+ventura_kids Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 WHO: EMC of Northridge California F0T0M0M Ventura_Kids WHAT: Set a new World Record for Speed caching. We found a total of 413 caches in one day. WHEN: August 29th 2009 - Midnight to Midnight WHERE: Denver, Colorado, USA WHY: We just wanted to see if it could be done. HOW: We had 4 cachers in one vehicle. We started by waiting across the street from the first cache until exactly midnight. At midnight we ran across the street and started searching. The weather was perfect. Total Mileage Driven = 471.5 (1.08 miles per cache) Total Caches found/Dnf'd =413/23 Average cache time = 3 Minutes 18 Seconds
+JohnE5 Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 Great job! A few questions. Any multis or puzzles? Stopped for gas how many times? Get tired of it at all during any point? That area must be cache saturated, correct?
+ZeroHecksGiven Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 nice work, I'm stoked on 10 in one day, lol There are all fresh unfound caches too I assume?
+ventura_kids Posted September 6, 2009 Author Posted September 6, 2009 Great job! A few questions. Any multis or puzzles? Stopped for gas how many times? Get tired of it at all during any point? That area must be cache saturated, correct? No multi's on this run. We did do a few puzzles that could be solved ahead of time to get the final coordinates. Tired?... why yes. We didn't get much sleep ahead of time. We left the hotel at 11pm and drove to the starting point. Gas? We had to fill up twice in order to make the entire run. Saturated? Not any more than most urban areas. The average distance between caches was just over ONE mile.
+ventura_kids Posted September 6, 2009 Author Posted September 6, 2009 nice work, I'm stoked on 10 in one day, lol There are all fresh unfound caches too I assume? Fresh and unfound. We've never been in this town before. One of us had driven thru on the main highway, so we had to leave his previous 7 quick and easy finds off our list. No pre-driving, no familiarity with the roads nor the area. No local guides either. I guess that's why we ended up with 23 DNF's. That's a pretty high ratio for us.
+Knight2000 Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 (edited) I hope you had fun. That's a lot of work! You must have planned your route ahead of time. That sounds like torture to me. I hate caching with that many people. I like to find it and not just sign the log that was in the cache someone else found. Edited September 6, 2009 by Knight2000
+ventura_kids Posted September 6, 2009 Author Posted September 6, 2009 I hope you had fun. That's a lot of work! That sounds like torture to me. I hate caching with that many people. I like to find it and not just sign the log that was in the cache someone else found. It was crazy. We had a blast. Perhaps the Country Western Music would be too much for some people. I'm sure it's not for everyone.
+Gimpy13 Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 That's incredible. I'd love to hear details about your planning / mapping process. Congrats!! (I got 21 today and I think I'm hot stuff.)
+mrbort Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 Congrats! The crucial thing is that you guys had a lot of fun doing it and that it will be a great memory for all of you.
+ventura_kids Posted September 6, 2009 Author Posted September 6, 2009 That's incredible. I'd love to hear details about your planning / mapping process. Congrats!! (I got 21 today and I think I'm hot stuff.) We use gsak, Garmin Mapsource, and Google Earth. There were a few roads missing that caused us to modify the route on the fly, and a couple of new roads that helped save us a bit of time. We avoided traffic lights wherever possible, and minimized the ones we had to sit at. The biggest time loss was on dead end roads. If we drove out 3 or 4 miles to get caches, we had to drive all the way back.
+ecanderson Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 (edited) WHO:EMC of Northridge California F0T0M0M Ventura_Kids WHAT: Set a new World Record for Speed caching. We found a total of 413 caches in one day. WHEN: August 29th 2009 - Midnight to Midnight WHERE: Denver, Colorado, USA WHY: We just wanted to see if it could be done. HOW: We had 4 cachers in one vehicle. We started by waiting across the street from the first cache until exactly midnight. At midnight we ran across the street and started searching. The weather was perfect. Total Mileage Driven = 471.5 (1.08 miles per cache) Total Caches found/Dnf'd =413/23 Average cache time = 3 Minutes 18 Seconds While I don't begrudge your record for a moment, if you spent a lot of time out east of the airport, that count doesn't come as much of a surprise to me as it might to others. A couple of local cachers have managed to place caches nearly ever 0.1 mile on a series of country roads out there. All 35mm cans up against fiber optic or gas line marker posts. Good way to run up the numbers, but about as low as it gets on the "interesting" scale. When you get around to logging them all (I REALLY don't envy you that job!) it will be interesting to see if you managed to cover them all. But with as many as you logged, you must have also gotten out of that territory and into some more interesting caches. We certainly do have a lot of them out here. Hope you had fun. Edited September 6, 2009 by ecanderson
Tahosa and Sons Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 Glad you had fun, I just wish I could be back up there to just look at the mountains. Next time you visit CO, I'll buy each of you a Garmin Oregon if you can find this CACHE in just one day. Congratulations, and so glad you had fun. Hey how many Fat Tires were consumed after the run.
