Jonathan Dickinson

[nbailey17]

i know that this is very location specific but just south of a small town called hobe sound, florida is jonathan dickinson state park. i was looking for the oppurtunity to go for a long time because there were hundreds of caches within the area. well i finally got the chance last friday and when i looked online they were all gone does anyone kno wat happened?

Edited November 30, 2009 by nbailey17

[+jeffbouldin]

Try posting your question on some local forums. Someone there might know the answer. Here is one to start with. http://www.floridacaching.com/

[+wimseyguy]

I'm not sure which page you looked at online, but I just googled the park and shifted the geocaching.com google map to this image and see 462 results for caches of all kinds and many in the park itself. Sometimes the google maps take a minute to load-perhaps you were impatient? Or if you were zoomed out too far you won't see any icons if the search returns more than 500.

 

There is even an earthcache based on the geology of JDSP now, center a search here if you like.

[nbailey17]

i realize there are alot around it in the jupiter area and several in the park but there used to be over a hundred within the park itself (or thats what im remembering off the top of my head at least)

[+Isonzo Karst]

Nearly all of the caches in the park are archived annually, at the park's request. Then moved and republished early in December. At the moment there are +250 active caches in JDSP.

 

Here's a geocaching map of the park, roughly centered. You'll need to zoom out to get a feel for it. And here's a current, December 2009, bookmarked list for the caches in the park.

 

Because of the big annual event early each December, and the park's request that the caches mostly be moved each year, the park is largely cache free for the month of November. It takes time to pick up all those ammo cans: replace logs, reswag, and reposition that many caches, write them up, get them all published, even with the efforts of a number of cachers.

[+Gregg 00SS]

Ditto the previous poster. The old caches were removed several months ago for placement of the new caches for CP4 which I attended this past weekend. I too was a little behind the 8 ball and didn't get out there in time to grab any of the old ones. There are now approx 240 new caches in the park which should stay there until atleast fall of next year.

[+The Blorenges]

Nearly all of the caches in the park are archived annually, at the park's request. Then moved and republished early in December. At the moment there are +250 active caches in JDSP.

 

Here's a geocaching map of the park, roughly centered. You'll need to zoom out to get a feel for it. And here's a current, December 2009, bookmarked list for the caches in the park.

 

Because of the big annual event early each December, and the park's request that the caches mostly be moved each year, the park is largely cache free for the month of November. It takes time to pick up all those ammo cans: replace logs, reswag, and reposition that many caches, write them up, get them all published, even with the efforts of a number of cachers.

 

Wow.

 

I've never come across this sort of arrangement before.

 

What's the reasoning behind it all? Is it done for conservation reasons, to ensure that certain well-cached areas get a chance to recover? Or done so that all caches keep up to a high standard of regular maintence? Or to keep up a good regular supply of fresh caches each year?

 

I can see it must be a lot of work for the local caching community.

 

MrsB (Just curious)

Edited December 8, 2009 by The Blorenges

[+Maxwell10]

Nearly all of the caches in the park are archived annually, at the park's request. Then moved and republished early in December. At the moment there are +250 active caches in JDSP.

 

Here's a geocaching map of the park, roughly centered. You'll need to zoom out to get a feel for it. And here's a current, December 2009, bookmarked list for the caches in the park.

 

Because of the big annual event early each December, and the park's request that the caches mostly be moved each year, the park is largely cache free for the month of November. It takes time to pick up all those ammo cans: replace logs, reswag, and reposition that many caches, write them up, get them all published, even with the efforts of a number of cachers.

 

Wow.

 

I've never come across this sort of arrangement before.

 

What's the reasoning behind it all? Is it done for conservation reasons, to ensure that certain well-cached areas get a chance to recover? Or done so that all caches keep up to a high standard of regular maintence? Or to keep up a good regular supply of fresh caches each year?

 

I can see it must be a lot of work for the local caching community.

 

MrsB (Just curious)

 

It's done so that attendees will have a fresh supply of new caches to find at the event. The current caches will be up until Oct/Nov of 2010 and then they will be archived and moved around for next year's event which btw may be bumped into January.

[+The Blorenges]

Thanks.

 

I thought I understood (from Isonzo Karst's post) that it has to be done as a stipulation from the Park Authority in allowing geocaching to take place there. My curiosity comes from the fact that physical geocaches have recently been banned from the London Royal Parks so I'm interested to read how other large Park Authorities deal with geocaching matters.

 

MrsB

[+Isonzo Karst]

The annual turn over is per park management's request with the added benefit of creating new listings for the big winter event. It makes sense, the hides nearest the roads and trail heads get many visits through the winter. And some in the hot summer months. Taking them all out and shifting them allows the user trails to the caches to recover.

 

They do allow a couple of the old caches in the park to remain in place. One of them is locally famous, and requires a boat. Like most boat caches, it doesn't get enough visits to beat up the vegetation. Each year some of the previous year's cache placements are left - typically the hides well out on the hiking trails, or boat access caches. Those could probably stay for years.

Edited December 9, 2009 by Isonzo Karst

[+The Blorenges]

Thanks for the info.

[Clan Riffster]

Is the nearby Loxahatchee River Natural Area closed to cachers?

[+Isonzo Karst]

nearby Loxahatchee River Natural Area

If you mean the Palm Beach County managed land, I would guess it's opened to caching, as that's the norm for Palm Beach Natural Areas. The CPZ crew work with Palm Beach NA managers quite a bit.

There is some recently acquired river land in the State Park (south end, doesn't all show on maps) that's closed to caches, as the park is still doing their assessment.

Edited December 14, 2009 by Isonzo Karst