distancd to cache from parking

[+Berta Nick Zoey]

I would love to see that when someone is submitting a new cache for publication that there be somewhere on the application form where the applicant has to put the distance that the hunter must travel after leaving vehicle. That way we would know when we are planning an outing which caches would be park and grabs or which caches would be long hikes.

[lakeuk]

Wouldn't you know the distance to the cache when you're planning your trip and plan where best to park

 

On my cache I've put a recommended parking spot as an additional waypoint, and put in the description average walking time to the cache

[+Miragee]

The Terrain rating is also a good clue. If it is a '2.5' or above, it is likely to involve a bit of a walk, or a climb.

 

Google Earth is really your friend here also. Filter the caches you are interested in (GSAK is what I use), create a .gpx file of those caches, and open them in Google Earth to see where the trailheads are, and what the trails look like. For one group of caches, we even carried printouts from Google Earth to figure out which of the intersecting trails to take.

[+Team Cotati]

I would love to see that when someone is submitting a new cache for publication that there be somewhere on the application form where the applicant has to put the distance that the hunter must travel after leaving vehicle. That way we would know when we are planning an outing which caches would be park and grabs or which caches would be long hikes.

 

Caches requiring "long" hikes aren't likely to be near roads. The zoomable map on the cache page ought to do quite nicely in this regard. That map does not deal with terrain of course. On the cache page that is covered as well by clicking on the "TopoZone" link on the left next to the zoomable map.

 

Unfortunately neither of these suggestions directly satisfies your suggestion but I hope that they are helpful.

 

Another great tool for this is doing a "Cache Along a Route" and limit the results to .5 mile. If the cache is within .5 mile of the road, how "long" could the hike possibly be, eh? ;-) No process is going to be perfect, a degree of research and planning will usually be required and as for me, that is part of the joy in geocaching.

Edited July 22, 2007 by Team Cotati

[+Berta Nick Zoey]

I agree with the part of planning. But. lets say you're out for a weekend of caching and you have your PDA and GPS and thats all. You didnt want to spend alot of computer time getting ready for this. I was just wondering how difficult it would be for the Powers That Be to add a place for the distance. In fact the person that hid this cache could measure it as they are leaving it. Of course if its close then its of no concern. It would also help if these distances could be part of a PQ.

[+TrailGators]

The Terrain rating is also a good clue. If it is a '2.5' or above, it is likely to involve a bit of a walk, or a climb.

 

Google Earth is really your friend here also. Filter the caches you are interested in (GSAK is what I use), create a .gpx file of those caches, and open them in Google Earth to see where the trailheads are, and what the trails look like. For one group of caches, we even carried printouts from Google Earth to figure out which of the intersecting trails to take.

A terrain of 2 can be a mile walk.

 

If you click on "nearest caches" to the cache you are thinking of finding and then click on map in the upper right corner, then you can see all the caches in that area on the map. Then if you click "hybrid" you can see a satellite view of the same area and this will help you plan yuor approach and gauge the walking distance.

[+Berta Nick Zoey]

Im aware of how I CAN find the distance to a cache while I at home tied to the internet or am available to use Google Earth. All I am asking is that it would ne a nice feature for GS to add to the website.

[+Team Cotati]

Im aware of how I CAN find the distance to a cache while I at home tied to the internet or am available to use Google Earth. All I am asking is that it would ne a nice feature for GS to add to the website.

 

You are quite correct. As demand grows for this sort of feature it will likely begin to crawl up the developers priority list.

 

Happy caching.

[+Miragee]

Im aware of how I CAN find the distance to a cache while I at home tied to the internet or am available to use Google Earth. All I am asking is that it would ne a nice feature for GS to add to the website.

After you have the waypoint in your GPSr, don't you have the cache information with you, either with a printout, or in your PDA?

 

A quick check of the Terrain rating should give you an idea whether you want to head for that cache . . . or not.

 

I use GSAK to send the waypoints to my GPSr, so, with a glance at the waypoint "Smart Name," I can see not only part of the name of the cache, but what both the Terrain and Difficulty are. If it is near sundown and I see that the next closest cache has a Terrain rating of '3' I know I don't want to head in that direction.

 

Many of my caches are hiking caches. I don't know what route people might take to get to some of them. Giving exact distances is not possible. The Terrain rating either entices people to head in that direction . . . or scares them off . . .

[+Geovius]

In some caches finding the suitable parking space is part of the game. So mandatory field is not appriacted and if the field is really needed perhaps proper place would be additional waypoint section. That way distance could be calculated automaticly of course it would apply only to traditional caches.

Edited July 24, 2007 by Geovius

[+StarBrand]

The vast majority of caches do not have posted parking coordinates. Nor do most even have suggested parking.

 

Many, if not most have multiple approaches to them. I am not too sure that would be helpful information on such caches.

 

And who says you have to park right next to a park-n-grab. I can park a block away or a mile away if I choose. I can choose to park on the opposite side of the park (as an owner I could list that as the parking). In reality - you can reach out the car window and grab it.

 

I have been to one cache in Colorado that had suggested parking about .75 miles from the cache but on site there was perfectly suitable parking and an easy approach within .18 miles. That would hardly be helpful in planning an outing.

