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Checking on your own caches - a few questions


Opalblade

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How often do you tend to check on your caches that as far as you know are perfectly fine?

 

When you go what types of things have you found wrong with them (that weren't reported by finders)?

 

Do you add swag or let the cycle of swag take its course?

 

If I'm in the area and it hasn't been found in a while...I check.

Do I add swag? If it merits it, yes.

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I try to check on them all at least once per year or so but must admit I haven't been to a few of them in over 4 years - but they are found and no reported issues.

 

I always restock the caches with nice new swag and remove any junk I find.

 

The most common problem I find is faded stickers, faded camo and faded writing on the caches.

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If I am in the area and recall where they are (I don't keep there coordinates with me) then I will stop and look. But I have some that are over a year old with only a few finds. Those are generally ok. The ones that have over a 100 finds a year I try to visit and check them. They get more use thus abuse than others so have had to replace containers to stand up to the usage conditions. I don't do swag or 1st 2 find items just a log and golf pencil in every cache.

Edited by rambrush
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We check occasionally through the year. If a traveler gets dropped into one that rarely gets visitors, we go out and move it after it has sat w/o pickup for a period of time. Hate to let the 'bugs sit for to long. As we are in a picturesque area, we usually add a photo or two in doing so.

 

At times, people on a caching run (50+ per day) have mislogged "NM" logs at a couple. There are some nearby that seem to get no maintenance whatsoever, hence the loggers confuse them (so far that has been the case). We know it, but we always check when there is such a log.

 

Have also upgraded cache containers with better ones at any opportunity (finally found a fairly good source of Lock 'n Locks B) ).

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Very much depends on the cache. Several are a mile hike in. I only check on them if I'm back in the area. Which is not often. Checked on my first hide after five years. Still in good shape! Even the ones a quarter of a mile in do not get checked often, if at all. Unless someone reports a problem. Gotta check on one of my recent hides on Friday. Last finder reported that a bear chewed a hole through it.

Heck, I've got two caches that haven't been found in a year! Don't see any reason to check on them.

My urban hides probably get checked a couple of times a year (unless a problem is reported.)

What sort of problems that were not reported? Missing log. Someone didn't close it properly. Sometimes people steal the ZipLocks. My LetterBox hybrid stamp seems to wander off. I've had to replace it twice in two years. But that one is easy to check on. Nothing major.

I don't care about swag. I usually let it run its one course. Unless I have something in the backpack...

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As someone who has only 3 hides so far but plans for several others this coming year, here is my plan for maintenance.

 

The caches in town I'll check when someone says they need maintenance, or several DNFs for them. For those caches farther out, in the woods, I'll check them in the spring so they are ready for the summer hikers, and again in the fall.

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How often do you tend to check on your caches that as far as you know are perfectly fine?

 

When you go what types of things have you found wrong with them (that weren't reported by finders)?

 

Do you add swag or let the cycle of swag take its course?

 

If, as far as I know the caches are "perfectly fine", the checking frequency equals, never. This means that every time that I go, the cache is either missing or severely damaged and gets replaced and restocked.

 

We tend to be quite different from most cachers when it comes to cache maintenance however.

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If we are driving by the cache we always stop. We add swag if we have some available in the car. The worst we have found wrong so far is people putting the caches where they think it was suppose to be. Sometimes it throws the cache off about 20 feet. If we have a DNF on our cache most of the time we run out and check it. Most of ours are withing 3 miles of our house. So maintaining is easy. But if we know the hide was a little harder than most we tend to let a DNF go for a few people. Like a 1 1/2 inch tube in ALOT of ivy.

Edited by ThomasFamily102
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How often do you tend to check on your caches that as far as you know are perfectly fine?

That depends. If a cache is usually found twice a week and suddenly there are no logs for two weeks I check it. People don't log DNF!

When you go what types of things have you found wrong with them (that weren't reported by finders)?

Lid not closed. Cache moved to a different location, or was muggled. One the cache was still there but all the content was gone. So no trade items, no discover-only coin and the logbook was gone as well. Sometimes coins got lost as well.

Do you add swag or let the cycle of swag take its course?

I did but I won't add anything anymore. I rather spend the money directly on some worthy cause. I initially fill the geocache with useful stuff, but if it gets downtraded, I don't care anymore. However I remove things that are rotten or obviously rubbish.

 

GermanSailor

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Depends on the cache. I have a few that I haven't seen in years. The logs tell me they're still in good shape so I won't make a special trip to check. When I'm in the area I will check them and if I have stuff with me I will spice up the contents.

 

Last weekend I had to make a maint trip to a cache that I hadn't seen since I placed it in 2002. I had another cache in my pack so I used some of the contents to spice it up.

