Massive archival...

1.3k · October 30, 2012

In light of Sandy, I have to wonder how many of those east coast caches are now destroyed, missing or under water. Does anybody see a massive archival? Thoughts from the reviewer team are welcome, also.

3.6k · October 30, 2012

It will be plenty.

October 30, 2012

At least the caches that remain are truly water- and weatherproof.

6.5k · October 30, 2012

Just like Katrina and other natural disasters, the caches are a very low priority and there won't be any massive archivals.

There will be plenty that will get maintained eventually and plenty that will not. And it will take months for it all to be sorted out. I doubt any of the reviewers will be aggressively working towards the massive archival you seem to be hoping for.

6.1k · October 30, 2012

I think that should be the last thing for us to be concerned about, these days.

10.2k · October 30, 2012

Just like Katrina and other natural disasters, the caches are a very low priority and there won't be any massive archivals.

There will be plenty that will get maintained eventually and plenty that will not. And it will take months for it all to be sorted out. I doubt any of the reviewers will be aggressively working towards the massive archival you seem to be hoping for.

Hoping for? :unsure: I was around, but it never occured to me to check out Geocaches in the path of Katrina. Was there a thread? There probably was, but I don't remember. I can tell you my area had a ridiculous early October snowstorm in 2006, that brought down tens of thousands of trees (heavy, wet snow, and the trees still had most, if not all of the leaves on them). This was a horrific mess, and I personally was without power for 8 days. Not exaggerating, I was really out for 8 days, although that was at the high end for the whole region.

Anyways, we speculated the same thing about a mass archival of caches locally, but I don't remember a single cache lost to the storm. They were just a lot harder to get to! I remember one large undeveloped park with hiking trails wasn't cleaned up for about 2 years. I would think, and hope, the same will happen here. I hope everyone is coping the best they can in the hardest hit regions in greater NYC and New Jersey.

Edited October 30, 2012 by Mr.Yuck

8.6k · October 30, 2012

I think that should be the last thing for us to be concerned about, these days.

Correct... there are times that caching does take a back seat to other things!

2.3k · October 30, 2012

We had severe local flooding this year. There was no massive archival afterwards. Some caches were disabled by owners until they could be checked on post flood. But the NM and NA trickled in. There were bigger issues post-flood to deal with by cache owners and finders such as rebuilding homes, streets and parks.

8.3k · October 30, 2012

In light of Sandy, I have to wonder how many of those east coast caches are now destroyed, missing or under water. Does anybody see a massive archival? Thoughts from the reviewer team are welcome, also.

Massive, as in a short period of time? No, probably not. CO's might have other priorities for the next couple weeks/months than the state of their caches. Local cachers will probably have other priorities than adding to their find counts. Reviewers are not going to archive just "to err on the side of caution". Over time they will slowly get sorted out, archived in the case of absent owners, replaced or archived as others have time. It will more of a slow trickle than a flood.

2.6k · October 30, 2012

I agree that is not the time to worry about the caches. In fact we should worry about them at all.

Once life has returned to normal enough for caching to getting going again, the procedures that are in place will do what they should. Some caches will get repaired. Those that don't will be NM'ed and then NA'ed and then weeks or months from now they will slowly, one by one, be archived. Unless you are watching for it you may not even notice it.

1.3k · October 30, 2012

Just like Katrina and other natural disasters, the caches are a very low priority and there won't be any massive archivals.

There will be plenty that will get maintained eventually and plenty that will not. And it will take months for it all to be sorted out. I doubt any of the reviewers will be aggressively working towards the massive archival you seem to be hoping for.

I have no idea where you got the idea I'm hoping for massive archival. I live in Texas. It's just a topic of discussion...not a witch hunt.

1.3k · October 30, 2012

Please allow me to clarify...I'm not hoping for archival, dismissing the tragic nature of the storm, but this is a geocaching topics forum with a thread about the impact on geocaching. Of course, geocaching does not take priority over storm damage, lives lost, injuries, etc. but this is not a topic about those adspects of the storm. Geez people!

