Night Caches high maintenance?

[+Mike & Jess]

I've been looking at putting out a night cache or two in the area for a couple years now to liven up the caching in the area.

The reason I haven't yet is from what I can see, these caches look like they could be fairly high maintenance in our climate.

 

For those that have or had night caches with the fire tacks, glow in the dark paint, UV ink, etc, how have they faired over time?

For those with snow and cold, how do these caches fair after a run in with the winter?

[+The Jester]

I have three night caches. It varies on how much maintenace they need. One has a problem with one glint going missing 'often'. I've also had to replace containers. About the same with other caches.

 

If you're not willing to maintain a cache (of whatever type) don't hide it.

[+Mike & Jess]

I have three night caches. It varies on how much maintenace they need. One has a problem with one glint going missing 'often'. I've also had to replace containers. About the same with other caches.

 

If you're not willing to maintain a cache (of whatever type) don't hide it.

Regular maintenance is regular maintenance.

With Night caches, there tends to be more to maintain then just the actual cache itself.

 

Looking at some of the UV or glow in the dark paints, I do not know if they would last. If they will, great. If not, It'll be like placing the hide every time I go in to do owner maintenance.

 

I guess a glint or fire tack going missing on occation is not too bad of a maintenance record. Do you figure it's muggles?

[+niraD]

I don't own any night caches, but I know people who do. Fluorescent ink and paint needs to be refreshed regularly, although it helps a lot if you put it in a location that is sheltered from sunlight. And reflectors can go missing, depending on how they're secured, where they're placed, etc.

 

But I think the most important issue is that, as Mike & Jess indicated, night caches tend to be more complicated than other caches. There are more "moving parts", there is more to go wrong, and there is more to maintain.

[+SwineFlew]

A far for maintenance, more "stages", the higher the maintenance.

 

If you buy cheap reflectors, they will stop working over time, especially if the sun hit it alot. If the night cache is in a popular park, the more often you will need to maintenance it. I had see a night cache deep in the woods that nobody found at night. Nobody want to go up there at night anyway since its too dangerous. The cache was finally archived due to logging.

[+Mike & Jess]

A far for maintenance, more "stages", the higher the maintenance.

 

If you buy cheap reflectors, they will stop working over time, especially if the sun hit it alot. If the night cache is in a popular park, the more often you will need to maintenance it. I had see a night cache deep in the woods that nobody found at night. Nobody want to go up there at night anyway since its too dangerous. The cache was finally archived due to logging.

 

It's the reflectors failing, paint or ink fading, etc that I am more concerned about. The +40'C(104'F)/-35'C(-22'F) weather here can really put a beating on caches or anything left out in the elements.

[+The Jester]

I have three night caches. It varies on how much maintenace they need. One has a problem with one glint going missing 'often'. I've also had to replace containers. About the same with other caches.

 

If you're not willing to maintain a cache (of whatever type) don't hide it.

Regular maintenance is regular maintenance.

With Night caches, there tends to be more to maintain then just the actual cache itself.

 

Looking at some of the UV or glow in the dark paints, I do not know if they would last. If they will, great. If not, It'll be like placing the hide every time I go in to do owner maintenance.

 

I guess a glint or fire tack going missing on occation is not too bad of a maintenance record. Do you figure it's muggles?

I think the one that seems to 'walk off' the most is due to a homeless guy that hangs around that particular area, but I can't prove it (and have no idea why he'd want that many reflective tacks...).

[+T.D.M.22]

One night cache around here has had animals eating-yes eating one reflector. It was a plastic rat, now it's just reflective eyes. MY night cache is urban and I couldn't use many firetacks, but i went to my local sign making shop and they gave me some scraps from roadsigns. It's just a sticker, cut the size and peel the back off. Since it's made to be outside, and kinda looks like it should be there I don't think I'll ever have to replace it. Firetacks work but can go missing due to animals muggles or even the tree falling down. But remember it only take about 5 seconds to replace a firetack, as opposed to maybe a week or more to replace a custom built geocache, so it kinda evens it out-on how much time you spend doing maintenance.

[+Sharks-N-Beans]

A far for maintenance, more "stages", the higher the maintenance.

 

If you buy cheap reflectors, they will stop working over time, especially if the sun hit it alot. If the night cache is in a popular park, the more often you will need to maintenance it. I had see a night cache deep in the woods that nobody found at night. Nobody want to go up there at night anyway since its too dangerous. The cache was finally archived due to logging.

