Planning a cache run

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Please, if numbers runs and easy cherry-picked drive-up caches and so forth are not your thing, great, enjoy caching your way, but there is no need to post your objections or negative vibes here! "I don't like numbers runs" adds nothing constructive.

 

A friend posted his caching goals for 2012 in our local forum, which got me to wondering how many of the items on his list could be completed in one day.

 

His list:

Find over 515 finds for year (1807 total)

Find over 1.5 finds per day

Find over 38 in a day

Find over 80 in a month

Extend 23+ day find streak

Extend Farthest North Find (119 miles)

Extend Farthest East Find (320 miles)

Complete 366 Challenge (8 needed)

Complete Fizzy Challenge (18 needed)

Attend 20 Events

Attend 5 CITOs

Find 15 Unknowns (30 total)

Find 21 Multis (50 total)

Find 15 Earthcaches (25 total)

Find 9 Virtals (20 total)

Find 4 Letterboxes (10 total)

Find 8 Wherigos (10 total)

Find 3 Webcams (5 total)

Find 85 Benchmarks (200 total)

Find 150 Waymarks (300 total)

Complete 16 Challenges (20 total)

Place 31 Caches (100 total)

 

Here's my list of those that I think we should be able to complete in one day:

Find over 38 in a day

Find over 80 in a month (day)

Extend Farthest North Find (119 miles)

Find 9 Virtals (20 total)

Find 4 Letterboxes (10 total)

Find 3 Webcams (5 total)

Complete 16 Challenges (20 total)

Add finds to any of the other goals not on my list.

 

I see folks in the various caching forums asking how to plan a cache run from time to time, so I am making the planning phase into a community affair. It's purely an intellectual exercise done for fun and education. I've done a number of planned runs and know how I do it, the point here is to find out how you would and, as a community effort, determine the 'best' way(s) to go about it.

 

Use whatever tools, experience and strategy you like to plan a cache run which accomplishes as much of his list of tasks in one 24-hour period. Work alone or with other planners as a team.

 

The first task is to select a general geographic area which has as many of the various goals as is possible. Since he wants to exceed his Furthest North goal then a route from Birmingham to Huntsville might be the best general area. Then select target caches and plan the fastest route. Target caches cannot require a hike or long search, multis generally take too long and all but the simplest puzzles do too, so let's keep the D/T ratings to 1.5/1.5 or lower.

 

GC14B0Z is on my front porch, so let's use that as our starting point. It doesn't matter if I have found them before because the folks in the car (four of us...I will be the driver and three will hunt caches) probably have not. You won't be able to claim a find but anyone who contributes to the plan will (if they so choose) have their names and ideas listed as Route Planners in the article I will write for The Online Geocacher.

 

Two cache hunter slots are available. If you want to come spend a fun day with us in and around Birmingham AL let me know!

Edited January 13, 2012 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+Moose Mob]

Are you say all in one day? or One day per item?

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Are you say all in one day? or One day per item?

As much of his list as is possible in one 24-hour period. I edited my post to make that clearer.

Edited January 13, 2012 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+dakboy]

Drive 342 miles northeast and you can knock off both the farthest north and farthest east in one shot.

 

You didn't specify that this has to be a one-day trip, just that the caching goals have to be done in one day. Go 350 miles NE, crash at a hotel or campground, and then go crazy the next day.

Edited January 13, 2012 by dakboy

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Drive 342 miles northeast and you can knock off both the farthest north and farthest east in one shot.

 

You didn't specify that this has to be a one-day trip, just that the caching goals have to be done in one day. Go 350 miles NE, crash at a hotel or campground, and then go crazy the next day.

I'm sorry if the time frame confuses folks.

 

By one 24-hour day (period) I mean, for example, from 9 a.m. Saturday to 9 a.m. Sunday. That includes parts of two calendar days but is only one 24-hour period.

 

There's not likely to be a way to drive 700 miles and find all of the caches in 24 hours. Time spent driving takes away from time spent caching so you want the route to be as short as is possible. In 2005 my team found 315 caches in that same 24-hour period but we drove less than 30 miles to do it.

