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How far would you drive to complete a multi cache?

I have one now that you have to drive quite a bit (would say about 2-3 miles on a dirt road) to get all 4 stages. I am tryin to make another multi cache about the same only in a different area. It takes you down this nice little back road (kinda scenic) to all the stages and then out to the final. I found the road one day just driving around and found where it came out. But I am afraid that some cachers hate the extensive driving they may have to do to find the final (which is a decon container, but is near a benchmark that I cant find listed in the db and is hidden very well). Me honestly, I would love to drive this and do the cache, but I am also the type that loves to take dirt roads just to see where they come out, if they come out at all.

You input and feedback would be great.

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It's not tooooo far....however, I wouldn't go hunt for it.

I would suggest you describe the distance in some way on the cache page.

Perhaps mention that it's a short 4 mile scenic drive to the final (no hiking needed)

If it's a loop, mention that too.

If it's an easy off and easy back on (you mentioned it comes back out), mention that too.

 

I'll still never look for it, but that's just me. Someone will try. :rolleyes:

Edited by ventura_kids
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I'll have to say, depends on the cache. If you're going to run me around the countryside, the only thing I ask, when done is have me reasonably back in the same area. That way I'm not overly inconvenienced. We recently did one that literally took us over 50 miles across VA, and dumped us off there. We did it, but were less than impressed as nothing in the cache description mentioned it.

 

If you're going to take me multiple nice places - places that are worthwhile being at or I may not have found were it not for the cache, I'll give it rave reviews and drive the distance - but tell me beforehand!. If you're going to take me to three light poles and a lock-n-lock behind a dumpster you're going to get what you deserve.

 

Just my .02

 

-Roger

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The first multi we completed was SUPPOSED to be 17 miles (heh we got one part wrong and wound up going about 30 miles) but it was fun and the final was in a really nice spot and was a good sized container so all in all it wasn't too far to drive. Plus there was a prize for the first TEN people to finish it. Which I thought to be incredibly generous of the owner since the prize was GEOCOINS! But even without the prize it was a lot of fun! :rolleyes:

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How far would you drive to complete a multi cache?

 

Normally 10 miles or so would be my limit. However if there something unique about the cache and the stages are hidden in interesting places I would consider driving much farther. If it's going to take me on a tour of every Wartmart parking lot for 50 miles though, no thanks.

Edited by briansnat
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The first multi we completed was SUPPOSED to be 17 miles (heh we got one part wrong and wound up going about 30 miles) but it was fun and the final was in a really nice spot and was a good sized container so all in all it wasn't too far to drive. Plus there was a prize for the first TEN people to finish it. Which I thought to be incredibly generous of the owner since the prize was GEOCOINS! But even without the prize it was a lot of fun! :rolleyes:

 

I did three multi-caches yesterday. The longest required about a 1 mile walk in total.

 

However, the first stage of the closest one was just under 15 miles from home, the fifth closest cache to where I live.

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After reading I am totally surprised at the response. I pretty much expected to hear just the opposite. Even though it seems as though most would drive a fair distance to find all the stages, I have decided to make it a 2 part multi. Only because my first multi is a nice somewhat long drive to find and I didnt want to repeat myself. I try not to, even though I do...

I was thinkin about placing a regular or puzzle cache somewhat nearby back by one of the stages of the planned multi.

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How far would you drive to complete a multi cache?

It depends on how many other caches I can find along the way.

 

I remember one multi I found that was 4 stages, each at a scenic location, and about 20 miles. Along the way we found about 15 other caches, including two other short multis. Of course we didn't take the most direct route for the big multi, so we actually traveled over 30 miles to complete it. Great fun.

 

If there were no other caches in the area, we wouldn't have bothered.

 

I have several other multis in my database where I've found the first stage, but wasn't going in the right direction to get the next stage. Next time I'm in the right area, I can pick up where I left off.

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That gave me an idea. Somebody should do a trans-continental multicache where the cacher with some vacation time and gas money could be taken across the country to some nice places. When they arrived at the final cache, maybe they could get something of value if they are the FTF and the owner would place a map inside with instructions for the finder to circle their home city on the map. There could be an East to West coast geocache for the Easterners and a West to East coast geocache for Westerners. People living in the Midwest or South could be joined into the routes with adjoining branches of multicaches.

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If the multi cache can not be done by parking in one area and a total hike of at most a couple of miles, I would hope that the placer would mention the distance involved.

 

The uncertainty is the main reason I don't do too many multis. I don't usually have hours and hours to spend caching at a time and I would like to be able to plan how long it will take me.

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If a multi is spread out to require driving, I'll usually do the stages on different days. At a minimum, please warn the seekers on the cache page.

