What Is Your Definition Of A 5 Star Diff Cache?

[+Kit Fox]

***** Extreme. A serious mental or physical challenge. Requires specialized knowledge, skills, or equipment to find cache.

 

Like the title, in your opinion what does it take to make a cache a True 5 star Difficulty?

 

We all know about the wickedly hard puzzle caches that garner a 5 star difficulty rating. What does it take to make a traditional or multi that hard?

 

Post Examples of 5 star caches that in your opinion earned the 5 stars.

 

This is an angst free thread.

[+The Jester]

At the time it was placed this one was a 5 star. By the standards of today it would be rated easier - micros have gotten smaller and more common.

[+DocDiTTo]

***** Extreme. A serious mental or physical challenge. Requires specialized knowledge, skills, or equipment to find cache. 

 

Like the title, in your opinion what does it take to make a cache a True 5 star Difficulty?

 

We all know about the wickedly hard puzzle caches that garner a 5 star difficulty rating. What does it take to make a traditional or multi that hard?

 

Post Examples of 5 star caches that in your opinion earned the 5 stars.

 

This is an angst free thread.

Tough to say. I think to earn a 5 star difficulty the cache should take more than 10 minutes to complete. I've done one fun but overrated cache that was supposedly a 5/5 but just as we were getting psyched up for the hunt it was over. 10 minutes start to finish, and that included 4 of us signing the log. Granted time isn't the only factor to determine a difficulty rating, but I think it can certainly be used to gauge what *isn't* a 5 star difficulty hide. If it's being found by everyone who seeks it, it's not a 5 star hide. If the only "special equipment" you need to find it is a flashlight, it's not necesarily a 5 star hide. (I personally don't think a flashlight counts as "special equipment").

 

I know this post is more "what's not a 5 star" than "what is", but sometimes that's easier to define.

[+chstress53]

This cache earned that 5 star rating and then some. GCNME9 Choreographed Chaos

So far only teams have formed to find this one. It was the most awesome caching experience I have had.

[Clan Riffster]

Good question...

When I was setting up this cache, the geocalculator thingy called it a 3/5. Personally I'd call it a 2/3. How do you decide what's right? Things I'd like to see in a 5 star difficulty are hikes over 3 miles, takes more than 2 hours to complete, severe terrain issues such as mountains or swamps.

 

I'm still fairly new to the game, so I'll just sit back and learn.

[Tahosa and Sons]

A good 5 star needs to be a good combination on difficulty and terrain. I have about 5 that have the 5 for Terrain but they are no big deal once you leave the jeep. So when I made the Dessert all the concepts that I could think of went into the creation of this cache. Because it starts out with a virtual then goes onto a micro, which leads to another small cache, then a real cache, then find another small one. Drive to another mountain find several more small ones then the final box of goodies will be revealed to you.

Edited October 8, 2005 by Tahosa and Sons

[+briansnat]

A 5 star difficulty cache should take at least several days to figure out and/or find, maybe more.

 

If you can figure the puzzle out in an hour, or find the cache in your first visit, it really isn't 5 star difficulty.

 

Five star terrain, if it doesn't require specialized equipment, should leave you bruised, bloody, physically exhausted and emotionally drained. When you get home you're too tired to even make it to bed. You fall asleep on the chair still wearing one mud caked hiking boot.

Edited October 8, 2005 by briansnat

[+Kit Fox]

I have several puzzle caches that I list as 4 to 4 1/2 star difficulty caches. This is mainly do to steps needed to find the final cache.

 

Fox Den Mystery Multi

 

Out Foxed

 

Mount Emma Mystery Cache

 

Here is my first 5 star terrain cache:

 

Phobia

 

I have a couple of puzzle caches that I rate at 4 1/2 stars:

 

Dry River

 

The imperceptible tree cache

 

I'm working on my first 5/5 cache that will require you to visit two "mile high" caches hidden above 5400 feet, a plane crash site that you have to use clues found on the internet to find it's location (no coords available), plus one or two rugged, hike in caches. Then to top it all off will be fiendish puzzle.

[+TeamAO]

A cache that should make you have a nervous breakdown it's so hard.

 

That's why I don't look for them.

[+sept1c_tank]

A five star cache should be something to write home about.

[+Snoogans]

A five star cache should be something to write home about.

Exactly!

 

I have a few 5 Star caches. By some folks idea of what a 5 star should be, most of mine don't rate that high. I full on admit that I over rate some of my harder caches just so some folks will go "whoa" and maybe prepare a little better because there is a chance that you could end up hurtin' or worse.

 

Half of the folks who have found these wrote me about their experience as well. To me, it's a sign that I got it right:

 

Just say no to crack.

