farthest cache from listed coordinates?

[+va griz]

I DNFed an easy cache yesterday. When I logged it I read all the logs, and buried a couple finds back was one of the "used coords listed by..." notes. Apparently it's about 80 feet off. I don't really look more than 50 or so feet away from where the GPS says it is. (although I have wandered off more than that and not realized it ) But it is apparent from the logs that others have expanded their search area quite a bit to find them. What is the farhest away from the listed coordinates that you have found a cache?

[+briansnat]

I think it was 120 feet.

[+niraD]

I found a puzzle cache about 150 feet from GZ once. It turns out that I had solved the puzzle incorrectly... :-/

[+hydnsek]

My question is: Why don't more cache owners update the posted coords when finders report them significantly off? Some do, but I'm always amazed how many don't. They don't even have to go out and take new ones, if previous finders provide coords that others verify are accurate in subsequent logs.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Worst so far? .18 mile. But that was a typographic problem, and I was obstinant. Only took me four tries!

Found one yesterday that was 81 feet off. No excuse for that. Probably would have DNFed it, but I could see the hide from 30 feet off. The previous finder and I both posted correctee coords. We'll see if the owner makes any change to the page.

[+Isonzo Karst]

On a cache with a typo, the posted coords were too far west by a tad over 1 mile. There was a reference in the cache description that I thought I recognized (both sets of coords being in a state forest), and I decided to try adjusting the longitude minutes down one. That worked. Oddly, the cache owners never adjusted those coords; I emailed them about how to get a reviewer to do it, and the cache was archived after a handful of finds.

 

On just sloppy coords, I'm not entirely certain. Like you though I distinctly recall DNFing a cache - however, unlike you I had a bunch of old logs in the PDA - one of them referenced finding the cache >100 feet south of the coords. So I went 100 feet south of the coords and there it was. I suspect that cache started out nearer the coords, as the early logs made no reference to bad coords, and then the more recent logs were either whiny about the coords , or DNFs. Why the cache owner didn't check it I don't know. Maybe they just assumed that the cache had good coords because it started that way.

[+ChileHead]

Probably a couple miles due to an obvious typo in the listed coordinates, and able to figure it out by the description.

[+ElectroQTed]

My furthest was out by about 1.5km. We were going for a FTF and the description and hint were enough to nab it anyways. It was in front of a llama/alpaca farm and we happened noticed it as we drove past to find that the posted co-ords were in another farmer's field on a different road.

[+RiverNWick]

5.7 miles. found it by the description.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

The farthest that I have ever found a cache from its listed "official" coordinates was in the range of 45 to 52 feet off, with the exception of one island cache in the Potomac River where the published waypoint coords would have put us in white water rapids in the middle of the worst part of the river -- this one turned out to be almost a hundred feet off (the owners, after receiving feedback on the flaky coords from numerous finders, finally relented two years later and updated the waypoint coords...!) Sue tells me that she has found a few that were farther off. However, I have a funny tale related to this matter of cache coordinate accuracy:

 

As you likely know, much of the East Coast, particularly the area where I live (the mountains of western MD) is mountainous and also covered with thick vegetation, including very tall trees. So, I have become accustomed to the fact that even after I have allowed my GPSr to settle for a while (my GPSr is a Magellan SportTrak Pro; they are amazingly accurate even under dense forest cover if you are willing to hold the GPSr absolutely still for about 3 minutes while it does averaging and summing; I call this processing time by the name "settling"), a cache will often turn out to be about 15 to 30 feet from GZ displayed on the GPSr, due simply to the combined errors of the hider's GPSr measures and my own GPSr's measures under dense forest cover and with lots of hills and mountains nearby.

