One Man, 24 Hours, 1020 Finds

[+lexmano]

Yesterday, a Maine cacher started out by himself just after midnight. He drove, retrieved, signed and replaced all the caches along the ET Highway stretch. We received an update that he had found 500 caches by 10AM and later we were informed that he had reached 1000 finds about 11PM and finshed his 24 hour marathon with 1020.

 

I am in awe of such a solo effort. The physical effort to get in and out of a car that many times in 24 hours is hard to imagine. Then couple all the rest of it!

 

Congratulations Petr. I salute you.

[+Lostby7]

Yesterday, a Maine cacher started out by himself just after midnight. He drove, retrieved, signed and replaced all the caches along the ET Highway stretch. We received an update that he had found 500 caches by 10AM and later we were informed that he had reached 1000 finds about 11PM and finshed his 24 hour marathon with 1020.

 

I am in awe of such a solo effort. The physical effort to get in and out of a car that many times in 24 hours is hard to imagine. Then couple all the rest of it!

 

Congratulations Petr. I salute you.

If true then I salute his determination and stamina.

[Mr.Yuck]

Yesterday, a Maine cacher started out by himself just after midnight. He drove, retrieved, signed and replaced all the caches along the ET Highway stretch. We received an update that he had found 500 caches by 10AM and later we were informed that he had reached 1000 finds about 11PM and finshed his 24 hour marathon with 1020.

 

I am in awe of such a solo effort. The physical effort to get in and out of a car that many times in 24 hours is hard to imagine. Then couple all the rest of it!

 

Congratulations Petr. I salute you.

If true then I salute his determination and stamina.

 

So then he probably heard of the "moving the containers" controversy? Then again, maybe he didn't, as that would be hard to do by your lonesome, wouldn't it? I agree, I too salute his determination and stamina. As much as I disagree with film canisters on the side of the road every 528 feet aside.

[+EscapeFromFlatland]

Wow and Congrats!

I was just thinking about detouring from an upcoming Portland to Yuma trip to try the ET highway by myself, now I see someone has and with good results.

[+Ike 13]

1 minute 24.7 seconds to drive 528 ft, get out of the car, open cache, sticker/sign log, jump back in car, repeat. That's assuming he never took a break.

 

Impressive if true.

[+EyeD10T]

Wow - thats amazing.

[+Monkey_Chops]

1 minute 24.7 seconds to drive 528 ft, get out of the car, open cache, sticker/sign log, jump back in car, repeat. That's assuming he never took a break.

 

Impressive if true.

 

And I think that proves it can't be done.

1020 caches / 24 hours in a day = 42.5 caches per hour.

500 caches by 10am means for the first 10 hours he would have driven to the site of each cache, found the cache, and signed the log at a rate of 50 per hour. That's almost one a minute. Think about it. It simply couldn't be done.

[+EscapeFromFlatland]

replace sign with stamp.

recognize that on the flat, barren terrain it's easy to see the likely geospot from 0.1miles away.

Not saying he did or did not do it, but I can see the logistics lining up with the scenario to make it possible.

[+Monkey_Chops]

Even with a stamp, I still don't think it's possible. One per (just over a) minute?

[+Monkey_Chops]

Edited for double post

Edited December 14, 2010 by DomAndKitty

[+briansnat]

1 minute 24.7 seconds to drive 528 ft, get out of the car, open cache, sticker/sign log, jump back in car, repeat. That's assuming he never took a break.

 

Impressive if true.

 

And I think that proves it can't be done.

1020 caches / 24 hours in a day = 42.5 caches per hour.

500 caches by 10am means for the first 10 hours he would have driven to the site of each cache, found the cache, and signed the log at a rate of 50 per hour. That's almost one a minute. Think about it. It simply couldn't be done.

 

Why can't it be done? Because you or I couldn't or wouldn't want to endure such monotony it doesn't mean that others can't.

Edited December 14, 2010 by briansnat

[Skippermark]

A friend just did part of the series. At first his wife was driving, and he was hopping out to get the containers. After awhile he got tired of getting in and out of the car and ended up running to 100 of them while his wife drove along beside him.