 

It's the reflectors failing, paint or ink fading, etc that I am more concerned about. The +40'C(104'F)/-35'C(-22'F) weather here can really put a beating on caches or anything left out in the elements.

 

Good Fire Tacks will stand-up reflectively, but it's still a tack. They are designed to mark a path out as you go in (taking them with you when you leave). Sure they may last a hunting season, but they are not designed to stay in a tree all year. Paint should never be used on anything that is not placed there by the cacher so you are still left with how to affix a reflector to nature...screws/nails is a no no.

[Mr.Yuck]

A far for maintenance, more "stages", the higher the maintenance.

 

If you buy cheap reflectors, they will stop working over time, especially if the sun hit it alot. If the night cache is in a popular park, the more often you will need to maintenance it. I had see a night cache deep in the woods that nobody found at night. Nobody want to go up there at night anyway since its too dangerous. The cache was finally archived due to logging.

 

It's the reflectors failing, paint or ink fading, etc that I am more concerned about. The +40'C(104'F)/-35'C(-22'F) weather here can really put a beating on caches or anything left out in the elements.

 

I live 263 miles SE of your first cache hide, which I'm quite sure is close to your home. Now I admit our Winters aren't quite as severe as yours, but pretty close. I have never had to do ANYTHING to the fire tacks on my July 2004 placed classic fire tack cache. Then again, I haven't been there in a year and a half, and it hasn't been found in 2012. If anyone's looked for it, they haven't logged it. It's actually gone over a year without finds a few times, and I do need to get out there. But I'm sure it's fine. I'd tell you I bought these fire tacks at Gander Mountain, but I'm sure that's an American chain, and I couldn't remember what brand they were anyways. Just the ol' classic white reflective fire tacks.

 

EDIT: Actually, I just got a strange log on mine the other day. I'd better shoot an email and see what's up. I've never had any tacks muggled though, and they were absolutely fine 6 1/2 years after placement.

Edited September 26, 2012 by Mr.Yuck

[+The A-Team]

I guess a glint or fire tack going missing on occation is not too bad of a maintenance record. Do you figure it's muggles?

I've had some firetacks get fiddled with by muggles. I did a maintenance run on my night cache in the spring, and several of the tacks had gone missing completely. In addition, one had been moved from a raised area of bark to a crevice in the bark, so it was barely visible. Another, located on a ~3 inch diameter tree, had been moved around to the exact opposite side of the tree. The final container, marked with two firetacks, hasn't had any problems.

 

Now that it's getting dark earlier, I've been meaning to get over there to do another maintenance check before cachers start to try it again. I'm curious to see what, if anything, has happened since I was last there. Maybe I'll go tomorrow night.

[+OZ2CPU]

caching in the dark at night is SUPER cool !!

we are many who love the buh-ha feeling, the smell and feel and sounds and all that

along with night animals we see too.

so PLEASE go on and make a great night cache for your local friends,

if you try to use better parts for longer function and less maintenence problems,

you are most likely to have a better night cache than so many others,

so what are you waiting for :-)

 

if you are a bit smart, you use a little bit less distance from reflector to reflector

than is really needed, this way if one is missing, it is still solveable for most people.

and also think about trees and leaves and stuff changes during summer and winter..

a night cache made during winter, might be great to do during winter,

but impossible to do during summer.

 

hang up the reflectors at SAME hight, and explain this in your cache page,

use a hight so kids and mugglers can not jump up and pick them down.

 

some night caches are made with numbers written on some reflectors on the route

those numbers are used to find the final,

this kind of extra diff is also alot of fun, makes it possible to hide the final

where it is not revealed by accident if people use a flashlight at night in the forrest.

but offcourse numbers written will go away if they get sunlight over long time,

and people must be able to reach for them to see the numbers.

more things to go wrong.

[+Mike & Jess]

A far for maintenance, more "stages", the higher the maintenance.

 

If you buy cheap reflectors, they will stop working over time, especially if the sun hit it alot. If the night cache is in a popular park, the more often you will need to maintenance it. I had see a night cache deep in the woods that nobody found at night. Nobody want to go up there at night anyway since its too dangerous. The cache was finally archived due to logging.

 

It's the reflectors failing, paint or ink fading, etc that I am more concerned about. The +40'C(104'F)/-35'C(-22'F) weather here can really put a beating on caches or anything left out in the elements.

