How far is to far

[+Scubasonic]

Today was out on a FTF (got 8 of them) and met up with another cacher we climbed fences finally found the cache and his GPS said 190ft off GZ mine said 187 ft off this was a new cacher. Lucky for us the hint and description were fairly detailed, and we followed that to the find.

 

of the caches you have found (Without help from a precious finder giving you a hint) what's the farthest it was off coordinates wise. Just curious

 

Scubasonic

[+StarBrand]

110 Feet off for me. Found 2 or 3 in the 80 range. Several around 60.

[+Scubasonic]

110 Feet off for me. Found 2 or 3 in the 80 range. Several around 60.

 

Who that makes it hard

 

Scubasonic

[knowschad]

OK, I'm gonna shoot for the record here. Well... not me, really... it was my own cache that had the bad coordinates, and another cacher that found it, 237 feet away! I had flipped a couple of numbers around when creating the cache:

 

 

MSPMatt found Beware the Troll (Traditional Cache)

 

FTF 6:00pm - A few weeks ago, I found a micro 237' feet from the posted coordinates. This time I had the luxury of looking for a small container. Found it .38 mile from the posted coordinates.

 

The spooky thing is that I found two caches within 2 hours that used the exact same non-standard cache container. Hard to believe two different cachers published caches with that container on the same day.

 

The last time I was in this park was for the micro that Kitch hid in the tunnel nearby. TFTC knowschad. TNLNSL.

 

Edited January 21, 2010 by knowschad

[k_statealan]

About a tenth of a mile through trail-less, thick, tick infested grass and brush., give or take. But that was because someone had picked up the cache and then dumped it. It was called "Red" and was in a large Folgers can. It was left dumped in a broken off tree about eye level. I went over to investigate, not knowing what it was. Didn't know what cache it was at the time, either, so I didn't move it. Marked the coords though and posted a note. It got moved back when the next finder came along a few months later.

[+briansnat]

Probably around 100 feet.

[+tozainamboku]

How about half a mile?

(see log)

[+Scubasonic]

Before my FTF today the farthest record FTF for me was 128 ft off of GZ in a wooded area. Some records I don't want to break, and this happens to be one of them.

 

Scubasonic

[+birder428]

Well, I didn't find it, but there is a cache listing where the W coord was entered as one digit off. The parking coord was correct, making the cache 72 miles from the parking area.......................

[+narcissa]

Probably 50 metres. It was a multi-cache that asked the cacher to find an object, and then project from the object. The object had been moved. The cache owner didn't know it had moved, so I gave him the new coordinates for the object and he updated the page.

 

I've found a few caches that were at least 20 metres off. These are often older caches, with coordinates taken from older GPS models.

[+bittsen]

465 feet.

 

Boy, I'm glad i didn't go after those FTF's up there today. Like they say. Being FTF means you are a BETA tester for cache coords.

[jholly]

About 3 miles. Took a look at the cache on GM and decided no way. The latitude crossed a highway about 3 miles to the west and decided it had to be there instead. It was.

[+Scubasonic]

465 feet.

 

Boy, I'm glad i didn't go after those FTF's up there today. Like they say. Being FTF means you are a BETA tester for cache coords.

 

You got that right FTFers find all the problems you name it I have run into it on FTFs.

 

Scubasonic

[+Scubasonic]

465 feet.

 

Boy, I'm glad i didn't go after those FTF's up there today. Like they say. Being FTF means you are a BETA tester for cache coords.

 

There actually only was 1 bad one and I chalk it up to a new cacher with only 3 Finds and this being his 1st Hide. Well if nothing else next one from him should be better.

 

Scubasonic

[+Jumpin' Jack Cache]

1442689.8 feet (274.057 mi)

 

Phat phingers on the hider's part (5° W off) & going for FTF.

 

Normal caching, 150' is the most memorable but there have been others in that range with others having the same results.

[+bittsen]

465 feet.

 

Boy, I'm glad i didn't go after those FTF's up there today. Like they say. Being FTF means you are a BETA tester for cache coords.

 

There actually only was 1 bad one and I chalk it up to a new cacher with only 3 Finds and this being his 1st Hide. Well if nothing else next one from him should be better.