+TheAlabamaRambler Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 (edited) Congrats again! Would y'all consider writing a story about your run for The Online Geocacher? I'm sure folks would love to read about it. Edited September 6, 2009 by TheAlabamaRambler
+popokiiti Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 Glad you had fun, sorry you had a few DNFs. A fantastic effort....tell me, what did you do about food and drinks?
AZcachemeister Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 And of course the cache owners have all verified the LEGIBLE signatures on the logs and that the caches were all re-hidden properly?
+ventura_kids Posted September 6, 2009 Author Posted September 6, 2009 Glad you had fun, sorry you had a few DNFs. A fantastic effort....tell me, what did you do about food and drinks? Food and drinks? We brought an ice chest with both. We stuck with food that could be eaten while driving between the caches where we had gaps. Some spots allowed for 4 or 5 minutes of casual cruising down the nice straight dirt roads. Here's the link to EMC of Northridge blog There are some pics of the area. Lots of stickers were brought into the car. They were terrible to remove in the dark....lots of finger injuries. The worst thing was all the bugs at night. We kept the lights off in the car, but the bugs chased the head lamp wearing victims right into the car.There were a few screaming panic stops to remove larger insects that had entered the vehicle with the female cachers.
+Sagefox Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 (edited) Why midnight to midnight rather than 7 am to 7 am? 7 am would have given you 6 to 8 hrs of sleep before beginning the run. Edit: Oh yes, congratulations on finishing this great adventure. It sounds like it was a fun project. And another question: Did you have one person be scribe between caches to write descriptive notes about each cache to help with the on-line logging? Edited September 6, 2009 by Team Sagefox
+Knight2000 Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 I think this facilitates the dreaded copy and paste logs. <i.e. Give me my smiley!>
+ventura_kids Posted September 6, 2009 Author Posted September 6, 2009 Why midnight to midnight rather than 7 am to 7 am? 7 am would have given you 6 to 8 hrs of sleep before beginning the run. Edit: Oh yes, congratulations on finishing this great adventure. It sounds like it was a fun project. And another question: Did you have one person be scribe between caches to write descriptive notes about each cache to help with the on-line logging? Why Midnight to Midnight? We do agree with you, that a different start time would be an advantage. We had a lot of discussion regarding a 3am start, or a 7 am start, and the benefits. Our plan was to get a couple hours of sleep before our 11pm departure time, but we ended up staying awake for the entire 2 days. We had decided to make the record a ONE DAY record. By starting at midnight, all the finds would be in the same day on geocaching.com . A scribe? We had 3 cachers keeping track of our statistics, and yelling out times and counts. I remember hearing things like "32 minutes, 12 finds, plus 3, yellow pole, micro, 1.5, 1.5, no dnf's". As the driver, I had no idea what it all meant. I just got us to the next cache as quickly as possible.
+keehotee Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 As the driver, I had no idea what it all meant. I just got us to the next cache as quickly as possible. So did you - as the driver - find any of the caches yourself?
+Snoogans Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 WHO: EMC of Northridge California F0T0M0M Ventura_Kids WHAT: Set a new World Record for Speed caching. We found a total of 413 caches in one day. WHEN: August 29th 2009 - Midnight to Midnight WHERE: Denver, Colorado, USA WHY: We just wanted to see if it could be done. HOW: We had 4 cachers in one vehicle. We started by waiting across the street from the first cache until exactly midnight. At midnight we ran across the street and started searching. The weather was perfect. Total Mileage Driven = 471.5 (1.08 miles per cache) Total Caches found/Dnf'd =413/23 Average cache time = 3 Minutes 18 Seconds Good for you guys! Wasn't it also Elin's birthday that day? I remember wishing her happy birthday and seeing all her status updates that day. It sounded like fun.
