Canoe Caches?

[+stlhiker]

I just hid my first canoe cache here in St. Louis a few days ago. We have a few caches that are made easier with a boat, ie no long, overgrown bushwhack, but not many caches where you specifically need a boat to get to GZ.

Seems like a cool idea, but I guess they haven't caught on here. Are these kinds of caches popular elsewhere?

[+SwineFlew]

My opinion about boat access caches, I feel they should be archived every year and replaced with a new cache page. They tend to keep going better. River caches here only last one summer. Its a fast moving river and always changing.

[+lamoracke]

well, I would not want to be the first one to find a cache in a given year because they do have a higher tendency to not be there than other caches, I have seen some last a pretty good while. It depends if its hidden on some land and tied down, or an island, vs just a log bison or something like that on the edge of a lake.

[+Manville Possum]

I have one on a island tied in a tree above flood level.

[+briansnat]

I have a few. They seem to get logged in bunches. A small group will hit the water and I'll get 5-6 logs in a day then nothing for a month or two.

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

There are two dozen here in Little Rhody, including a couple multis, and even a night paddle cache that I hid. There are rumors of at least 6 new ones this weekend. Some of these are on the shores on ponds, and some are connected to trees, dangling over rivers. I haven't done it, but I hear one is actually in the river.

 

This is the second year I will be hosting a paddle event (this year it looks like we will have 30+ vessels!).

 

So, paddle caches are definitely part of the geo-landscape here in Rhode Island.

[ll JK ll]

There's one in my area I have my eye on (Bald Eagle Island). There have been only 18 visitors since '06 so it's not often found but to me that makes it much more worthwhile. I get more of a sense of accomplishment when finding a cache that's hard to get to.

 

I've never canoed personally but one of my friends at work does on a regular basis so at some point I'll get him to ferry me to the cache.

 

At first when I saw the listing I figured this would be one to avoid but on the other hand this is going to lead me to a new experience. I'm actually looking forward to it.

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

I've never canoed personally but one of my friends at work does on a regular basis so at some point I'll get him to ferry me to the cache.

 

Promise of lunch and a beer will go a long way to help getting him to ferry you.

[ll JK ll]

I've never canoed personally but one of my friends at work does on a regular basis so at some point I'll get him to ferry me to the cache.

 

Promise of lunch and a beer will go a long way to help getting him to ferry you.

haha, that's true, especially with him. I have a strong feeling brew and other festivities will be involved.

 

He's actually asking me about it now, excited to find out more about geocaching. He's a outdoors kinda dude anyway so he jumped at the opportunity to get me on the river. Next week he's off to participate in the yearly Batteau Festival so I'm thinking the next weekend or two we'll put the plan in action.

[+Dan2099]

Oddly in my area I have seen several that you have to scuba dive for but none so far that require a boat or just a swim.

[+doug_hollyNKC]

I just hid my first canoe cache here in St. Louis a few days ago. We have a few caches that are made easier with a boat, ie no long, overgrown bushwhack, but not many caches where you specifically need a boat to get to GZ.

Seems like a cool idea, but I guess they haven't caught on here. Are these kinds of caches popular elsewhere?

 

stlhiker, not sure how much you have looked around at caches around the rest of the state but there are tons of island caches, and other canoe caches. They are quite popular.

[+trahciul]

What sort of terrain grade do canoe caches get. Is the canoe considered specialized equipment and skill making the terrain grade 5?

[Bolivar Bill]

What sort of terrain grade do canoe caches get. Is the canoe considered specialized equipment and skill making the terrain grade 5?

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC2ENH5

[+trahciul]

What sort of terrain grade do canoe caches get. Is the canoe considered specialized equipment and skill making the terrain grade 5?

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC2ENH5

 

OK I have looked at the listing. Is it a 4 because it is possible to walk/wade to the cache? Have a look at this one: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=1111446d-1033-4f5a-bfd3-67c47b7a14c1

St Kilda is not easy to get to but it has been done by kayak which would make it a 5 but, if you have the money, it can also be done by cruise ship or on a day trip from Harris.

[Blue Square Thing]

There are quite a few in these parts, but the Broads and their rivers don't generally flow all that quickly once you get even a little bit inland so afaik things don't tend to move anywhere near as much. Some of the rivers it's pretty much got to be a kayak to be able to get to the places they're hidden.

 

Now, St Kilda by kayak. That's a bit more of a challenge!

[Bolivar Bill]

What sort of terrain grade do canoe caches get. Is the canoe considered specialized equipment and skill making the terrain grade 5?

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC2ENH5

 

OK I have looked at the listing. Is it a 4 because it is possible to walk/wade to the cache? Have a look at this one: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=1111446d-1033-4f5a-bfd3-67c47b7a14c1

St Kilda is not easy to get to but it has been done by kayak which would make it a 5 but, if you have the money, it can also be done by cruise ship or on a day trip from Harris.

 

You're probably right- canoe caches are usually 5's, you could walk to this one if you wanted to but it wouldn't be easy.

[+hydnsek]

Here in Washington state, we have quite a few boat/canoe/kayak caches and at least one Small Boat Caches bookmark list.

[+stlhiker]

Sounds like there out there in other places, I really like the idea and am planning on hiding some more.

