The Bury Rule

[+Furnache]

Hey fellow cachers! My wife and I are wanting to place our first cache. We had the idea of using a round sprinkler valve box in an area that had no irrigation system. Something similar to this box. As I read through the guidelines on placing a cache it talks about not being able to bury anything. The way I see this rule being formed is due to the fact that it makes no sense to have buried caches that requires the finders to carry a shovel around and destroy an entire area trying to find the buried treasure. If we were to place this cache it would be a very easy find for cachers and wouldn't disrupt the area at all. What do you think?

[+webscouter.]

You can't dig to hide the cache either.

[+cwgrizz]

Let me preface this with ""I will probably be tarred and feathered after this" I have found caches in parks and public areas that have been hidden in or under the lids of boxes like you have shown. They were boxes that were already in existence and not placed by the cacher. OK, with that in mind, If you happened to want to put in a sprinkler system on YOUR property and placed a valve box like the one you have shown, but later changed your mind about the sprinkler system, I don't see why you couldn't then use the box to hide a cache in. Of course all of this is hypothetical. I wouldn't want to suggest anything that may be contrary to or would skirt the guidelines of GS, but what you do on YOUR property using "common sense" (I know "Common Sense" has been MIA for a while now) to me is up to you. Parks and other public areas probably DO NOT NEED new sprinkler systems

 

Now I am off to find a hiding place, hoping the tar will be cooler before it gets to me.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

We have seen them, also.

 

The real point is... some cachers, especially newer ones, occasionally try to dismantle sprinklers in order to find what they think is a cache. Well, what if it isn't? It's another 'black eye' for geocaching... and another step closer to having it banned in a given locale.

 

It's not so much that a sprinkler cache is a bad concept, it is however, a bad idea.

Again too, even if it is located in a "pre-buried" box -- it's a matter of perception -- others don't know that, so they may think it is OK to bury such a device.

 

It's almost a darned-if-you-do obey the letter of the guidelines and a darned-if-you-don't.

My simple and easy to follow advice is to forget it and move on to something else.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Gitchee-Gummee

[+6NoisyHikers]

The problem isn't necessarily your neat and clean sprinkler box, but the promotion of the idea that caches can be stuck in the ground. A cacher that finds it may think to himself, "Hey, this guy put his cache in the ground - it's the same shape as a paint bucket. I have a rusty paint bucket. I'm going to go down to my city park and dig a hole and put my rusty paint bucket in it and call it a cache."

 

The "no dig" rule helps ward off disaster.

 

And precedent never applies when placing caches.

 

Please contact your local reviewer and also the landowner of the potential cache site and tell them what you would like to do. I'd like to know how they weigh in.

[+Furnache]

The problem isn't necessarily your neat and clean sprinkler box, but the promotion of the idea that caches can be stuck in the ground. A cacher that finds it may think to himself, "Hey, this guy put his cache in the ground - it's the same shape as a paint bucket. I have a rusty paint bucket. I'm going to go down to my city park and dig a hole and put my rusty paint bucket in it and call it a cache."

 

The "no dig" rule helps ward off disaster.

 

And precedent never applies when placing caches.

 

Please contact your local reviewer and also the landowner of the potential cache site and tell them what you would like to do. I'd like to know how they weigh in.

 

How do I find out who my local reviewer is?

[+T.D.M.22]

The problem isn't necessarily your neat and clean sprinkler box, but the promotion of the idea that caches can be stuck in the ground. A cacher that finds it may think to himself, "Hey, this guy put his cache in the ground - it's the same shape as a paint bucket. I have a rusty paint bucket. I'm going to go down to my city park and dig a hole and put my rusty paint bucket in it and call it a cache."

 

The "no dig" rule helps ward off disaster.

 

And precedent never applies when placing caches.

 

Please contact your local reviewer and also the landowner of the potential cache site and tell them what you would like to do. I'd like to know how they weigh in.

 

How do I find out who my local reviewer is?

You can go to the cache page of a nearby cache and go down to the very first-that is the one at the bottom-and it will the person who published it. The log will say "published" and the name will have "reviewer" written underneath it. Click name and it will take you to his/her profile. Select "send message" Remember if you have the cache page written up, to provide the GC number.

