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CapeDoc

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    power trail

    in South Africa

    Posted

    true true, I am not a big fan of that type of 1000 cache tedious power trail, and don't want to see that sort of thing cluttering up sa!

     

    However, that said, I have done some smaller series in the UK which I loved.

     

    One was about 90 caches long, all along a river and canal circular loop, which I did walking over 3 days over a few months.

    Most of the hides were ingenious, with some customed designed containers, and I was well impressed with the hiders ingenuity.

     

    Another one was a cycle along a canal, 55 finds in one day, caches about 500m apart. This series I loved too, a really super day out!

     

    And another one was also about 50 caches along a walking route in the country, which I split up over 2-3 different days. This provided such a different range of scenery, and has been one of my favourite country walks in the UK.

     

    Now, if these series did not exist, and just had a couple of random caches around, most likely I would not have taken the trouble to go all that way for a few random caches, as its very hard to navigate to random caches in the uk, and find parking.

     

    Now, not one of these caches has made it to my favourites list, but together as a series, they are right up there with my favourites, and all made for wonderful fun caching days.

     

    However, in CT, with handy mountains, beaches and other great scenery, and more direct and obvious walks/hikes, one cache at the end of a hike is great, and its not needed for such series. In the UK, where country walks are so confusing, with so many different routes, series are a brilliant way to take you on a particular hike, which could not really be accomplished with just a few caches, or even a multi for that matter.

     

    So I guess it all boils down to where you live as to whhat types of caches work best!

    Wouldn't a multicache have worked instead of a series? It all just seems like clocking up smilies to me.

    Are Micros in Remote places a bad idea?

    in South Africa

    Posted

    I must say I agree on the issues regarding signing the log. I want a pen and a decent log book. Don't want to fumble about. Quite like the FTF and STF prize idea, which leaves just a log book after one or two finds.

     

    For the record, I have no micros on mountains. I do have a small that has not been found after a month.

     

    So for me, a small will do, no swag needed.

    power trail

    in South Africa

    Posted

    The question arises:

    Is this what we want in SA?

     

    My personal answer is a definite NO. I would like to strongly discourage such a thing in SA as it is just a numbers thing. I would like to SA to stay away from competitiveness an focus placing our caches in places that have value or that give some sort of experience, more than driving down a road and stopping every 170m. I would like to see SA cachers battling for the most favorite points they can get, striving for the most interesting and highest "quality" caches they can. I hope to see new caches banishing the chance of anyone daring to log just "TFTC".

     

    Having said all that, power trails cant be stopped. (Would there be any way to lobby our Reviewer to prevent them?)

    One is sure to pop up soon. I will have a long ignore list if one crops up near me. Anyone else that would boycott a power trail in SA?

    Favourites and other things

    in South Africa

    Posted

    What would be nice is a search option to list the caches in an area with the highest "favourite" hits. Or am I missing something?

    Use the "Hide and seek" page. Enter address. Get a long list. Click on the "Favorites" little blue icon heading the top of the column and the list is resorted with most favorites at the top, descending.

    Are Micros in Remote places a bad idea?

    in South Africa

    Posted

    After becoming an avid hunter of remote caches or caches with high terrain ratings, I have found that I really have no need desire to find plastic toys in these caches. For me, those types of cache are all about the journey and the final location. All I need is a logbook to sign. I also think it is unfair to place a travel bug in isolated areas. Some remote caches of mine are only found one or twice a year.

    As long as I can find whatever you have hidden easily, with detail descriptions of where it is, I am happy with micros or even Nanos in remote places. DON'T MAKE ME REALLY SEARCH FOR THE CACHE THOUGH!

     

    This is my new kind of policy for hiding a remote cache. Something small, just a log book, no space for trade items or TBs and A VERY PRECISE DESCRIPTION OF HOW TO FIND IT.

     

    What do you think?

    Favourites and other things

    in South Africa

    Posted

    One of the reasons I like GCVote is that it is a 1 to 5 star rating system. If it has been voted as a one star cache by a couple of cachers then I will put it on the ignore list. The system carries that punitive element. If I look at the GCVotes oveall, it seems to give a better "feel" for the quality of caches than the Favorites system.

     

    I quite like the Firefox script that expresses Favorites as a percentage of total finds, also gives the less found caches to shine against those that a found often.

    open caching

    in South Africa

    Posted

    Just added one. Just out of frustration really. Hidden a cache deep in a steep gorge, felt like it was miles from anywhere, only to find out it is 50m as the crow flies from a cache at the top of the gorge. Dont think I will ever get it published on GC.com.....so why not put it on OC?

    Its Called Dark George

    A FTF is out there.........

    A reviewer event

    in South Africa

    Posted

    At least someone else also thought along the same lines. Best of all is that the reviewer can have a free trip to Cape Town to it sounds like a win win strategy for cachers and reviewer. :) Gerhard

    I am not so sure that the EC referred to above, is exactly what I had in mind. That one looks very formally laid out and there may be some issues with the reviewers sharing the workings of their tools.

