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How much time do you spend maintaining caches?


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I've been wondering how many caches I should have out there and how much time it's going to take to maintain it. I know it varies a lot on how many people visit the cache, and where it is. But can you give me an average number of how many times you have to maintain it. A good start would be if you could tell me how many caches you have out there and how much time you spend maintaining them each month.

 

Please don't just answer saying "it depends" or "it's a question that can't be answered". I know that.

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I've got 10 active caches.

I've had to do maintainance on the multi's once (when I adopted them), and will probably only need to do so once each year (they are older caches).

The others have been up for a few months and haven't needed any physical maintainance.

You can look at anyone's profile to see how many and how long their caches have been up, and even how many finds, Owner's maint. visits and the like.

 

Picking the correct container for the location can save you lots of work.

Edited by MooseJawSpruce
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I only have a single cache for now. I try to get out and check it at least once a month no matter how often its been visited. Fortunately the cachers around here are good about reporting the cache condition in there logs. But mine is hid in a spot where its out of the weather for the most part and only been active a few months. I'm sure come winter i'll need to put some actual work in to maintain it.

 

I guess you really don't have to put any work into it until an MN log is filed. Seems to be the way many caches around here are maintained. Though we do have allot of good COs who check on there caches and will ID a problem before it gets reported and log the problem and solution for all to see.

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I have 150+ active caches. Some of the remote ones haven't seen a visit in as much as 7 years. Some of the closer ones get maintenance about 1 or 2 times a year.

 

In an average month, I might "need" to go out and check/maintain 1, 2 or rarely 3 caches. Less than 2 hours per month on average including prep time for new containers/logs/swag.

 

But I live in a fairly rural area.

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We have two caches that are within a few blocks of our home. We usually check on them once a month - more if we see that they have a trackable in them and we just want to have a look at it. Because we live close, it takes about half an hour to maintain both caches.

 

When we do maintenance, we restock swag if larger items have been traded for smaller, remove any traded swag that is damaged or otherwise undesirable, clean out any dirt or forestry that has tumbled into the cache (as cachers sometimes set the open container on the ground while they sign the log), and make sure the log book still has lots of room for signatures in it.

 

We also maintain the area around where the cache is hidden - a little CITO here and there keeps the trail and the experience nice for seekers.

 

So if you are thinking about how many caches you should place, perhaps the first question you might ask is how much time you want to devote to a cache. (In our opinion:)Fewer caches that are maintained well are so much nicer than dozens of caches that are in a constant cycle of disrepair.

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I've got six active, now. I had seven but archived one due to a homeless person making his home at ground zero. Of those seven, the archived one caused me the most grief as I was very concerned about people poking about looking for it with bags of personal belongings, blankets and Lord know's what else in the immediate area. I contacted the reviewer for advice and made the proper decision. As for the others, one "small" was muggled and I replaced it with a micro in another area of the same local park. And the others have been visited by geocachers on average two or three times a month. Maintenance is no problem as I've located every cache within about a 5 km. radius of my home. I had two successive DNF's for one of my micros so I popped down to have a look and found it incorrectly placed not far away. I posted a note after re-positioning the cache. In short, I maintain them as required, by watching for DNF's and notes. I'm considering placing another small cache, as I really enjoy the logs and photos of happy geocachers. That's what it's all about!

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Fewer caches that are maintained well are so much nicer than dozens of caches that are in a constant cycle of disrepair.

 

I agree with 6NoisyHikers and I love that they keep their caches clean and well stocked.

 

The number of maintenance visits in 2010 for our active cache hides:

CIF -- 4 (full logbook; replaced small lnl with larger lnl, went missing, came back with smaller lnl container; checked after a couple of DNFs but cache still there)

DG -- 1 (full logbook, topped up swag while there)

A -- 1 (clean out box and top up swag)

MSV - 1 (full logbook)

GA - 2 (muggle issue - cache still there though; full logbook)

HG - 1 (a multi - wiped down boxes, replaced log, replaced a couple of not-so-good containers with real lock n locks)

LTL - 1 (replaced old beat up old container with new container, new logbook)

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We have one cacher around here (who has awesome caches) who checks every DNF within a few hours. He has 60+ caches. Of course, he is retired and really likes to ride his bike, but still.

I have 4 caches, but all of them are so new that none have needed any maintenance.

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I generally have 90 - 100 active caches. I go months at at time doing no maintenance at all. I'm a lazy owner of mostly ammo cans, they don't require maintenance, until some unfortunate log comes in.

 

It does seem to come in fits and starts. Last year, during a period when I was on crutches, there was a quite a run of DNFs and "ammo can burnt" logs on my stuff. When I was finally ambulatory, I made a bunch of maintenance runs. So many that I PQ'ed my own caches, and dumped it into GSAK to hunt for those DNF logs, and NM. Then had to create a plan, get a couple of south caches one day, check a multi 'yak cache another, go north two days for other caches...

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I currnetly have over 100 active hides. The "worst" caches maintenance-wise are a series of Nanos in Newport, RI - they get visited a lot, so the logs are always needing replacement. I can replace all of them in about 1 hour. Second worst are several I have in a very popular park (over 35 total caches, not all mine), again, log replacement.

 

After that, most of caches are virtually maintenance free. I chose good solid containers, hid them very well, and they are usually walks in woods, which don't seem to get visited frequently anymore.

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I generally have 90 - 100 active caches. I go months at at time doing no maintenance at all. I'm a lazy owner of mostly ammo cans, they don't require maintenance, until some unfortunate log comes in.

