Placing caches while travelling - what really happens?

[Migs]

Friends:

 

I know this subject is a bit taboo, but what do people do when they travel and want to place a cache in some cool place? I know the rules and all, but in real life what happens?

 

Thanks for your comments.

 

Migs

[jholly]

Friends:

 

I know this subject is a bit taboo, but what do people do when they travel and want to place a cache in some cool place? I know the rules and all, but in real life what happens?

 

Thanks for your comments.

 

Migs

 

The cache listing gets rejected and a piece of geolitter is left behind.

[Motorcycle_Mama]

Yep. Pretty much that's it and the community of Geocaching gets a black eye.

 

If you are considering doing this, PLEASE DON'T.

[Migs]

So it would be wise to assume that all caches in my area have been placed by locals?

[+Touchstone]

So it would be wise to assume that all caches in my area have been placed by locals?

 

Pretty much. You could always Host an Event and find out

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

So it would be wise to assume that all caches in my area have been placed by locals?

Not really (regarding "assumptions"). People may well live a long ways away and have relatives in your area, that they visit on a regular basis.

 

Locally, we have a few caches that have been placed and are maintained by persons living over 350 miles away. They do have relatives here (and they are originally from here), and show their faces locally about 3 times per year.

Their caches were published with that information supplied to the reviewer.

 

Dismayed (though not truly astounded) that somebody would really want to "drop and forget" a cache, but that is actually what you are inquiring about!

[+billinan]

Florida "Snowbirds," meaning that they spend 3-8 months down here and 4-9 months up North, are notorious for this. The key being that they check their Caches when they are here and/or assign a custodian while they are residing in their Northern homes.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Florida "Snowbirds," meaning that they spend 3-8 months down here and 4-9 months up North, are notorious for this. The key being that they check their Caches when they are here and/or assign a custodian while they are residing in their Northern homes.

Glad you capitalized "Northern".

[Migs]

Hi G-G:

 

I'm not going to do it, it's just that this thought of personal far away caches must pass through many a beginner geocachers head when he is passing by some far off - but ideal cache hiding location.

 

Thanks for chiming in!

 

Migs

[+Chokecherry]

We have caches here placed by now non-locals (college kids who summered here). Except now I'm noticing a problem where when they quit coming back the caches are slowly but surely falling into disrepair and there's no one around to maintain them.

[+ngrrfan]

We have caches here placed by now non-locals (college kids who summered here). Except now I'm noticing a problem where when they quit coming back the caches are slowly but surely falling into disrepair and there's no one around to maintain them.

So you archive them, go pick up the geo-litter and the space becomes open for another cache. I've gone out on a trash run for several caches here that were archived and the owner is in the military and not in the area. I offered to do that for him, and came up with some nice cache containers.

 

Also.... you can do an LTL for the cache.

 

*LTL = Last To Log*

Edited May 25, 2010 by ngrrfan

[+StarBrand]

I know I have been contacted a few times over the years to maintain caches placed on vacation and then rejected due to no local maintenance. I've taken on 2 or 3 and rejected another 6 or 7. Ended up picking up 2 of those after the faraway cacher couldn't get it published.

 

Just don't do it.

[Migs]

Yeah, I think the best thing is to not do it or get a relative to assume responsibility. -Migs

[+NYPaddleCacher]

So it would be wise to assume that all caches in my area have been placed by locals?

 

I don't know about your area specifically but many of the guidelines have changed over the years and the "vacation caches" guideline may be one of them. I found a cache in Zimbabwe that has a CO that placed more than 50 caches all over the world back in 2002/2003 and most of them are still active.

[+d+n.s]

My wife and I are from a really small country town that suprisingly has one cache.

We talked about hiding one there when we visit (we go there yearly)

 

Here is the deal: we were going to hide it at my mother's work, because she is hip to the whole thing. Also I have a ffirend who is the manager and my wife's unlce own the place. Between that stuff and all the family my wife has living there we assumed we could keep it maintained better than most caches...

I doubt we'd actually do this, but it seems shameful that some poor sap hid a cache in town and has none to find himself! Plus it would just be neat for my mom who is super curious and excited buy geocaching but not so much in GPSs or leaving town.

 

I'm curious if this would be frowned on?

[+The Wandering Stars]

We have placed several caches in Shanghai, China during the time we were traveling there at least once every 3 months. Unfortunately 3 of them got muggled and we decided not to replace them, but one of them has survived and has now kinda been adopted by a local business owner who loves the international traffic it brings to his restaurant located near the cache. The restaurant staff even helps GeoCachers w/ hints and the tool needed for some to be able to reach the cache.

 

We meanwhile had to change jobs (not voluntarily) so are not traveling to Shanghai anymore, but we left the cache active as we know it is in good hands. Should at one point we need to maintain or archive the cache we do have friends living in Shanghai that would be able to do this/pickup the cache container for us.

