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Question…I think of winter friendly caches as a cache that you can find when there is snow, but I’ve noticed a lot of caches that have the winter friendly attribute, but are not necessarily a cache you can find if there is snow. Why is this? Just curious. Thanks.
We’ve been doing a bit of caching this winter and for the most part the winter symbols are accurate. However, every 2 out of 10 is either frozen in a puddle or buried under some snow and ice. I think the hiders assumed we would continue to have mild winters like we’ve had prior to this one. Since the cache is protected from snow, it was marked snow friendly, they did not guess the area was going to fill up with water or the snow would be so deep it would prevent you from getting the cache.
There is really good hunting in Waukesha (mostly The Tapp’s caches) and the winter symbols are accurate.
When picking out caches to search for in winter we use a combnation of a wf attribute and whether it was found at any time in the last month. I usually load about a third more into the GPSR than what we want to find for the day. Being outdoors in winter more than makes up for a few dnfs.
Winter friendly to us up here in the north means it is up higher than the snow can go, or under something that will not be buried in snow. We have found it to mean by others that it is possible to get to the area in the winter, or that particular place is “open” to the public in the winter. It would be nice to have a seasonal rating on some.
TEJust a reminder that the attribute is actually “Available in Winter”, not “Winter Friendly”. Many interpret this to mean “The Park is not closed in the winter, so come and try to find my film can lying on the ground in the middle of a field under 3 feet of snow and ice.” (I know, I have the DNFs to prove it!)
Better yet ..
The Park is not closed in the winter, so come and try to find my film can lying on the ground in the middle of a field under 3 feet of snow and ice.
With coordinates marked from where I parked ..
I have a list of DNF’s to post
All the more reason to put text on the cache page….”this cache is available in the winter but is NOT winter friendly!” Or “this cache is available in winter and IS winter friendly. EnergySaver takes it one step further and writes, “available up to 4 inches of snow.”
Hope this helps! Tami
I also add details about whether you should attempt to find my caches in the winter or not with a “Winter Friendliness” blurb (in a uniform blue font) on each cache page. It doesn’t refer to # of inches of snow, but on some of them I have posted notes and continue to watch them to make sure they are still findable with all this snow that’s piled up this winter!
Think Spring!I really don’t think deciding which caches to search for and finding them in winter is that big a deal. I started caching last January and got spoiled with the great winter weather. This winter has a lot more dnfs, but with a years experience now we have still managed to find 150 caches since December 1st. Newer geocachers will have to go through a learning curve before they can hunt successfully no matter what time of the year. I would rather be outdoors with a 5 or 6 find day on a sunny winter day than stay inside. We spent 5 hours on snowmobiles in Marinette County during the snowstorm on 2/17 and only found 2 caches, but had a great experience. To me winter friendly means I can go outside and have a great time.
@ecorangers wrote:
All the more reason to put text on the cache page….”this cache is available in the winter but is NOT winter friendly!” Or “this cache is available in winter and IS winter friendly. EnergySaver takes it one step further and writes, “available up to 4 inches of snow.”
Hope this helps! Tami
I would agree this is a great idea, but using the snow icon, starts the process by allowing you to create a pocket query. In my query, I looked fo 100 of them in the Milwaukee area, then viewed their cache pages to decide further if we should go for them. In that case the posting on the page would help, but it would not do any good for a query.
No matter what time of the year sometimes you’ve got it and sometimes you don’t. I was back home today with two “winter friendly” finds hides in less than an hour 8 miles from home. I spotted both from more than 20′ away. In summer these would be a little harder. So you can’t say one time of the year is better than another. My biggest gripe is still those with large quantities of find and little or no hides. If no one hides them you can’t find them no matter what the weather or time of the year. Ammo boxes are on sale right now at Fleet Farm for $3 and I have a large box of pill bottles in my office if anyone wants some. For small caches start eating more peanut butter sandwiches.
@Mister Greenthumb wrote:
Ammo boxes are on sale right now at Fleet Farm for $3
Which location?
@lostby7 wrote:
@Mister Greenthumb wrote:
Ammo boxes are on sale right now at Fleet Farm for $3
Which location?
No kidding, I’d like to know as well, since I paid $12.00 last time I bought some.
The sale for $2.99 ammo boxes at Fleet & Farm ends on March 8th. I gave my Fleet & Farm flyer to the West Bend Chamber of commerce today during our “Geocaching meeting” and told them to go buy out the store (smiles). Tami
If you go to look for ammo boxes make sure you go to Fleet Farm, not Farm & Fleet. I went to the one on Appleton Avenue in Germantown. They had three sizes starting at $3 and going up to $7 or $8 for the largest.
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