place caches you like and/or want to place and then find people who would be willing to adopt them and become the cache owner. Rather than relying on the “general community”, get in touch with someone who you think would take good care of a particular cache you’ve placed and hand over the responsibility of maintaining to them. You still know that you placed the cache the way you wanted to and you contributed to the game in your own way.

I’m sure this will get negative response from those who beleive that you shouldn’t list a cache unless you are willing to maintain it (as mentioned in prior logs already). However, it sounds like other caches like your cache placements (location, view, etc) and it sounds like you are willing to contribute so I wouldn’t want those 2 things to go to waste.

Part of being a responsible cache owner is understanding where your limits are with cache maintenance and either you stop creating new one’s or you find other ways to continue on but yet not produce a “crappy product” (so to speak). What I mean by that is the container you place today looks great and is full of neat things. Tomorrow it’s cracked, moldy, the log is unsignable, etc. Nobody, not even you, wants to find caches like this. We’ve all found old piles of essentially garbage in the woods that once was a great new geocache. Somehow you have to determine the best way to contribute that does not lead to garbage in the woods.

My post is made with good intentions and again I know no other details than is listed here on the forums.

Keep on caching away and if you place new caches, come up with the best way to keep them maintained so that what’s happened in the past is the past and what happens tomorrow is new and improved 💡

[GetMeOutdoors]

It’s sad that Lone Pine is again just the remains of a cache container hanging in a tree with no log.

Actually, OPS, there is a log in there… the Blockbuster receipt I left back in September. 😉 Well, as long as it hasn’t been eaten. 😆

[Mathman]

I too have enjoyed the many quality caches placed by Team Everest and was able to survive the frigid weather today to find one of their newly placed caches.

Everyone in prior logs has mentioned viable points, pro and con. Sometimes it just takes some information about certain expectations of geocaching to get pointed in the right direction. I know that my own experiences have been helped because of my fellow geocachers especially One Paddle Short. During my early days of caching he was a wealth of information mainly because he had educated himself through reading and keeping up with the WGA forums which I now do as well.

For maintenance purposes it is hard to beat an ammo box. If caches are readily accessible cachers can get by with cammoed plastic jars for the most part, but I have replaced many of those along the way. As far as cache rescue, I think OPS said it well, in that we want to make sure we aren’t “littering.” We were tempted to rescue the “Westlund” cache too but thought it might be on public land and weren’t sure if the cachers were still associated with the land owners so we didn’t rescue that one. It is also a coutersy to replace logs when possible. I know Rick Blick has done this many times as well as place them in a watertight plastic bag from his “supply” bag.

I know everyone caches “their” way and it should stay that way. It is for “enjoyment.” I think Black Cat wasn’t trying to be mean but rather stating that he hopes you can maintain your caches better or get help when you do place them because it is discouraging to find wet or NO logs in a cache. You have many fun caches and they are always a challenge. Thanks for placing them. Welcome back and I hope you can get the opportunity to visit the area cachers. Perhaps you could even attend Team Black Cat’s upcoming EVENT cache in February.

Black Cat Event

[seldom|seen]

@teameverest wrote:

@gotta run wrote:

@teameverest wrote:

two of those archived caches on our list
have been fixed.

Your welcome….. 8)

“As the cache owner, you are also responsible for physically checking your cache periodically, and especially when someone reports a problem with the cache (missing, damaged, wet, etc.).

Your maintenance plan must allow for a quick response to reported problems.”

Is over a year after force-archiving quick? I guess that’s open to interpretation.

Better late than never…

I respectfully disagree with that last statement. If an issue is raised with one of my caches, I feel that I MUST, at the very least, respond immediately with a note telling prospective hunters that I will get out there soon. For me, “soon” means anywhere from tomorrow to next week depending on distance and weather. Personally, I feel REALLY bad if any of mine are disabled for over a month because it means one of a few things are happening:

1. The cache is really to far away for me to get to and take care of. I have a couple great caches in Mountain and I usually get up there 2-3 times a year. Last year, the few times I was in the area playing the LCG, I couldn’t get to them because of really bad road conditions but what I DID do was coordinate with a fellow cacher to do maintenance on them when he was in the area, and now they are fine.

2. The cache placement or container is problematic and needs to be addressed. Sometimes I think a cache will weather just fine and a month later I will hear it has water inside. As a creative cacher, I do push the limits and putting custom containers in the field also puts more responsibility on me to make sure they last. A poor container is bound for problems. I think many of your early and now archived caches fall into this category and maybe a little extra effort to place better container would help. I do understand that as a college student it’s difficult to cough up $5 for an ammo can every time, but maybe you could start a club like the one at UWSP and come up with other ways to generate cache to place lasting containers.

