+foss4 Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 I just received a trail marking kit for a night cache any tips for getting started ?? Quote Link to comment
+LukeTrocity Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 I just received a trail marking kit for a night cache any tips for getting started ?? YES. Get permission!! When I first started I didn't, like a total noob I had to take down all my tacks after the first week. Its tough finding a place that allows you on their property at night. Quote Link to comment
+kpanko Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 Perhaps this goes without saying, but, do a night cache if you have not already. I did my first one recently. The pattern on that one seemed to be that one reflector indicates that I am going the right direction. Two reflectors means I am getting close enough to leave the trail. Three reflectors marks the location of the cache. The hide was not challenging. The hard part is simply getting to the right tree. You should probably "beta test" the cache by asking someone to attempt to find the cache. If they get lost, then maybe you need more reflectors or better placement. Quote Link to comment
Clan Riffster Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 (edited) I currently own four active night caches, and I have learned a few things over the years: When hunting a place to build your cache, consider those public parks/woodlands where camping is considered. With those locations, there is often a legal means for Joe Public to access the area after hours. Do not start your reflector trail near the parking area. Places that appeal to cachers at night also appeal to muggles. If they see a reflector trail leading off into the night, they might follow it out of curiosity. Also, consider not having your trail lead directly to the cache. If Joe Muggle does find your trail, you don't want it to be too easy for them to find your cache. One method that works is to have your trail end at a match container, which holds the coords to the final. Use the best container you can afford. Your cache will not be found very often, as it won't appeal to the P&G crowd. As such, you should use a container which has proven itself over time. Personally, I won't use anything but ammo cans for my night caches. Consider that your cache is an adventure, and build your trail accordingly. Make it long enough to be memorable. A mile is a nice hike. If your choices are either build a dinky trail or buy more reflectors, I'd vote for more reflectors. Each of my night caches use over 100 reflectors. Because I'm a cheapskete, I made my own reflectors out of 3M reflective tape. As you meander through the woods, hanging reflectors, take a waypoint at each one, saving these in a separate file in GSAK. That way, a couple years from now, when you do maintenance, you'll be able to find your way. Good. Luck! -Sean Edited December 28, 2010 by Clan Riffster Quote Link to comment
+Isonzo Karst Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 Here's a link to the Knowledge Books article on Night Caches. "Like all geocaches, night caches must include use of accurate GPS coordinates." That sentence is in the article because cache owners sometimes post parking coords, directions to the trailhead, and "go get it". No earthly reason to use a gps! The penultimate stage with coords for a final, mentioned by Clan Riffster, will take care of "gps use" and protect your cache as well. I agree with everything Clan Riffster has said, though I'd modify that recommended mileage to "whatever gets you from legal parking to a >>>cool spot" Scout at night and lay out at night! I've done some night caches that were laid out in the daylight. They needed considerable reworking to be findable, and really should have been daytime multicaches. Quote Link to comment
+BBWolf+3Pigs Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 When hunting a place to build your cache, consider those public parks/woodlands where camping is considered. With those locations, there is often a legal means for Joe Public to access the area after hours. Be sure to find out what hours non-campers are allowed to be there. In one state area in Rhode Island, non-camprs must be out by 10pm. Note any of this information on the cache listing. Quote Link to comment
+joranda Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 Take someone with you, it will make it easier to do. Quote Link to comment
+Y2KOTA Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 (edited) Night caches sound like fun. Last I checked, none are by me Someday Edited December 28, 2010 by Y2KOTA Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 I just received a trail marking kit for a night cache any tips for getting started ?? Depending on where you live, I think the hardest thing about placing a night cache is finding either a park that is open at night, or a place that is open where groups of people wandering around in the dark with flashlights won't catch the attention of residents and the police. At least that is the issue in my area. All state parks and WMAs close at night. Every county park I'm aware of closes at sunset (or a half hour after). Nearly every town park is closed at night and if they aren't there are homes nearby and I'm sure residents won't appreciate flashlights shining in their windows as cachers search for the reflectors, usually using high power flashlights. Things would be different where there is public land that is not closed at night. But for me, I bought Fire Tacks about 7 years ago to create a night cache and have yet to find a place where I could hide a night cache. Next to finding an open area for your cache I think there are two important considerations. 1. Use good tacks that are hard to see during the day. Fire Tacks Stealth are supposedly the best in that regard. 2. Consider the neighbors. If there are houses nearby, consider that groups of cachers with bright flashlights will be shining lights all over the place looking for the tacks. If neighbors are disturbed by the lights they might call the police and if it bothers them enough they may try to eliminate the cause of the disturbance, which means your cache might disappear quickly. Quote Link to comment
Clan Riffster Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 Be sure to find out what hours non-campers are allowed to be there. Good advice. Locally, if you are on a property where camping is allowed, after hours, it is presumed that you are camping, even if you don't have a tent. Once the sun sets, you must have a camping permit, (as opposed to a day use permit), to be there. There are no requirements for folks with a camping permit to climb in a tent. Nor, are you required to stay on the property till sunrise. The way I interpreted this, if I had a camping permit, I could enter the property after sunset, wander around waving flashlights, then leave once I found what I was looking for. The land manager concurred with my interpretation, and my latest night cache was born. Instructions regarding how to get a camping permit were included on the cache page. Quote Link to comment