 

It does seem to come in fits and starts. Last year, during a period when I was on crutches, there was a quite a run of DNFs and "ammo can burnt" logs on my stuff. When I was finally ambulatory, I made a bunch of maintenance runs. So many that I PQ'ed my own caches, and dumped it into GSAK to hunt for those DNF logs, and NM. Then had to create a plan, get a couple of south caches one day, check a multi 'yak cache another, go north two days for other caches...

Yes, it seems to happen all at once. Chunks of maintenance issues, with longer breaks in between. If it was spaced out nicely, it wouldn't be so bad!

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After someone asked "Is it fair that a cacher with 1,000's of finds, has no hides?"

 

The word, from one of the UK Reviewers:

 

Can I just add something which has not been mentioned.

 

People should Only Hide caches if they are prepared to physically go out and Maintain that cache, for the life of that cache whilst they are the owner of it.

So they should be prepared to go out within a reasonable period (I'm not talking immediately, but with the Guideline requirements of a few weeks, or at least post a note with a genuine explanation of why maintenance in being delayed) for at least 3 months (the minimum time a cache is listed for) up to 4-5-6 or even 10 years.

 

At no time should they sit back and rely on others to maintain the cache, that's not to say a finder performing maintenance should not take place if it falls within the reasonable maintenance period. Provided the cache owner acknowledges and thanks that person on the cache page.

 

Why? Because it shows the Owner has actively monitored the cache, and not ignored and and has just not gone out to maintain it yet.

 

They should be prioritising maintaining the caches they own, over going out finding them!

 

Sadly it's all too common for a Reviewer to end up Archiving a cache due to no owner maintenance, despite that owner being out caching every week without fail!

 

Priority Should always be:

 

Maintaining Owned Caches

Finding Caches

Placing Caches

 

In that order, those who have never placed a cache, might not have done so for specific reasons. If they don't feel that they are in a position to maintain those caches they placed, or have no inclination to maintain any they place. Then they are doing the community a huge service by not placing any.

 

Deci

 

If you can't accept that a cache you have hidden should take priority over finding or hiding more caches, don't hide it!

Edited by Bear and Ragged
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I have 14 now and expect I will stop around 20. There are not very many new regular sized family friendly caches going in in around here so I'll do a few more. I don't want to get so many it is a burden to kep them up. I suspect that is what happens with some who have 100+ caches and depend on NM logs to tell them what needs done.

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I've hidden about 320 caches and I have roughly 250 active caches. The need for maintenance seems to come in bunches. I haven't made a maint run in over a month, but I have two planned. One for a damp log and one for a missing log book (someone left paper in the latter so it's not exactly urgent).

 

I've made 14 maint trips so far this year. Several were for caches that were reported missing but where actually there when I checked. One for was a missing stage for a multi, 3 were for missing caches and the rest were for wet logbooks or contents. That is actually a pretty high number considering we're only at the halfway point in the year. I made 10 maint trips all of last year, and 14 the year before. 2008 seems to be the worst year with 22 maint visits. Some of my maint visits however occurred just because I happened to be in the area and were not necessarily the result of issues with the caches.

 

Many of my caches involve longer hikes, so some maint trips can take a few hours and up to half a day. Most of the trips this year have been shorter walks, but there was one paddle cache I had to replace so that took a few hours and the missing stage of the multi happened to be the farthest from parking so that too about 3 hours out and back.

 

Considering the number of caches I have in the wild I don't have a lot of problems. I reduce the need for maintenance by using quality containers, mostly ammo boxes and Lock n Locks, and by hiding the caches off the beaten path where they are unlikely to be accidentally discovered. I have caches I haven't visited in years because the logs keep rolling in saying everythng is OK.

Edited by briansnat
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I've never really paid attention to how many caches I own. I just placed a cache when I felt like it, then placed another when I felt like it, etc. It took years, and I was always able to gauge how things were going along the way. I eventually reached a time when there weren't spots that I wanted to place caches at, and I didn't really have a burning desire to place anymore. I still place a few most years. I also host/co-host two or more events a year, the most I did in one year was five.

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Come to think of it though, I probably slowed down in my placing mainly because of my health. I like caches on hiking trails and in the mountains, etc. and I haven't been hiking and don't want to add to my already problematic maintenance issues due to my aforementioned illness. I've been slowly getting better, so I expect I may be able to start placing more of the caches I really like to hide in the next few years. :)

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I've never really paid attention to how many caches I own. I just placed a cache when I felt like it, then placed another when I felt like it, etc.

But you do know that you have 38, don't you.

If I went and looked at my profile, I would know, but I don't carry around the number in my head. I also manage all of my husband's caches, my son and daughter's, and also several caches on sock puppet accounts.

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I spend very little time maintaining my caches. (After checking my profile it appears I have 32 active caches.)

 

I do whatever I can up front to minimze the amount of effort needed because I'm lazy that way. :laughing:

 

1) Hide caches in locations I pass by / visit frequently so I don't need to make special trips when problems are reported.

 

2) Use the best container possible. The more remote the cache, the better the container needs to be. If it involves a hike, you can bet I'm hiding nothing less than an ammo can. And, yes, sometimes the best container is a Micro. I've replaced three Small containers with Micros after the Small containers were proving to be too problematic.

 

3) Hide caches in low-visibility locations. The more exposed people are when looking for the cache the more likely it is to go missing.

 

4) Use the largest log book possible. Minimize the number of times it needs to be replaced.

 

My system works for me. Over the last year-and-a-half I have posted seven Owner Maintenance logs on my caches. Of those:

 

3 - Just passing by and stopped in to check on the cache.

2 - Container replacements due to cache disappearing.

1 - Updating cache listing after virtual stage of a multi was removed

1 - Updating cache listing after listing requirements were changed

 

Not bad -- just two actual cache visits were required.

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