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How often do you tend to check on your caches that as far as you know are perfectly fine?

I guess it depends. For caches along hiking trails and such, I just let them sit for I doubt they'd be muggled or anything. For my urban caches, I try to check them at minimum once every 3 months.

 

When you go what types of things have you found wrong with them (that weren't reported by finders)?

One of my logbooks was ripped in half and discarded by a cacher with no reference to it in any log. That bugged me. On another, I had the cache ziptied to a fence and when I checked it, the ziptie was gone and it was on the ground. I suppose anyone could have cut the tie, but if it was a muggle, I figure they would have trashed the whole thing. I can only imagine a cacher did it and "fogot" to mention it in their log.

 

Do you add swag or let the cycle of swag take its course?

Let it take its course, but when I hide them I pack them full of stuff.

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I try to check all my caches twice annually, but I don't always make it. When I do maintenance, I dump everything out, wipe out the container to remove dirt or moisture, replace container, if necessary, replace log book if necessary, remove all crappy swag and replace with new swag, replace pen or pencil.

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How often do you tend to check on your caches that as far as you know are perfectly fine?

 

When you go what types of things have you found wrong with them (that weren't reported by finders)?

 

Do you add swag or let the cycle of swag take its course?

if im in the area and muggles arent an issue, i'll check on them.

as far as swag, whats in em is whats in em

i might drop off or take a coin/tb and thats about it.

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If I am in the area and recall where they are (I don't keep there coordinates with me)

 

I had that problem too then had the bright idea to make a custom poi file that I keep my owned cache coordinates in, as long as I have my gps I have the coords, so far it has worked well.

 

bwmick

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I tend to go by what people say in the logs: Log is full, log is damp, no swag in cache, cache was exposed, etc… My wife has a nano that she needs to check frequently as it is constantly being replaced incorrectly, and as such it lowers the difficulty of the find. Fortunately it is in an easily accessible area.

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I have too many caches out to be checking on them unless they need attention. I did have one cache that no one found for quite some time and there were a number of DNFs logged. The day before I was going to travel the 30+ miles (round trip) to check on the cache someone finally found it. I have had to make a 40+ miles (one-way) trip to check on a cache when it was reported missing only to find someone put it where they 'thought' it should be and not where it was found.

Now, if one of my caches is reported as missing, I'll see if any blue faces show up before going to check on it, unless it is nearby.

However, a good many of my caches probably don't see more than a dozen or so logs in a year's time; so not a lot of need for maintenance.

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I have caches that are checked by other cachers when they are too far away for me to do it. But ones near me besides the normal checking on "maintenance request" I check the logs once in awhile to see if anyone left a note in their "find" log. Or if it had been sitting too long without being found. I had reports of cachers claiming to drop something into a cache that is a nano, moved a cache without notifing me so I ended up replacing the cache to find out there would be two there now. Cabled caches cut, one crushed and muggle left a note on the log sheet, "hidden better" is so wrong if that cacher doesn't tell you where "better" is. What I really don't like is hypocrite cachers who move your caches to a better spot, or replace your log or cache without telling you but at the same time they don't want you to do the same to theirs.

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How often do you tend to check on your caches that as far as you know are perfectly fine?

usually, whenever I'm passing unless an issue is reported in which case I'll either visit myself or ask a local cacher who had prevoiusly found it if they could check for me.

 

When you go what types of things have you found wrong with them (that weren't reported by finders)?

Nothing, so far all reports have been accurate. One cache had gotten washed away after heavy rain (Not had chance to replace it yet.

 

Do you add swag or let the cycle of swag take its course?

Never add swag. If people want to add stuff that is up to them. Will remove stuff from time to time should a cache become too full.

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I try to check all our caches once a year unless they are so far out of the way that they don't get found too often. Then we play it by ear.

Oddest thing so far- One of our Multi caches had it's final container go missing last summer. So we replaced it and didn't check on it again until just last week. We were in the area and I insisted on a maintenance check even though all the logs were OK. We found 2 containers, stacked on top of each other, the missing one on the bottom and still containing the TBs that had been in it. And weirdly enough, logs in both logbooks from every finder since the replacement was made.

It was really odd that nobody mentioned it at all!

Jen

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.... caching season....

Yikes!! ;)

 

Thers is a "season"??

 

What's the fine for Geocaching "out" of season??

 

Where I live snow depth on the ground reaches about 3 feet. Many caches are buried in the snow and are not accessible or findable (is that a word) until the snow melts. Some caches may be high enough off the ground to find, but you would need snowshoes to get to them. Even if you want to seek some of these, the cold does not make it fun. So yes, in some areas, there is definitely and "out of season" for geocaching. I live in a small town with about 30 caches in a 5 mile radius. Only two of these have been found since the snow arrived in November.

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