 

When they started out at 8:30 driving, they had found 60 by 9:05. He got really tired and achy after 500 and stopped, so being able to do all 1000+ in one day alone is an awesome feat!

 

1 minute 24.7 seconds to drive 528 ft, get out of the car, open cache, sticker/sign log, jump back in car, repeat. That's assuming he never took a break.

 

Impressive if true.

 

And I think that proves it can't be done.

1020 caches / 24 hours in a day = 42.5 caches per hour.

500 caches by 10am means for the first 10 hours he would have driven to the site of each cache, found the cache, and signed the log at a rate of 50 per hour. That's almost one a minute. Think about it. It simply couldn't be done.

[+Ecylram]

That would be an awesome (if mind-numbing) accomplishment. If there was ever a need for a right-hand drive car in Nevada, this is it.

[+lexmano]

He has started posting. Here is his first log.

 

[Found it] December 13 by marcipanek (2149 found)

 

Found solo all 1021 caches plus 2 extras. ET 1 found at 1:40 am and ET 1021 found at 11:55 pm. I will post more later. Signed all the logs with capital M in the circle. Thanks to COs for the effort which went into this series.

[+Sol seaker]

1 minute 24.7 seconds to drive 528 ft, get out of the car, open cache, sticker/sign log, jump back in car, repeat. That's assuming he never took a break.

 

Impressive if true.

 

And I think that proves it can't be done.

1020 caches / 24 hours in a day = 42.5 caches per hour.

500 caches by 10am means for the first 10 hours he would have driven to the site of each cache, found the cache, and signed the log at a rate of 50 per hour. That's almost one a minute. Think about it. It simply couldn't be done.

 

So in 1 minute 24 seconds he's got to get in the car, drive to the next cache, get out of the car, grab the container (assuming he's doing the trick of not signing them, but just putting each at the next one) drop another container, get back into the car and drive to the next cache.

That's less 30 seconds to drive the 528 feet (including getting into the car, and decelerating), and around 12 seconds to get out, grab the cache, and 12 seconds to drop the cache he brought and climb back into the car, then accelerate to speed.

So everyone, try this with just one cache. How many tries does it take until you can do it once? Now, even with the caches out in the open and spaced only 528 feet apart, can you do it 1020 times in a row without a bathroom or food or gas break?

And remember, if you plan on eating and drinking a little water in the car, that you've only got 30 seconds in the drive to the next cache, in which time you've got to be opening the last cache, putting your sticker on the log, and closing that cache, while looking for the next cache and watching the road. And eating and drinking.

And he had time to report in at 11 am?

[sdarken]

If you were doing it solo with no driver, it doesn't seem to me that moving the containers would save you any time unless you attempted to sign while driving at the same time and that sounds like a truly bad idea.

[+SeriousTool]

It is time that I chime in on this thread. Mind you, I have yet to post anything on Groundspeak's Forums, however this seems like the ideal place to begin.

 

Marcipanek (Petr) is my best friend and regular power run partner. I am currently house/dog sitting for him and his wife while they are in Nevada.

 

Petr IS a caching Animal. We both have been caching for the same amount of time, about 18 months, but he has over 400 FTFs, and has more than double the amount of total finds I have, even before he took on the ET Highway (I have 1268 after 18 months).

 

He started his caching adventure on the ET highway at about 1pm local time when he hit his first cache and ended around 11:30 pm local time. I watched him live with his PN-60w SPOT tracking page where it updates his position every ten minutes and he did hit the entire series.

 

Petr is not the kind to lie. There have been MANY caches that he could not find, and he is so obcessed with making the true find that he will go back to cache, time after time, DNF after DNF just to locate it and sign the log. His nickname in Maine is the Czech Animal.

 

He kept me updated the entire ET Highway run with SPOT text messages and I spoke to him around 4:30 PST this AM on his way back to Vegas. Total round trip for him was 28 hours without sleep. The man is genuine, and yes, a tad insane. But we love him.

[Skippermark]

1 minute 24.7 seconds to drive 528 ft, get out of the car, open cache, sticker/sign log, jump back in car, repeat. That's assuming he never took a break.

 

Impressive if true.