[+Furnache]

Thanks for the information! I've shot an email over to the local reviewer and we will be talking with the landowner to get permission before proceeding.

[+Bear and Ragged]

A local council in the UK has decided to not allow caching in their parks.

 

Quote: "Unfortunately, following several problems on Council land at a range of parks and nature reserves as a result of geocaching, this activity is not permitted on Council land. Problems have related to the digging up of ground by treasure hunters..."

 

It only needs one person to 'dig' and it spoils things for all of us.

[+Sol seaker]

A local council in the UK has decided to not allow caching in their parks.

 

Quote: "Unfortunately, following several problems on Council land at a range of parks and nature reserves as a result of geocaching, this activity is not permitted on Council land. Problems have related to the digging up of ground by treasure hunters..."

 

It only needs one person to 'dig' and it spoils things for all of us.

 

Rumor has it that caching in National Parks was discontinued when someone placed a partially buried cache.

It's not worth the risk.

There are so many creative cache ideas that don't require a pointed object (as stated in the guidelines). Do a bit more caches and you'll see many of the great ideas people have come up with that don't require any digging at all.

 

(a partially buried cache is exactly what you're describing)

Edited November 11, 2012 by Sol seaker

[+Abby's Followers]

Just adding my two cents, I'm a baby in the caching world (joined june 19th 2011) but I'm fully addicted and look for ways to get more involved in the hobby all the time, outside of looking or hiding. Unfortunately work has been getting in the way a lot.... Anywho...

 

I've seen many a cache that, while it wasn't buried, it was inserted into the ground. It has spawned many an idea in my head since 'it wasn't buried' nor did any of them require a pointed object to place it or retrieve it. Before moving forward with any of my ideas I directly called Groundspeak to inquire about the caches I have found just to be sure I was 100% clear on any gray areas of the rules. No I didn't give them names or cache IDs, I just described the things I've found.

 

I have found sprinkler head caches and see them for sale on websites. I asked about them specifically and they are illegal hides. They require a hole. You CAN make an impression in the ground and place a container in it, then camo it with natural camo but anything that needs to be pounded into the ground or a hole created in order to place it is an illegal cache.

 

Back to the drawing board for several of my ideas but I welcome the challenge. I love hides in plain view and it's actually just as much fun coming up with them as it is finding them.

 

I may or may not have helped but I just wanted to add my two cents since it's easier to make a spot to hide something rather than find a spot to hide something.

 

Good luck to you Furnache.

[+niraD]

I have found sprinkler head caches and see them for sale on websites. I asked about them specifically and they are illegal hides. They require a hole.

FWIW, sprinkler caches may or may not require anyone to "dig or create a hole in the ground", as the current guidelines phrase it. Only one of the sprinkler caches I've seen has violated that part of the guidelines. The others have been placed in ways that didn't require digging or creating a hole in the ground, such as piling loose landscape bark, mulch, etc. around them; or attaching them to a board covered with dirt, bark, mulch, etc.

 

Not that sprinkler caches are a particularly good idea, but that's a separate issue from violations of the "no digging" guideline.

Edited November 13, 2012 by niraD

[Andronicus]

I have found sprinkler head caches and see them for sale on websites. I asked about them specifically and they are illegal hides. They require a hole.

FWIW, sprinkler caches may or may not require anyone to "dig or create a hole in the ground", as the current guidelines phrase it. Only one of the sprinkler caches I've seen has violated that part of the guidelines. The others have been placed in ways that didn't require digging or creating a hole in the ground, such as piling loose landscape bark, mulch, etc. around them; or attaching them to a board covered with dirt, bark, mulch, etc.

 

Not that sprinkler caches are a particularly good idea, but that's a separate issue from violations of the "no digging" guideline.

I believe that pushing a sprinkler head down into the ground IS creating a hole. Sprinkler head caches are never a good idea.

[+The_Incredibles_]

Not sure exactly what you're planning, but whatever you do, you're not allowed to 'break ground'.