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quote:
Originally posted by WISearchers:
I’m not complaining from a personal experience…When I grow up I wanna be a real boy! Eh’hem…
OK — if you’re not complaining from personal experience, I will..
It is understood by most that a terrain rating of 1-star is supposed to be wheelchair accessible.
So to me, that means a 1.5-star terrain is, maybe, accessible by someone on crutches. At least, that’s my thinking.So here we are, I’m just recovering from a mild illness that kept me in bed for a few days. The weekend comes, it’s gorgeous weather, and I’m antsy.
I pick a couple of caches that are 1.5 terrain because I’m still not feeling great.
We get to the first. The GPS takes me to the edge of a rather steep, grassy drop-off. The kind you don’t go down without grabbing nearby branches. And the GPS says it’s about 10′ down that.
Well this is a 1.5 terrain! It can’t be down there! So we search the edge of it.
Nope
After plenty of searching and not finding, gave up.I e-mailed the owner honestly thinking it may have been gone. Later got a response that my GPS was right. It was down there.
Sorry —- NOT a 1.5 terrain!
I so far had to opposite problem. I been on like two caches that I thought were rated to tough. I pick and chose caches based upon difficulty since I have a 5 & 7 year-old to think about. Now we defiantly done caches into the 4.5 area with no problem but we were prepared. SO it was somewhat disappointing when we think were heading out on a cache that is moderately difficult to find out that it was walking on a flat train the whole way but last 30 feet you walk off trail to get the hide, and that was easy as well.
For the most part I think people are rating just fine, but I done a limited area which typically have been placed by the same people. So hats off to them for gauging the difficulty correctly.
People will make mistakes but I would agree that a 1 – 1.5 is basically a walk in a park. My own cache, only have 1 so far, is rated at 1.5. A wheel chair can get around on the grounds for it is basically level, some changes but very gradual and kept cut. However, the cache is in a spot where a wheel chair could not easily access with out others help but a person on crutches could.
Personally, I do not think most people who place caches can figure out the right ratings. Either too high or too low.
Occassionally a cache page will describe enough to you to tell you what the ratings really mean, so ….
I tend to ignore the ratings, and look at the locale once I get to the cache. Then make a decision.
A 1 means we can wear sandals.
A 2 or 3 means we need to wear tennis shoes.
A 4 means we need to wear an ankle brace with tennis shoes or hiking boots.
A 5 means we need to wear hiking boots or waders or borrow a friend’s boat.
What’s so hard about that?
Timberline EchoesAwww. Come on guys, Sandals only on ones? I’ve worn mine all the way up through fours and fives, but my legs DO look like I stuffed them in a bag of wet cats. We enjoy the difficult terrain caches so for us it’s more disappointing when the grade is over-inflated. When the grade is right on on a hard one it’s oh so tasty. Haven’t done any yet but I think I hear an Evil Monkey calling…
quote:
Originally posted by Timberline Echoes:
A 1 means we can wear sandals.
A 2 or 3 means we need to wear tennis shoes.
A 4 means we need to wear an ankle brace with tennis shoes or hiking boots.
A 5 means we need to wear hiking boots or waders or borrow a friend’s boat.
What’s so hard about that?
Timberline Echoesadd these to the correct ones from above:
1…and jump rope while we grab the cache.
2 or 3…and leave our frisbees in the car.
4…while not chewing gum and rubbing our bellies.
5…with any of the Team Badger Members in tow for blazing trails, paddling the boat or taking the snorkel to the right location.I’ll chime in to agree with WISearchers. Use the approved rating system mentioned. But don’t call a ‘1’ a ‘1’ unless it really is wheelchair accessible.
Note that ratings can change throughout the season. I have originated some wheelchair accessible geocaches. Although they were accessible at that time, I am lucky to get logs that report these changes. I can either change the rating, or go and service the cache – like moving it slightly to maintain the rating I intended. (Of course, you need to pay attention to any significant change in coordinates, too.) I also get reports that feel that they are not accessible when they truly are – at least for my friend. Don’t underestimate the drive and stamina of the serious geocacher-on-wheels!
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