 

And I think that proves it can't be done.

1020 caches / 24 hours in a day = 42.5 caches per hour.

500 caches by 10am means for the first 10 hours he would have driven to the site of each cache, found the cache, and signed the log at a rate of 50 per hour. That's almost one a minute. Think about it. It simply couldn't be done.

Many who've done the series have averaged 100 per hour. For many of the caches, there's no need to look at a GPS. You can see the next cache from the one you're at.

 

If you're driving 30MPH, that's 12 seconds to go 528 feet. Let's double that to include accelerating & decelerating and add in some extra, to say 30 seconds to drive from cache to cache.

 

My friend who did it said he was finding, logging and replacing most within 20 seconds, so that's 50 seconds so far, leaving 30 seconds "buffer" to maintain the required average. Take those 30 seconds extra per cache extra and after 100 caches, you've accumulated a 50 minute buffer to take a break, spend extra time finding the caches or whatever. My friend said the ones hidden in the rock piles were harder and a couple took a minute to find because there wasn't an easy to spot marker like the ones near the poles.

[+Thrak]

It really doesn't sound like any fun at all to me. I cache for enjoyment.

[+clan_Barron]

It really doesn't sound like any fun at all to me. I cache for enjoyment.

 

That's just it, one man's insanity is another man's enjoyment. You might mot enjoy it (and I would not after an undetermined amount of time) but apparently he did. It's crazy but impressive in it's own way. My hat's off to him.

[vagabond]

We did a little over 300 in 7 hours, the first couple of hours it was fun and we were averaging about 40 an hour and not really pushing hard, the next few hours we started taking breaks and letting the dog out to check his P mail, yes we had Rufus with us. The last couple of hours we were just trying to decide where to stop, if my knee hadn't been bothering me we probably would have gone further.

Having been on the trail I can say yes it can be done.

We stickered the logs and placed the caches back where we found them

[+PokerLuck]

I could not manage to do something like that. I don't see the enjoyment in it. However, I also don't tell other people what to do for enjoyment. As long as the caches are legitimate, then power trails are fine with me. My hat is off to this guy for being able to accomplish what he did.

[+sanssheriff]

Wow, that's amazing! The sheer endurance and stamina needed to pull off such a feat is remarkable. Cheers brother geocacher, maybe someday I will be worthy enough to walk in your shoes.

[+humboldt flier]

MY HAT IS TIPPED ... CONGRATS !!

[+SeriousTool]

 

The first SPOT Tracking Page image I looked at yesterday mid-day of Marcipanek's E.T. Highway cache run.....

[+BaylorGrad]

I think it's amusing that everyone tries to challenge this feat mathematically. It's amusing because this is exactly what I did to VenturaKids a couple months ago.

 

But I've come to the conclusion that I can't be an accurate judge of timing when it comes to power caching until I've done it myself... Which will probably never happen. So, I'll just sit back and watch everyone repeat why certain feats can't occur, when it seems perfectly obvious that it has, in fact, occurred.

[+BlueGerbil]

Congratulations!

[+SwineFlew]

Wow! Oh yea, I believe it can be done!

[+MontyFam]

Don't knock it til you try it! Congtratz on your accomplishment Marcipanek! You set out to do something as a personal goal and you did it! Awesome!! I would love to try the ET highway - it is on my bucket list.

It is so frustrating watching all these keyboard quarterbacks bashing something they have never tried. Didn't your parents teach you anything? If you have nothing nice to say, zip your pie hole! If you don't like power trails don't do them and don't read about them. Why bother spewing negativity all over the place? Oh it's an internet forum so you have freedom of speach and all that BS... OK so does it make you feel better to spit bullets all the time? Do you seriously have nothing better to do with your time? Seriously....

 

CONGRATZ ON ACHIEVING YOUR PERSONAL GOAL!!

 

signed, Frustrated

[+january14]

It's not about the numbers.... it's about the challenge. I don't know that I will ever live long enough to go to Nevada, or if they will still be there if I ever do. But, I know it's possible to be done. The real question is do I have the mental toughness and strength and stamina to get it done.