+ventura_kids Posted September 6, 2009 Author Posted September 6, 2009 As the driver, I had no idea what it all meant. I just got us to the next cache as quickly as possible. So did you - as the driver - find any of the caches yourself? Yes, I found some. Normally I would swing the car towards the cache (so we could use the headlights), and then ensure no cars were going to hit us (left flashers on) before exiting. Normally the team of 3 would be at the cache site searching by the time I started my usual countdown with the gps.....40....30....20... If they didn't find it by the time I got to zero, I would choose a spot and start hunting.
+ecanderson Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 Yes, I found some. Normally I would swing the car towards the cache (so we could use the headlights), and then ensure no cars were going to hit us (left flashers on) before exiting. Normally the team of 3 would be at the cache site searching by the time I started my usual countdown with the gps.....40....30....20... If they didn't find it by the time I got to zero, I would choose a spot and start hunting. OK - from that description, I think my initial guess was right. Fortunately, there's not much traffic on the roads out there E of the airport. But if anyone DOES come by, you can sure find yourself eating dust! They don't bother treating any of the roads out there with mag chloride or anything, so their either dust or mud all year long. Was reading another of your posts above, and see you got introduced to our nasty little "sticky burrs". I'm not sure what the real name of the plant is, but those little barbed balls are a real PITA. They love socks, and you can actually pick them up on the bottom of your shoes and pretty well cover the floor mats with them. In any other year, the bugs wouldn't have been much of an issue, but we've had a very unusual amount of rain this summer. So apart from the "0.1 strings" of caches, which ones did you find that were really interesting out here? Or is it still all a blur? Where else did you guys go in the area?
+ecanderson Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 I think this facilitates the dreaded copy and paste logs. <i.e. Give me my smiley!> Believe me, if they did the "numbers run" out east and south of DIA airport, that's all the log most of the caches in that area really deserve (see my description, above). Brady (GHP) has a few tougher ones in that area that are worth a look, but most of the others out there are just a long series of 35's next to stakes. Center; yourself up on GC1WA6B and back up with the zoom. You won't back up more than 4 clicks before you reach the gc.com 500 max on the map. It's pretty crazy out there.
+ventura_kids Posted September 6, 2009 Author Posted September 6, 2009 ......and we are looking for another place for our next speedcaching run soon
+Puppy Dawg Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 ......and we are looking for another place for our next speedcaching run soon Try Big Bear. That's where we got our personal record. (50)
+wimseyguy Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 (edited) Congrats, sounds like a lot of FUN! Not how I like to cache all the time, but it can sure be fun once in a while when everyone is on the same page. PS loved reading the blog-for those of you who doubt this achievement, or why someone would even attempt it you should read it before making a negative post. Edited September 6, 2009 by wimseyguy
+bittsen Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 WHO: EMC of Northridge California F0T0M0M Ventura_Kids WHAT: Set a new World Record for Speed caching. We found a total of 413 caches in one day. WHEN: August 29th 2009 - Midnight to Midnight WHERE: Denver, Colorado, USA WHY: We just wanted to see if it could be done. HOW: We had 4 cachers in one vehicle. We started by waiting across the street from the first cache until exactly midnight. At midnight we ran across the street and started searching. The weather was perfect. Total Mileage Driven = 471.5 (1.08 miles per cache) Total Caches found/Dnf'd =413/23 Average cache time = 3 Minutes 18 Seconds If you were driving at 60mph, your drive time alone would be 7.85 hours all by itself (assuming the speed limit was 60mph in every instance. That would only leave 16.15 hours of actual caching which would equate to 2.22 minutes of searching (average) per cache (adding the DNFs in). The math is WAY off because there would be vehicle dismounting and remounting times with 4 people (sometimes the driver) and acceleration/deceleration variables. Not to mention at least one stop for gas assuming zero potty breaks.... Once all the variables are guessed out, that would be about 45-60 seconds per cache for locating and signing. Call me a skeptic.....