     

    I thought an EC to meet the reviewer face to face could allow informal chats with him, finding out what it's like being a reviewer, hear funny reviewing stories, and perhaps allow us to voice our deep appreciation to the time and work for what he does (and for what previous reviewers have done) for the rest of the community.

     

    Clearly Rotsip is the most important person to discuss this with and I don't really think any further discussion should be done here until is has been discussed with him.

    The Fynbos Finders

    in South Africa

    Posted

    Correct. The 10 caches are only valid for the day, not published, so no clashes to worry about. Maybe a published cache to commemorate the 10 yrs is not a bad idea either.

    Thanks cnc and MnCo with offers of help.

    If it not published - what is the point because there will be no benefit as you won't be able to log them? If the caches are of suitable quality, why should they not last longer for other people to enjoy?

     

    The area around the reservoir is quite saturated with caches. I personally don't want to over saturate it by placing a further 10 caches there!!! Also you will run into huge problems with proximity issues. I certainly don't have the time, petrol nor inclination to place, publish and maintain so many caches.

     

    Maybe a published cache to commemorate the 10 yrs is not a bad idea either.

     

    THESE CACHERS ARE TRAVELLING FROM AFAR. LETS GIVE THEM SOMETHING WORTHWHILE!!

     

    That's what I think too! I feel sad to scrap the idea of 10 temporary hides to celebrate 10 years and as indicated above I suggested a cache to commemorate the 10 years. I thought that, with a bit of help from other cachers (quite a few have offered help) 10 unpublished caches would be MUCH easier to administer and is asking far less of those involved. Its a pity that I cant do it all alone, would if I could!

    The Fynbos Finders

    in South Africa

    Posted

    Hi all

    The 10 year caching event is attracting interest from quite far afield. Are any of you able to offer any accommodation for visitors?

     

    To make it fun, I want to have do a non permanent series of 10 caches near the reservoir. 10 years 10 caches. Simple questions or puzzles in each cache. Cachers will hand in answers to questions at the end. Most answers or quickest time to complete wins prizes.

    - I need help with the hides

    - I need help with prizes

     

    Please let me know if you can help

     

    Might be able to help with some hides/hiding.

     

    I assume these caches will not be published officially, so no issues with other published... or unpublished :( .... caches nearby?

    Correct. The 10 caches are only valid for the day, not published, so no clashes to worry about. Maybe a published cache to commemorate the 10 yrs is not a bad idea either.

    Thanks cnc and MnCo with offers of help.

    The Fynbos Finders

    in South Africa

    Posted

    Hi all

    The 10 year caching event is attracting interest from quite far afield. Are any of you able to offer any accommodation for visitors?

     

    To make it fun, I want to have do a non permanent series of 10 caches near the reservoir. 10 years 10 caches. Simple questions or puzzles in each cache. Cachers will hand in answers to questions at the end. Most answers or quickest time to complete wins prizes.

    - I need help with the hides

    - I need help with prizes

     

    Please let me know if you can help

    Best GPS options for SA?

    in South Africa

    Posted

    I bought a Garmin Oregon second hand using the Gumtree website.

    Got it about half price of new, with maps loaded. Have had no problems with the unit at all. Its a good unit, rugged, waterproof and does paperless caching really well. No voice turn by turn though.

    That said I think the Nuvi 500 is probably the most functional geocaching unit. A lot of your navigation to caches will be in a car and that's where the Nuvi is great. I think the accuracy is as good as "better" units, even under trees. It's rugged, waterproof and does paperless caching perfectly. Battery life is the only problem if you are going on REALLY long hikes.

    Have a look on Gumtree and see what come up

    Cache rating system

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    Its quite amusing to see how some cachers seem to think that they view caches in some special way yo other cachers. There seem to be an army of cachers who LOVE LPCs and rate them highly and don't seem to think they are lame. I really don't think that is the case, as is reflected in the logs. This means that on average we probably actually have quite similar feelings about good and lame caches. Given enough votes those that receive shorter logs will tend to have lower ratings, those with longer logs, higher ratings.

     

    If I appraise the 30 or so active caches of my own, the GCVote rating correlate perfectly to how I feel about my caches. Caches that i have put effort into rate highly. Caches that I know are in great locations rate highly.

     

    As much as one can use ones intuition to find a cache, one can use the rating system to get a feel for caches in the area. If GCVote is used on the maps, it means you can see at a glance which cache pages to bring up and read the listing and logs to hone your search. That's useful. ;)

    Cache rating system

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    There is already something you can use: GC Vote

    It is a more basic system than your suggestions, simply a rating scale from 1 to 5.

    It is very easy to use and is very visual, letting you quickly see what others have rated the cache. It shows the average rating of all the votes, but a breakdown is also given too.

    The main objection to such a system is that individual cachers will have different opinions on caches. This is true, but in my experience with using the system, even with just a few votes on each cache, one gets a good "feeling" for the quality of the cache. If there have been just 3 or 4 votes and the cache only gets 1 or 2 stars on average, you can safely put the cache on your ignore list.

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