Vertically challenged caches/cachers…

[+canobeans]

I know all caches are not for all cachers, but I try not to walk away from a cache that is out of reach ---- it seems that is usually when the fun starts. I’m 5’1” and I have passed up less then a handful for this reason.

 

I'm new and still rapidly adding to my collection of hidden camera type stunt stories that include walking sticks, car roofs/bumpers, umbrellas, step stools, and all the ordinary stuff like shimming up poles/trees, etc. If a cache really gets under my skin and I can’t shake it or walk away from it, my last resort is to recruit The Shadow (who is 6’7”) and sweet talk him into retrieving it.

 

I’m curious. What methods, tools (anyone ever used one of those robot looking pinching things? Does anyone carry a shepherd’s hook in their car? or am I crazy to think about it?), ideas, or stories are out there?

 

One last question – Has anyone used a motion detection camera at a cache site? It seems awfully tempting….

 

Canobeans

[+Stunod]

I know of a local cacher who carries a 5 gal bucket in the car to use as a portable step.

Edited May 21, 2007 by Stunod

[+briansnat]

I'm not usually vertically challenged, but I've had a few caches that I've had a hard time reaching. In one case I grabbed a beach chair from my car. I remember jumping like a Jack in the Box to reach another.

[+worldtraveler]

I've used a telescoping magnetic pick-up pocket tool in combination with the mirror on my Silva Ranger compass to see and retrieve a few caches that were hidden inside small openings above head level.

[+Renegade Knight]

...Does anyone carry a shepherd’s hook in their car?...

 

Why yes I do. It's one handy tool. Mostly though I use the hook to hang on tosomething then hang onto the staff to reach where I can't reach normally. Some folks who are not vertically challenged are challenged in actually fitting into some of the locations that those smaller cachers don't even notice.

[vtmtnman]

...Does anyone carry a shepherd’s hook in their car?...

 

Why yes I do. It's one handy tool. Mostly though I use the hook to hang on tosomething then hang onto the staff to reach where I can't reach normally. Some folks who are not vertically challenged are challenged in actually fitting into some of the locations that those smaller cachers don't even notice.

I wasn't going to mention it RK.I think you're the only person I've ever 'met'(Real or virtually) that uses a shepard's hook.I could see it coming in handy at times.

[+Renegade Knight]

...Does anyone carry a shepherd’s hook in their car?...

 

Why yes I do. It's one handy tool. Mostly though I use the hook to hang on tosomething then hang onto the staff to reach where I can't reach normally. Some folks who are not vertically challenged are challenged in actually fitting into some of the locations that those smaller cachers don't even notice.

I wasn't going to mention it RK.I think you're the only person I've ever 'met'(Real or virtually) that uses a shepard's hook.I could see it coming in handy at times.

 

It's also handy to hook the branch of a tree that's too tall to climb directly. I actually found my first one in a parking lot. Before that I would have been first in line for a high tech carbon fiber collapsable trecking pole.

[+StarBrand]

I am 6' 3". My wife is 5'2" so I use her as a realty check to make sure I haven't placed the cache "too" high without mentioning something on the listing page about needing a "boost".

[Neos2]

Hi Canobeans! You met us our caching one day, so you already know we come in the one short-one tall variety---but we also carry a telescoping grabbing claw and a telecoping magnetic tool with us. There are some places that are too high (or too tight) for the tall one to reach. Check out the local auto parts stores for groovy tools that are made to reach into odd places.

[+BigWhiteTruck]

Use Ropes

 

GCYK7H - Acrophobia

[+Harry Dolphin]

My caching partner is 5'3". I'm 6'2". He usually leaves comments about discriminating against short bears, and "Lucky I had a tall dolphin with me."

[+Trucker Lee]

At your local part house, or tool outlet, look for a flexible cable with a plunger on one end. The other end houses four little prongs, when you press the plunger, prongs extend around whatever you want to grab. (The are made for retreiving dropped parts and bolts from hard to reach spots)

 

If you need it to be stiff, just tape to a dowel temporarily.

 

Edit to add--- and I see the Neos team has been hanging out in the parts house too. LOL

Edited May 21, 2007 by Trucker Lee

[+canobeans]

I always liked Inspector Gadget. This shopping list is getting interesting.

 

RK – that’s exactly what I was thinking - scary, huh.

 

I’m sure I’ll give my neighbors the gift of hysterics when they see me practicing the “Shepherd’s Hook Maneuver” in the yard.

 

Thanks for all the responses. Keep ‘em coming!

 

Canobeans

[+Sioneva]

On a recent cache-dash, I ended up using a fully filled, hide-ready ammo can as a stepstool to retrieve a couple of caches. Surprisingly useful, but bloody heavy to carry around!

[+Corp Of Discovery]

Being tall ain't all peaches and cream. Can't tell you how hard it is sometimes to get low to go under overhanging stuff. And don't get me started on how many spiderweb facials I've gotten because my caching partners are too short to get 'em all...

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

15 posts and no one has yet suggested an 'Above Five Feet' attribute? You guys are slacking!

[nobby.nobbs]

at 6'7" you sometimes find out the hard way that there are low ceilings or branches....

 

but i have found a cache or two i couldn't reach or see... cue daughter on shoulders moment

[+Aiden's Cachers]

For one that we couldn't quite reach, I got on my hands and knees and my wife stood on top of me.

[+pcunningham]

I use this walking stick. The handle makes a great hook for those high hides.

[+quikslam911]

I'm 5'3" and usually cache alone. I had a problem with one cache. It was placed on the top of a door frame in a metal outlet box that was screwed to the door frame. So I couldn't reach it, nor could I knock it off to get at it. After about 45 minutes of effort (in pouring rain ) I sent an e-mail to the cache owner. I detailed my problem and described the cache location and appearance. The owner didn't realize the problem and graciously allowed me to log a find.

[nonaeroterraqueous]

For a buck I was able to buy a cheap reaching device, a claw-like mechanism, at the 99 cent store, but it wore out and broke before very long. I know of a guy who routinely carries a similar device made of steel; it's a bit longer than the one I was using, and it folds in half to save space. I should ask him where he got his, though I'd like to know if there is anything longer than that. I'm hoping for a space-saving collapsable device of some sort. There's a cache near home that's about fourteen feet in the air, and it's beginning to bug me that I have no tool for retrieving it. I've thought about buying a fifteen-foot telescoping golfball retriever and gluing magnets and hooks to it, but I'd really like a grabbing mechanism of some sort, because I want to be sure that I can do more than simply knock the cache from its place. I need to be sure I can put it back, too.

[+Big Matt and Shell]

I know all caches are not for all cachers, but I try not to walk away from a cache that is out of reach ---- it seems that is usually when the fun starts. I’m 5’1” and I have passed up less then a handful for this reason.

 

...

 

One last question – Has anyone used a motion detection camera at a cache site? It seems awfully tempting….

 

Canobeans

 

I think I have missed a few because I'm so tall! Sometimes Shell comes up with ones that I haven't gotten quite far enough down!

 

In response to your question, I have been wanting to set up an infrared motion activated camera around a really tricky cache hide and then send the feed to each cacher after they have found the cache pointing out how close they came so many times.

 

Perhaps I'm just cruel...

[+The Herd]

At 5'3" in good shoes, I've had this problem several times. My most requent caching partner is much taller than me, so that helps, but in our time together, I have learned that I usually have to go behind her and recheck areas she has looked in. In several cases, just a good stick has resulted in the cache. Pulled one that was about 15feet up in a tree down this way.

 

However, there have been a couple times I've had to break down and "shimmy" my way up to the cache.