+webscouter. Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 WHO: EMC of Northridge California F0T0M0M Ventura_Kids WHAT: Set a new World Record for Speed caching. We found a total of 413 caches in one day. WHEN: August 29th 2009 - Midnight to Midnight WHERE: Denver, Colorado, USA WHY: We just wanted to see if it could be done. HOW: We had 4 cachers in one vehicle. We started by waiting across the street from the first cache until exactly midnight. At midnight we ran across the street and started searching. The weather was perfect. Total Mileage Driven = 471.5 (1.08 miles per cache) Total Caches found/Dnf'd =413/23 Average cache time = 3 Minutes 18 Seconds If you were driving at 60mph, your drive time alone would be 7.85 hours all by itself (assuming the speed limit was 60mph in every instance. That would only leave 16.15 hours of actual caching which would equate to 2.22 minutes of searching (average) per cache (adding the DNFs in). The math is WAY off because there would be vehicle dismounting and remounting times with 4 people (sometimes the driver) and acceleration/deceleration variables. Not to mention at least one stop for gas assuming zero potty breaks.... Once all the variables are guessed out, that would be about 45-60 seconds per cache for locating and signing. Call me a skeptic..... Have you ever caches with a 10,000+ cache finding cacher? I doubt you have. If you have you would know that they can see a cache hiding spot from 1000 feet. I have cached with one and she was spotting and pointing out where the cache was hidden before I had put my GPS into search mode. With four such cachers in the car I would guess that they spent less than 30 seconds actually finding the cache. It would take them longer to get the log out and back in to the plastic baggie.
+Albanysquad Posted September 6, 2009 Posted September 6, 2009 That's one more than I've ever found! Wow!
+ventura_kids Posted September 6, 2009 Author Posted September 6, 2009 WHO: EMC of Northridge California F0T0M0M Ventura_Kids WHAT: Set a new World Record for Speed caching. We found a total of 413 caches in one day. WHEN: August 29th 2009 - Midnight to Midnight WHERE: Denver, Colorado, USA WHY: We just wanted to see if it could be done. HOW: We had 4 cachers in one vehicle. We started by waiting across the street from the first cache until exactly midnight. At midnight we ran across the street and started searching. The weather was perfect. Total Mileage Driven = 471.5 (1.08 miles per cache) Total Caches found/Dnf'd =413/23 Average cache time = 3 Minutes 18 Seconds If you were driving at 60mph, your drive time alone would be 7.85 hours all by itself (assuming the speed limit was 60mph in every instance. That would only leave 16.15 hours of actual caching which would equate to 2.22 minutes of searching (average) per cache (adding the DNFs in). The math is WAY off because there would be vehicle dismounting and remounting times with 4 people (sometimes the driver) and acceleration/deceleration variables. Not to mention at least one stop for gas assuming zero potty breaks.... Once all the variables are guessed out, that would be about 45-60 seconds per cache for locating and signing. Call me a skeptic..... Hey.... we were skeptic's too. We doubted the previous record of 406 finds. So... we decided to give it a try. We decided to keep track of each hour, and see where we were by dinner time. If we were still in the low 200's by dinner time we would quit. lol.....Those tiny baggies WERE the biggest delay. The toughest thing was maintaining the speed for such a long time.
Mr.Yuck Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 Congrats, sounds like a lot of FUN! Not how I like to cache all the time, but it can sure be fun once in a while when everyone is on the same page. PS loved reading the blog-for those of you who doubt this achievement, or why someone would even attempt it you should read it before making a negative post. Yes. The Blog answers every question I've seen in this thread so far, and then some. Great reading! I learned long ago on one of my amazing 15-20 cache per day runs that you'll get a lot more done in cache rich rural areas/small towns than you will in urban or suburban areas. Despite the fact that I personally abhor rural roadside micros and especially high density clusters of said rural roadside micros. Anyways, this was an amazing feat that I don't doubt for a second. Congratulations again.
+ventura_kids Posted September 7, 2009 Author Posted September 7, 2009 Here's the link to EMC of Northridge blog There are some pics of the area. Here is the link for the blog.