3.8k · October 30, 2012

I personally don't think there will be that big of a problem. After all this is not the first storm that these area's have experienced. And the storm isn't as bad as the media led us to believe it would be-don't get me wrong it's still bad. I'm thinking a lot of these areas have mostly small and micro's, probably attached to something, think LPC's, and most of those lights probably are built to withstand the wind. OF course the ammo can's at the base of tree's could be gone. If that happened around here most caches would stay in place.

October 31, 2012

Lots will be temporarily disabled while things sort out. Some will go away but some will not. Hopefully life will go on and return to normal quickly for those affected by the storm.

6.7k · October 31, 2012

Happens every time there is a disaster. Someone gets to thinking about the caches and posts a thread. Then someone gets it in their head that the OP wants to see a bunch of archivals. Fer crying out loud, it isn't like some poor slob in Texas is not rescuing someone in New Jersey because they wondered about the caches in New York. We're cachers. It would be strange if we didn't wonder about the caches.

22k · October 31, 2012

I think that should be the last thing for us to be concerned about, these days.

But still, here I am at a geocaching site wondering.

I preferred wimseyguy's response.

3.6k · October 31, 2012

Happens every time there is a disaster. Someone gets to thinking about the caches and posts a thread. Then someone gets it in their head that the OP wants to see a bunch of archivals. Fer crying out loud, it isn't like some poor slob in Texas is not rescuing someone in New Jersey because they wondered about the caches in New York. We're cachers. It would be strange if we didn't wonder about the caches.

I have to agree with that. I thought of posting a thread about caches in the storm paths but decided not to because of things you see in this thread.

10.1k · October 31, 2012

Three or four I need to check on. Hurricane Irene took out three I needed to replace, last year.

On the other fin, I can think of a lot of caches that I've found that lack proper maintenance that will be archived after Hurricane Sandy. So yes, there will be a lot of archivals.

22k · October 31, 2012

Three or four I need to check on. Hurricane Irene took out three I needed to replace, last year.

On the other fin, I can think of a lot of caches that I've found that lack proper maintenance that will be archived after Hurricane Sandy. So yes, there will be a lot of archivals.

You ol' optimus. You are still one of my favorites. :lol:

1.3k · October 31, 2012

Just like Katrina and other natural disasters, the caches are a very low priority and there won't be any massive archivals.

There will be plenty that will get maintained eventually and plenty that will not. And it will take months for it all to be sorted out. I doubt any of the reviewers will be aggressively working towards the massive archival you seem to be hoping for.

Seriously. Where is this coming from? The OP never even hinted at hoping for a massive archival. They simpley wondered if it might happen.

10.2k · October 31, 2012

Happens every time there is a disaster. Someone gets to thinking about the caches and posts a thread. Then someone gets it in their head that the OP wants to see a bunch of archivals. Fer crying out loud, it isn't like some poor slob in Texas is not rescuing someone in New Jersey because they wondered about the caches in New York. We're cachers. It would be strange if we didn't wonder about the caches.

And wonder we did in our area (Gof and Bacall are from my area) in 2006. We were talking about it at the then local forum. Personally, I was doing it from work, which was only without power for 2 days, while I was out for 8. I did procure a generator after 3 or 4 days, but I wasn't plugging no computer into it. :lol:

I suppose it's human nature to wonder about the caches. And like Swine Flew, I could have predicted some of the responses too. The owners will get around to them as soon as their lives are back in order, and I'll bet very few are lost.

5.7k · October 31, 2012

I think that should be the last thing for us to be concerned about, these days.

Thank you from Virginia.

I'm about as far away from the Coast as you can get and local schools were canceled today. The temp dropped to near freezing here in the SW corner and we have snow in the higher elevations, one strange storm. :unsure:

2.2k · October 31, 2012

Since most of my caches are in the woods of eastern Long Island, NY, there are many that might have been compromised from falling trees. I expect I'll find out about them gradually over the next several months. Right now my concern is that I have no power at my house (a tree took down the lines about 4 houses up the block) and since it's such a small neighborhood it might be a week before power is resumed. Caring for my two dogs, two cats, and rabbit in addition to the annoying necessity of going to work will take up most of my time and focus. but dammit, I just hid a cache 6 feet up in the crotch of a tree a few days ago and it's going to be really frustrating if that one came down already!

