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Picture the scene - you're downloading some suitable targets to your GPS, when a new cache is published, just 3 miles away. The D/T is 4/4, the description is vague, but it mentions that "specialist equipment" may be required. Without any previous logs to guide you, what do you pack?

 

For me, I've got wellies, gloves, a magnetic telescopic stick, a torch and I've just bought a grabber designed to help disabled people pick thinks up. What else?

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Picture the scene - you're downloading some suitable targets to your GPS, when a new cache is published, just 3 miles away. The D/T is 4/4, the description is vague, but it mentions that "specialist equipment" may be required. Without any previous logs to guide you, what do you pack?

 

For me, I've got wellies, gloves, a magnetic telescopic stick, a torch and I've just bought a grabber designed to help disabled people pick thinks up. What else?

 

Tweezers of course....I also found a cache that I needed a mirror to see....

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Tough call...

Knowing the CO's MO (usual hide style) would be a big help.

I think I'd take a good look at the location using Google Earth to see if it's near a cliff or in a wooded area (think tree climbing)in case climbing equipment might be needed.

Otherwise, being first onsite might only mean you are the first to return home for the needed equipment and come back.

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to me if its a 4 for T, you shouldn't need any specialized equipment (ie. climbing gear, scuba, water craft, 4wd) Those should all be 5's. Now if its a 4 and you need equipment, then I would take tweezers and a flashlight, maybe a mirror.....If you need gear I mentioned above to get this cache and its a 4 then its incorrectly rated.

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to me if its a 4 for T, you shouldn't need any specialized equipment (ie. climbing gear, scuba, water craft, 4wd) Those should all be 5's. Now if its a 4 and you need equipment, then I would take tweezers and a flashlight, maybe a mirror.....If you need gear I mentioned above to get this cache and its a 4 then its incorrectly rated.

 

An all purpose tool such as a leatherman or swiss army knife which contains screw drivers could be potentially useful. I've seen more than one cache that required a special tool to open the container.

 

The fact that the cache is rated a 4 for difficulty would justify it taking several hours and a possible return visit to "find" the cache. Using a 4 star for terrain because the equipment/tool is less specialized than scuba, climbing equipment, or a watercraft seems to me to be a misuse of the rating. I also wouldn't consider the use of a 4WD vehicle as a justification for a 5 star rating. Although there may be an access road to the cache which requires 4WD, it must might mean a long walk for someone that doesn't have a vehicle with 4WD.

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Talking about TOTT here, I think... But it might be read as taking other gear/supplies as well, but less than the high tech sporting goods dictated by a T5. For T4, I might be consider being prepared to stay out overnight (not a survival situation, but considered possibility) IF it was a long,hard hike. D4 might call for more technical tools, or other supplies i.e. pocket calculator.

 

Both 4/4 together ranks one way and either by itself another. One has to take all the information available on the page and a little bit (or more) research and make a plan then execute it. That is SOP with most people with some sort of training solving problems and tasking. Gather information, Formulate a Plan, Do the logistics, and then execute it (or the first stage). Being FTF is minor part of Geocaching to most of us... Lady Luck or Darwin can have the rest! :rolleyes:

 

Doug 7rxc

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Picture the scene - you're downloading some suitable targets to your GPS, when a new cache is published, just 3 miles away. The D/T is 4/4, the description is vague, but it mentions that "specialist equipment" may be required. Without any previous logs to guide you, what do you pack?

 

These days, it is probably a Chirp cache.

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String/rope maybe. Duct Tape.

 

Briansnat probably has the best suggestion though.

 

Didn't I say that?

 

Around here, I would think a tree climb. If the CO is an experienced climber, there is no need to list a 5T if it was hidden w/o gear. But we can't seem to be able to grab 4+ (and some 3.5 trees w/o climbing gear which we don't have).

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Picture the scene - you're downloading some suitable targets to your GPS, when a new cache is published, just 3 miles away. The D/T is 4/4, the description is vague, but it mentions that "specialist equipment" may be required. Without any previous logs to guide you, what do you pack?

 

For me, I've got wellies, gloves, a magnetic telescopic stick, a torch and I've just bought a grabber designed to help disabled people pick thinks up. What else?

 

gosh, I looked and looked, but couldn't see a cache of 4/4 rating.

 

Can you give us the GC code? Thanks.

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String/rope maybe. Duct Tape.

 

Briansnat probably has the best suggestion though.

 

Didn't I say that?

 

No. You didn't say that Briansnat had the best suggestion. :ph34r:

 

Reminds me of the time I contemlated dragging a step ladder into the park to get the waypoint up the tree. Fortunately someone volunteered to get it for us.