Cache Bandits R Us Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 WHO: EMC of Northridge California F0T0M0M Ventura_Kids WHAT: Set a new World Record for Speed caching. We found a total of 413 caches in one day. WHEN: August 29th 2009 - Midnight to Midnight WHERE: Denver, Colorado, USA WHY: We just wanted to see if it could be done. HOW: We had 4 cachers in one vehicle. We started by waiting across the street from the first cache until exactly midnight. At midnight we ran across the street and started searching. The weather was perfect. Total Mileage Driven = 471.5 (1.08 miles per cache) Total Caches found/Dnf'd =413/23 Average cache time = 3 Minutes 18 Seconds If you were driving at 60mph, your drive time alone would be 7.85 hours all by itself (assuming the speed limit was 60mph in every instance. That would only leave 16.15 hours of actual caching which would equate to 2.22 minutes of searching (average) per cache (adding the DNFs in). The math is WAY off because there would be vehicle dismounting and remounting times with 4 people (sometimes the driver) and acceleration/deceleration variables. Not to mention at least one stop for gas assuming zero potty breaks.... Once all the variables are guessed out, that would be about 45-60 seconds per cache for locating and signing. Call me a skeptic..... Do the Math. My Sock Puppet agrees with Bittsen, vary doubtful this happened, not only the numbers here lead to it being impossible, you also mention losing time on return trips down roads. This cuts the searching and singing time down even more. The numbers don’t add up! in my book. Getting out of the car, finding the cache, opening the cache, signing as a team, re-hiding, getting back in, getting back to a speed of 60 mph in an instant. The Cache Bandit does not buy this claim.
+webscouter. Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 Here's the link to EMC of Northridge blog There are some pics of the area. Here is the link for the blog. I am curious about the really important things, like how many gallons of coffee/energy drink you used? How long did it take to log all the caches? How did you keep track of all the caches you found? Notebook or did you depend on the Field Notes? Did you have the gas/food/bathroom breaks scheduled into your route or did you hit that as needed? Can we cache together sometime?
+mrbort Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 (edited) Do the Math. My Sock Puppet agrees with Bittsen, vary doubtful this happened, not only the numbers here lead to it being impossible, you also mention losing time on return trips down roads. This cuts the searching and singing time down even more. The numbers don’t add up! in my book. Getting out of the car, finding the cache, opening the cache, signing as a team, re-hiding, getting back in, getting back to a speed of 60 mph in an instant. The Cache Bandit does not buy this claim. I certainly understand intelligent skepticism but it seems to me that a well-oiled machine should be able to crank something like this out given perfect circumstances. Why do you need to hide your identity to post your opinion? I guess if there is a song to be sung at caches, it could take a bit longer so your point about cutting the singing time is one I hadn't considered... As for the acceleration to 60mph, it's not really a necessary part of the calculation and even if it is, the 8 or so seconds needed to accelerate (note: it's not 10mph for 8 seconds but instead a ramp function) doesn't really bite much time (maybe a few seconds) out of the travel times between caches. I don't care who you are much as you don't care who I am. I do care that you're not brave enough to post with your non-sock puppet account. Also, I don't care who VK are or know them or have really any aspirations (other than a mild curiosity as to the satisfaction that would be garnered by a numbers run of any sort) to do anything like that. It's possible, given the right circumstances and planning and if you look at the map SE of the airport in denver it seems like the circumstances there are right. Expressing doubt in this thread neither adds nor detracts from what the OP claims. At least bittsen was brave enough to post his skepticism on his main account. Edited to add: congratulations to VK whatever you did that you had a memorable experience is what matters! Edited September 7, 2009 by mrbort
+Maingray Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 Grats guys!!! Another thing people need to realise when knocking these power runs is that they are FUN with the right company. And I bet this group had a BLAST!!
+Sagefox Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 Call me a skeptic..... The only problem I have with nay-saying in this topic is that the participants involved in this feat are up-and-up folks who are not likely to make up something like this. They just would not do that. The "math doers" will have to work through this as best they can.
+Knight2000 Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 lol.....Those tiny baggies WERE the biggest delay. If the cache needs a baggie to keep the log dry then it isn't a good cache container. Besides, the baggie usually just facilitates more wetness. Next time I would consider just chucking all the bags and replacing them with your new bag. Maybe not if you don't seal up the bag... No need to usually. They are just so tore up...