6.5k · October 31, 2012

In light of Sandy, I have to wonder how many of those east coast caches are now destroyed, missing or under water. Does anybody see a massive archival? Thoughts from the reviewer team are welcome, also.

Just like Katrina and other natural disasters, the caches are a very low priority and there won't be any massive archivals.

There will be plenty that will get maintained eventually and plenty that will not. And it will take months for it all to be sorted out. I doubt any of the reviewers will be aggressively working towards the massive archival you seem to be hoping for.

I have no idea where you got the idea I'm hoping for massive archival. I live in Texas. It's just a topic of discussion...not a witch hunt.

Does anyone see a massive archival just seems a bit more negative and pessimistic than, something like I hope that our fellow cachers and their families are safe, and that a minimal number of caches are affected. But that wouldn't be as much fun for OP fodder would it?

FWIW both my siblings are doing well, but my parents are still without power.

October 31, 2012

I think that should be the last thing for us to be concerned about, these days.

Correct... there are times that caching does take a back seat to other things!

Yeah, such as posting to this Forum.

6.1k · October 31, 2012

We hid about 40 -50 paddle-to's this year. We were planning to do a maintenance check on all of them early spring anyway, and I don't think anyone will be out looking for them before then.

7.3k · October 31, 2012

We had major wildfires in Washington state this fall. Afterwards (after most people felt safe), we had some mass archivals. There just wasn't much point for cache owners to hike up into the hills, looking for all their burned caches. They just archived them. It was sad to see all those emails in my inbox. But glad that it was just caches, and not homes!

There are still other caches out there that haven't been archived, as well. I expect to see dnf's in the next couple years.

October 31, 2012

We got hit hard with Irene last year. There are some caches that haven't been found since before then. Two I know about that I went looking for haven't been archived yet and probably should be. One was a multi where the first stage was on a bridge that had obviously been replaced since the storm. The other was a night cache and it seemed as if trees were lost that had the tacks on them. I'm watching the caches and there haven't been logs on them nor has anyone been out to check on them. Rather than a "mass archival" it will more likely be dribs and drabs.

And I'm originally from Long Island, moved 7 years ago. While I still have family and friends I haven't heard from, a discussion like this isn't a big deal. It's not like speculating on geocaching somehow causes harm to the rescue efforts.

Patti

14k · October 31, 2012

I personally don't think there will be that big of a problem. After all this is not the first storm that these area's have experienced. And the storm isn't as bad as the media led us to believe it would be-don't get me wrong it's still bad.

Here's what the media (my local newspaper) said about Sandy.

NATION: 48 dead; more than 8 million without power; cost at least $30 billion

NYC: Worst damage in 108 years; at least 18 dead; transportation crippled from flooded subway system

Sounds like a pretty big problem to me.

1.1k · October 31, 2012

the news we get over here, is double that number dead

and alot of very terrible pictures...

you got power ? and online ?

3.6k · October 31, 2012

In California it's usually the fire storms like in some of the other western states. SoCal gets them more often. Those caches are usually TOAST.

14k · October 31, 2012

the news we get over here, is double that number dead

and alot of very terrible pictures...

you got power ? and online ?

I am fortunately in an area that was originally in the projected path of the storm, but once it made landfall, the storm didn't follow the original projections and we were spared from any significant damage. The fact that I wasn't one of the 8 million without power, suffered any financial loss, or was one of the 48 that died doesn't lessen the impact the storm has had over a widespread area.

4.5k · October 31, 2012

We live near the Texas Gulf coast and hav experienced a few hurricanes through the years. The last two that came through impacted many caches in the area but there was never a "massive" archival. Because there were more important things to worry about than caches, the maintenance on them had to wait. Eventually most of them got checked. There were only a few that were archived but most were repaired if needed and kept in place. My guess would be that this is how it will play out up north!