 

So we would say that if you do have backup plans in place to deal w/ maintenane and/or removal of the cache and clearly explain this to the reviewer in the reviewer note you should be able to place caches away from home. Some reviewers are more strict then others. At the time we placed our caches in Shanghai there were only about 15 within the whole city which gave some leniency from the reviewer at the time. This might not be the case for your area.

Edited June 4, 2010 by The Wandering Stars

[+The Blorenges]

My wife and I are from a really small country town that suprisingly has one cache.

We talked about hiding one there when we visit (we go there yearly)

 

Here is the deal: we were going to hide it at my mother's work, because she is hip to the whole thing. Also I have a ffirend who is the manager and my wife's unlce own the place. Between that stuff and all the family my wife has living there we assumed we could keep it maintained better than most caches...

I doubt we'd actually do this, but it seems shameful that some poor sap hid a cache in town and has none to find himself! Plus it would just be neat for my mom who is super curious and excited buy geocaching but not so much in GPSs or leaving town.

 

I'm curious if this would be frowned on?

 

Before hiding such a cache you'll need to read the Guidelines carefully, particularly the bit about "Commercial caches".

 

"...The geocache is presumed to be commercial if the finder is required to go inside a business, interact with employees, and/or purchase a product or service, or if the cache listing has overtones of advertising, marketing, or promotion."

 

I'm not saying you can't create a cache near your mom's workplace - but it'll need some careful consideration. Perhaps there's somewhere you could hide the cache in the surrounding grounds? If you do go ahead with the idea it would be good to put something on the cache page like, "Placed with permission from the business owner" so that cachers will feel comfortable searching in the area.

 

MrsB

[+briansnat]

My wife and I are from a really small country town that suprisingly has one cache.

We talked about hiding one there when we visit (we go there yearly)

 

Here is the deal: we were going to hide it at my mother's work, because she is hip to the whole thing. Also I have a ffirend who is the manager and my wife's unlce own the place. Between that stuff and all the family my wife has living there we assumed we could keep it maintained better than most caches...

I doubt we'd actually do this, but it seems shameful that some poor sap hid a cache in town and has none to find himself! Plus it would just be neat for my mom who is super curious and excited buy geocaching but not so much in GPSs or leaving town.

 

I'm curious if this would be frowned on?

 

To address your question (and to answer the OP's question) vacation caches are not allowed UNLESS you have a viable maintenance plan. It could be that you travel to the area frequently and would have no difficulty maintaining it. It could be that you have enlisted a local geocacher to maintain it for you, or have a friend or relative who can watch it for you.

 

If you have someone local who can maintain it it's best that he is a geocacher. If not it would be a good idea for the person to at least register on this site so he could put the cache on his watchlist and receive e-mails. It is also a good idea to mention who the maintainer is on the cache page so the locals know you didn't just dump a cache in their laps and leave.

 

If you have a workable plan to maintain the cache it is likely to be published. But generally speaking it's best to leave the cache hiding to the locals. They are more likely to know the local rules and regulations.

 

Too often caches are left behind by vacationers who have no maintenance plan. These are not published and become geolitter.

[+d+n.s]

My wife and I are from a really small country town that suprisingly has one cache.

We talked about hiding one there when we visit (we go there yearly)

 

Here is the deal: we were going to hide it at my mother's work, because she is hip to the whole thing. Also I have a ffirend who is the manager and my wife's unlce own the place. Between that stuff and all the family my wife has living there we assumed we could keep it maintained better than most caches...

I doubt we'd actually do this, but it seems shameful that some poor sap hid a cache in town and has none to find himself! Plus it would just be neat for my mom who is super curious and excited buy geocaching but not so much in GPSs or leaving town.

 

I'm curious if this would be frowned on?

 

To address your question (and to answer the OP's question) vacation caches are not allowed UNLESS you have a viable maintenance plan. It could be that you travel to the area frequently and would have no difficulty maintaining it. It could be that you have enlisted a local geocacher to maintain it for you, or have a friend or relative who can watch it for you.

 

If you have someone local who can maintain it it's best that he is a geocacher. If not it would be a good idea for the person to at least register on this site so he could put the cache on his watchlist and receive e-mails. It is also a good idea to mention who the maintainer is on the cache page so the locals know you didn't just dump a cache in their laps and leave.

 

If you have a workable plan to maintain the cache it is likely to be published. But generally speaking it's best to leave the cache hiding to the locals. They are more likely to know the local rules and regulations.

 

Too often caches are left behind by vacationers who have no maintenance plan. These are not published and become geolitter.

Yeah. thats actually totally logical. We probably won't do it. I doubt my mom would register and check it with her 56k modem

I was just planning on calling her.

Oh well.

Thanks for the advice.