Longest hike for a cache

[mukanshin]

I tried to search for this figuring it had already been discussed, but with the search engine not allowing words of less than 5 letters, that's difficult. I've noticed that caches requiring a significant hike are quite rare, at least around here. What's the longest and roughest hike required to reach a geocache anywhere in the world?

[+Isonzo Karst]

Try a post in the German forums for this. My dim memory is that a multi-cache exists that starts in SE Germany, crosses the Alps through Switzerland and ends in Italy. This along a trans-Alps hiking trail.

[+briansnat]

All of them depending on where you live.

 

 

Seriously, I recall one on Owls Head in New Hampshire that I think was a 24 mile RT hike. The cache was archived though.

Edited November 28, 2010 by briansnat

[Dinoprophet]

I tried to search for this figuring it had already been discussed, but with the search engine not allowing words of less than 5 letters, that's difficult.

This doesn't address your main question, but:

I find it's generally better to search the forums using Google. Go to Google and follow your search terms with

 

site:forums.Groundspeak.com

[+mugglekilla]

The furthest hike I know of in my area also requires technical climbing [The Last Best Place (GCXQY4)]. The cache is a 32 mile round trip hike to the summit of Granite Peak, which is the highest point in the state of Montana.

[+SeekerOfTheWay]

I'd like to find long hike caches in Florida. How can you search for those?

[mukanshin]

I've been searching for them myself but unfortunately I'd have to drive at least 100 miles to get to one. I'm thinking about making a trip to Oklahoma soon for that purpose. There's one in the Ouachitas that involves a 7 mile hike.

 

There's really no great way to search for them. There's are a few attributes on pocket queries for hiking. If I recall correctly, there's one for general hiking, one for rough terrain, and then three for the distance of the hike: <1 km, <10 km, and >10 km. Unfortunately, among the latter three, only the newer caches seem to have them (I'm guessing they were only added relatively recently) and they tend to get them wrong. I've found several that have the >10 km attribute but are less than a mile from the road.

 

I think your best bet is simply to look for some nearby parks, look for caches that appear to be far from the road, and read the description to make sure they are actually far from the road and there isn't a road that doesn't show up on the map. Don't get your hopes up though.

[+briansnat]

I'd like to find long hike caches in Florida. How can you search for those?

 

Higher terrain might be a clue, but It's not foolproof because so many people mis rate their caches. Another way is to look at the cache maps of your region and pick those caches that seem to be a good distance from the nearest road or parking lot.

 

There is also an attribute for longer hikes, so you can run a PQ looking for that attribute. Not everybody uses the attributes, but between these three methods you should be able to find the longer hiking caches.

[+Shelbrain]

There is a multicache near me that is a 13 mile hike or bike (roundtrip) along the Suncoast Parkway. I know from driving the Parkway that if you wanted to continue further in either direction there are more to be found.

[+dfx]

i did a 35 km roundtrip cache once.

[mukanshin]

There is a multicache near me that is a 13 mile hike or bike (roundtrip) along the Suncoast Parkway. I know from driving the Parkway that if you wanted to continue further in either direction there are more to be found.

 

Was it GC1VQKZ?

 

i did a 35 km roundtrip cache once.

 

Do you have a number for it?

 

I thought I read somewhere on here that there's one in New Zealand that takes several days of hiking to find. That's more adventure than I'd ever want but surely there are some people who would be up for such a challenge.

[+Mr. Wilson & a Mt. Goat]

This cache is a 47km or 29mile round trip hike from the parking area. Plus it was hidden in 2001.

I've been to the provincial park, but never all the way to the point. Very nice area.

[+Fjordi]

I would like to try this one next year: GC2CY92

 

The descripion is in German, but it is a hike which takes 5-10 hours. Depending on your fitness and how many breaks you will make.

There are no lodges where you can get something to eat or drink.

 

It is part of the "Platinum" series and after you have found all those caches, you have really earned the Platinum title

It requires swimming, hiking, biking, finding lost mines and castles and riddles.

 

My goal for next year

[+Harry Dolphin]

Seriously, I recall one on Owls Head in New Hampshire that I think was a 24 mile RT hike. The cache was archived though.

 

We almost did that one! (When my sister was working on the New Hampshire 4's.) But the stream was impassible due to recent rain. So, we did the Tri-Pyramids instead. The cache was archived due to the area being added to the 'environmentally sensitive' area.

The longest hike I've done involving geocaches was the Presi Traverse. 24 miles with 9000' of climb. Took us four days. Though the cache itself was only 1000' of climb, two or three miles.

Around here, there are some nice five mile hikes.

[+dfx]

Do you have a number for it?

http://coord.info/GCNFQ3

[mukanshin]

Well there are some challenging caches out there, not quite the Bear Grylls stuff I was expecting, but more difficult than I'm up for.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

How about the Karibe! cache, on top of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. I talked with a couple of people that had just climbed it when a flight I was on from Dar Es Salaam to Nairobi was changed so that it stopped at Kilimanjaro airport. The said that it took them six days to get to the top and back to where they started. It sounds like most round trip treks take 6 days, about 40 miles round trip with a 16,000' elevation gain.

[+rjb43nh]

briansnat-"Seriously, I recall one on Owls Head in New Hampshire that I think was a 24 mile RT hike. The cache was archived though."

 

Harry Dolphin-"The cache was archived due to the area being added to the 'environmentally sensitive' area."

My Owl's Head cache, GCJVEZ, which was about 18 miles round trip in the NH White Mountain National Forest, was archived in 2005 when the USFS changed the rules regarding Federally Designated Wilderness. After the USFS removed it, I picked up the container at the ranger station and had a long pleasant talk with the Wilderness Supervisor who was very helpful in getting future caches in the WMNF approved. There were good reasons to remove the cache but I, and many others, do miss it.

