Natural Disasters And Caches

[+Sommers]

This may sound like a strange question but does anyone check on caches that may have been in an area hit by a disaster? Or if not shouldn't there by a note that "Hey cache may have been swept away by the flood/wind/fire/cattle stampede that went through here." I say this not just because of the "DNF" but also the disaster may have made the area unsafe for looking. Yes I know "User assumes all risks..." This has not affected me, I was just curious.

[+Salvelinus]

I check on all my caches regularly whether a disaster occured or not. It's mainly high water that will afftect mine, so after heavy rains, maintenance is usually first on my priority list.

 

Salvelinus

[+garri]

I checked a pair of caches wyhen some tornadoes hit us las month

[+The Leprechauns]

This was discussed recently in a thread triggered by Hurricane Katrina. In a major disaster like that, common sense tells us (or should tell us) that geocaching needs to take a back seat for awhile. Eventually as life approaches normalcy again, the cache owners will get around to checking on their caches. And that is as it should be: it is part of their maintenance responsibility.

 

Having some sort of automated note get pasted onto every cache in a defined region strikes me as a bad idea for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the possibility of such a note discouraging people from hunting for a cache that is in perfectly good shape because it is on high ground, in an ammo box, chained to a solid object.

[+BDstarcachers]

Yep, common sense tells you that you should not plan a caching trip to the Katrina

ravaged area in the near future.

 

Everyone should be responsible for their own caches, but when a widespread

disaster hits, you need to give them time to get food, shelter, clothing and

such before checking on thier caches.

 

I have been watching the Katrina cachers voluntary efforts just to keep

the cachers in that area in high spirits. There has been a recent post

from a serviceman who is there helping fix the levies and clean up effort and

is taking time to seek out caches in his area and post it's condition on the

GC cache page. What a great man!

 

If you would like to read more about the effort, check it out!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Katrina_Cachers

 

It's important to be compassionate and understanding during natural

disaster times.

[Mac Ace]

Maybe if you find a cache in an area that has been hit, if you are the one to find it first after the disaster, just make a note in the log that the cache is in "______" condition, and in the correct location. That way anyone coming in behind you will know it is okay.

[+Jhwk]

Vacationed in Gulf Shores, AL this summer, just a few weeks before Katrina. GS had been hit hard the year before by Ivan. A number of the caches in AL and FL, while still on the boards, were missing. It is incumbent on the owner to maintain, but we can help by noting, as others have said, if we located it and the condition of the cache.

[xrabohrok]

I was wondering this. Now I know.

[+Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking]

In Arizona, when we have forest fires wiping out areas, usually someone will check on the caches out of curiosity after the area is opened up again. Then whoever checks on it, owner or former finder, will let the others know. We usually have a discussion on our listserv about the conditions of caches in fire zones.

 

So yes, someone will check on the caches in our area following a natural disaster.

[+Softheads]

Okotoks Alberta, Canada got hit 3 times in June 2005 with major floods here. I thought I lost 2 caches by the river. One is for sure gone, as is all the land it was sitting on. The other, GCN225, Benny Dog & I dug around and found just this week. Very covered with mud/silt, but the contents were dry. Amazing.

 

I was able to clean it up and replace it in it's original spot tonight.

 

I always put labels on my cache's with my phone number etc. Like a message in a bottle, I patently await a call from someone in Hudson's Bay (where the Sheep River ends up) saying they found my lost cache.

[+CraigInCT]

I just finished a caching trip around America. I was to be in New Orleans for Labor Day weekend, but mother nature changed those plans. I finally did my deep south finds as Rita was working her way north. I fought her torrential downpours in Arkansas, Memphis and down to Jackson, MS. I searched in Monroe, LA for caches and did find that the wind had taken a cache, GCHZH6.

 

I never got far enough south to see this years destruction (and had no reason to be there), but I did make my way to Pensacola and saw remnants of last year's storms.

 

A previous poster is correct, this game is not a priority. This is not a dig to the original poster - just a fact. Helping those in need is the priority. Some day in the future they can share in the joy of finding hidden containers of trinkets.

 

Send money, send good vibes and pray for the lost souls.

[+The Chaotic Order]

Good post, CraiginCT! Avoiding caching in an area where just your presence could mean you are in a rescue/relief team's way is the smart thing to do! (not to mention avoiding a situation where a cacher could very easily be mistaken for a looter!) The original question was a reasonable one, too. I live in S. AL. and had been planning an extensive caching trip through MS., starting in Biloxi and ending near Bay St. Louis after making a long loop through most of the rest of the state. Katrina obviously changed those plans. Since Katrina, I've been anxiously watching many of the cache pages in/around S. MS. out of concern for the cachers there...as they get situated and get around to it, they're coming online and posting notes on their cache pages, disabling the caches or whatever, but more importantly letting everyone else know that they are alive and well. I drive through S. MS. on my way to and from work, and the devastation there is absolutely staggering! Many cachers from that area own caches I've found/hunted before, and some of them have found/hunted mine...it's good to see them post something, anything, even disabling a cache, because I know that person is still there...

 

I would also say that almost a year after Hurricane Ivan, I found 2 caches down in the Blackwater State Forest that had been disabled/archived...both were where they were supposed to be, dry, and in good condition, but hadn't been checked since Ivan because of the damage to the surrounding woods, which was horrific. Unfortunately, logging those 2 finds and notes to the cache owners have not resulted in the reactivation of those caches, and if I'd known they were archived when I found them (I only had waypoints entered in my GPSr, nothing else), I could have collected them to prevent their becoming geo-litter...

Edited October 9, 2005 by The Chaotic Order

[+onefastsol]

I live also in S. AL but a little closer to the coast than The Chaotic Order. Many of my co-workers have lost their homes. Trust me geocaching is not top of their list. Some of them have been working 12-14 hour days since the hurricane hit. Just to go home to a tent in the back yard. I have also seen several of those affected posting that their caches are again active. That makes me smile everytime I see one of those posts.