placing a cache

Arizona BLM Wants You To ASK for Permission To Place A Geocache

Geocaching always has a mixed reputation in the news and on public lands. Arizona’s BLM takes it one step further by saying:

Geocaching may become a management concern for BLM if it jeopardizes public health and safety, causes environmental damage, or conflicts with other authorized uses.

At the moment, caches are permitted on lands in Arizona managed by the BLM. The BLM requests that these four rules be observed:

Identify proposed cache locations to the local BLM office before placing a cache
Do not place caches at archaeological sites
Obtain a BLM permit for any competitive events, contests for prizes, paid participation, or caches hosted by commercial business
Advise BLM if you observe any misuse or abuse of a cache location

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9 years ago • advice • Tags: placing a cache

Geocaching Maintenance

It’s that time of year again. Time for my annual trip to Flagstaff to check on the geocaches I placed there.

Some new geocachers get started, get a few finds under their belt and then decide to HIDE a geocache without ever realizing that there is on-going work associated with it.

Geocaching.com simply says:

Owner is responsible for geocache page upkeep.
Owner is responsible for visits to the physical location.

Geocache containers waiting to be hidden

But what does that MEAN? That means that as the cache placer you need to be ready to go check on your cache if you get notes saying that it needs maintenance. Notes might be that the log is wet or full. Or the cache seemed to be either too hard to too easy to located.

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12 years ago • Cache Containers • Tags: placing a cache

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 • Geocaching.com Tip, Thought You Should Know • Tags: geocaches, placing a cache

Loading Caches Directly Into A GPS

I recently got a great comment from Andy on the article “Using Geocaching.com To Find A Spot For A Cache”

I would normally load all the caches in that area to my GPS. When I find a good site I just simply check the GPS for any nearby waypoints in my GPS and it will show up it the new cache is close to an existing one. If this is the case I would try to seek out a new spot using the same method.

But that got me thinking:

How many cachers know how to load caches into their GPS?

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13 years ago • Geocaching.com Tip • Tags: advice, hints, placing a cache

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.