Night Caching Question

[+geospyder]

We're going on our first night cache hunt this Friday (full moon). The particular cache we are going for is Dot, Dot, Dark Since this is our first night time cache are there any techniques, hints, etc. that you night time caches would like to share?

[geo_boy_2001]

dont get lost

[+WhatsRNutts]

bring at least 1 flashlight for each person caching with you. do NOT cache alone. have fun!!

[+Yamahammer]

Good batteries and marking your Jeep (Forum title) location. Letting someone know where you are. Check to Post Office for the 10 Most Wanted. If you hear a chainsaw, RUN!

 

[+joe gremlin]

At a minimum I would suggest two light sources for each person in your group. Fresh batteries for all light sources and spare batteries for any sources that aren't LED based.

 

When we did our first night cache I went to Target and bought a pair of LED headlamps for about $12 each and a pair of LED handheld flashlights. This took care of the two light sources each. The LEDs are probably not quite as bright as regular flashlights (though they're plenty birght) but they offer two advantages. The batteries last forever and the bulbs don't break or burn out even if you drop them.

 

I like LED lights. Can you tell?

[+The Leprechauns]

I use three light sources. A headlamp illuminates my immediate surroundings and keeps me from getting hit with branches, spider webs, etc. in the face. (A flashlight held in your hand and pointed at the ground means darkness at head level.) Second, depending on the nature of the hike, either a mini maglight or a big honkin' 4-D cell maglite, to see where I'm going and what lies ahead. Third, a BFL (mine, I call the "LepreSun") to light up ground zero as bright as day. With 2,000,000 candlepower to throw at a tree stump or rock pile, the LepreSun's never been stumped. It's almost easier than finding them in the daylight.

[ImpalaBob]

I use a Petzle L.E.D head lamp for walking, and a 9 volt camp lantern for marker locating. Hold the lantern up at the side of your head so the reflection comes back at eye level when you are spotting markers. Those "honkin" 1 million candle power rechargeable lamps are also really cool to use! ImpalaBob

[+JohnnyVegas]

I use a Halogen Princetontec Tec 40 flashlight, it uses 4AAs and puts out more light then a 4 cell mag light. I also carry a princeton tec solo head lamp that uses a halogen bulb. While I own a few LED lights I do not find them as usefull as a real flashlight with a real bulb. SUre LED will give you better battery life, they will not give you as much light as a high quality flashlight.

[CacheMonkeez]

We're going on our first night cache hunt this Friday (full moon). The particular cache we are going for is Dot, Dot, Dark Since this is our first night time cache are there any techniques, hints, etc. that you night time caches would like to share?

For picking up reflective markers the rule is: The brighter the better. With a big bad spotlight you can light up a bunch of reflectors at once. I would still recommend a tactical for walking and searching.

[+GRANPA ALEX]

Based upon experience . . . breadcrumb your way in so that you can get out before sunrise. This involves marking points where you make turns or periodic spots along the way in . . . they become your waypoints to come back out.

 

Typically, the reflectors that take you IN are not visable coming out as they are on the opposite side of tree or mounting points. In the dark, you see fewer landmarks. Marking your car helps, but it does not allow you to come out the easiest way.

 

Also, I always note where the moon is or other lights going in as a guide to return . . . over my left shoulder going in means over my right to come out.

 

Have fun, these are fun caches and a whole new experience in caching!

[+nfa]

Many of the reflectors work best if your light source is close to your eyes (think headlamp).

 

Make sure to mark a waypoint at your car.

 

Bring extra batteries and bulbs.

 

Glasses (either prescription or safety glasses/goggles) are a good thing as something about the dark seems to bring out things to poke your face and eyes.

 

Tell someone where you are going and when you'll call to tell them you're back.

 

Hum the "Mission Impossible" theme rather than the music to "Halloween".

 

nfa-jamie

[+WhatsRNutts]

there are 2 night caches close to my house but I'm not much of a night owl. I might do one in a few weeks...good luck on yours!