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1 left handed smoke shifter

1 right handed monkey wrench

2 feet cellophane tape

1 13oz. jar petroleum jelly

1 pair latex free surgical gloves

2 tablespoons instant coffee

1 5ft cat 5 cable

1 emergency defibrillator

1 pound crushed ice

6 4 penny nails

4 6 penny nails

1 red sock

1 52" shoe lace

1 74" shoe lace

1 50' roll friction tape

1 10oz. can squelch

1 18° angle

Link to comment

1 left handed smoke shifter

1 right handed monkey wrench

2 feet cellophane tape

1 13oz. jar petroleum jelly

1 pair latex free surgical gloves

2 tablespoons instant coffee

1 5ft cat 5 cable

1 emergency defibrillator

1 pound crushed ice

6 4 penny nails

4 6 penny nails

1 red sock

1 52" shoe lace

1 74" shoe lace

1 50' roll friction tape

1 10oz. can squelch

1 18° angle

 

and a partridge in a pear tree.

Link to comment

1 left handed smoke shifter

1 right handed monkey wrench

2 feet cellophane tape

1 13oz. jar petroleum jelly

1 pair latex free surgical gloves

2 tablespoons instant coffee

1 5ft cat 5 cable

1 emergency defibrillator

1 pound crushed ice

6 4 penny nails

4 6 penny nails

1 red sock

1 52" shoe lace

1 74" shoe lace

1 50' roll friction tape

1 10oz. can squelch

1 18° angle

 

and a partridge in a pear tree.

 

Sure. Hey, you never know.

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if that's all the cache description offers and no attributes i would not bother

 

Some of my favorite finds had crappy descriptions.

 

i really enjoy a challenge but you need to know when to draw the line

 

would you go for this one?

 

we would love to but while i can appreciate the rating its quite unsettling not to have at least minimum details like visibility and depth, and a hint

 

with high rating caches giving people some kind of "heads up" will not diminish its difficulty

 

unfortunately there's many new divers out there that overestimate their capabilities

 

but that is just my opinion

Edited by t4e
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if that's all the cache description offers and no attributes i would not bother

 

Some of my favorite finds had crappy descriptions.

 

i really enjoy a challenge but you need to know when to draw the line

 

would you go for this one?

 

we would love to but while i can appreciate the rating its quite unsettling not to have at least minimum details like visibility and depth, and a hint

 

with high rating caches giving people some kind of "heads up" will not diminish its difficulty

 

unfortunately there's many new divers out there that underestimate their capabilities

 

but that is just my opinion

 

Yup, it's on our radar. Not sure if it needs scuba equipment, or just a boat and a hook. But we figure "what the heck, can't hurt to check it out".

Link to comment

1 left handed smoke shifter

1 right handed monkey wrench

2 feet cellophane tape

1 13oz. jar petroleum jelly

1 pair latex free surgical gloves

2 tablespoons instant coffee

1 5ft cat 5 cable

1 emergency defibrillator

1 pound crushed ice

6 4 penny nails

4 6 penny nails

1 red sock

1 52" shoe lace

1 74" shoe lace

1 50' roll friction tape

1 10oz. can squelch

1 18° angle

 

What, no left-handed spanner????? :blink:

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if that's all the cache description offers and no attributes i would not bother

 

Some of my favorite finds had crappy descriptions.

 

i really enjoy a challenge but you need to know when to draw the line

 

would you go for this one?

 

we would love to but while i can appreciate the rating its quite unsettling not to have at least minimum details like visibility and depth, and a hint

 

with high rating caches giving people some kind of "heads up" will not diminish its difficulty

 

unfortunately there's many new divers out there that underestimate their capabilities

 

but that is just my opinion

 

Not alot of diving caches around here, but if I liken it to the tree hides, we have shown-up just to see if we could spot the container knowing the skill level around here way surpasses ours. It's fun to see just how crazy some of these guys are. In doing so, we have come across a few that we actually could tackle. Agreed there's a little more commitment to diving as you have to make the plunge to see what's in store. And I could see someone exceeding their limits and getting in trouble.

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Yup, it's on our radar. Not sure if it needs scuba equipment, or just a boat and a hook. But we figure "what the heck, can't hurt to check it out".

 

from the location you definitely need scuba equipment...wanna go? :anibad:

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Yup, it's on our radar. Not sure if it needs scuba equipment, or just a boat and a hook. But we figure "what the heck, can't hurt to check it out".

 

from the location you definitely need scuba equipment...wanna go? :anibad:

 

Ha, now that I look more closely at the cache page, there is the "scuba" attribute.

 

Guess that knocks it off our radar. Just like so many other caches, it's not possible for us to hunt for it.

 

Oh, well, there's lots of other caches out there that we are able to hunt. There's nothing that says we should be able to hunt for every cache published.

Link to comment

1 left handed smoke shifter

1 right handed monkey wrench

2 feet cellophane tape

1 13oz. jar petroleum jelly

1 pair latex free surgical gloves

2 tablespoons instant coffee

1 5ft cat 5 cable

1 emergency defibrillator

1 pound crushed ice

6 4 penny nails

4 6 penny nails

1 red sock

1 52" shoe lace

1 74" shoe lace

1 50' roll friction tape

1 10oz. can squelch

1 18° angle

That's it? You barely take anything more than what my wife has in her purse most of the time. :ph34r:

 

I at least take my GPS. Didn't notice that on your list. :rolleyes:

Link to comment

1 left handed smoke shifter

1 right handed monkey wrench

2 feet cellophane tape

1 13oz. jar petroleum jelly

1 pair latex free surgical gloves

2 tablespoons instant coffee

1 5ft cat 5 cable

1 emergency defibrillator

1 pound crushed ice

6 4 penny nails

4 6 penny nails

1 red sock

1 52" shoe lace

1 74" shoe lace

1 50' roll friction tape

1 10oz. can squelch

1 18° angle

That's it? You barely take anything more than what my wife has in her purse most of the time. :ph34r:

 

I at least take my GPS. Didn't notice that on your list. :rolleyes:

 

I didn't consider the GPS as "Specialist equipment". Kinda figured it was normal everyday gear for geocaching. I do understand what your saying about the wife's purse. That's how I bring all that stuff. I just invite my wife to come along for the hunt.