 

However, I noticed during a trip (the same trip in which I started my hunt for Quantum Leap) to the Houston TX area a couple of years ago, that, due to the far less dense vegetation and due to the flatness of the land and absence of mountains in that region, that it was not uncommon for my GPSr to be able to take me to within a foot or two of the cache that I was hunting! Amazing! Indeed, I remember noting on several of my find logs that for at least three or four caches placed by Snoogans, I was able to let the GPSr take me to within one foot of the cache, and in each case, the GPSr error to true GZ was anywhere from zero feet to only one foot -- it later turned out, if I remember correctly, that Snoogans advised me that he had placed the caches using a Magellan GPSr and that he had taken a lot of time to get really accurate waypoint readings. To me, hailing from the East Coast, to experience such accuracy in the field was amazing!

 

I have also, in general, had much the same experience as I did in Texas when hunting caches in Arizona (mostly the Phoenix/Tempe area) and on flat plateaus in Colorado, again due to the flatness of the land, the sparseness of vegetation, and the absence of tall trees. However, there is one exception, and this one amazed me, and irritated me, at the time:

 

When I was heading out on one of my research field trips to AZ a couple of years ago, Sue asked me to find the final stage of a mystery cache, located in Tucson, which she had solved; she assured me that she had already checked the final waypoint coords with the owner and that he had verified them; I agreed to do so if my field trip work in AZ took me anywhere near Tucson. Well, I did happen to end up in Tucson during my trip, and so, accompanied by two friends (one of whom has hunted caches with me in Los Angeles as well, and she is very good at finding caches), I drove the final hide site, thinking, due to the D/T rating, that this was gonna be an easy find, and kinda lulled into a false sense of security because for almost all of my finds in the Southwest, my GPSr, once I had allowed it to settle, had taken me to within a foot of the cache!

 

This one turned out to be different from my other Southwestern finds. Once I had allowed my GPSr to settle, GZ turned out to be in the middle of the bottom bed of a 40 foot foot wide arroyo, a dry wash that, by the looks of scarring and remnants on the surrounding landscape, regularly filled with raging water to a depth of about 6 to 8 feet and with the channel occupying a a width of over 40 feet. Due to this fact, it was obvious that the cache container could not have been placed in the center of the bottom bed of the dry wash, and rather, must be at least 20 or 30 feet away, up on one of the banks, and, due to the number of small thorny trees and other potential hide spots, this search could have taken several days! I called Sue on my cell phone to verify the accuracy of the coordinates, and then we started the search, working outward from what my GPSr insisted was GZ. My two friends and I spent almost an hour on the search under the hot desert sun, and then gave up, never having found the cache. In hindsight, I have NEVER been able to understand why the waypoint coords were so far off, given that this was flat AZ desert country; the surrounding terrain was very flat and the only vegetation was a sparse population of rather short and very dry trees. To my mind, there is no reason why the coords should not have been accurate to within a foot or two. Oh well!...

Edited September 1, 2008 by Vinny & Sue Team

[rogheff]

I once used "The Force" to become FTF on a cache that was over a mile away from it's posted coords.

[+larry739]

I have found caches 50-70 from the listed coords. Usually it is due to someone just taking one reading and using that. Mostly it has been newbies. I try to meet them and show them how to average. I average 200 tines when I place and then walk in from different directions to check things. Usually this assures accuracy. Just normal error od 25 feet with one shot adds up to 40 or more when factoring finder error in. So if there are lots of hiding spots then you can get frustrated fast.

[Mr.Yuck]

I have found caches 50-70 from the listed coords. Usually it is due to someone just taking one reading and using that. Mostly it has been newbies. I try to meet them and show them how to average. I average 200 tines when I place and then walk in from different directions to check things. Usually this assures accuracy. Just normal error od 25 feet with one shot adds up to 40 or more when factoring finder error in. So if there are lots of hiding spots then you can get frustrated fast.

 

This is actually an interesting discussion. Of course we've all seen input errors putting the cache miles away. With an honest and correctly typed attempt to provide coordinates, I'd say I've never seen more than 60-80 feet.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I think the furthest for me was just over 100' although I've also found a cache that is in a gorge about 1/4 of a mile from where I live. When I found it my GPS was reporting 95' accuracy and telling me that it was 30' away from the actual location.