[+joe gremlin]

SUre LED will give you better battery life, they will not give you as much light as a high quality flashlight.

I used to fuel jets at night at an international airport. If you came to work without spare bulbs for your mag light, you could almost count on taking fuel bath that night. That's when I learned the value of less bright but much more trustworthy LED.

 

Brighter is better but if you drop a halogen light on a rock an LED suddenly becomes 1000 times brighter than a halogen. I would definately recommend taking a supply of bulbs if you're going to trust an incandescent light.

[+geospyder]

We tackled it last night. Thanks for all the advice but I wish I'd read Granpa Alex's note before going. We did waypoint the car - but making various other waypoints might have reduced the sense of disorientation. This one is in a forest. Lots of trees and seemed to have a number of trails intersecting. We'll have to go back during the daylight to check it out. We were surprised at how disoriented we were due to the lack of visual reference points. Even with the full moon the trail was dark because of the trees. But - we did find it! I do have to say that you people that do night caches in the wild are a wee bit nuts

[+One of the Texas Vikings]

Good batteries and marking your Jeep (Forum title) location. Letting someone know where you are. Check to Post Office for the 10 Most Wanted. If you hear a chainsaw, RUN!

 

Or banjo music !

[+Snoogans]

Good batteries and marking your Jeep (Forum title) location. Letting someone know where you are. Check to Post Office for the 10 Most Wanted. If you hear a chainsaw, RUN!

 

Or banjo music !

LOL! Been reading my cache pages?

 

Row vs. Wade

"If you hear banjo music, you might consider leaving before someone tells you to squeal like a pig."

 

Quantum Leap

"As with all of my rural caches, if you hear banjo music playing somewhere, it's not a good sign."

[+Ellteejak]

This is so funny!! Okay my suggestion is to maybe wear some clear (no tint) shop glasses or shooting glasses. Not sure if their is some oakley brand, or whatever around. BUT you do not want to get your eye poked when the invisable branches jump out at you.

 

Maybe see if you can get a roll of reflective tape, and tie the tape around a tree as you strategically proceed?? Then pick it up as you come out of the woods?

 

Look for the Blair Witch as she is loose in the woods after dark. She typically casts spells on rabid raccoons, insane hungry coyotes, pissed off nesting horned owls, and invisable "extremely lucky if you see them" brown bears.

[+tabulator32]

My buddy and I just used OUR white/red LED headlamps for the first time last night while trying night caching.

 

Invaluable! I love it.

 

I definitely recommend getting the stronger ones with more LED's in them.

 

Also, as previously mentioned by several other folks here, you still want to carry a small flashlight for walking from place to place.

 

[+badlands]

Doing the cache just before the sun comes makes it a lot easier to find your way back out.

[bogleman]

I did one that was the same style during the day. It was fairly easy to spot the trail markers, it did take some time but I found it without any trouble. Don't waste your money on a cheap LED flashlight they are CRAP. Get a good quality flashlight, the bigger the better. A .3 mile hike in the dark is a piece of cake, just walk slow - a sharp stick in the eye really hurts.

[+CompuCash]

Hey! for about $25 you can get a ONE LED lamp that will litterally blind you if you look at it. That is the 1 Watt. For more $ you get the 3 watt. The LUXON LED is AWESOME! You DON'T want to look at it. This puts a min-mag to shame.

 

I have some nice 4 LED Dorcy light that I love! got several on sale.

 

check out this one - comes with a nice nylon case -

http://www.dorcy.com/1_watt_led.htm

LOVE it! TOP ONE - this has a flashing mode also for emergency beacon. 30 Hours? Try THAT with any mag light.

http://www.brightguy.com/detail_int.php?Sku=DOR410460

 

even the Dorcy 3 LED one 2A battery is great in the vest pocket

http://www.brightguy.com/detail_int.php?Sku=DOR410438

but I like the 4 LED 2 battery version.

http://www.brightguy.com/detail_int.php?Sku=DOR410443

 

this is a great site - bought several lights from them -

http://www.brightguy.com/detail_int.php?Sku=UND14401

 

and here is their LUXON head lamp - I didn't pay this much for mine - but I sure love it for hands free -

http://www.brightguy.com/detail_int.php?Sku=DOR410100

 

 

I agree that many of the cheapo led light are crap.