 

I know people that will (and have) hiked for miles on end to find a single cache. I wish I had the strength and stamina and mental toughness to do that. I probably do as I have hiked several miles for a cache or two and probably will again in the future. But, I'm talking about the people that do hike on a routine basis for the adventure of getting to the cache. For them, the cache is secondary and just a destination. I applaud their efforts and want to do that too.

 

But, I also want to run The ET. Same mental toughness, same stamina, same strength of soul... just redirected to different aspects of the body and mind. While the numbers will be nice to have... it's more about the doing and it's not about the numbers. I am more proud of my hiking caches than I am of my power trail caches, but not by a lot.

 

There is something in geocaching that is for everyone that loves the outdoors, even if it's just for a few minutes, or for a full weekend. Not all caches are for all geocachers.

[+JesandTodd]

Don't knock it til you try it! Congtratz on your accomplishment Marcipanek! You set out to do something as a personal goal and you did it! Awesome!! I would love to try the ET highway - it is on my bucket list.

It is so frustrating watching all these keyboard quarterbacks bashing something they have never tried. Didn't your parents teach you anything? If you have nothing nice to say, zip your pie hole! If you don't like power trails don't do them and don't read about them. Why bother spewing negativity all over the place? Oh it's an internet forum so you have freedom of speach and all that BS... OK so does it make you feel better to spit bullets all the time? Do you seriously have nothing better to do with your time? Seriously....

 

CONGRATZ ON ACHIEVING YOUR PERSONAL GOAL!!

 

signed, Frustrated

 

Uh, you absolutely don't have freedom of speech on an internet forum! People can generally say what they want, but there are plenty of rules to follow about what we and how we say that.

 

That being said, I think power trails are lame. And as as adult, I think I know myself well enough to know what I like and don't like. We don't have to try a power trail to know we dont like them.

 

However, there are a lot of mini power trails in the Sedona area. I tried one trail, and stopped after the second cache. Boring! I hated driving and stopping, driving and stopping...

I don't care about the numbers, and I doubt that this road has anything special for me to see.

Edited December 15, 2010 by JesandTodd

[+EscapeFromFlatland]

 

The first SPOT Tracking Page image I looked at yesterday mid-day of Marcipanek's E.T. Highway cache run.....

 

 

Thank you for reminding me to have proof of any attempt I make on the power trail.

 

I wonder how many doubters' heads exploded when you posted that there is a SPOT track of evidence on his feat.

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

Thank you for reminding me to have proof of any attempt I make on the power trail.

 

I wonder how many doubters' heads exploded when you posted that there is a SPOT track of evidence on his feat.

 

Not sure what the SPOT track proves, other than they were on the ET hiway at the date/times in question.

 

(NOTE: I am not saying they did or did not do what they said they did. Just pointing out the flaw in the statement)

[+EscapeFromFlatland]

So everyone, try this with just one cache. How many tries does it take until you can do it once? Now, even with the caches out in the open and spaced only 528 feet apart, can you do it 1020 times in a row without a bathroom or food or gas break?

 

He brought along 3 5-gallon gas cans for fueling.

As for Class One intake and download: water and prepackaged bite-size snacks are easy to pop in on the run. Pee next to your tire before heading to the next cache.

[+EscapeFromFlatland]

Thank you for reminding me to have proof of any attempt I make on the power trail.

 

I wonder how many doubters' heads exploded when you posted that there is a SPOT track of evidence on his feat.

 

Not sure what the SPOT track proves, other than they were on the ET hiway at the date/times in question.

 

(NOTE: I am not saying they did or did not do what they said they did. Just pointing out the flaw in the statement)

 

Well, what else would you do in the middle of the desert for an entire day at that slow of a travel rate besides cache or plant IEDs?

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

Well, what else would you do in the middle of the desert for an entire day at that slow of a travel rate besides cache or plant IEDs?

 

Watch for UFOs?

[+SeriousTool]

Thank you for reminding me to have proof of any attempt I make on the power trail.

 

I wonder how many doubters' heads exploded when you posted that there is a SPOT track of evidence on his feat.

 

Not sure what the SPOT track proves, other than they were on the ET hiway at the date/times in question.