 

As far as this one, the co-FTF's bushwhacked a mile and a half through poison ivy and stinging nettle and then swam across the river.....

Not what I intended, but it works if you're really determined.

[+choochoo1996]

Up here in Northern Ontario we have quite a few Canoe,Kayak and Boat caches,. As a matter of fact Rosegirl2003 and I just returned from an FTF canoe cache(GC3M06B) as well as an older cache(GC1FWD8) that was in the area...

[+trahciul]

Up here in Northern Ontario we have quite a few Canoe,Kayak and Boat caches,. As a matter of fact Rosegirl2003 and I just returned from an FTF canoe cache(GC3M06B) as well as an older cache(GC1FWD8) that was in the area...

 

I noticed that you commented on the rating of the cache. I think the rating system can be a bit misleading and, at times, even dangerously so. In this case, if you had to walk to the cache, it might be a 2/4 so the grading of 2/2.5 for a canoe seems reasonable since using a boat makes the cache easier! I am not sure if there would be any liability from the cache owner or Groundspeak for misleading ratings.

[+choochoo1996]

Up here in Northern Ontario we have quite a few Canoe,Kayak and Boat caches,. As a matter of fact Rosegirl2003 and I just returned from an FTF canoe cache(GC3M06B) as well as an older cache(GC1FWD8) that was in the area...

 

I noticed that you commented on the rating of the cache. I think the rating system can be a bit misleading and, at times, even dangerously so. In this case, if you had to walk to the cache, it might be a 2/4 so the grading of 2/2.5 for a canoe seems reasonable since using a boat makes the cache easier! I am not sure if there would be any liability from the cache owner or Groundspeak for misleading ratings.

Doesnt really matter to me what the terrain level is marked as, as I do these for the adventure. I commented on that 1 cache that I thought it should be a five rating cause the road to the west is a private road, we drove the jeep as close to the cache as we could(.5 miles) but had no water access to launch our canoe. After heading back to the Provincial park, they wanted $14 just to launch even after I informed them we were Geocachers after a cache, but that didnt matter. So there was no way I was going to pay just to launch for an hour and a half. We found a small entrance to the lake from the side of the road about .5 miles from the park. We had a 3 foot drop to the lake at that point but a 1.25 mile canoe crossing to do instead of a .75 mile paddle. Again the terrain doesnt really matter to me as most of our caches here are hard to give an accurate terrain level, dont forget I live in Sudbury were the general terrain is mostly big big rock mountains ranging in all terrain levels....I thought that any water access caches were suppose to be a 5 but then again that dont matter to me.

[+Z_Statman]

If around Central Florida, here is one of the "Paddle" bookmarks to get you started - There are several others.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=509fd0bb-199b-44d7-b845-f6b6b9aa4c3d

[+AneMae]

I have placed a Canoe Multi. It was about 5 weeks before it was found and only one finder since then. I really had fun setting this one up. Most of our locals here prefer roadside park & grabs, so this is a little bit more challenging.

 

GC3HCAW

[+kennysart]

Here on the Oregon coast we have a group of cachers that really like kayaking for geocaches and have a number of lakes in the area that have many caches along them. It's a lot of fun. Here is a recent video that I made about three of us setting out some new caches from our kayaks:

 

 

 

 

I just hid my first canoe cache here in St. Louis a few days ago. We have a few caches that are made easier with a boat, ie no long, overgrown bushwhack, but not many caches where you specifically need a boat to get to GZ.

Seems like a cool idea, but I guess they haven't caught on here. Are these kinds of caches popular elsewhere?

[+Sat down]

Here in Sydney, Australia we have a few canoe caches (link to canoe event cache). In fact last weekend, in the middle of winter, we had a great turnout to a canoe and cache event on the river...I would say it was fairly popular. It gave a lot of people the opportunity to get together and find a few canoe caches

[JASTA 11]

Paddle Events are a lot of fun. Folks seem to come out of the woodwork for them. We've been to a couple and are hosting one tomorrow.

 

Our favorite (paddle or not) cache was this one down in Florida.

 

Unfortunately, many paddle caches don't have enough thought put into them. With changing water levels the caches get washed away or damaged from water ingress.

 

Choosing a high enough location and putting a lanyard on the the container will help the cache last past the high water levels. We put out a series of caches that cover a 32 mile stretch of river. It involves paddling along and finding numbers to enter in a final coordinate to find the container. The four subordinate caches each have clues to the bonus cache. Each container is on dry land nearby to eliminate the possibility of it washing away.

 

Twice we've had the caches leave their hiding spots. One was due to finder-error, the other was from some critter trying to make off with it.

[+pickatree]

Canoe/Kayak caching can be great fun. Check out this area near Tuscaloosa, AL. GC3NXMQ These a definitely not float and grabs.

[+Lieblweb]

We have a lot of kayak/canoe caches in my area!! Most of them placed by our local L.O.S.T group. Some of them are required for their LOST81 challenge and they're all rated with 5 terrain.

 

In fact, these kayak/canoe caches has introduced us into a new hobby of kayaking. Ordered a pair of kayaks last week and we're waiting for them to arrive! Cleaned out the garage today to make room for them ...

 

I hope they arrive by next Friday or at least - so we can pick them up Saturday morning and go have some fun!!