 

I live 263 miles SE of your first cache hide, which I'm quite sure is close to your home. Now I admit our Winters aren't quite as severe as yours, but pretty close. I have never had to do ANYTHING to the fire tacks on my July 2004 placed classic fire tack cache. Then again, I haven't been there in a year and a half, and it hasn't been found in 2012. If anyone's looked for it, they haven't logged it. It's actually gone over a year without finds a few times, and I do need to get out there. But I'm sure it's fine. I'd tell you I bought these fire tacks at Gander Mountain, but I'm sure that's an American chain, and I couldn't remember what brand they were anyways. Just the ol' classic white reflective fire tacks.

 

EDIT: Actually, I just got a strange log on mine the other day. I'd better shoot an email and see what's up. I've never had any tacks muggled though, and they were absolutely fine 6 1/2 years after placement.

My first hide (close to home) was close to my house before we moved 50 miles away this past December. Regardless, same climate and environment.

Good to hear that yours have held out alright. We had only one night cache in town which was placed about 2 years ago. I can't located it or remember the name of it, so I can't say if it's still around or not. I will keep an eye out for different ideas and products that I can use before I put one out.

 

caching in the dark at night is SUPER cool !!

we are many who love the buh-ha feeling, the smell and feel and sounds and all that

along with night animals we see too.

so PLEASE go on and make a great night cache for your local friends,

if you try to use better parts for longer function and less maintenence problems,

you are most likely to have a better night cache than so many others,

so what are you waiting for :-)

 

if you are a bit smart, you use a little bit less distance from reflector to reflector

than is really needed, this way if one is missing, it is still solveable for most people.

and also think about trees and leaves and stuff changes during summer and winter..

a night cache made during winter, might be great to do during winter,

but impossible to do during summer.

 

hang up the reflectors at SAME hight, and explain this in your cache page,

use a hight so kids and mugglers can not jump up and pick them down.

 

some night caches are made with numbers written on some reflectors on the route

those numbers are used to find the final,

this kind of extra diff is also alot of fun, makes it possible to hide the final

where it is not revealed by accident if people use a flashlight at night in the forrest.

but offcourse numbers written will go away if they get sunlight over long time,

and people must be able to reach for them to see the numbers.

more things to go wrong.

If I can put together a good cache idea, with a solid night system, I will put one or more out.

Being that not a lot of locals have done these, if the quality of the cache or gear used sucks, or doesn't survive the local environment, the concept or idea of night caches will not bite.

[+The Jester]

some night caches are made with numbers written on some reflectors on the route

those numbers are used to find the final,

this kind of extra diff is also alot of fun, makes it possible to hide the final

where it is not revealed by accident if people use a flashlight at night in the forrest.

but offcourse numbers written will go away if they get sunlight over long time,

and people must be able to reach for them to see the numbers.

more things to go wrong.

I have one night cache where the glints are used to binary code the numbers of the final - using two different colored glints in sets of 4 (6 sets for the decimal portion of the co-ords).

[+OZ2CPU]

super cool idea there Jester..

this code is offcourse explained on the page, right ???

else it may be a bit too hard to guess while out there.

well one of mine (harder) caches, sends out a morse coded laser beam

it goes slow and is constantly repeated, so it is possible to hand decode

if you know what it is, but spotting the beam is tricky too :-)

[+Sharks-N-Beans]

super cool idea there Jester..

this code is offcourse explained on the page, right ???

else it may be a bit too hard to guess while out there.

well one of mine (harder) caches, sends out a morse coded laser beam

it goes slow and is constantly repeated, so it is possible to hand decode

if you know what it is, but spotting the beam is tricky too :-)

Now that is really cool. Care to share the make and model of the laser and how it's standing up to the elements?

[+NeverSummer]

I've been looking at putting out a night cache or two in the area for a couple years now to liven up the caching in the area.

The reason I haven't yet is from what I can see, these caches look like they could be fairly high maintenance in our climate.

 

For those that have or had night caches with the fire tacks, glow in the dark paint, UV ink, etc, how have they faired over time?

For those with snow and cold, how do these caches fair after a run in with the winter?

As with any cache, maintenance is all part of the process. Be prepared to check on all of your caches with some amount of regularity.

 

Firetacks and the like can disappear over time, for sure. I once found a night cache that was supposed to have tacks close together, and it ended up being quite the effort to locate the next reflector. Turned out there were supposed to be more of them, but folks got grabby with them.

 

That said, long winter nights make for a great time of year to go looking for a night cache. It will take organization and maintenance, yes...but I bet folks will love it if you can keep it in top-notch shape.

[+Olddffart]

I've been looking at putting out a night cache or two in the area for a couple years now to liven up the caching in the area.

The reason I haven't yet is from what I can see, these caches look like they could be fairly high maintenance in our climate.