2.6k · October 31, 2012

I lost very few caches due to Hurricane Katrina ....I only remember one......a huge tree fell on an ammo can that I never did recover.

October 31, 2012

Before I left work yesterday, having been there for the length of the storm, I posted on our local board (South Jersey Geocaching) that Susancycle had reported that we had power but there were tree problems at the house including one hanging over the driveway. After I had been home for a bit a I got a phonecall from a fellow SJG member asking if I needed help with the trees. I said I had the acute situation under control but that there were others we had not heard from that might be in worse trouble. That's what we are worried about here in the path of Sandy: each other!

It really is too early to speculate about geocaches from my perspective.

9.1k · October 31, 2012

NYC: Worst damage in 108 years

Imagine how bad Sandy would have been had it come around 108 years ago, given that we've had 108 years of improving our disaster response...

10.1k · November 16, 2012

Three or four I need to check on. Hurricane Irene took out three I needed to replace, last year.

On the other fin, I can think of a lot of caches that I've found that lack proper maintenance that will be archived after Hurricane Sandy. So yes, there will be a lot of archivals.

You ol' optimus. You are still one of my favorites.

Well, it's time for some maintenance on my caches... One, I'm pretty sure is gone. 14' waves will do that. I'd be very surprised if it's still there. Will also check on the nearby nano. Wonder how that one did?

Then I got a 'NM' on one along the Hackensack River. No DNF. How should she suspect that it's missing, if she didn't look for it?!? It's not an easy find. But, if the last finder put the rock back on top if it, it should have survived the 13' wave. If not, it's probably in Ireland by now! We shall see.

1.2k · November 19, 2012

Well, since the topic was brought up, I might as well comment.

I live about 40 miles north of where Sandy's eye crossed into New Jersey and about 10 miles from the Jersey Shore. I did do a cache on the morning of the 29th along the Old Bridge Water Front. About 15 miles south of NYC in the Raritan Bay.

I've had at least one of my caches fall victim to Sandy. I took a rough look around and I estimated that 20-30 caches are gone even without inspecting.

Now, I'll admit, one of the first things all started talking about after the storm is that with all of the newly fallen trees, there will be lots of new hiding spots for ammo cans. :laughing:

This is the picture from the cache site that I took that morning.

This is a picture another cacher that lives the area took that a couple of days after the storm.

These picture was taking from almost the same spot.

And this area wasn't hit hard at all from the storm surge. Well, at least compared to NYC and the area east of here.

Anyway, there are still a lot of parks that are completely closed because of trees down across the paths and trails that are washed out. We have a long way to go until we are close to normal.

Edited November 19, 2012 by ekitt10

November 19, 2012

There are still parks on my drive to work that are closed due to the storm. We went caching a few times since then and it certainly adds to the adventure climbing over these massive downed trees.

The storm was awful though. I was lucky enough to not even lose power, although my entire town did for probably 10 days or so. And we are very far inland. Crazy.

10.1k · November 19, 2012

Well, since the topic was brought up, I might as well comment.

I live about 40 miles north of where Sandy's eye crossed into New Jersey and about 10 miles from the Jersey Shore. And this area wasn't hit hard at all from the storm surge. Well, at least compared to NYC and the area east of here.

Anyway, there are still a lot of parks that are completely closed because of trees down across the paths and trails that are washed out. We have a long way to go until we are close to normal.

And if you look at the geocaching map for places along the Jersey Shore, about 1/3 of them are disabled. I would guess most if not all should be disabled.

I went on a maintenance run on most of my caches in Hudson County and New York City. I replaced two: in Weehawken on the riverfront, and in Secaucus on the Hackensack. (The one in Secaucus may still be there, but buried under a foot of river detritus, mostly reeds.) Could not get to the other one in Weehawken Riverfront Park. The park's been closed since the storm, so I disabled it. The rest were still in place and dry. Even the one near Hell Gate. I had seen photos of the FDR Drive underwater, and there was a lot of stuff washed up on the divider, but the cache was still in place.

Massive archival...

Recommended Posts

Join the conversation