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to me if its a 4 for T, you shouldn't need any specialized equipment (ie. climbing gear, scuba, water craft, 4wd) Those should all be 5's. Now if its a 4 and you need equipment, then I would take tweezers and a flashlight, maybe a mirror.....If you need gear I mentioned above to get this cache and its a 4 then its incorrectly rated.

 

An all purpose tool such as a leatherman or swiss army knife which contains screw drivers could be potentially useful. I've seen more than one cache that required a special tool to open the container.

 

The fact that the cache is rated a 4 for difficulty would justify it taking several hours and a possible return visit to "find" the cache. Using a 4 star for terrain because the equipment/tool is less specialized than scuba, climbing equipment, or a watercraft seems to me to be a misuse of the rating. I also wouldn't consider the use of a 4WD vehicle as a justification for a 5 star rating. Although there may be an access road to the cache which requires 4WD, it must might mean a long walk for someone that doesn't have a vehicle with 4WD.

 

Dont beat me up to much Im still rather new lol

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String/rope maybe. Duct Tape.

 

If you get stopped by the police, whatever you do, do NOT let them search your car! :unsure:

 

I have string, rope, and duct tape in my truck. Along with several different hand saws. A few different power saws. And even some plastic sheeting.

 

Yeah, and your forum signature of 'Give Life, Give Blood' doesn't exactly help, either, does it?

Link to comment

1 left handed smoke shifter

1 right handed monkey wrench

2 feet cellophane tape

1 13oz. jar petroleum jelly

1 pair latex free surgical gloves

2 tablespoons instant coffee

1 5ft cat 5 cable

1 emergency defibrillator

1 pound crushed ice

6 4 penny nails

4 6 penny nails

1 red sock

1 52" shoe lace

1 74" shoe lace

1 50' roll friction tape

1 10oz. can squelch

1 18° angle

 

What, no left-handed spanner????? :blink:

It is a very incomplete list, actually. Notice the lack of a metric screwdriver, too.
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Yup, it's on our radar. Not sure if it needs scuba equipment, or just a boat and a hook. But we figure "what the heck, can't hurt to check it out".

 

from the location you definitely need scuba equipment...wanna go? :anibad:

 

Looks like around 8 - 12 feet in the area of the cache in McPhee Bay, off of McDonald's Beach:

 

map2.jpg

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FWIW, I'm noticing the use of maps in this thread ... most of the caches we attempt, we've usually checked out on Google maps first (and we aren't even doing hard ones yet). In our area, the crossover between urban lamppost caches and deep-woods ammo tins can be that mere 500ft minimum distance (though technically you still have to take the trail to the woods ones, because you'd be an idiot to park on those roads!). We're lucky to have a good variety in our city, with lots of greenspace. I've even seen a few listed as accessible only by boat. So a good zoomed-in map, and perhaps a comparison with local trail maps for altitude, etc, would give us some clues ... there can be caves, tree hides, etc. I do agree that some warning should be in the description, though, just to keep folks safe ... there's one I want to try that even marks a waypoint for a sneaky cave that you could fall in without spotting it first. Details like that save lives!

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Looks like around 8 - 12 feet in the area of the cache in McPhee Bay, off of McDonald's Beach:

 

Yeah I've found the same chart, 10-15 ft would've been my guess, which isn't a big deal even for an inexperienced diver. But depth is only one part of the equation when scouting for a potential scuba diving spot. Boat traffic seems to be significant (at least according to the aerial image) which can be quite dangerous, especially in shallow water, and I was unable to find any information on visibility, general water/ground/soil/weed/silt conditions or anything else really, as it doesn't seem to be a popular diving spot.

 

Of course ultimately, every cacher (and every diver) is responsible for their own safety, but simply dropping a cache in the water without even saying what kind of container it is or how big, and then just saying "go scuba dive there" (as this is what the attribute says) seems a bit silly.

Edited by dfx
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1 left handed smoke shifter

1 right handed monkey wrench

2 feet cellophane tape

1 13oz. jar petroleum jelly

1 pair latex free surgical gloves

2 tablespoons instant coffee

1 5ft cat 5 cable

1 emergency defibrillator

1 pound crushed ice

6 4 penny nails

4 6 penny nails

1 red sock

1 52" shoe lace

1 74" shoe lace

1 50' roll friction tape

1 10oz. can squelch

1 18° angle

 

Ive only got 2x 25ft cat 5 patch cables. Ah well, cant do that cache :(

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