 

Row vs. Wade

 

Mammoth Bonus Cache

 

Fortress of Solitude

[+Dan-oh]

Five star terrain, if it doesn't require specialized equipment, should leave you bruised, bloody, physically exhausted and emotionally drained. When you get home you're too tired to even make it to bed. You fall asleep on the chair still wearing one mud caked hiking boot.

Now I need to turn that quote into a new caching t-shirt!

[+wimseyguy]

Five star terrain, if it doesn't require specialized equipment, should leave you bruised, bloody, physically exhausted and emotionally drained. When you get home you're too tired to even make it to bed. You fall asleep on the chair still wearing one mud caked hiking boot.

I think Wildlife would meet Brian's definintion. If home wasn't almost two hours away and we didn't have a change of clothes in the truck, we could have easily fallen asleep muddy. I'm pretty sure I did nod off on the way back; good thing I wasn't the driver that day.

I'm very glad to have that one behind me, and notice that no one has succeeded in finding it since we did back in March. Might have something to do with southern summers, swamps, and their residents?

[+KKTH3]

I can't really describe what I think would be worthy of a 5 star difficulty cache, as I have yet to be able to make one I felt deserved 5 stars. I did have a cache that finished off a series that took some serious effort to put together and has only been found once despite being stocked with some very nice items. I rated that one as a 4.5 star difficulty and 3 star terrain - although I originally had both numbers a bit lower. The only ones that did find it worked on it over several weeks and emailed me several times to see if they were on the correct track. Eventually they narrowed it down and found it, but no one has even come close since as far as I know.

 

I recently placed a 2 stage multi-cache that I put a difficulty of 4 on. I'll post a link to it here in this thread once it is approved, and it might be super easy for some people, but I expect most that try it may have to do it in several attempts. There is no real puzzle involved and no clever camoflague, but there is a twist that makes the find less than straightforward.

[+KKTH3]

Whadya know! Our 4 star difficulty cache was listed tonight - We've Lost Our Marbles

 

No special puzzle solving skills needed - not likely to be found in 10 minutes. Certainly not a 5, but probably takes more effort than the average cache.

[Clan Riffster]

There's a cache in Deltona called Lapanocia Butterfly Tree, GCNPM7 that is as close to being a 5 star terrain as any I've done. Like "Wildlife", it's a relitively short hike, but the swamp is so nasty that it took us two hours to complete. Stage 1 is about 250' from parking, then an additional 250' to the main cache. Probably about 400' from the cache back to your vehicle. So, that's about 900' in two hours. Average ground speed 450' per hour.

 

HiddenRock, the evil GeoGenius who hid it, listed it as a 3/4.

[+Snoogans]

Five star terrain, if it doesn't require specialized equipment, should leave you bruised, bloody, physically exhausted and emotionally drained. When you get home you're too tired to even make it to bed. You fall asleep on the chair still wearing one mud caked hiking boot.

I think Wildlife would meet Brian's definintion. If home wasn't almost two hours away and we didn't have a change of clothes in the truck, we could have easily fallen asleep muddy. I'm pretty sure I did nod off on the way back; good thing I wasn't the driver that day.

I'm very glad to have that one behind me, and notice that no one has succeeded in finding it since we did back in March. Might have something to do with southern summers, swamps, and their residents?

My Row vs. Wade is very much like that. There's many folks who have turned back, because they knew that they had just enough energy to get back to the car from the point that they got to.

[+Quoddy]

Earlier this year I felt cheated when a supposedly 5/5 took me under 10 minutes to complete. I believe that the cache has remained a 5/5 because many cachers are logging the "adventure" way above what it really is thus perpetuating the myth that it's difficult. I would have rated it as a 2/2.5 . To me, a 5/5 should be borderline impossible to reach and also to find.

[+Renegade Knight]

5 Star Terrain, BrianSnats version works for me. Shoshone Falls Base fits, if you try to hike in. Rock hopping is the hardest hiking I've ever done. One of us hiked out with a broken rib.

 

5 Star Difficulty. well...If I find it I want to be one of the few. Actually finding the cache should make you feel like you did when you saw Star Wars back when you were a kid, or maybe when you were counting out your till and a 20 looks funny and you realize it's a silver certificate. The string of skunks leading up to your find should be long and brutal having taken out the best of the best. You should dang near get a standing ovation the next time you attend the cache event. Cache groopies should want to have your children. Hooah!

 

5 Star Cache. It should still stand out as one of the best even as I hit 1000 finds. A 5 Star cache is just special. It's the yardstick other caches are measured by.

[+Kit Fox]

It's the yardstick other caches are measured by.

 

That is what I want all my new caches to be like.