+jasondulac Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 congrates that is awsome but It must of been a pain loging all of those caches
+benh57 Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 Congrats again to the record breaking crew. VKs: I think texas has some similar powercaching routes... Clearly, to appease the skeptics, the next 400+ run needs to be recorded. (in its entirety. Hook a video camera up to a laptop, mount it in the back, and you could record 24 hours of video.
Mr.Yuck Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 Congrats again to the record breaking crew. VKs: I think texas has some similar powercaching routes... Clearly, to appease the skeptics, the next 400+ run needs to be recorded. (in its entirety. Hook a video camera up to a laptop, mount it in the back, and you could record 24 hours of video. That is true! Well, there is a video on EMC's blog of the approach to one cache. It gives you the idea of the kind of rural area they were in, and the type of roadside micro that was most likely the dominant type found during the run. But none of the naysayers are looking at the blog, they're just punching numbers into a calculator.
+Team Cotati Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 Call me a skeptic..... The only problem I have with nay-saying in this topic is that the participants involved in this feat are up-and-up folks who are not likely to make up something like this. They just would not do that. The "math doers" will have to work through this as best they can. Uh, like yeah, "The "math doers" will have to work through this as best they can." I think that they have got that covered fairly well.
+GRANPA ALEX Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 And I thought my 212 was a good one in a day . . . you blew the numbers, congratulations. I would love to come to CA and see my kids and run your route . . .
+sheppardnik Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 Wow! What a great adventure for you all!! Great job on the blog and thanks for the inspiration - my geopal and I are going to go for the 100 finds day soon. How much you wanna bet the Podcacher crew will be contacting you? This would make a great episode!
+The Jester Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 Do the Math. My Sock Puppet agrees with Bittsen, vary doubtful this happened, not only the numbers here lead to it being impossible, you also mention losing time on return trips down roads. This cuts the searching and singing time down even more. The numbers don’t add up! in my book. Getting out of the car, finding the cache, opening the cache, signing as a team, re-hiding, getting back in, getting back to a speed of 60 mph in an instant. The Cache Bandit does not buy this claim. The problem with "Do the Math" is that it doesn't prove a thing. By math a bee and helicopter "can't" fly - but they do. And without detailed route info, how can you "do the math"? VK (and the others): Great job! I hope you had a blast.
+wimseyguy Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 To the wannabe mathwhizkids-GIGO. Enter a wrong and flawed formula and you are bound to get the answer you want to prove this cannot be accomplished. equate to 2.22 minutes of searching (average) You are talking about someone who already has a self-imposed 7 minute rule with all of his caching. I suspect the 'searching' took less time than the signing and restuffing at most of these stops. And the best part is that there was plenty of laughing and giggling during the driving/searching/finding/signing/replacing/driving.
+ecanderson Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 (edited) If you were driving at 60mph, your drive time alone would be 7.85 hours all by itself (assuming the speed limit was 60mph in every instance. That would only leave 16.15 hours of actual caching which would equate to 2.22 minutes of searching (average) per cache (adding the DNFs in). Bittsen - as nutty as it sounds, it's entirely plausible. And understand, I've been on those stretchs of road while you haven't (you'd hate it anyway). A lot of the caches they would have nabbed would require ZERO search time. As they said, those that do the run out by the airport spend more time fiddling with the mini-ZipLoc bags than finding the cache. A huge number are all along an otherwise deserted set of roads, and the majority of those are 35mm film cans next to the only posts in sight. A decent vehicle GPS used to do the stop and start is all that's needed. You don't even need a handheld. The cache is either at the post or it's been muggled. As for the math and the drive times... 24 hours and 471 miles requires an average speed of just under 20mph, not 60. I did a run of 50+ caches out there one day before I got totally bored, and it's more than possible to make that average if you're hustling. I was doing it solo, too. Nobody to run out and start the grab while I rolled to a stop As I recall, I scored something like 52 caches in just over 4 hours -- and again, that was operating solo and not trying to set any records. Unless/until you actually do as I suggested and take a look at the map of that area, you are understandably skeptical -- but once you do, you won't be. It's absurd. If you look at the link below (give it a sec to fully load once the map us up), you'll get a sense of what the territory is out there. Empty prairie and farm fields everywhere. Link to "street" view of the area: Edited September 7, 2009 by ecanderson
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