Night Caches

[+One of the Texas Vikings]

Let's get back on topic here, a blacklight, binoculars, bird dictionary, etc. have nothing to do with the terrain rating. This thread is about the difficulty rating and how it relates to blacklight caches.

 

Once again, the difficulty rating questionaire says:

How easy is it to find the cache?

 

1. Cache is in plain sight or location is fairly obvious.

2. Cache could be in one of several locations. Hunter may have to look for a while.

3. Cache may be very well hidden, may be multi-leg, or may use clues to location.

4. Cache likely requires special skills, knowledge, or in-depth preparation to find. May require multiple days or trips to find

5. Finding this cache requires very specialized knowledge, skills, or equipment. This is a serious mental or physical challenge.

Please consider visibility, accessibility, and relative signal strength due to tree cover or other obstructions when answering this question.

So which would you select for the requirement to use a blacklight? I mean, the cache container I'm working on will be in plain sight, but you won't be able to see it (it blends in too well) unless you're caching at night with a portable blacklight. Would a blacklight fit the 5-star, "Finding this cache requires very specialized ... equipment" part? it doesn't fit the next statement, "This is a serious mental or physical challenge"

Why not, just rate the cache as you normally would; like;

2/3 and then in the body of the description indicate that a blacklight is needed.

Just like they do with boats. "A boat is needed for this cache"

A straightened wire coat hanger is not specialized equipment. You don't have to use it to get the cache,. But an island in the center of the lake, requires some sort of watercraft to get to it.

[Yankees Win!]

A straightened wire coat hanger is not specialized equipment. You don't have to use it to get the cache,. But an island in the center of the lake, requires some sort of watercraft to get to it.

That would depend on the season (in many areas) and/or how big the lake was. A 10 square acre lake is not Lake Superior. Of the "Hydro" cache pages I've viewed, it would appear that one could swim to, or wait until winter and walk directly to, most of those caches. (According to the logs.) Most people can swim and walk, so no specialized equipment, knowledge or skills would be required. I read a couple of logs from people who used truck tubes or pool toys to float out to island caches; I wouldn't call that any more specialized equipment than the wire coat hanger. Really, it is irrelevant what any of us considers to be "specialized equipment," etc..

 

The 5th star is especially relevant for those people who might not otherwise check cache descriptions (people who hunt caches using only coordinates and users of basic PQs, I think), so there needs to be a method for such people to know that the coordinates are insufficient information.

 

Your suggestion?

Edited July 26, 2005 by Yankees Win!

[+AtoZ]

Just a caveat UV paint will degrade if it is exposed to SUNLIGHT so you will need to plan on a regular maintenance schedule of refreshing the paint if it is on a surface exposed to sunlight. If it is not exposed to sunlight then there should be no problem. Just a thought found this out when I was playing with the same idea.

cheers

[+Team GPSaxophone]

Let's get back on topic here, a blacklight, binoculars, bird dictionary, etc. have nothing to do with the terrain rating. This thread is about the difficulty rating and how it relates to blacklight caches.

 

Once again, the difficulty rating questionaire says:

How easy is it to find the cache?

 

1. Cache is in plain sight or location is fairly obvious.

2. Cache could be in one of several locations. Hunter may have to look for a while.

3. Cache may be very well hidden, may be multi-leg, or may use clues to location.

4. Cache likely requires special skills, knowledge, or in-depth preparation to find. May require multiple days or trips to find

5. Finding this cache requires very specialized knowledge, skills, or equipment. This is a serious mental or physical challenge.

Please consider visibility, accessibility, and relative signal strength due to tree cover or other obstructions when answering this question.

So which would you select for the requirement to use a blacklight? I mean, the cache container I'm working on will be in plain sight, but you won't be able to see it (it blends in too well) unless you're caching at night with a portable blacklight. Would a blacklight fit the 5-star, "Finding this cache requires very specialized ... equipment" part? it doesn't fit the next statement, "This is a serious mental or physical challenge"

Why not, just rate the cache as you normally would; like;

2/3 and then in the body of the description indicate that a blacklight is needed.

Just like they do with boats. "A boat is needed for this cache"

A straightened wire coat hanger is not specialized equipment. You don't have to use it to get the cache,. But an island in the center of the lake, requires some sort of watercraft to get to it.

Like I said before, the cache will be in plain sight. Of course that's a "1" for difficulty, so it should be easy, right? Well, the camo itself (including the size of the container) would make it a 3 (could take up a significant portion of the day). However, if you hunt this cache at night and use a blacklight, it goes back to being a "1" because the glow will give it away.