 

Using that example we would leave my house (GC14B0Z) at 9 a.m. Saturday and stop caching wherever we happen to be at 9 a.m. Sunday.

 

Hope that helps!.

Edited January 13, 2012 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+Chief301]

There's not likely to be a way to drive 700 miles and find all of the caches in 24 hours.

 

Let's see...if the team split up, and one part of the team was in a fast car, say, maybe a black '76 Trans Am, he could run interference for the other half of the team, so they could easily make it to Texarkana and back in... Oh, wait, never mind, I was thinking of something else....

[+hzoi]

Head up to Nashville.

 

- It's about 160 miles away, gets you farthest north.

Within a 5-mile radius of the center of town you have:

- Hundreds of caches

- 20 virtuals

- 11 challenges

- 4 earthcaches (and more along the route up I-65, like Blount Springs)

 

- 3 webcams (and a number of virtuals) on/around the Vanderbilt campus

 

Heck, I think we need to head to Nashville now (edit: not on a cache run, Kelly would kill me, just on a weekend trip). Glad I started poking around.

Edited January 13, 2012 by hzoi

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Please, if numbers runs and easy cherry-picked drive-up caches and so forth are not your thing, great, enjoy caching your way, but there is no need to post your objections or negative vibes here! "I don't like numbers runs" adds nothing constructive.

 

First of all, I'm not interested in numbers runs, and I'm not going to post my objections about them. However, I'm not trying to speak for everyone that does post objections this style of cache, but when I or other do, it's not because "I don't like numbers runs". Whether or not someone likes numbers runs is irrelevant and dismissing the often logically presented objects with "you just don't like numbers" runs doesn't support the case for those that do.

 

But that's not what this thread is for so I'll try to contribute something constructive...

 

The first task is to select a general geographic area which has as many of the various goals as is possible.

 

The problem that I see with this approach, and because fixed numbers are used for each of the goals, is that selecting a general geographical area might mean traveling 10, 100, or 1000 miles to a starting point.

 

Suppose, instead, rather that use a fixed number (i.e. find 3 web cam caches) a set of PQs could be used to generated some reference data, that along with a multiplier, could be used to determine a reasonable number for each goal. For example, there are six web cam caches within 150 miles of where I live. If I use a zip code in Seattle there are 12. So instead of setting a goal of "find 3 web cam caches", using a PQ to determine the number of web caches within 150 miles, then multiplying that number by .5 would produce a goal for those that live in Seattle with "Find 6 webcams" and for someone where I live it would produce a "Find 1 (or 2, depending on whether you round up or down) web cam caches". A similar algorithm could be used for almost all of the goals and could server as a means for equalizing the challenge for everyone.

[+dakboy]

Drive 342 miles northeast and you can knock off both the farthest north and farthest east in one shot.

 

You didn't specify that this has to be a one-day trip, just that the caching goals have to be done in one day. Go 350 miles NE, crash at a hotel or campground, and then go crazy the next day.

I'm sorry if the time frame confuses folks.

 

By one 24-hour day (period) I mean, for example, from 9 a.m. Saturday to 9 a.m. Sunday. That includes parts of two calendar days but is only one 24-hour period.

 

There's not likely to be a way to drive 700 miles and find all of the caches in 24 hours. Time spent driving takes away from time spent caching so you want the route to be as short as is possible. In 2005 my team found 315 caches in that same 24-hour period but we drove less than 30 miles to do it.

 

Using that example we would leave my house (GC14B0Z) at 9 a.m. Saturday and stop caching wherever we happen to be at 9 a.m. Sunday.

 

Hope that helps!.

No, I understood the 24 hours perfectly. I think you missed my point, however. I'm saying that you drive to a cache-dense area, set up a base camp, get a good night's sleep, then go full-throttle for 24 hours.

 

You never specified that the 24 hours couldn't be part of a larger expedition.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

No, I understood the 24 hours perfectly. I think you missed my point, however. I'm saying that you drive to a cache-dense area, set up a base camp, get a good night's sleep, then go full-throttle for 24 hours.

 

You never specified that the 24 hours couldn't be part of a larger expedition.

True, and I have done that several times. I did however state that we would start at my home here in Birmingham.