Edited August 23, 2005 by CompuCash

[+TotemLake]

Or when you get bored with the usual... you can try this.

[Captain Chaoss]

Night caching is great. Full moon is awesome, full moon on SNOW, is exquisite.

 

Just to clarify, this is in regards to caches done AT NIGHT, not "night caches" requiring a light to follow firetacks. I practice my night hunting by doing my cache maintenance in the dark. That way, I'm relatively familiar with the terrain.

 

I prefer to allow my eyes to adjust as much as possible before searching for a cache. Your eyes go through steps towards reaching their full night potential. 3 minutes of low light opens your pupil, the next step is at 30 minutes. Your full potential is not reached till after 3 hours. Not realistic to achieving unless your camping near a cache.

 

If I'm going with someone else, I let them drive while I wear dark glasses to start acclimatizing. I then use a red led from that point on, unless absolutely necessary for safety or finding the cache. ( red led's won't cause your pupil to close up )

 

You'll be surprised at how well you can see contrasts at night with some practice and preperation.

 

Oh yea, just to be clear, I ALWAYS have the big light as back-up, and most of the time have to use it on all but well established paths and easy hides. But, till then, you will love how your senses come alive strolling through the dark.

[+CompuCash]

Night caching is great. Full moon is awesome, full moon on SNOW, is exquisite.

 

Just to clarify, this is in regards to caches done AT NIGHT, not "night caches" requiring a light to follow firetacks. I practice my night hunting by doing my cache maintenance in the dark. That way, I'm relatively familiar with the terrain.

 

I prefer to allow my eyes to adjust as much as possible before searching for a cache. Your eyes go through steps towards reaching their full night potential. 3 minutes of low light opens your pupil, the next step is at 30 minutes. Your full potential is not reached till after 3 hours. Not realistic to achieving unless your camping near a cache.

 

If I'm going with someone else, I let them drive while I wear dark glasses to start acclimatizing. I then use a red led from that point on, unless absolutely necessary for safety or finding the cache. ( red led's won't cause your pupil to close up )

 

You'll be surprised at how well you can see contrasts at night with some practice and preperation.

 

Oh yea, just to be clear, I ALWAYS have the big light as back-up, and most of the time have to use it on all but well established paths and easy hides. But, till then, you will love how your senses come alive strolling through the dark.

 

well said - you must either be a pilot or into astronomy.

 

I am into astronomy and after spending hours getting your night vision it is painful (literally and figuratively) when yo get blasted with white light.

 

Some good lessons that I'd not thought about applying to caching. I have not done a night cache yet but will sooner or later. (no pun intended)

 

cc\

[+Mastifflover]

Probably about a 1/3rd of my finds are at night. I worked the 3-11 shift for a while. I wear an led headlamp. Carry a 2D maglight and have a Surefire 6p on my belt and a Peak Matterhorn AAA led light in my pocket. You can never have enough flashlights with you at night. One night the bulb died in my big maglight and dummy me didn't have a spare with me, the surefire eats batteries in a hurry and I was down to the AA mini mag that I carry in my caching bag. The thing that I've found about night caching is that unless the trail is well established you lose it fairly quickly and end up bushwacking to most of them. Always, always mark you car though. It's amazing how fast you can get turned around in the woods at night.

[+altosaxplayer]

Not many techniques to give you but do be careful that this does not happen to you. Read the log of my first night cache at this site.

[+robert]

One of our members wrote a nice article about night caches on our site:

 

http://www.mdgps.org/modules.php?name=News...article&sid=261