So you broke a cache...

[+9Key]

Here's a situation for you to contemplate while taking a break from the micro-cache debates:

 

You hunt for a high terrain cache (4+ stars) but end up breaking the container. It will go back together but due to physical limitations you cannot make another trip to the cache.

 

Do you:

A - leave the pieces of the container near GZ and let the cache owner fix it?

- or -

B - get some help and fix the cache yourself?

 

Personally, I would get some help from another cacher and get the cache fixed, not just leave it for the owner. But that's just me. What would you do and why?

Edited November 24, 2008 by 9Key

[+onfire4jesus]

Here's a situation for you to contemplate while taking a break from the micro-cache debates:

 

You hunt for a high terrain cache (4+ stars) but end up breaking the container. It will go back together but due to physical limitations you cannot make another trip to the cache.

 

Do you:

A - leave the pieces of the container near GZ and let the cache owner fix it?

- or -

B - get some help and fix the cache yourself?

 

Personally, I would get some help from another cacher and get the cache fixed, not just leave it for the owner. But that's just me. What would you do and why?

I haven't broken anyone's cache, yet, but I did lose one. I went out to a multi and the first stage was a nano attached to a sign post. When I reached up between the the sign and the post, I knocked the nano loose onto the ground and couldn't find it in the grass. As soon as I got home, I e-mailed the owner with details and apologies. His son went over and checked and was able to find it and put it back where it belongs.

 

If I broke someone's cache, I guess it would depend on where I was and what the opportunities would be to return to the location. If I was far from home and wouldn't have an opportunity to return anytime soon and wasn't carrying a suitable replacement container, I would do the best field fix I could, notify the owner ASAP and offer to ship him/her a replacement container. Depending on circumstances, I might head to the nearest WalMart and buy a replacement Lock-N-Lock and come back to replace the cache.

[+StarBrand]

The one cache I have broken, i got it replaced as soon as I could - my money, my time. However, it wasn't a 4 star terrain.

 

I would contact the owner, confess, offer to replace and offer to find somebody to help me do it.

[+Team GeoBlast]

Here's a situation for you to contemplate while taking a break from the micro-cache debates:

 

You hunt for a high terrain cache (4+ stars) but end up breaking the container. It will go back together but due to physical limitations you cannot make another trip to the cache.

 

Do you:

A - leave the pieces of the container near GZ and let the cache owner fix it?

- or -

B - get some help and fix the cache yourself?

 

Personally, I would get some help from another cacher and get the cache fixed, not just leave it for the owner. But that's just me. What would you do and why?

 

I'd have to agree with you, if you broke it, you should do everything in your power to get it fixed. Most 4-5 terrain caches are going to be more exposed to elements and are visited less often. This is a good example for the benefits of carrying some maintenance supplies with you or even a spare container. It's even more critical when visiting the cache again requires so much effort.

 

I use a lock-n-lock in my pack to keep some smaller items together. In a situation like this, I would leave it and whenever I do a 4 or 5 star cache I go intending to do some maintenance. But I am part pack mule and don't mind the extra weight and bulk. A yard of cammo duct tape can work in a pinch too.

Edited November 24, 2008 by Team GeoBlast

[+TexasGringo]

I usually keep some spare caching parts in the car...Baggies, 35mm containers, bison tubes, magnetic key case, pens, etc. Just in case.

 

Here is one I busted in 2006.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LU...81-c91edf6f8b1b

[+briansnat]

A responsible cache finder will offer to fix it. A responsible cache owner will tell him not to worry about it and take care of it himself.

[Neos2]

I've broken a cache before, too, also not a 4-terrain. I didn't have a replacement and couldn't repair it, so I went to the nearest place to buy a new one and took ti back to the site.

 

Nowdays I carry replacement/repair items with me all the time. If it were remote and I knew I wouldn't be able to go back, I'd try to repair it with what I have with me.

 

If it required special tools etc, I'd probably leave a replacement cache that matched the original as near as possible from what I have with me and carry the other one out with me, get it repaired or replaced. I'd try to hook up with someone planning to go to the cache anyway, so they could return the original container. Failing that, I would get it to the cache owner, with my extreme apologies. I'd let the owner or the other cacher keep my replacement cache as a small way of compensating them for having to go out to the cache to replace the revamped container.

 

Of course, all of that varies with exactly what we are talking about. If they had a coffee can out in the boonies that was rusting and getting holes in the lid anyway, I'd probably leave an ammo can or a lock n lock in it's place and ask the owner if that satisfied them. If they had a specialty container out there, I'd try harder to replace it just as I found it.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

You know what to do... you learned it in kindergarten!

 

ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN

 

(a guide for Global Leadership)

 

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

 

These are the things I learned:

 

* Share everything.

* Play fair.

* Don't hit people.

* Put things back where you found them.

* Clean up your own mess.

* Don't take things that aren't yours.

* Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.

* Wash your hands before you eat.

* Flush.

* Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

* Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

* Take a nap every afternoon.

* When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.

* Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

* Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.

* And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

 

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

 

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

 

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

 

[source: "ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN" by Robert Fulghum. See his web site at http://www.robertfulghum.com/ ]

[Mag Magician]

I recently broke stage 1 of a multi. Due to the fact that the CO had gone to a great deal of effort in creating a one of a kind container, there was no option but to secure the broken container where it could be protected and found, then notify the CO. In other cases, I have always carried at a minimum, a gallon Ziploc, and protected the cache as well as can be done on short notice. If, after e-mailing the CO, they suggested I replace a container, I am quite happy to return and do my best. As AR mentioned, it's all about sharing.

[+9Key]

I think what you meant to say was....

* Clean up your own mess.

Or maybe not. "Rambler" is an apt geo-nick.