+BBWolf+3Pigs Posted December 29, 2010 Share Posted December 29, 2010 Be sure to find out what hours non-campers are allowed to be there. Good advice. Locally, if you are on a property where camping is allowed, after hours, it is presumed that you are camping, even if you don't have a tent. Once the sun sets, you must have a camping permit, (as opposed to a day use permit), to be there. There are no requirements for folks with a camping permit to climb in a tent. Nor, are you required to stay on the property till sunrise. The way I interpreted this, if I had a camping permit, I could enter the property after sunset, wander around waving flashlights, then leave once I found what I was looking for. The land manager concurred with my interpretation, and my latest night cache was born. Instructions regarding how to get a camping permit were included on the cache page. That's an interesting concept. I'll have to run it by our local DEM (fortunately there are cachers amongst them!) Quote Link to comment
+hzoi Posted December 30, 2010 Share Posted December 30, 2010 I bought a bunch of fire tacks about two years ago. I have yet to get off my butt and go hide a night cache, but I will. Maybe in 2011... Quote Link to comment
+Y2KOTA Posted December 30, 2010 Share Posted December 30, 2010 All this night caching has me thinking (yes, it hurts a little). Where can I buy some of these tacks? Quote Link to comment
+hzoi Posted December 30, 2010 Share Posted December 30, 2010 I got a few bags of fire tacks from the manufacturer's website. Don't think I can link it here, but Google will show you the way. Think they are also available at hunting supply stores, Bass Pro Shops, etc. Quote Link to comment
Mr.Yuck Posted December 30, 2010 Share Posted December 30, 2010 All this night caching has me thinking (yes, it hurts a little). Where can I buy some of these tacks? I got mine at Gander Mountain, and I've seen them in the hunting section at Wally World. I bought mine in 2004 though, the technology wasn't as advanced. I'd highly reccommend what BrianSnat said about "Firetacks Stealth", which a google search tells me wouldn't be too hard to mail order. There was a slew of Night caches placed in my area starting with mine in 2004 until about 2006. And just about all of them have been found during the day with the big ol' round tacks such as I used. And also, I'm probably talking about 6 or 7 night caches here. We all had no problem finding "undeveloped" parks with no posted hours. Either that or what I guess I would call "Nature Parks", that have trails, and are mainly used by hikers. Maybe there's just a lot of these parks in Western NY though, I'm shocked to hear Mr. Snat has had fire tacks for years, and can't find anywhere to use them. Quote Link to comment
+Thrak Posted December 30, 2010 Share Posted December 30, 2010 If you place a night cache consider that the people who followed your trail IN also need to be able to find their way OUT. You might consider using 2 colors of tacks. One to mark the trail into the woods to find the cache and another to help people get back out of the woods. There's nothing quite like being lost in the woods at night.............. Quote Link to comment
+entogeek Posted December 30, 2010 Share Posted December 30, 2010 I've done a bunch of night caches and only encountered one problem - where reflective tape only was used and in some places had come off the trees. If you're going to use tape, then make sure you use a push pin (or a fire tack) to keep it in place. Why use tape at all? Well you can get inventive and layer colours on top of one another which is great for a multi, or in the case of one one of my night caches, a Wherigo. Quote Link to comment
Clan Riffster Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 Why use tape at all? For me the answer is economics. My four night caches have roughly 600 reflectors total. I think Firetacks are awesome, but I simply can't afford them. Had I used them in building my caches, it would've cost me $10 for 25 tacks, or about $240. For $5 I can get a 3 foot roll of 3M reflective tape, which I cut into 72 half inch strips. Each strip then gets cut diagonally, which leaves me with 144 triangle shaped reflectors. As there are no trails where my night caches are, (pure bushwhacking), the triangle points toward the next reflector. Initially, I would simply use a staple gun to affix them to trees, but these tended to only last a couple years. With the land managers explicit permission, I changed my methods. Now I put the reflector onto a tiny fender washer, ($5 for 100), and affix it with a nail short enough that it doesn't penetrate into the veins of the trees. Quote Link to comment
+Frozen Buns Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 YOu can now get 25 reflectors white or green with arrows for $5.00 and the between markers from GxPROXY.com. If the shopping cart isn't open just send them an email with how many you want. We will be attending a lot of events this year and you can see them in person. Finally, an affordable way to creat a lot of fun... Quote Link to comment
+GeoGeeBee Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 YOu can now get 25 reflectors white or green with arrows for $5.00 and the between markers from GxPROXY.com. If the shopping cart isn't open just send them an email with how many you want. We will be attending a lot of events this year and you can see them in person. Finally, an affordable way to creat a lot of fun... So which is it... do we send them an email, or do we send you an email? Or, as I suspect, are you and them the same person, bumping an old thread to advertise your product? Quote Link to comment
+kissguy&frannyfru Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 i use reflective tape on small clothes pins. Clip them onto limbs and put a tie strap around the jaws. I have some that have been out for 4 years. Quote Link to comment
+Dgwphotos Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 All this night caching has me thinking (yes, it hurts a little). Where can I buy some of these tacks? Groundspeak sells them as well. Quote Link to comment
+Ike 13 Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Finding a space seems like the most difficult step. We would love one in our community but no one has found a space yet. I saw one in another town that is one stop. Use the GPS to get to a spot, shine your flashlight around and find the one fire tack. The cache is at the base of the tree. Quote Link to comment
+DanOCan Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 This topic just came up recently in our local forums. One of our guys had this advice: "If you are running a firetack trail, plan on one every 50 meters. Also plan on replacing 10-20% per year." Quote Link to comment
+Darren V Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Place the tacks so that it can't be completed during the day. There's a night cache around where I live and I tried it in the day and found it because pretty much all the previous "found" logs tried it in the day. Quote Link to comment
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