[+Miragee]

In some caches finding the suitable parking space is part of the game. So don't make it mandatory and if it is really needed perhaps proper place would be additional waypoint section. That way distance could be calculated automaticly or course it would apply only to regular caches.

Although this was not the point of this thread, I would like to interject that I do not "appreciate" that some cache owners think this is "part of the game." Gas is too expensive for me to drive around to find an elusive neighborhood park or narrow entrance into a canyon from a housing subdivision. This is especially true while traveling. I spent more than an hour, and drove 15 miles around, and around, in the small town of Montrose, Colorado trying to figure out the access to two different caches, owned by the same cacher. Even with my auto-routing GPSr, and by getting out and walking . . . I could not figure out which side of the river the caches were on, nor how to access the locations near commercial businesses and trailer parks . . .

 

Parking, or trailhead, coordinates are very much appreciate by this cacher. I've even started placing small caches at elusive trailheads or parking spots, so people can more quickly park their car and get out to start hiking.

[+mousekakat]

Parking and distances to cache make a big difference to people who cache with their kids.

 

We cache with our 7 1/2 year old and 14 month being carried in a patapum carrier. Longest we've done is about 2 miles round trip, and it was in rocky, hilly terrain.

 

The terrain ratings don't always give enough "clue" to things. For example, we did a 4 terrain rating a few days ago where the parking was right at the base of the trail, and a 2 where we had to hike twice as far to get there, and on an almost equally tough, rocky terrain.

 

The rating system is a little too subjective.

 

What's a 4 to a novice hiker may be a 2 to someone with more experience.

[+StarBrand]

I would love to see that when someone is submitting a new cache for publication that there be somewhere on the application form where the applicant has to put the distance that the hunter must travel after leaving vehicle. That way we would know when we are planning an outing which caches would be park and grabs or which caches would be long hikes.

BTW - what do you propose to do with the thousands of existing caches out there that do not have this field filled in?

[+mousekakat]

Grandfather them.... make it a requirement, or at least an option, on newer caches.

[Pto]

I agree with the part of planning. But. lets say you're out for a weekend of caching and you have your PDA and GPS and thats all. You didnt want to spend alot of computer time getting ready for this. I was just wondering how difficult it would be for the Powers That Be to add a place for the distance. In fact the person that hid this cache could measure it as they are leaving it. Of course if its close then its of no concern. It would also help if these distances could be part of a PQ.

 

I have caches in a park near my home, which I walked to when placing. They are in a large park, and can be accessed from many different parking lots, depending on personal choice. If they plan on doing more than 1 in the park, they can park on one end, in the middle, etc- As a hider, I have no way of knowing which direction people will choose to approach from, if they will walk, ride a bike(near a bike trail) or drive.

 

I have a cache named after a Waterfall located in a large City park. It has a big sign, history, etc-

I see a lot of logs from cachers who dont even see the waterfall, because they come in from the other direction, and leave that way. There is parking at the waterfall, but . . . . . .

 

I use the addt'l waypoint called parking when I find it useful, or needed (2 of my other caches.) so I understand why you would like to see this.

 

On the other hand, it would make hides like mine pretty hard to accurately post the distance- then people would be upset at walking further, by parking somewhere else - even tho the info would then be on the cache page (some people dont think reading the page is required, etc)

 

the additional waypoint feature works well for this now so I wouldnt see a real need to make it required.

[+TheAprilFools]

I don't like this idea. I have a series of caches along the local creek. While each one has legal parking that is reasonably close, I encouraged cachers to start at the trail head and do the entire series. I do not want to advertise that there is an alternative way to do it. If they want to pull up Google maps and figure it out themselves that's fine with me.

[vagabond]

In some caches finding the suitable parking space is part of the game. So don't make it mandatory and if it is really needed perhaps proper place would be additional waypoint section. That way distance could be calculated automaticly or course it would apply only to regular caches.

Although this was not the point of this thread, I would like to interject that I do not "appreciate" that some cache owners think this is "part of the game." Gas is too expensive for me to drive around to find an elusive neighborhood park or narrow entrance into a canyon from a housing subdivision. This is especially true while traveling. I spent more than an hour, and drove 15 miles around, and around, in the small town of Montrose, Colorado trying to figure out the access to two different caches, owned by the same cacher. Even with my auto-routing GPSr, and by getting out and walking . . . I could not figure out which side of the river the caches were on, nor how to access the locations near commercial businesses and trailer parks . . .

 

Parking, or trailhead, coordinates are very much appreciate by this cacher. I've even started placing small caches at elusive trailheads or parking spots, so people can more quickly park their car and get out to start hiking.

Google maps and or for us in the US USAPhotomaps just take the time to check the cache terrain out, just because someone puts out parking coords. it doesn't mean its the best or easiest point to start the hike. I look at it this way if you don't do your homework you get what you deserve

[+Miragee]

In some caches finding the suitable parking space is part of the game. So don't make it mandatory and if it is really needed perhaps proper place would be additional waypoint section. That way distance could be calculated automaticly or course it would apply only to regular caches.

