geocaches

Geocaching In National Parks: Can or Can’t?

In a couple of weeks, ESP Boss & I will be taking an overnight kayaking trip on the Colorado River. We’ll start at Hoover Dam and head down to Willow Beach.

Like any EatStayPlay.com business trip, we’ve got out fair share of agenda items. One of which was to hide a geocache along the way.

But then I got to thinking:

Isn’t that section of the River in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area?

A quick glance at Google Maps and yep, the whole route is inside a National Recreation Area. (The green area on the map!)

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13 years ago • , • Tags: ,

Always Blame The Bear

While I was in Flagstaff camping, I got to check up on all the caches I placed last August. I was really excited to see how they had fared after a winter of snow, wind, and rain.

I haven’t hid that many caches (13) so I’m not really sure how often I needed to check on them. The ones in Flagstaff are kind of tricky, since I live about 2 hours from them; not really practical to scoot over to check after the first DNF!

The first cache we checked on was The Quiet Zone. This cache is a favorite of mine, but I was concerned about the container; the prior three people searching for it had been DNF. As I drew closer to the cache, it was clear to see what had happened.

A bear had made off with the cache!

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13 years ago • • Tags: , ,

Using Geocaching.com To Find A Spot For A Cache

Here’s the scenario:

You get the cache container all ready to go. It has a log book, swag, the geocaching disclaimer and the PERFECT camouflage. You hike out to where you’re going to place the cache, going through all manner of pricklies and brambles. You find the PERFECT spot, stash the cache, take a GPS reading (I’ve some tips on just how to do this!) and the scurry home to submit it to geocaching.com.

But, alas! When you submit it for publishing, you get that nasty message that says that it is too close to another cache! All caches need to be .10 miles apart. Geocaching.com says: “Cache containers and physical stages should generally be separated by a minimum of 0.1 miles (528 feet or 161 m).”

Here’s a tip to help you find likely places for your caches BEFORE you get all carried away!

This past summer my family and I were camping and caching near Flagstaff, Arizona. Since I came up a full week after my folks were there, my Dad asked me to research all the caches near Ashurst Lake. Well, that was really easy since by that time, EatStayPlay.com had coordinates for most attractions. All you need to do is visit the attraction page on the website and then click on the link: Find geocaches.

This link appears on any attraction that EatStayPlay.com has GPS coords for!

Bingo! A link to geocaching.com with all the caches listed. But, that didn’t really tell me WHERE those caches were located in relationship to the lake.

All the caches near Ashurst Lake, in a list.

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14 years ago • • Tags: , ,

Caches Along A Trail

Bike in a tree!

Do you remember that commercial? That one where the company launches their website on the Internet and the owners are all gathered around a computer in an otherwise empty room. They’re watching the counter.      Nothing.

Watching the counter.      Nothing.

Watching the counter.      Nothing.

And then suddenly, a click, an order. Then another! Then the numbers shoot through the roof and one man turns to the other and says…

I think that might be one of the experiences new geocachers have with placing their first geocache. A few people find it and then WHAMMY! your geocache shoots to be the most popular cache in your area. People are talking about what a great location, what clever clues, fantastic swag. It’s worth driving two hours JUST to find it.

Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration! But, still, when I placed my first geocache, I expected it to be found regularly. And to have comments about it more exhaustive than TFTC SL.

The very first geocache I placed is called High Gear. And it IS in a fantastic location, if I do say so myself. A friend of mine explained the location: a bike frame hanging about 15 feet up a ponderosa tree. Wow! What a neat place. AND, there’s a bike shop in Prescott that happens to be called High Gear — a perfect name.

I spent WEEKS getting ready to place the cache. The friend who knew exactly where the bike was made a trip to the site to take a GPS reading to make sure there wasn’t a cache there. At the time I didn’t know about how I could use geocaching.com to figure out if this was a good location WITHOUT heading up there. (I’ll write an article about how I do that!)

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14 years ago • • Tags: , ,

Best Cache Camo vs. Whimsy Caches

I’m always very interested in the best cache camouflage that’s out there in the “wild”. Like in the animal kingdom, camo can make or break a cache. If it lacks camouflage it’s just too easy. Of course, too hard of a hide isn’t always fun either! In my opinion, there’s a big difference between camouflage and unique hides. Camouflage is designed to be that thing that you look at and look at and you’re not sure that the cache is there and then you get an “a-ha!” moment when you find it.

Unique hides are for location or whimsy. They’re usually evident that the cache HAS to be there.

Here are some examples from my favorite caches. I’m purposefully leaving the GC codes out (the codes provided by geocaching.com that give the name and coordinates of the caches) so there won’t be any spoilers.

Whimsy Caches:

120809-whimsy1

Javalina cache guard

This metal javalina is on the side of the road, nearly in somebody’s front yard. A park-and-grab style cache that gets serious props for it’s whimsy.

120809-man

Rock-man with a geocacher’s heart!

Now, this man is in the middle of nowhere. And NO, before you ask, it wasn’t built to hide the cache! The person who hid this cache actually says that he found it out hunting in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s — that’s long before the creation of geocaching. Of course, this stone man in Northern Arizona gets my whimsy vote since it was the ONLY place the cache could be hidden. Plus, the cache container was hidden in the man’s chest. He is a geocacher at heart!

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14 years ago • • Tags: ,