 

Cachers wanted to have bragging rights saying they had done this cache so there were groups that would hike in and leave some very interesting detailed logs of their adventures. This wasn't just a cache for the young cachers; my brother and I placed the cache and we were both over 60 at the time. Unlike some of the difficult and remote caches, the trailhead for this cache was within a day's drive of millions of people in New England. Here is part of the cache description.

"This cache is not for anyone who isn’t a very experienced hiker with proper equipment. The reason for the 5/5 difficulty and terrain rating for this cache is that is as high as the rating goes. The hike to the cache will be a very long day as a minimum and possibly an overnight. There are several streams to ford, a 0.4 mile long very steep unstable rock slide to climb, possible long bushwhack, 2 miles of the most extreme unmaintained trail you will find, and other difficulties associated with this trip. Note that the stream crossings can be unfordable after heavy rain. There are no views or cell phone coverage in this area. Do not underestimate the difficulty of getting to this cache. Do not try this if you don’t have map and compass or you do not fully understand the route. Do not try this if it is wet. Do not try this alone. "

[+lil_cav_wings]

I'd like to find long hike caches in Florida. How can you search for those?

 

If you're ever in the panhandle area: GC1A2RD

 

It would make a good day hike, and that whole area around Econfina Creek is filled with paddle caches (if you like kayaking). It would be a great long-weekend-camping caching trip.

[+rawkhopper]

I tried to search for this figuring it had already been discussed, but with the search engine not allowing words of less than 5 letters, that's difficult. I've noticed that caches requiring a significant hike are quite rare, at least around here. What's the longest and roughest hike required to reach a geocache anywhere in the world?

someone already posted sorry

Edited November 29, 2010 by jameyp

[mukanshin]

How about the Karibe! cache, on top of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. I talked with a couple of people that had just climbed it when a flight I was on from Dar Es Salaam to Nairobi was changed so that it stopped at Kilimanjaro airport. The said that it took them six days to get to the top and back to where they started. It sounds like most round trip treks take 6 days, about 40 miles round trip with a 16,000' elevation gain.

 

Now that's what I'm talking about. I can't believe people log it as often as they do. Granted it would be easy to lie on that one, but I'd like to believe most of them are honest.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

How about the Karibe! cache, on top of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. I talked with a couple of people that had just climbed it when a flight I was on from Dar Es Salaam to Nairobi was changed so that it stopped at Kilimanjaro airport. The said that it took them six days to get to the top and back to where they started. It sounds like most round trip treks take 6 days, about 40 miles round trip with a 16,000' elevation gain.

 

Now that's what I'm talking about. I can't believe people log it as often as they do. Granted it would be easy to lie on that one, but I'd like to believe most of them are honest.

 

A *lot* of people hike to the top of Kilimanjaro. There are dozens of guide services that will take people up (and it's expensive). It was kind of weird after spending four days in a small city in Tanzania where outside of the hotel I was staying at I only saw maybe 3 white people the whole time. On the flight from Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) to Kilimanjaro there were only 3 other white people on the plane but on the flight from Kilimanjaro to Nairobi (Kenya) it was mostly white Europeans.

[+Klondike Mike]

Some cachers logged 90 km round trip to get to this one. GCB059

 

There are plenty of caches up in the mountains that are both far and high.

 

I have a cache that is a little over 70 km round trip. I went in via atv but nothing would stop you from hiking it You can take the same route I took or you could come from the west through the park.

[+popokiiti]

60 km round trip from the parking area, record time is 21 hours (not sure if this was a cacher) the cache owner took 5 days. Not my cup of tea, but a colleague's husband was one of those who were first to find the cache.

Here is the link http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...0a-f43cf974725d

[mukanshin]

Some cachers logged 90 km round trip to get to this one. GCB059

 

That would be quite a challenging hike but a great reward.

[Tahosa and Sons]

If you go look for this Cache I think you will probably have to hike around 75 miles.

[mukanshin]

If you go look for this Cache I think you will probably have to hike around 75 miles.

 

I wouldn't count that. That's a variety of different hikes that can be done at different times.

[+Kit Fox]

My longest single hike cache is either 9 miles RT or about 15 RT depending on your route.

The Last Flight of the Hercules

[GPS-Hermit]

Wow! I thought mine was long at 7+ miles RT, which can be biked. I get more hikers than bikers to my surprize. The walk is easy just a long remote forest road and lots of wildlife to offer. The ones that do it, really seem to enjoy the exercise! Hunting season doesn't seem to deter them - I go on Sunday!

[+SeekerOfTheWay]

My longest cache hike so far is only 2 miles RT. Just because there are no longer ones nearby.

 

I'm hiding a cache that's going to be 4 miles RT. It'll be the longest in my town. Hopefully I'll hide one further (6+ miles) when I'm ready to hike alone that far. I still get a little spooked on my own.

[+EscapeFromFlatland]

I've mulled the idea of backpacking along a defunct rail line to make a power trail that covers roughly 40 miles through the woods and coastal mountains.

[mukanshin]

I've mulled the idea of backpacking along a defunct rail line to make a power trail that covers roughly 40 miles through the woods and coastal mountains.

 

Now that would be fun.

[sdarken]

Peak-A-Boo: Mt. Whitney GC75C3 is a 22 mile round trip hike with some good elevation change

[+rjb43nh]

sdarken-"Peak-A-Boo: Mt. Whitney GC75C3 is a 22 mile round trip hike with some good elevation change"

The last time I did Mt. Whitney the hike was about 220 mile starting at Yosemite Valley.

[mukanshin]

The last time I did Mt. Whitney the hike was about 220 mile starting at Yosemite Valley.

 

Did you hike that far?