Night Caches

[+GEO This]

I still have not done a TRUE nighttime cache with a flashlight. Looking to do a multi with fire tacs. That had me thinking! I have a brightwhite LED pushing 141 lumens. Will that be bright enough? Looks like I can also get a LED bulb unit for my old 4c Maglight. A bit big yet my little 4" LED is small. Looked at a MOD that is 5" with a measured 729 lumens. Bright very bright (100/60/30).

So Where are the good nighttime caches?

[+Keith Watson]

For 99% of the night caches out there, the best light is a lower power led headlamp. The lower power lights up the reflectors without lighting up everything else around them. The closer to your eyes the more they will stand out.

[+Westacular]

I was in Calgary a couple years ago, and had a fantastic time doing GCRZKF "They Only Come Out At Night" with a couple of new-to-geocaching friends. It's an excellent cache, and although it's been moved and adjusted in the time since I found it, the recent logs indicate that it's still great.

 

And Keith is right, when it comes to hunting firetacks, your basic entry-level LED headlamp (which tend to be rated around 25-40 lumens) is more than enough. The key is having the light source close to your line of vision; the markers are often VERY retroreflective in nature.

[+chris-mouse]

I do a lot of night caching, and my favorite two light sources are an LED headlight and a 'high powered' LED pocket flashlight.

The pocket flashlight is rated at 120 lumens in the high power setting, less than half that on low power. It's got a nice narrow spot beam that I can use to look under rocks and in bushes without lighting up the whole forest.

Most of the time it's used in low power as my 'search' light that I use to locate the cache once the GPS says I'm in the area.

When I'm on the trail to the cache I prefer the headlight. It's not as bright as the pocket flashlight, but it has a much wider beam that does a better job of lighting up the trail and highlighting low branches before I walk in to them. A red LED setting on the headlight is nice for lighting up the trail without destroying your night vision. The drawback to the red light is that the blue paint used to mark some of the trails does not show up in red light.

No matter what light you choose to use though, take more than one light source with you! There's nothing worse than realizing you're a couple of kilometers from the car and your only light has just died.

 

I'm in the Toronto area, so I don't really know what the caches in Alberta are like, but if you want some ideas for your own night cache placements, take a look at the BFL Boot Camp caches that have been placed here.

We've had a lot of fun coming up with new night cache ideas every year. If you have any questions about how any of my night caches are done, send me a message and I'll be happy to help.

[+Red90]

Anything will work. The important bit is that the light is close to eye level to give the best reflections. A headlamp is the easiest. If you want to buy new, I would suggest the Black Diamond Icon, http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail....D=1272913163492 You will see my tacks at 100+ meters.....

 

List of local night caches here: http://forums.calgarycachers.net/viewtopic...?f=1&t=3502

 

When you do either of mine, make sure your GPS is working with adequate batteries, otherwise you might not be able to figure out how to get back out of the bush....

[+Westacular]

I've always been entertained by that aspect of night caches: typically, you don't need the GPS to find the cache -- you need it to find your way BACK, after losing all your bearings because you've been spinning around in circles in the bush searching for that next marker.