3. I have too many caches to maintain! Yeah, I know what all of you are saying :)… It is true that I have many caches, but what I try to do for the remote ones, as has been suggested, is find an area cacher to act as trail-boss and watch them for me. I even send replacements to the trail-boss, just in case. I have called on my trail-bosses in the past and they have always been accommodating and responsive – a testament for the people in this sport and their desire to keep Wisconsin caches up to snuff.

There are options for you. The Cache Rescue Mission, while it shouldn’t be a crutch, can help you when it’s difficult to get to one of yours. I know how remote your caches are. I’ve been to a few. I replaced one (Radke Point Woodpecker) and left another (Westlund) since it’s location was suspect. They are often on the Lonely list which means they are very remote or are in trouble. I have a cache of my own listed as a rescue mission right now. Thankfully, after reviewing all of my caches, I only came up with one that fit the “Maintenance” category of the CRM page.

About your containers and placements. After attempting “In the Middle of Nowhere” and doing “Lost Boy Scout” in the middle of summer, I became acutely aware of your caching style and hides and now know what to expect. I can tell you that I don’t look forward to them. For me there is nothing redeeming about walking some distance though what might be private property to find a coffee can full of rotten stuff. Taking me out in the middle of nowhere to fumble around in some of the thickest vegetation I’ve even been in is no thrill for me either. Was it memorable? Sure, a memory of me wasting an hour and getting scrapped up and pissed off, likely the same memory I would have even if I had found it.

Now, there is nothing wrong with placing challenging caches and some cachers really get off on making those finds. I can appreciate that and even have a few that fit that bill. But, at the very least, we need to step up and make sure our remote caches are in good shape. It’s one thing to hunt for a missing keyholder on a guardrail and come away empty, but quite another to drive long distances, bushwhack 1/4 mile through thick vegetation and come away with a DNF because a cache was likely missing or the cords were off.

I would strongly encourage you to get out and find some more remote ones by other experience cachers. You have a very low find count compared to you remote hides and I think a little more exposure might be just the ticket. I would also suggest that you carefully consider what you are putting others through to get a find. Sometimes it’s difficult to know what we are in for even when we read previous logs and your cache description should make it very clear so we are prepared. I think your “In the Middle of Nowhere” description does.

Now I think twice about going after one of yours, even though I love a challenge and a difficult terrain hunt. Not necessarily because of the place or terrain it’s hidden in, but because it may simply not be there. This is not the kind of preconception you want fellow cachers to have of your caches.

I do hope you continue to cache and improve the quality and placement of them. I do like the fact that you are placing challenging caches, despite my own experiences with yours. I will be watching your new ones to see if they are worth the journey!

Please just take this as constructive criticism.

[gotta run]

GCMTRJ

On the Left Side of the Road...

[labrat_wr]

@gotta run wrote:

GCMTRJ

sounds like a cache rescue in the near future, should be a fun retrieval….hot, muggy, swampy sloppy, buggy, ticky, thorny, ………
all yours Michael!

Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.

[gotta run]

No no no, I’m sure it will be fixed now that there is a “needs maintenance” attribute on it.

On the Left Side of the Road...

[gotta run]

Whoops! Looks like it got disabled now. Just a month to wait until the force archiving. Must have lost that email password again.

So in the case of “better late than never,” another case of the latter.

On the Left Side of the Road...

[cheezehead]

Ya, but some one need to go remove the container, right?

[JimandLinda]

Let’s make it an Event, “Climbing TeamEverest Cache Rescue Event”.
Any ideas for door prizes? Will it go Mega? 😯

[gotta run]

BUMP…

GCMTRJ

http://wi-geocaching.com/modules.php?name=Cache_Rescue&mid=245&_tab=active

Uh…”better late than never?”

On the Left Side of the Road...

[gotta run]

BUMP.

GCMTEJ

On the Left Side of the Road...

[seldom|seen]

@gotta run wrote:

BUMP.

GCMTEJ

This one I’d go for the Cache Rescue on, the Lone Pine…. Not so much. Let’s see if they show up in the CR list.

[seldom|seen]

@gotta run wrote:

BUMP.

GCMTEJ

This one I’d go for the Cache Rescue on, the Lone Pine…. Not so much. I see they are both on the CR list. May have to develop an excuse to run to Point soon…

[Author]

Posts