 

Scubasonic

 

Why are you still posting? Didn't you see the cache that just came out in camas?

 

~LOL~

 

Just teasin ya...

You keep posting while I put my shoes on and find my car keys

[+cycler48]

I need to get out more. I believe the furthest I've seen for coordinates being off is 24 feet. Maybe some of my DNF's were off more, but since I haven't found them, I'll never know.

[knowschad]

How about half a mile?

(see log)

Ouch!!! Great work. And that looks like some tough terrain around there, too!!

 

 

Original posted: N 34° 07.524 W 118° 32.671

 

You had: N 34° 07.927 W 118° 32.866

 

Current posted N 34° 07.924 W 118° 32.871

 

Looks like they typed a "5" instead of a "9" on the northerly coords, and a "6" when they meant "8" on the westerly one. Odd. And even the currently posted coords are significantly different from what you found.

 

I think I would have "left a kazoo", too!

[+Scubasonic]

465 feet.

 

Boy, I'm glad i didn't go after those FTF's up there today. Like they say. Being FTF means you are a BETA tester for cache coords.

 

There actually only was 1 bad one and I chalk it up to a new cacher with only 3 Finds and this being his 1st Hide. Well if nothing else next one from him should be better.

 

Scubasonic

 

Why are you still posting? Didn't you see the cache that just came out in camas?

 

~LOL~

 

Just teasin ya...

You keep posting while I put my shoes on and find my car keys

 

HaHaHa right after I posted I was out the door but not quick enough this time WonEyedJack was coming over I-205 when it posted so only got STF but I did beat you cause your name was not on the log! LOL

 

Scubasonic

[Clan Riffster]

Just over 300'. The area had flooded, and Momma Nature moved the cache.

As the area had turned into a quagmire, the find was quite a challenge.

[+RiverNWick]

5.7 miles

The cache page had 2 sets of cordscthat was .2 miles apart. searched both places an can up empty.

Drove on down the road an seen a good spot for a cache looked around an found it.

[+Harry Dolphin]

845.3' CO put in the west coords for the parking area, instead of the cache! Took me four tries, but I finally found that sucker!!!

For caches where the coords were supposed to be good: 170'. Four stage multi cache. Coords 30-50 feet off at earlier stages. Got my log deleted for mentionig that the final was 170 feet off. Oh, well. Relogged "SLTNLN".

[+DragonsWest]

After spending (wasting, more like) about 3 hours trying to find a cache in a place I really, really wanted to find one, I threw in the towel and drove home - to find the nincompoop was off by at least 170 ft.

 

I started a thread once, venting at hiders who don't understand how to ensure they have good readings before they start the army of cachers looking for their hide. Is it really that hard to check the satellites (make sure you have at least three and a reading within 25 ft or so) and then check that walking away and consulting GPSr to see if it does indeed lead them back to GZ? I've found a few in the past week which were off by 20 or so feet, which isn't too much of a problem (unless it places you on the wrong side of a fence or cliff) but that one with 170+ ft of variance was a hum dinger.

[knowschad]

OK, I'm gonna shoot for the record here.

 

 

nevermind

[+Team Cotati]

Today was out on a FTF (got 8 of them) and met up with another cacher we climbed fences finally found the cache and his GPS said 190ft off GZ mine said 187 ft off this was a new cacher. Lucky for us the hint and description were fairly detailed, and we followed that to the find.

 

of the caches you have found (Without help from a precious finder giving you a hint) what's the farthest it was off coordinates wise. Just curious

 

Scubasonic

 

About 60'.

[+bittsen]

HaHaHa right after I posted I was out the door but not quick enough this time WonEyedJack was coming over I-205 when it posted so only got STF but I did beat you cause your name was not on the log! LOL

 

Scubasonic

 

I knew there was no way I could nab that one. It's only 5 miles from my house but @14 miles if i drive there. You are safe on the Camas caches. I can't compete there.

[+simpjkee]

I once got FTF on a cache that was .17 miles off coordinates.

 

Thats surely too far off. An acceptable range for me is typically within 20 ft. Anything more than that and the coords could surely be more accurate.