[+JBnW]

Haven't broken one yet, but did manage to walk away with a log book from a to-be-audited Challenge series. Didn't figure it out until I was at the next cache, way down the road, when gas was $4/gallon! I called the CO to let them know why the next finder might come in complaining about missing logs, and overnight mailed the log back to them (with sincere apologies and groveling).

[+doingitoldschool]

It will go back together but due to physical limitations you cannot make another trip to the cache.

 

 

I am guessing this is the key element in your question. You seem to be ready and willing to replace it, but possibly unable to get back to the location. You could buy a replacement container, place it in a hiding spot as close to the cache as you can get too, and then post a note letting the next person know that the replacement container is there, ready to go. This isn't a prefect solution at all, but it might work for you!

[+ShowStop]

After finding almost 10,000 caches, I'd guess I've broken about 50 caches. Some were just your basic cracked container, other damage was far worse. Many of those I was not able to or did not fix myself. In most cases I reported it to the owner.

 

This is offset by the many caches I have fixed over the years. Most by reading previous logs and seeing a NM log or similar note. In fact, last weekend I broke one cache (did not fix, reported), and fixed 2 others. It mostly just depends on whether or not I have the right supplies with me or how technical the cache is. I've found many caches that were so fragile, just searching for the cache could break the camo. If the camo isn't that durable, it shouldn't be my responsibility to fix it.

[+Grigorii Rasputin]

I guess I would feel the need to replace it as I was the last one who touched it. That's just me. I would also hope someone would extend to me the same courtesy were it my cache that was broken. And, don't think about it as fixing someone else's cache. Think of it as an investment in our cool, amazing, dynamic sport!!!

 

Cache Safe!!

Grigorii Rasputin

http://www.glass-cockpit.org

http://grigoriirasputin.wordpress.com

[+Stargazer22]

I haven't broken one yet. I have come across a few broken ones and did my best to leave them in better shape than they were when I found them. Also emailed the owners about the condition, what I did, and what still needed to be done.

 

I did almost lose one, though. It was one of those magnetic blinkies stuck in a slot in an old tailgate out in the woods. As soon as I saw the tailgate, I knew pretty much it was going to be a magnetic cache on it somewhere. Found it in about 20 seconds. I stood the tailgate up to get a good look at the end and the crack I saw there. Yup, there it is just inside the crack in the metal. Slid my fingers inside and got a hold on it. As I am drawing my hand back out, it slips from my fingers and I hear it 'ping' 'ping' 'ping' inside the tailgate. Spent the next 40 minutes determining that the little bugger managed to find a little hole in the metal and fell out in the sand. After several frustrating minutes trying to find it in the sand I realized all I needed was something metallic for it to grab onto. Went back to the jeep for a nice long box end wrench. After a couple of passes dragging it through the sand, I hear 'clink', look down, and it's sitting on the side of the wrench. I signed the log and VERY carefully put it back where it belonged.

It was one of my fastest finds but I wound up spending quite a bit of time on it.

[+Packanack]

A responsible cache finder will offer to fix it. A responsible cache owner will tell him not to worry about it and take care of it himself.

 

Last placement I made had a lousy mount, how do I know because it did not stand up to an enthusiastic child who found it. It is my ownership obligation to replace. Stuff happens. But if it happens three times I figure I made a poor hide and archive. This falls mainly in the more urban hide setting where I have had some maint problems. One time the cache was muggled before it got published, got replaced and the retaining wall about 20 feet tall collapsed on it.

 

Recently, I made it known that I wanted to pick up an old hide out in the way, but a friend wanted to do it before it got archived, so he went with a group and I asked that they pick it up and use the can for a new hide, which they did. So I see nothing wrong in asking a following cacher to help out or to pick up if there is an issue. It just seems as if our locals are very cooperative in helping each other out.

Edited November 25, 2008 by Packanack

[+MountainRacer]

I found one already broken once. It was an orange pill bottle that had rolled loose of its lamp post and been run over. That was the last trip I made without a spare 35mm in my trunk.

[+Unkle Fester]

I haven't broken one, but I dropped a magnetic one into a deep ditch full of blackberries. I retrieved it with lots of pain and logged the little adventure. This was back before 100 finds and the cache owner sent me a nice little email thanking me for retrieving it and his opinion (that I agree with) about how a lot of cachers wouldn't. Ever since, if I have a DNF, I look in the ditch or other bad spot to drop a cache. Sometimes I find the dropped cache.

 

Of course, I've found them run over and if I find the log will recover and put out a replacement. (usually with a micro) and every good cacher should carry spares... I would hope if someone found a problem with one of mine that they would fix it too.

 

My two cents.

[+Bad_CRC]

I'd definitely fix it. I've fixed caches before that were broken when I got there, so I know if I broke it myself, I'd fix it and write in the log what happened so the owner knew why the container was different.

[+narkedfrog77]

I myself have wrecked a cache. It was in washington, a long way from home. It was a film can on a hook and hooked around the inside of a fence post. I went to put the cache back and dropped it down the fence post. I stewed on it for a night, let the cache owner know as soon as i did it, but couldn't let it go at that. I went to the dollar store, got a reaching magnet, and some electrical wire. tied it to the magnet and shoved it down the pole.

 

Well on the first try the magnet grabbed the hook and i pulled it out. I was so relieved. I put the cache back contacted the cache owner again and walked away with a feeling of gratification.

 

Thanks for the forums.

Kris

[+DanOCan]

Well, someone needs to be the bad guy here so it may as well be me.

 

I would log my Find followed by a Needs Maintenance log. If you want to hide a cache with a difficult terrain, you better make sure it is durable unless you want to make a lot of trips out for maintenance.