 

Here is a cache on my to do list that warrants a 5 star terrain rating: Intent of Infinity

[+dingermcduff]

My hardest cache, New Life on the Prairie has only had 4 smilies, but 6 DNFs (one of the logged DNFs was actually for a group of 3 teams--I'm sure they would have all logged for the smiley had they found it .

 

Of the finds:

 

Two very experienced cachers (2000+ finds between them) had to make two visits and ask me for help to find.

 

One had to make 2 trips and ask me for help. He 'solved' the final puzzle through complete dumb luck and coincidence.

 

One had previous knowledge from the first version of the cache at another location and had to get help from someone else who had found the cache.

 

The cache requires you to find several EXTREMELY difficult micros, solve a puzzle at each stage, and put it all together to solve a tough one at the end.

 

And I only rated this one a 4.5 Of all of my caches, this one has gone the longest without a find.

[+Team HONU]

We did this cache, the tides run 26 FEET! our boat needed to be ducg out of the sand, it raind like hell, and there was a 20 foot cliff.

 

5 stars, found four times! once by my whole family, including our (then) 5 year old son.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=27943

 

Eric of Team Honu.

[+nfa]

Adirondack Murder Mystery is a 21 stage multi that takes people hiking about 20 miles, up trail-less mountains, snorkelling, climbing bare rock faces, night-hiking, testing "muggle cool", and canoeing/portaging through the widlerness in search of the clues needed to solve a murder that took place in the Adirondacks.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Alas there is no distinction between special-equipment required and difficulty.

 

I have a number of caches on islands, where a boat is required to get there, but the caches themselves aren't all that hard, a 1.5 to 2.5 at the worst.

 

Yet, because you have to have a boat I have no choice but list them as a 5 difficulty, thereby discouraging many cachers that might enjoy them when they see the 5 rated difficulty level.

 

Mayhaps one day there will be a fix for this... I will suggest it!

 

Ed

[+fizzymagic]

Alas there is no distinction between special-equipment required and difficulty.

Special equipment required to reach the cache should result in a terrain rating of 5, while special equipment or knowledge required to locate the cache should result in a difficulty rating of 5.

 

So if the cache required a metal detector to locate, that would be a difficulty 5, but if it required a boat or helicopter to reach, that would be terrain 5.

 

At least, that's how I interpret the rules.

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

A 5* difficulty should take several tries for most folks.

 

We hid Chiseled Square with the intent to discourage a cache thief in our area. It worked as the thief seems to have left the area.

 

One of the best logs for Chiseled Square

 

Even with the specific hints it takes most people at least 2 tries. The logs are great.

 

People really enjoy a good hide, so don't be afraid to make it tough.

 

John

[+Jamie Z]

Yet, because you have to have a boat I have no choice but list them as a 5 difficulty, thereby discouraging many cachers that might enjoy them when they see the 5 rated difficulty level.

You mean 5-star terrain?

 

Once again, I bring up my wish that the ratings were given more approprate names, rather than terrain and (really ambiguous) difficulty.

 

Jamie

[+Polgara]

I know i'm on a true 5 terrain cache when i 'yuke' due to exertion.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Done a few really tough four and five star caches. Did this one as part of a five day Presi Traverse: Lake of the Clouds Hut .

Not quite as physically challenging, but definitely the hardest Five Star difficulty cache that I've done is: Five Star New York. That only took us ten months, and a lot of help to find. Congrats to Avroair for having a truly twisted mind!

[+chstress53]

This is a definately a 5/5

chore4ographed chaos

[+BlueDeuce]

We all know about the wickedly hard puzzle caches that garner a 5 star difficulty rating. What does it take to make a traditional or multi that hard?

 

Post Examples of 5 star caches that in your opinion earned the 5 stars.

 

This is an angst free thread.

hmmmm, good question. Something that isn't just a puzzle?

 

Well, we have some level 4 and 5 D's that are simply 30 leg multies in the woods. Of course the T is high, but the D is up there just because it takes so much time and search effort.

 

Giving it just a little thought, I guess one high D with no puzzle would be something that would require you to do research. (A fine line from a puzzle of course), but I think if it was something like researching local events at the historical library you could side past that qualification.

 

 

Edit: typo

Edited November 8, 2005 by BlueDeuce

[+KKTH3]

Whadya know! Our 4 star difficulty cache was listed tonight - We've Lost Our Marbles

 

No special puzzle solving skills needed - not likely to be found in 10 minutes. Certainly not a 5, but probably takes more effort than the average cache.

This has been up for over a month now and still has no finds. There was a DNF posted, but I really can't tell if anyone else has attempted it. Sadly, the multi-cache icon combined with the 4 star rating combined with the rural location probably make this cache something very few people will seek out. It will be interesting how long this cache remains unfound - the more challenging caches around here have been known to go over a year at a time without activity.