Hiding a geocaches close to letterboxes

[+nyhof]

I was scouting out a location for an awesome hide. There is a tree with hollow area that my 6 foot 300 lbs frame can comfortable stand or stretch out in. Its dry, remote, beautiful and free from muggles. While I was poking around looking for a hide a hole, out pops someones letterbox from atlasquest.com. I am not into the letterbox hobby yet. I signed his log and stamped my signature stamp. I have been to caches with a letterbox close by but never within 10 feet. What are your opinions about sharing this magnificent location with a letterbox.

[+L0ne.R]

I was scouting out a location for an awesome hide. There is a tree with hollow area that my 6 foot 300 lbs frame can comfortable stand or stretch out in. Its dry, remote, beautiful and free from muggles. While I was poking around looking for a hide a hole, out pops someones letterbox from atlasquest.com. I am not into the letterbox hobby yet. I signed his log and stamped my signature stamp. I have been to caches with a letterbox close by but never within 10 feet. What are your opinions about sharing this magnificent location with a letterbox.

 

Hopefully in this remote area there's another spot further away. Give the letterbox at least a 100 foot buffer, so that no one else accidentally stumbles upon it while looking for your geocache. Lots of geocachers have no idea what a letterbox is and while inadvertently trade out the letterbox stamp.

[+L0ne.R]

If you really really want to share that spot, contact the owner. I have seen spots shared (e.g. on either side of a bridge) where the cache owner and letterbox owner tell finders about the cache/letterbox in their cache/box description and inside the containers. But it still fails on occasion with geocachers taking the stamp anyway. So distance is the fairest solution. Here's a map to letterboxes in the Claremont area (I think you'll have to set up an account in order to see the map):

 

http://www.atlasquest.com/inc/package/views/map.html?gTypeId=1;gSort=5;gStatus=9;gSubFlags=58;gTitle=35.729722%2C-81.126323+%28Claremont%2C+NC%29;gCoord=35.7145776416602,-81.1462946607683;gRad=30;gLocation=35.729722%2C-81.126323

[+Team Itchy & Scratchy]

In our area letterboxes are rarely visited. but still best not to share the exact same spot. At least 50 feet away is a good distance to reduce the chance of accidental discovery and confusion. We do have several caches that are near letterboxes. In one case the letterbox was there first and we didn't know about it and on the others the letterbox was placed after our cache. It's also a good idea to add a note to your geocache page about the letterbox to help reduce the confusion.

[+Max and 99]

In our area letterboxes are rarely visited. but still best not to share the exact same spot. At least 50 feet away is a good distance to reduce the chance of accidental discovery and confusion. We do have several caches that are near letterboxes. In one case the letterbox was there first and we didn't know about it and on the others the letterbox was placed after our cache. It's also a good idea to add a note to your geocache page about the letterbox to help reduce the confusion.

 

I have experience with this issue, and I'd like to say DON'T place a cache within at LEAST 75 feet from a letterbox. Sharing a spot can cause problems and confusion to geocachers. I had so many people logging a find on my cache when in fact they found the letterbox instead. They were very frustrated to be informed that they had signed the log for the letterbox instead of the cache. And by the way, I am a letterboxer and love the hobby, but it's just not good to place the two close together.

[+The A-Team]

It's also a good idea to add a note to your geocache page about the letterbox to help reduce the confusion.

I have experience with this issue, and I'd like to say DON'T place a cache within at LEAST 75 feet from a letterbox.

I'll second both of these. The final for a local puzzle cache is hidden on the other side of a tree from a letterbox. The letterbox is in by far the most obvious spot, which has led to nothing but confusion.

[+briansnat]

Letterboxers and geocachers enjoy the same sort of areas so conflicts are inevitible. Heck I found a letterbox hidden under a rock at the based of the same tree where I had a cache. I've also encountered them a few feet from caches.

 

I had a cache that was about 30 feet from a letterbox. Some cachers found the LB thinking it was my cache. Finally I added a note to the LB saying "This is not the geocache, keep looking".