[+Scubasonic]

HaHaHa right after I posted I was out the door but not quick enough this time WonEyedJack was coming over I-205 when it posted so only got STF but I did beat you cause your name was not on the log! LOL

 

Scubasonic

 

I knew there was no way I could nab that one. It's only 5 miles from my house but @14 miles if i drive there. You are safe on the Camas caches. I can't compete there.

 

I was actually surprised you were not in the mix with all my Columbia River Slough caches I put out over the last few days for the FTF......those gotta be very close to you.

 

Scubasonic

[vagabond]

How about this one paper apples I was the first and last and only finder and couldn't have done it without the hint about 5 miles off

[+bittsen]

HaHaHa right after I posted I was out the door but not quick enough this time WonEyedJack was coming over I-205 when it posted so only got STF but I did beat you cause your name was not on the log! LOL

 

Scubasonic

 

I knew there was no way I could nab that one. It's only 5 miles from my house but @14 miles if i drive there. You are safe on the Camas caches. I can't compete there.

 

I was actually surprised you were not in the mix with all my Columbia River Slough caches I put out over the last few days for the FTF......those gotta be very close to you.

 

Scubasonic

 

I could have walked to them (and will someday) but they were published at bad times for me to get out.

I could have easily gotten FTF on a couple of them if I had been able to get away (or was actually awake when they were published).

 

With 5 people going for FTF for those, I would need a club or something to keep them all away from the caches. ~L

[+beejay&esskay]

8.8 miles

 

A new cache was listed with coordinates of W 85* 17.567.

 

After driving out to the country, seeing this was in the middle of a farm, I left with a DNF.

 

Thought about it overnight. Considered this was supposed to be a simple one for a class in a nearby city.

 

The next morning I found it at W 85* 07.567 in a city park. And discovered I wasn't FTF, evidently because two people in the class had been given the correct coordinates.

[+Scubasonic]

I could have walked to them (and will someday) but they were published at bad times for me to get out.

I could have easily gotten FTF on a couple of them if I had been able to get away (or was actually awake when they were published).

 

With 5 people going for FTF for those, I would need a club or something to keep them all away from the caches. ~L

 

Try a GLOCK works much better

 

SS

[+bittsen]

I could have walked to them (and will someday) but they were published at bad times for me to get out.

I could have easily gotten FTF on a couple of them if I had been able to get away (or was actually awake when they were published).

 

With 5 people going for FTF for those, I would need a club or something to keep them all away from the caches. ~L

 

Try a GLOCK works much better

 

SS

 

Technically, I'm not allowed...besides....why tip them off by telling them I carry?

 

[knowschad]

I could have walked to them (and will someday) but they were published at bad times for me to get out.

I could have easily gotten FTF on a couple of them if I had been able to get away (or was actually awake when they were published).

With 5 people going for FTF for those, I would need a club or something to keep them all away from the caches. ~L

Try a GLOCK works much better

SS

I just can't WAIT to go caching near Portand! You guys just sound like so much fun.

[+Bergie Bunch]

120+ miles. Posted cords were for 3 counties over, reading the page, I knew there was something off, so I went to what we knew to be the area, rechecked our cords with the posted ones, rearranged our present location, and found the cache. It stayed like that for weeks until a reviewer made the repairs. 2 months later, I admittedly did the same dumb thing. Off by 30 to 40 miles, fat fingers, what can I say!

Edited January 22, 2010 by Bergie Bunch

[+Wooden Cyclist]

I was having trouble getting decent coords for my caches. It wasn't unusual for mine to be 45' or more off. After reading a recommendation on these forums about walking to the cache from different directions, taking coords from each approach then averaging them, I decided to give it a try. Result? 110' off.

[hurshh]

I found a puzzle cache that I was FTF for... The owner had made a mistake on the puzzle so the solution was for 334.3 kilometers away or something like that... I knew the general area that the cache was in and found it anyways

 

The Log

 

Edit for speeling and The Log

Edited January 22, 2010 by hurshh

[+rambrush]

My farthest off find was a mile and a half.

[knowschad]

I was having trouble getting decent coords for my caches. It wasn't unusual for mine to be 45' or more off. After reading a recommendation on these forums about walking to the cache from different directions, taking coords from each approach then averaging them, I decided to give it a try. Result? 110' off.