 

(NOTE: I am not saying they did or did not do what they said they did. Just pointing out the flaw in the statement)

 

You are correct. It is NOT proof. But it is a piece of evidence that when combined with everything else SUPPORTS the fact that Marcipanek did accomplish this. The only proof you will probably believe is it every single log on each cache was checked. Would you like to do this?

[+usyoopers]

It really doesn't sound like any fun at all to me. I cache for enjoyment.

 

I really can't imagine that a person doesn't have something more important to do with their time

[+sujojeepers]

I salute the achievement! We were there the first two days and were very happy doing 60 an hour! I salute also his determination! We just kept running into too many other things to do while we were in the area!

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I salute the achievement!

 

It would be nice if some other geocaching achievements got as much recognition as those that "found" a lot of caches in a single day. The recent thread about Hidensek's three years of negotiating with the National Park Service that resulted the allowance of physical caches placed in a National Park in Washington didn't get nearly the number of congratulatory responses that have been posted in this thread. About a month ago I wrote a post about finding geocaches on four different continents in the last year. I suspect that the number of geocachers that have found geocaches on 3 or more continents is far fewer than the number of geocachers that have "found" 300 or more caches on a power trail, yet the thread I started only had 5 responses.

[+briansnat]

I salute the achievement!

 

It would be nice if some other geocaching achievements got as much recognition as those that "found" a lot of caches in a single day. The recent thread about Hidensek's three years of negotiating with the National Park Service that resulted the allowance of physical caches placed in a National Park in Washington didn't get nearly the number of congratulatory responses that have been posted in this thread. About a month ago I wrote a post about finding geocaches on four different continents in the last year. I suspect that the number of geocachers that have found geocaches on 3 or more continents is far fewer than the number of geocachers that have "found" 300 or more caches on a power trail, yet the thread I started only had 5 responses.

 

I agree. Unfortunately people are impressed by numbers, but Hydnseek's achievement dwarfs any numbers run. Same for any geocacher who works with land managers to gain acceptance of our sport. THOSE are the people who deserve salutes.

Edited December 15, 2010 by briansnat

[+M 5]

I salute the achievement!

 

It would be nice if some other geocaching achievements got as much recognition as those that "found" a lot of caches in a single day. The recent thread about Hidensek's three years of negotiating with the National Park Service that resulted the allowance of physical caches placed in a National Park in Washington didn't get nearly the number of congratulatory responses that have been posted in this thread. About a month ago I wrote a post about finding geocaches on four different continents in the last year. I suspect that the number of geocachers that have found geocaches on 3 or more continents is far fewer than the number of geocachers that have "found" 300 or more caches on a power trail, yet the thread I started only had 5 responses.

 

People are into instant satisfaction numbers. I think there are many many many neat stat based goals/challenges. I don't have any desire to do many of them, but some I really like. The only way I could actually see doing a powertrail, was in this type of challenge. Kind of a one or maybe a few time type of challenge. I don't understand the people that do powertrails just to do them. Don't see the fun at all, absolutely no challenge to it, but too each their own. I just wish there were only powertrails in the very few areas that can support them with no additional problems. They are popping up everywhere. It's a shame really.

Edited December 15, 2010 by M 5

[knowschad]

It really doesn't sound like any fun at all to me. I cache for enjoyment.

I'm sure this guy caches for enjoyment as well. He just happens to enjoy different things than you.

[+SeriousTool]

It really doesn't sound like any fun at all to me. I cache for enjoyment.

 

I really can't imagine that a person doesn't have something more important to do with their time

 

Oh he does. He just chooses not to.

[+SeriousTool]

I salute the achievement!

 

It would be nice if some other geocaching achievements got as much recognition as those that "found" a lot of caches in a single day. The recent thread about Hidensek's three years of negotiating with the National Park Service that resulted the allowance of physical caches placed in a National Park in Washington didn't get nearly the number of congratulatory responses that have been posted in this thread. About a month ago I wrote a post about finding geocaches on four different continents in the last year. I suspect that the number of geocachers that have found geocaches on 3 or more continents is far fewer than the number of geocachers that have "found" 300 or more caches on a power trail, yet the thread I started only had 5 responses.

