Creating an Earth Cache

[+ardila.nl]

Hi everyone,

 

At the end of the summer I'm going on a trip from Delhi to Beijing trough Nepal and Tibet

I noticed that there aren't a lot of caches in that region and (practically) no Earth Caches.

So I thought it might be a good idea to create some while gathering info during my trip.

I've been reading the rules and the forum the get a better understanding of what the requirements are for creating an EC.

 

What I've learned so far:

1 - Photo's can't be a requirement

2 - History is not allowed (unless it has a geological theme)

3 - Land owner permission might be required depending on the site and the rules.

4 - It has to be a unique geological feature

 

Correct me if I'm wrong:

1: pretty clear on that one.

2:

There's going to be a lot of temples and old cities on this trip so they don't apply, unless they for example build into a natural cave or on a hill formed by a geological event?

I came across this article: "The lake that was once Kathmandu Geology shaped the Valley's destiny, and will continue to do so"

Does that mean that Kathmandu qualifies for an Earth Cache?

3:

I'm mostly visiting public sites in these countries, would I need owner permission or would it fall within all the other tourists visitors?

[+GopherGreg]

Just quickly looking over your link it looks like it'd be good. I've seen some earthcaches placed about buildings, and the type of stone in the building, so that's something to look at.

 

One of the earthcache reviewers is around my area. She put together this presentation, if it helps.

 

http://www.canadascapitalcachers.ca/stuff/EarthCachePresentation.pdf

 

Go to the part "acceptable topics" and see if what you have fits in.

 

But I think what you have should be good. When I'm not sure about my info I send it in to a EC reviewer and see what they have to say before setting up the listing.

 

Good luck!

 

Greg

[+GeoawareGSA1]

The fact that you are planning your EarthCaches now, before your trip begins, is a great start!

It is very hard to arrive at a site, w/o advance prep, and make a great EarthCache out of it, especially so far from home, where a return visit is unlikely in the near future.

I would recommend picking out some locations in advance, where you know you'll be visiting, and that do not already have EarthCaches, but do have some interesting geological feature. You may be able to turn a historical site or building into an EarthCache, but that's difficult. It'll be much easier to look for sites where geology is the focus, rather than trying to force geology into somewhere it's not that prominent.

Learn a bit about the geological background of your locations before you go. That way, when you're at the site, you have a good idea of what you are looking at, and you'll be primed to create good logging tasks.

The logging tasks are the hardest part. Develop at least a few, in case one or two do not work out; be prepared with a backup. Otherwise, if you just have 1-2 logging tasks, and the reviewer doesn't think they meet the guidelines, then creating another logging task after you've left the location can be VERY hard. So focus largely on the logging tasks. Take good notes and lots of photos, so if you need to re-work things afterward, you're prepared with the data.

Also, don't try to do too much or too many EarthCaches. Focus on some key spots, and making high quality caches there, and knock them out of the park!

Best of luck to you,

Matt

[+ardila.nl]

http://www.canadascapitalcachers.ca/stuff/EarthCachePresentation.pdf

 

Go to the part "acceptable topics" and see if what you have fits in.

 

Thanks for the link but: You don't have permission to access /stuff/EarthCachePresentation.pdf on this server.

 

Never mind, I just used a proxy to fake being Canadian and then it allowed me to download the file

Edited January 28, 2014 by ardila.nl

[+GopherGreg]

http://www.canadascapitalcachers.ca/stuff/EarthCachePresentation.pdf

 

Go to the part "acceptable topics" and see if what you have fits in.

 

Thanks for the link but: You don't have permission to access /stuff/EarthCachePresentation.pdf on this server.

 

Never mind, I just used a proxy to fake being Canadian and then it allowed me to download the file

 

Oh woops. Well, at least you got to it. It's mostly EC guidlines stuff, but I found some of it useful.

 

G

[+hzoi]

I'm mostly visiting public sites in these countries, would I need owner permission or would it fall within all the other tourists visitors?

Permission may be an issue. I would find the reviewer that handles the area (GeoAwareGBL, maybe? not sure, but GeoAwareHQ should know), run the general ideas by them and the places you're looking at, and see what they say. That's what I did with a couple of ours, one on an Alabama highway right of way, another at a highway rest stop, and the reviewer agreed permission wasn't necessary. But if the location is within a park, they might want you to get permission.

 

Also keep in mind that they may require you to get a local language version of the earthcache together. We have one in Norway, and though it was published before the local language requirement, I went ahead and put one in after the fact. Google translate will unfortunately not work well -- I've seen many, many poor English translations of earthcaches that were obviously done with machines, and it's going to be the same issue trying to force a translation into Tibetan, etc. I ended up finding a Norwegian geocacher who was willing to translate it, gave them a couple unactivated geocoins for their trouble.

 

Planning in advance is definitely the way to go. If you do end up needing permission, start researching now to find out who controls the area and see if you can contact them ahead of time. When I was planning our trip to Key West, I knew I wanted to set up an earthcache or two out at Fort Jefferson in Dry Tortugas National Park, so I contacted the Park Service early to start coordinating things and running ideas past them. Once I was back from my trip and finished the draft of the caches, all it took was one email to get final approval and get the caches published.

 

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!