Naturally, I can't find the link tonight, when I want to, but according to Garmin, averaging only helps if done over several days, and even that is suspect. My personal experience shows that... well, "it depends". Sometimes it helps (probably more often than not) but sometimes the average has proven to be less accurate than the snapshot.

 

Part of the problem with averaging as you refer to is knowing which readings to keep, and which to toss out. Reminds me of when I was doing color photography printing years ago. The first print would look *almost* perfect... just a touch yellow. So, you'd filter out that touch of yellow and compare the two, and... dang! Not enough magenta!!! So, you add a bit more magenta and compare the three prints, and...

 

This could easily go on all night. There were times that it did. And often, the first "too yellow" one would be the one that you would finally use.

[+Scubasonic]

I just can't WAIT to go caching near Portand! You guys just sound like so much fun.

 

Just let me know when you R in town I would be happy to go cachin with you. I can show you how we roll here.

 

Scubasonioc

Edited January 22, 2010 by Scubasonic

[+ZeLonewolf]

About 150'. The cache was from 2000 or 2001 so you kind of expect it. The container was a large... in fact... it was about twice the size of your average footlocker. I'm ashamed to say that after 20 minutes of search we stumbled onto it just sitting there.

[+Scubasonic]

About 150'. The cache was from 2000 or 2001 so you kind of expect it. The container was a large... in fact... it was about twice the size of your average footlocker. I'm ashamed to say that after 20 minutes of search we stumbled onto it just sitting there.

 

Seems that it is hard to keep a cache in it's original spot.

 

Scubasonic

[4wheelin_fool]

I really can't tell. My garmin v would bounce back and forth from .10 to 100 feet under heavy tree cover. My current one does the same but with much less difference.

 

Every one of BrianSnats hides I have found, the gps said 30 feet away. While that is to be expected in the type of environment with heavy tree cover, each time it was exactly 30 feet off, which was odd as if he had a super sensitive surveyor style gps, and made it 30 feet off on purpose so nobody would figure it out.

[+BCandMsKitty]

The farthest off that we have found is around 150'. Our geosense led us to the cache, once we got to the middle of a field with no cache there.

 

On one of my own hides, I reversed a couple of numbers, putting GZ right in the middle of a city about 60 miles away. Luckily a cacher from there saw the cache come online, read the cache page, and being familiar with the area where the cache should have been, emailed me and saved me further embarrassment!

[+EscapeFromFlatland]

I found one where the geobounce due to a large cliff ridge caused the GPSr to move me around in a semi-circle anywhere from 120-300ft from the cache. But I was enjoying the area exploring the base of the cliff and the waterfall, at the upper end of a 60 degree scrag slope, knowing the cache was below me.

[+Larry the pool guy]

Found the cache at the bottom of the hillside in a wash area. I gave up on looking for the cache and saw something that could be a cache container in the wash 150 feet from ground zero. I am always looking for stuff I can make into a cache while I am out geoing. This time turns out I found the cache. It was muggled and thrown into the wash area. My Geo Buddy and I replaced it with a new baggie and paper close to ground zero. We also reported it to cache owner with our logs.

[+cerberus1]

Our record (so far) is 74 miles.

Turns out a hider messed up the North hour coordinates, placing the cache in the SE, instead of the Poconos.

I knew exactly the place he was talking about and headed out - sure enough was there.

Unfortunately, it was on NPS property without permission. When the hider asked the reviewer for the coordinates change, it was archived.

I ended up first and last to find.

[+Scubasonic]

Our record (so far) is 74 miles.

Turns out a hider messed up the North hour coordinates, placing the cache in the SE, instead of the Poconos.

I knew exactly the place he was talking about and headed out - sure enough was there.

Unfortunately, it was on NPS property without permission. When the hider asked the reviewer for the coordinates change, it was archived.

I ended up first and last to find.

 

74 Miles that is something, well at least you got the FTF

 

Scubasonic

[+Beleman]

About 11.5 miles (N48° 59.038 instead of N48° 49.038) at GC1XGJQ. My girlfriend got the FTF.

 

Some time ago I heard about a EarthCache in Germany, where geoaware swapped N and S by mistake. The first Found-Logs are interesting to read.