Although this was not the point of this thread, I would like to interject that I do not "appreciate" that some cache owners think this is "part of the game." Gas is too expensive for me to drive around to find an elusive neighborhood park or narrow entrance into a canyon from a housing subdivision. This is especially true while traveling. I spent more than an hour, and drove 15 miles around, and around, in the small town of Montrose, Colorado trying to figure out the access to two different caches, owned by the same cacher. Even with my auto-routing GPSr, and by getting out and walking . . . I could not figure out which side of the river the caches were on, nor how to access the locations near commercial businesses and trailer parks . . .

 

Parking, or trailhead, coordinates are very much appreciate by this cacher. I've even started placing small caches at elusive trailheads or parking spots, so people can more quickly park their car and get out to start hiking.

Google maps and or for us in the US USAPhotomaps just take the time to check the cache terrain out, just because someone puts out parking coords. it doesn't mean its the best or easiest point to start the hike. I look at it this way if you don't do your homework you get what you deserve

When someone is traveling, as I was, it is difficult to check out Google Earth. The caches I couldn't find in Montrose were within .5 of the highway -- those were the only caches I loaded into my GPSr. I wonder how many other people traveling through would have found those caches and written nice logs for the cache owner, if only the cache owner included some access information on their cache page . . .

[+mousekakat]

I just want to know if there is parking at the trailhead or if I'm gonna be hoofing it a way before I even get started.

 

GoogleEarth and other mapping software/sites like that... seems to me almost like cheating, I mean, if you think I'm wanting to make it easier because I want to know about where parking is - or isn't, lol, what the heck are you doing, using everything under the sun to "prepare" yourself before the hunt?

 

I take and use no more information that what is found on the search page here and of course, our GPS'r.

[+Markwell]

I just want to know if there is parking at the trailhead or if I'm gonna be hoofing it a way before I even get started.

I take and use no more information that what is found on the search page here and of course, our GPS'r.

 

These two portions of the post seem at odds. If you WANT to know if you'll be hoofing it, do some extra research. If you DON'T WANT to take more information, don't do the research. It's kind of like saying "I like ice cream in cones, but I don't like to crunch the cone." All of the data that you need is there - if you're just getting an idea of parking a quick glance of the map isn't going to kill the whole hunt, is it?

[+mousekakat]

Doesn't always show, to be honest.

 

I'm not in the US, I'm in a country the size of California with approximately 9 million people total.

 

Google Earth doesn't give me clear pics of our area at all at a close distance enough to see parking or whatnot.

 

All the same, would it be so hard to have a check box to indicate that parking is at the trailhead or that there is a distance to walk?

 

Why are you so opposed to that, out of curiousity? What damage or harm does it do?

 

It certainly is less "electrical help" than "researching" it on Google or whatnot.

 

I honestly have documents with the caches in different directions from my house and the printouts are in our geocaching bag. That means that I don't always sit here and look up other particulars, I just go with what is printed from the website here.

 

Spontaneity is a good thing... especially when there are bored kids driving you ape sh*t nutty in the car and you want to get them out doing something

[+Renegade Knight]

Im aware of how I CAN find the distance to a cache while I at home tied to the internet or am available to use Google Earth. All I am asking is that it would ne a nice feature for GS to add to the website.

 

I use maps on my PDA to tell me which ones are the hikers and which are the park and bags.

 

If there was a place to put "distance to parking" on a cache page I'd always opt out. On my caches figuring out parking is part of the challenge.

 

That said, Handicaching.com does track this kind of information for the caches that are rated there.

[vagabond]

In some caches finding the suitable parking space is part of the game. So don't make it mandatory and if it is really needed perhaps proper place would be additional waypoint section. That way distance could be calculated automaticly or course it would apply only to regular caches.

Although this was not the point of this thread, I would like to interject that I do not "appreciate" that some cache owners think this is "part of the game." Gas is too expensive for me to drive around to find an elusive neighborhood park or narrow entrance into a canyon from a housing subdivision. This is especially true while traveling. I spent more than an hour, and drove 15 miles around, and around, in the small town of Montrose, Colorado trying to figure out the access to two different caches, owned by the same cacher. Even with my auto-routing GPSr, and by getting out and walking . . . I could not figure out which side of the river the caches were on, nor how to access the locations near commercial businesses and trailer parks . . .

 

Parking, or trailhead, coordinates are very much appreciate by this cacher. I've even started placing small caches at elusive trailheads or parking spots, so people can more quickly park their car and get out to start hiking.

Google maps and or for us in the US USAPhotomaps just take the time to check the cache terrain out, just because someone puts out parking coords. it doesn't mean its the best or easiest point to start the hike. I look at it this way if you don't do your homework you get what you deserve

When someone is traveling, as I was, it is difficult to check out Google Earth. The caches I couldn't find in Montrose were within .5 of the highway -- those were the only caches I loaded into my GPSr. I wonder how many other people traveling through would have found those caches and written nice logs for the cache owner, if only the cache owner included some access information on their cache page . . .

 

I keep forgetting everyone doesnt travel with a laptop and wifi

but before that we could always go to a local library