Excavation..

[+TeamK-9]

So, today I found out that one of my caches has been ruined by excavation work.

 

It's almost funny. It was more than 1000 feet from the closest trail, and this week, some genius decided to build a nature trail. So they just took a bobcat and cleared out a path. So now, my cache has a "nature trail" about twenty feet above it. The uprooted tree that it was under has been rolled about two or three feet down a hill, and so depending on how the cache was hidden at the time, it was either exposed and taken away, or crushed by a tree that undoubtedly weighed several tons.

 

My name and phone number was clearly marked on the outside of the box and I haven't gotten a call from township supervisor, a random work crew, or the state police, so I assume if it was found it got thrown away. And if it wasn't found it's buried under that tree, and so I'm going back with a metal detector to be sure.

 

A few months ago, I had placed a cache in a very wooded area of an undeveloped park. Evidently, about a month after I placed it, the development began. The spot I picked for the cache was fine, I had actually talked to one of the planner's to make sure, of course, many many tons of dirt blocked you from getting directly to the cache.

 

So who else has had a cache ruined by excavation or development work?

[+Renegade Knight]

Quite the opposite. I went caching one weekend near where a project of mine was going to be built. The County was anxious to start work and they had bulldozed the path. As I got closer I realised the GPS was pointing at a former clump of trees. Sure enough ground zero had been razed. After quick look I found the ammo can and got it open and signed the log. Then I did manage to shut the magnled mess and drop it off at another of the owners caches for them to pick up.

 

That project ultimatly killed two caches. The second owner had more warning. I didn't know the county was going to do their part as soon as they did.

[+Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking]

Not my cache, but a favorite of mine: Pyramids of Geezer. A nearby excavation scattered the rocks of the pyramid. The cache owner was able to move it just a few feet away and set it up again away from the construction.

[+TeamAO]

It's more or less one of those things you just have to grin and bear it.

 

I was actually looking forward to finding one of your caches, but I haven't gotten around to it. I had "O'er the Fields" on my watchlist.

 

Hopefully I can get the one other before some more development crews get some "great ideas" about that spot.

 

Sorry for your misfortune...

 

Team AO

[+briansnat]

I recall one cache in NJ where the first stage was buried under a pile of dumped earth.

[+HugoBear]

Isn't it against the rules to bury caches?

 

[+dkwolf]

Isn't it against the rules to bury caches?

 

You go right ahead and try and explain that to the guys driving the bulldozer.....

Edited October 5, 2005 by dkwolf

[+The Jester]

I had a cache in a great location for almost 3 years, then a new bridge/road started being constructed so I got a call from the local police that the cache had been found and turn in as lost property. I placed it in a new location and a month later it was stolen.

[+DocDiTTo]

I have a multi on State Game Lands along a trail. All was well until this past spring when someone ran a bobcat through the trail and mangled the very area where stage 3 was. Not sure why they did it, but they really tore the place up. I ended up eliminating that stage, which actually improved the cache anyway. But it happens... all the more reason why you need to check on caches in the woods every once in a while just like you would urban ones.

[+StarBrand]

I had a cache on a hill by a parking area near an intersection of state highways. Went out to check one day only to discover that the parking area was now 3 times bigger and the hill cut back 40 feet or so. All the dirt was moved off to the side of the parking and I am quite certain that the cache is bundled in there somewhere. I replaced it with a similar cache further up the hill by the fence line. Should be ok but you never know.... Thought about using the new "hill" for the cache location too.

[+RockyRaab]

Lost my best one that way. Had lots of very favorable logs, including one "best ever" comment.

 

The cache was located in a business park that had been levelled since the end of WWII. There was a gazebo and a picnic table nearby for folks to enjoy a picnic after the cache. Nice spot. The cache itself was in a really gnarly and twisted hollow tree. A stiff wire held the cache itself out of sight up in the tree's hollow trunk.

 

And then there was that final log entry. DNF due to all the bulldozers running around. Uh-oh.

 

Wentt by the next day. Where the mowed grass, gazebo and tree had been was now an excavated hole about three feet deep and maybe an acre in size. Wherever the tree was taken, that's where the cache probably is.

[+TeamK-9]

I have a multi on State Game Lands along a trail. All was well until this past spring when someone ran a bobcat through the trail and mangled the very area where stage 3 was. Not sure why they did it, but they really tore the place up. I ended up eliminating that stage, which actually improved the cache anyway. But it happens... all the more reason why you need to check on caches in the woods every once in a while just like you would urban ones.

I admit to not checking on this one as much as I should have, but this was in no way a cache in the forest. It's a little surburban park in one of the biggest, most populated townships in the area.

[+Criminal]

I had one in a vacant lot, the last leg of a multi. One day as I drove past I noticed the trees were almost all gone. From the roadway I could see the tiny decaying (and now exposed) stump that held the container. As I approached I was surprised to see it sitting there, in the open, inside the stump. Apparently the work crew found it, looked at it, and replaced it.