 

If I were to hide a cache knowing there was a LB nearby I would try to hide it far enough away so that people searching for my cache won't find the LB accidentally, but I've heard of LBs and geocaches sharing the same hollow tree.

[+Viajero Perdido]

I know of a cache and a letterbox in the same stump. It's a big stump.

 

Lots of people sign the wrong logbook without even knowing. I have no idea if we got the right one or not; I didn't learn about the letterbox until doing the logging at home later.

[knowschad]

In our area letterboxes are rarely visited. but still best not to share the exact same spot. At least 50 feet away is a good distance to reduce the chance of accidental discovery and confusion. We do have several caches that are near letterboxes. In one case the letterbox was there first and we didn't know about it and on the others the letterbox was placed after our cache. It's also a good idea to add a note to your geocache page about the letterbox to help reduce the confusion.

 

I have experience with this issue, and I'd like to say DON'T place a cache within at LEAST 75 feet from a letterbox. Sharing a spot can cause problems and confusion to geocachers. I had so many people logging a find on my cache when in fact they found the letterbox instead. They were very frustrated to be informed that they had signed the log for the letterbox instead of the cache. And by the way, I am a letterboxer and love the hobby, but it's just not good to place the two close together.

 

Agreed. A couple of weeks ago, I was caching with my buddy, Team Dennis. We were approaching GZ when I spotted a camo'd lock & lock container in a hollow log. I claimed the find, just as he pulled a half-gallon container out from the crotch of a tree not 10-15 feet away! The container I was holding, when I opened it up, had the words, "NOT A GEOCACHE" written on it. Funny thing is, there was nothing all that remarkable about the area, or about either hiding spot. Why two hiders selected that particular spot in the woods to place their containers is a mystery to me.

[Mr.Yuck]

I will start by saying in the grand scheme of things an EXTREMELY SMALL percentage of Geocachers are going to know what a Letterbox is. I mean sure, we're all premium members posting to a Geocaching forum here. Most of your finders will be totally clueless. I'd go for the 75 feet suggested by someone else. I personally think it would be kind of rude to put it within feet of an established Letterbox.

 

There is a cache and Letterbox on opposite sides of a tree in my area. Letterbox was there 2 years earlier, the cache owner (whom I know) just didn't see it.This just happens to be in the cemetery both my parents are buried in, so I think I've checked it out 3 times over the years. There have always been more Geocachers signatures in the letterbox logbook. And this is despite the fact letterboxers keep leaving notes in the box that it's not the Geocache.

 

EDIT: By the way, just looked. Letterbox, placed April 2007: 34 finds on Atlasquest.com. Geocache, placed April 2009, 162 finds. I wouldn't doubt there are 90 Geocacher signatures in the letterbox logbook.

Edited February 1, 2012 by Mr.Yuck

[+Viridios]

I am both a cacher and letterboxer. My favourite was a cache and letterbox less that 2 m from each other. I contacted both the GC and LB owner, and neither of them knew about the other. I was excited to get both a smiley and a stamp in my logbook that day!

[7rxc]

I think that it would be important to check out closely placed cache / letterbox sets.

 

One would hate to have a difficult puzzle letterbox spoiled by placing a 1/1.5 traditional cache right next door.

The reverse is true as well, the final of a hard puzzle or multi being found by seekers of an easy letterbox.

 

Distance is good separator, but I could see some logic in having them close together if matched well in nature and if there were limited hiding options... but both should be well marked as to what it is. Mentioning the other would also be appropriate, whether near or further away, but not by ID (name #) or giving coordinates.

 

I've not found any letterboxes myself, but have been enjoying doing some puzzle types remotely... the person who got me into it actually got confirmation of coordinates on one of them... but can't find the box. But then it has never been found yet either.

 

I think the nearest (on the site I was trying) said nearest was a couple of hundred km away, maybe next summer.

 

Doug 7rxc