[+Marcas_Found]

We've found caches at .28 miles and 245 feet away from GZ due to input error. The furthest due to sloppy coords was 100 feet.

-galaP-

[+Geoaddict]

My question is: Why don't more cache owners update the posted coords when finders report them significantly off? Some do, but I'm always amazed how many don't. They don't even have to go out and take new ones, if previous finders provide coords that others verify are accurate in subsequent logs.

I've found that most caches where the coordinates are off are newbies. It drives me nuts when I see that a cache where the coords are off has been hidden by a cacher with only one find, or worse, no finds. They barely know their way around the geocaching.com website, let alone doing something as advanced as correcting the coordinates. If they didn't know how to take the coordinates correctly in the first place, it's unlikely that they would know what to do to correct it. Most just drop out of geocaching in frustration and leave the rest of us wandering aimlessly trying to find the cache.

[+wapahani]

About 100 feet.

 

 

I generally say OH WELL on this stuff.

 

One cache was off a good 80 to 100 feet, had I not thought about the clue, then perhaps we would have DNF'ed it. But said CO is bad about getting good COORDS and generally admits to take your time on their caches.

[+va griz]

Well I found the cache in question yesterday. It was about 80-100 feet off. Surprizes me a little as I have found a couple other caches by the same owner that were pretty much right on. There was a fair amount of tree cover which might account for much of it. It might be a transcription mistake too as there didn't seem to be much error in longitude. Anyway it kind of threw me since the GZ was outside the fence of a playground and the cache was well inside. On to other caches! Thanks, Griz

[+edscott]

Had one near here that was published with coordinates off by about 2 miles. After some DNFs and some private property concerns were aired the coordinates got fixed. Actually the first ones might have been a better spot. It was soon muggled and archived. (see post #16

[+DnA!]

We were recently searching for GCQN6B in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia when we found another cache a few meters from this cache. It turned out to be GCNZJE which had been muggled a year or so earlier. That cache was 168 meters (552 feet) from where it should have been.

[stryder717]

i found one today that was about 50' from its posted coords

[+auctnr]

69 MILES! Posted coords were 69 MILES off from actual cache location! Posted N 36° 07.153 W 097° 15.924 should have been N 35° 07.153 W 097° 15.924 GC31MD1 A simple typo but I decoded it and found it without owner update. I have found several in the same manner over a mile off. See bookmark on cache page.

[+Nymns]

I found one in KS lately that was about 40-50 feet off the posted coords. That's not too hard to find, especially since the correct coords were posted in logs. Funny thing was the difficulty rating. It was rated D4 and the cache was just lying on flat ground next to a tree... not even covered up. Makes me wonder if the CO didn't post slightly off coords on purpose and rationalized that it deserved a higher difficulty. I felt a little cheated... I'd hoped for more fun.

[vagabond]

paper apples

First, last. and only to find it.

As the crow flies about 6 miles

[+deacdiddy]

found one in a sea of kudzu that was 70ft. off posted cords.

[+hukilaulau]

Recently a virtual cache near me was moved about 5 miles from its original location. I noticed it in a small park as we were driving by. My sister from out of town had wanted to find it but the cache page said it had been moved to NYC!

[+me N u]

1235 feet or 380 meters.

 

We only found it thanks to the clue.

 

A year later and the listing has still not been updated despite a reviewer temporarily disabling it for coord update following several log entries.

[+akkatracker]

2km. A cache was put with a typo then corected. Too bad I got FTF :laughing:

[+HomeStyle]

Private Beach. 153' but I'm guessing it's because it was continuously moved over time due to the water line. Took us two tries to get it. That was one of those very rewarding smilies I was glad to eventually log. I love those kinds!

[+DanOCan]

Personally I think no more than 15-20m. I don't normally search out that far.

 

I think the furthest I know of around here was about 6km according to the only people who found it -- after it was Archived, no less.

 

http://coord.info/GCW254

 

I keep the correct coordinates in my GPSr just in case I'm ever in the area.

[+Davequal]

I had to give the proper coords