 

I agree. Unfortunately people are impressed by numbers, but Hydnseek's achievement dwarfs any numbers run. Same for any geocacher who works with land managers to gain acceptance of our sport. THOSE are the people who deserve salutes.

 

I see, so now that we are starting to believe that this achievement really DID happen, we need to discredit it as not being a TRUE achievement compared to others? Honestly an achievement is what you make it. If you feel the nee to pat yourself on the back about what YOU consider a Geocaching achievement, go post another thread about it.

 

What intrigues me is that I do not have the means to Geocache on FOUR different continents, but it IS within my means to go to Nevada and do this run myself, so it is nice to see what a determined cacher CAN do with a feat of strength and stamina.

[+JesandTodd]

.

 

I see, so now that we are starting to believe that this achievement really DID happen, we need to discredit it as not being a TRUE achievement compared to others? Honestly an achievement is what you make it. If you feel the nee to pat yourself on the back about what YOU consider a Geocaching achievement, go post another thread about it.

 

What intrigues me is that I do not have the means to Geocache on FOUR different continents, but it IS within my means to go to Nevada and do this run myself, so it is nice to see what a determined cacher CAN do with a feat of strength and stamina.

 

Wow, bitter much?

 

Honestly, who cares? If he did to this cache run, then whoppty-do. Whether he did it or not, its still quite a lame achievement, especially in light of the previous posts...

Edited December 15, 2010 by JesandTodd

[+Panther&Pine]

I see, so now that we are starting to believe that this achievement really DID happen, we need to discredit it as not being a TRUE achievement compared to others? Honestly an achievement is what you make it. If you feel the nee to pat yourself on the back about what YOU consider a Geocaching achievement, go post another thread about it.

 

 

I got the impression that NYPaddleCacher was just trying to point out that the most comments go to the numbers runners, without as many accolades going to those who cache in different yet impressive ways. Not that they were trying to belittle the cachers who do go for numbers runs. Personally I think NYPaddleCacher's caching in many countries is very impressive and I think the ET trail people have a touch of heatstroke (but that is my personal opinion).

 

That doesn't appear to be the way that you took their post.

[+SeriousTool]

.

 

I see, so now that we are starting to believe that this achievement really DID happen, we need to discredit it as not being a TRUE achievement compared to others? Honestly an achievement is what you make it. If you feel the nee to pat yourself on the back about what YOU consider a Geocaching achievement, go post another thread about it.

 

What intrigues me is that I do not have the means to Geocache on FOUR different continents, but it IS within my means to go to Nevada and do this run myself, so it is nice to see what a determined cacher CAN do with a feat of strength and stamina.

 

Wow, bitter much?

 

Honestly, who cares? If he did to this cache run, then whoppty-do. Whether he did it or not, its still quite a lame achievement, especially in light of the previous posts...

 

It's ironic to see someone that has "Taking the long and painful way, always! I don't believe in easy!" as their forum signature, call Marcipanek's achievement, a 'lame' one.

 

What would YOU consider a non-lame achievement?

[+DcCow]

1 minute 24.7 seconds to drive 528 ft, get out of the car, open cache, sticker/sign log, jump back in car, repeat. That's assuming he never took a break.

 

Impressive if true.

 

And I think that proves it can't be done.

1020 caches / 24 hours in a day = 42.5 caches per hour.

500 caches by 10am means for the first 10 hours he would have driven to the site of each cache, found the cache, and signed the log at a rate of 50 per hour. That's almost one a minute. Think about it. It simply couldn't be done.

Many who've done the series have averaged 100 per hour. For many of the caches, there's no need to look at a GPS. You can see the next cache from the one you're at....

 

If you don't have to use the GPS to find the Cache, is it really Geocaching?

 

DC

[+Panther&Pine]

If you don't have to use the GPS to find the Cache, is it really Geocaching?

 

DC

If you use coords to find it then I think it is.

But that is me.

 

PS. I need a forum sig with two lines.

*Just sitting here humming "And I go down in a blaze of glory"

*Just a personal opinion or just being a pain (with a gun).