 

For those that have or had night caches with the fire tacks, glow in the dark paint, UV ink, etc, how have they faired over time?

For those with snow and cold, how do these caches fair after a run in with the winter?

 

I have seven night caches out, one is in town, the rest are out in the 'bush'. All of them are 1km to 2km in length and have 50 to 100 reflectors. I only have to check on them about once a year, and then only need to replace maybe one or two reflectors.

Some thing I have learned :-

- Use plenty of reflectors. From one you should be able to see the next.

- It is best to lay out your trail in a loop that leads you back to the start after finding the cache, so there is no long back track after finding the hide.

- It is not very helpful in your description to say "when you get to the last marker...", especially if your markers are far apart.

- Reflectors up high (7-8 ft) don't get muggled very often.

 

I have found that "Fire Tacks" deteriorate in our wetcoast weather and are more easily seen and removed by muggles, so I make my own "Night Tacks" from brass plated thumb tacks.

From a local Auto Supply store I get a piece of the reflective tape used on the sides of big trucks - comes in red or white, sold by the foot. Punch out 3/8" dia. circles and stick to the tacks. This makes a reflector that is even brighter that a standard "Fire Tack" and is much harder to see in the daytime.

 

I also use a magnetic faced hammer to install these tacks on poles and/or trees just up out of reach from most people.

 

Incidentally, this material is "retro-reflective" - it reflects 90% of the light directly and almost exclusively back to the source, regardless of the angle. This means that someone standing a few feet to the side of you will find it very hard to see a reflector that looks very bright to you if your flashlight is anywhere near your eye level.

 

A good Night cache takes a bit more work to lay out and set up, but if done well is not a lot more maintenance and is usually enjoyed by all who try it.

[+The_Incredibles_]

Seems to me like nightcaches require a fair bit of maintenance. Fire tacks are always disappearing. Not sure where they go.

[Clan Riffster]

I own five night caches, each with a reflective trail between one and two miles long, all of them off trail. I do like the Firetack brand, for reflectivity and durability, but with the length of my trails, I would have spent several hundred dollars just buying the tacks. So, I made my own.

 

I bought a role of 3M Reflective tape, available at your local big box hardware store, near the mailboxes. It was 36"x1". I think? Close enough, anywho. I cut this into 72 1/2"x1" strips, then cut those diagonally, for 144 triangle shaped reflectors. I affixed those to trees using a staple gun. The reflectors tended to last a couple years before needing to be refreshed. For one of my night caches, I bought a box of small fender washers, affixed a 1/2"x1/2" square of reflective tape to the washers, then nailed these to trees. They are still in good shape several years later.

 

I should point out that with both reflector types, I spoke at great length with the land managers, describing what I had in mind, and received explicit permission to do so. It was one of those land managers that suggested I try fender washers nailed to trees, when I was discussing my semi-annual reflector replacement trek. They pointed out that a short nail would cause no harm to the trees, and would last a lot longer.

[+The A-Team]

Seems to me like nightcaches require a fair bit of maintenance. Fire tacks are always disappearing. Not sure where they go.

As promised, I went out to check on my night cache. It was fine except for two consecutive firetacks. One was missing entirely, but it's one of the ones that's most exposed and close to a high-traffic spot, so I'm not that surprised. The next one had been fiddled with. The reflective tape had been peeled off each face of the firetack and stuck on the other side of the tree, with no sign of the tack itself. I replaced it with one much higher. I suspect with the weather turning there will be fewer people out on those trails, so I don't expect to have too many problems until the spring. I'll still go check on it fairly frequently, though.

[+The_Incredibles_]

Seems to me like nightcaches require a fair bit of maintenance. Fire tacks are always disappearing. Not sure where they go.

As promised, I went out to check on my night cache. It was fine except for two consecutive firetacks. One was missing entirely, but it's one of the ones that's most exposed and close to a high-traffic spot, so I'm not that surprised. The next one had been fiddled with. The reflective tape had been peeled off each face of the firetack and stuck on the other side of the tree, with no sign of the tack itself. I replaced it with one much higher. I suspect with the weather turning there will be fewer people out on those trails, so I don't expect to have too many problems until the spring. I'll still go check on it fairly frequently, though.

 

One reason we're not in a hurry to publish our own night cache. If it's not people messing with the firetacks, it's trees spitting them out. I think? Really enjoy doing other people's, though. Mr Incredible likes them because he gets to play with flashlights and compare the different brightnesses. Looking forward to doing yours ASAP.