 

One other thing to think about: people get pretty irritated when they go to hide a cache only to get rejected because there's a stage to a multi or puzzle nearby that they haven't done yet. It's reasonable to say that's a risk they take if they know there's a multi in the area, but it's less reasonable when the cache causing their problem starts miles from their location.

 

This might not make sense for yours, but for longer distances, a different way to handle it might be a series of traditionals, each containing pieces of coordinates to a mystery final cache. That way, a seeker can hunt the stages in the order that best suits them, and they can query other caches that are near each of the stages.

Edited by Dinoprophet
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If it is going to be a long one I would make it a series rather than a multi.

 

Maybe it is about the smilies, but I skip most time-consuming multis... when out with other cachers we almost always choose to by-pass them.

 

The last big multi I remember doing had 10 stages... in a small city park. It was a puzzle where at each stage you had to collect information... how many light poles do you see and so forth. You start at the north end, stage two is .7 away at the south end, stage 3 is back at the north, back and forth you walk from one end of the park to the other... a serious PITA! Found it, signed it, but didn't log it as I had nothing good to say about it.

 

OTOH I did a series of 15 caches last week that were spread out anywhere from 1.5 to 6.5 miles along a 35 mile path that netted a total of 16 caches (found another along the way) and 4 FTFs . If it had been configured as a single multi I would not have gone.

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How far would you drive to complete a multi cache?

You input and feedback would be great.

 

There's one in Mississippi called the Mississippi Road Trip. It's a multi that stretches from the south end of the state to the north end of the state. Most folks do it in stages, picking up parts depending on what part of the state they happen to be in.

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That gave me an idea. Somebody should do a trans-continental multicache where the cacher with some vacation time and gas money could be taken across the country to some nice places. When they arrived at the final cache, maybe they could get something of value if they are the FTF and the owner would place a map inside with instructions for the finder to circle their home city on the map. There could be an East to West coast geocache for the Easterners and a West to East coast geocache for Westerners. People living in the Midwest or South could be joined into the routes with adjoining branches of multicaches.

Check out these caches. :unsure:

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That gave me an idea. Somebody should do a trans-continental multicache where the cacher with some vacation time and gas money could be taken across the country to some nice places. When they arrived at the final cache, maybe they could get something of value if they are the FTF and the owner would place a map inside with instructions for the finder to circle their home city on the map. There could be an East to West coast geocache for the Easterners and a West to East coast geocache for Westerners. People living in the Midwest or South could be joined into the routes with adjoining branches of multicaches.

Check out these caches. :laughing:

So it does exist...and in every state as well. I wonder how so many people were able to get together to coordinate that effort in getting a cache in every state :unsure: . I also wonder how many people have been able to get to every state in order to locate the final cache in D.C.

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I have a Multi-cache that is almost 2500 miles apart. 5000 miles if you count the round trip.

 

WP1

2500 miles to WP2

then 2500 miles back to WP3

 

However, in my case, the idea is to contact someone who lives near WP2 and they get the coordinats for WP3 (Wp2 is a current, active cache, and the coords are printed in the logbook)

 

 

 

--Of course, I can agree with you... But then we'd both be wrong--

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Check out these caches. :laughing:

So it does exist...and in every state as well. I wonder how so many people were able to get together to coordinate that effort in getting a cache in every state :unsure: . I also wonder how many people have been able to get to every state in order to locate the final cache in D.C.

2 (Final)

 

Also, I thought the final for any cache had to be within about 2-miles of the listed coordinates. Or is that just Mystery/Unknown? From these examples, I could theretically hide a cache in the US with the final in South Africa. How do you get around the "Vacation Cache" guideline with stages over 300 miles apart?

Edited by J-Way
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in the beginning, i didn't care how far spread out the stages were.

 

then i started to want a smilie for all my trouble.

 

now i measure the worth of my geo-day by how much of the day i can spend involved in a hunt and if that means navigation, it means navigation. if i spend the whole day hunting, i spend the whole day hunting.

usually i like the stages to have some kind of theme, or to direct me toward seeing a place in a certain way.

 

here are some very fine examples of multis:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...ac-080da8f7dab3

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...51-eb13757db71f

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...65-f2626229b3e9

 

and one of mine:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...6f-629b924a1d07

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Hmm... Done some strange ones. One was a five mile drive between first and second stages. Another had five stages, and a ten-mile drive.

We're working on two now. Interestingly enough, both in the same park. I'm surprised they didn't stomp all over each other! One has 23 virtual stages. The other has thirteen evil intermediate waypoints. Yes. They are evil! We've found four, and DNFed two. So far. Been working of them for two months or so (on alternate Saturdays). We WILL find them! Don't care how long it takes! (Last one like this took us ten months!)

So, the answer is: Pique my interest, we'll keep at it. 316 mile drive? Forget about it! Eighteen Dunkin Donuts micros? Forget about it! Thirteen evil intermediates? You got dolphin going!

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