 

I think all but the Farthest North goal could be accomplished within the Birmingham MSA and certainly if we select caches on a vaguely Birmingham to Huntsville route.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

...

The first task is to select a general geographic area which has as many of the various goals as is possible.

 

The problem that I see with this approach, and because fixed numbers are used for each of the goals, is that selecting a general geographical area might mean traveling 10, 100, or 1000 miles to a starting point.

I am trying to use my home, GC14B0Z or somewhere very close to it as the starting point.

 

Suppose, instead, rather that use a fixed number (i.e. find 3 web cam caches) a set of PQs could be used to generated some reference data, that along with a multiplier, could be used to determine a reasonable number for each goal. For example, there are six web cam caches within 150 miles of where I live. If I use a zip code in Seattle there are 12. So instead of setting a goal of "find 3 web cam caches", using a PQ to determine the number of web caches within 150 miles, then multiplying that number by .5 would produce a goal for those that live in Seattle with "Find 6 webcams" and for someone where I live it would produce a "Find 1 (or 2, depending on whether you round up or down) web cam caches". A similar algorithm could be used for almost all of the goals and could server as a means for equalizing the challenge for everyone.

None of the numbers are fixed, but most are minimums. What I would do is run a PQ to find all the webcams within 125 miles of the start point and make a list of the ones I wanted to attempt in GSAK using a filter to select only caches NW, N and NE of the start. Then run a PQ of Virtuals within that criteria and add that to the list, and so on for each cache type to create what I would call a Master List. Then look at the Master List to figure a route that would get us to at least 3 Webcams, 9 Virts, 4 Letterboxes and 16 Challenges. Then along that route I would choose other caches to assure that we find at least 80 caches for the day. Some will be disabled, some we won't find, so we'll select say 100 target caches total. This Target List now encompasses all of our goals and we just need to optimize the route to get them all in the shortest possible time. I would import that list into Street Atlas and let SA optimize the route for us.

 

A 100-mile PQ centered on GC14B0Z containing just WebCams, Virts, Earthcaches and Letterbox Hybreds nets 119 caches, of which 73 are W, NW, N or NE of the starting point. Of those only 11 are Letterbox, 6 are Virtuals and none are webcams, so I would pick a cache in Huntsville (~100 miles North of Birmingham) as the center point for another PQ. Or, not having found any WebCams in north Alabama, take them off the list of things that can be accomplished in our 24 hour period.

Edited January 13, 2012 by TheAlabamaRambler

[Clan Riffster]

I don't like numbers runs

 

 

 

 

Ed, you knew someone had to...

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I don't like numbers runs

 

 

 

 

Ed, you knew someone had to...

 

No doubt! Thanks for getting that out of the way!

[+humboldt flier]

Hmmmmmmmmmm,

 

Planning, Planning, Planning ... a good dose of resolve ... with a group of wild crazy and similar minded friends the proposed "Crunch Run" could be a blast.

 

Don't forget over the counter anti inflammatories and an Imodium like substance.

 

I attempted a mini "Crunch Run" near Stanford University and it turned into a bust. (urban caching and I are a bad mix)

 

Keep us informed

[+aurght]

I'm Signal Green with envy. Seattle is turning cold and snowy.

I used to be kind of unsure about numbers runs and power trails until I tried them(very small-scale). In both cases I had more fun than you can keep in a bucket!

 

My style is much less planned. I pick a starting point and go for whatever shows.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I'm Signal Green with envy. Seattle is turning cold and snowy.

I used to be kind of unsure about numbers runs and power trails until I tried them(very small-scale). In both cases I had more fun than you can keep in a bucket!

 

My style is much less planned. I pick a starting point and go for whatever shows.

That's my normal way of doing things. Completely unstructured. I load 1000 caches into my Garmin 62st, pick a cache to start at and just keep hitting 'Next Closest'. No telling how many I will find or where I will end up, but that's the way I like it.

 

Cache runs, as you've found out, are a blast as an occasional activity. I've done six or seven 100-cache days over the years, all with a carload of folks who started out strangers and ended up friends, all an absolute howl.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Oops, wrong thread.

Edited January 14, 2012 by TheAlabamaRambler