Giving up your Cache

[+Dan2099]

I am moving pretty much across the country, I have several caches here in ky (I hide under another name that my wife and I share) I plan on coming back at least once a year since my family is in ky... My question is should I give my caches up for adoption or is once a year and the kindness of cachers good enough and keep them?

[Clan Riffster]

My vote? Adopt or archive. I personally think a one year response time is way too long. I'd get with my local caching group and ask if anybody wanted my hides. Whatever didn't get picked up, I'd archive, and use the containers for new hides where ever I was moving to.

 

I had a (sort of) similar quandary with several of my hides. About an hour or two northwest of me is the Ocala National Forest. This used to be my regular stomping grounds, so I had a bunch of caches hidden there. Due to transportation woes, I cannot reliably make the trip up there, so most of those went to other users.

Edited February 25, 2014 by Clan Riffster

[+SirDonB]

My vote? Adopt or archive. I personally think a one year response time is way too long. I'd get with my local caching group and ask if anybody wanted my hides. Whatever didn't get picked up, I'd archive, and use the containers for new hides where ever I was moving to.

 

I had a (sort of) similar quandary with several of my hides. About an hour or two northwest of me is the Ocala National Forest. This used to be my regular stomping grounds, so I had a bunch of caches hidden there. Due to transportation woes, I cannot reliably make the trip up there, so most of those went to other users.

 

+1 x100

 

Go with this... This would be best for all. Never, and I mean never count on the kindness of others. All it takes is one person to log a NM or NA and since you are not there to respond, there goes your cache.

 

Though another option is to set up an agreement with a local cacher and have them listed as the one looking after them for you, kinda like how a vacation cache works. Then if you move back, you have all your hides still there.

[+cerberus1]

If you think they're worthy of adoption, that's your best bet.

Archive what's left.

[+Dan2099]

I kinda figured that's what you all would recommend, and I know its best just hard to give them up.

[+The_Incredibles_]

Depends on the caches. How often are they found? I've seen caches last for years without an active owner. If your caches are being found and there's no problem, why not just keep them going? If there are issues, you could contact a local for help. Worst case scenario, you have to archive your cache, then pick up the remains on your next trip over.

 

Unless my caches have issues, I typically only visit them once/year.

Edited February 25, 2014 by The_Incredibles_

[+dprovan]

My vote? Adopt or archive. I personally think a one year response time is way too long.

I'd go further and point out that even if the OP thinks he's going to be back once a year, things may change, so if I were him, I wouldn't bank on it. (Not to put too fine a point on it, but if you'd finally escaped from Kentucky, would you see yourself going back to visit regularly? )

 

On the other hand, I don't have a big problem with someone that can't find anyone to adopt his caches to just let them be and wait until there really are problems before archiving them, especially if he has a friend he can tell to pick up the junk if there's anything still there when he archives it.

[+Manville Possum]

The way I see MY caches, some are now grandfathered so I would consider adoption. The rest I archive and pick up my geolitter and open up the location.

[+Mineral2]

have these been maintenance-free caches? There are some geocaches placed 10 years ago that still exist in their original container. Most of these are ammo cans placed out in the woods. If you have any of this quality, leave them. If they haven't disappeared yet, they probably won't anytime soon.

 

If your hides are popular micros, containers that break with use, or have been muggled, then you might archive them before you leave. Alternately you could perform maintenance just before you leave, replacing with fresh containers and/or fresh logs to maximize life. Since you'll be visiting the area annually, you can always archive a cache after the logs show signs of trouble and collect the remains on your next visit.

[+WarNinjas]

We have a cacher around here that has moved and left all his hides. He is hoping we the community will take care of them and we have on many and he has archived some. He has a big following and is definitely a great cacher with tons of great caches so that helps him out. I would just leave them and see how it goes. If there isn't a problem then it will be fine if there is try and have a friend if you have some there take care of it or fix it when you get back. If there is not time for that then archive it.

Probably a bad idea but just a thought. If it is a cool one you could have someone adopt it.

[+Walts Hunting]

I would keep them until a maintenance issue forced me to archive them. No need to archive them until they need it.

[cezanne]

I would keep them until a maintenance issue forced me to archive them.

 

I also would keep them if the caches were mine. I certainly would not adopt them out. They are my caches and should stay in my profile.

[+L0ne.R]

I would keep them until a maintenance issue forced me to archive them.

 

I also would keep them if the caches were mine. I certainly would not adopt them out. They are my caches and should stay in my profile.

 

I would not adopt my caches out either. 4 reasons - profile, standards, recycle, cache density.

• I'd want them to remain in our profile
• We have a long-standing record of providing good cache experiences. I would expect the adopter to maintain our standards - no logsheets always a logbook, put a pencil in the cache, prompt attendance to the cache and cache page, write notes if you can't promptly get out to the cache to fix the problem, disable and enable when needed, don't forget to remove NMs with OMs, if the container needs replacing replace with a quality container (either an authentic LnL or an ammo can, not a dollar store container), check on the cache at least once a year preferably twice a year even if there's no mention of a problem, wipe down the cache and restock. I think it may be too much to ask of an adopter.
• I would rather archive (and pick up my caches to use in the new location)
• We live in a cache dense area, so archiving our caches would open up areas

[+TheWeatherWarrior]

I am moving pretty much across the country, I have several caches here in ky (I hide under another name that my wife and I share) I plan on coming back at least once a year since my family is in ky... My question is should I give my caches up for adoption or is once a year and the kindness of cachers good enough and keep them?

I'm all for adoption no matter what. There is two reason adoption is worth it versus trying to maintain form far away:

 

--adoption allows those who have found the cache to continue to see and enjoy any logs or more, even if you are no long the owner. Sometimes even just still seeing that smiley on the map is nice.

 

--adoption means that someone local can maintain the cache and prevent the chance of the cache (should it become damaged, usuable) becoming geo-trash. I don't see many archive rescuers anymore (was a big thing back in the early part of the game in Maryland) so if for example, you keep it open, a cacher two months later fails to close the lid properly, contents get wet, it becomes another cache not maintained and eventually gets archived and never cleaned up.

 

I say this because I allowed my caches to go unmaintained for over a year (I left the game mad for 500+ days before came back). I should have had them adopted out (like I did when I moved). Now, those caches are still being found, well maintained, and many still love them. I return to area often and will assist if needed (so far, not needed).

[+Semper Questio]

I would keep them until a maintenance issue forced me to archive them. No need to archive them until they need it.

 

If you take this route, just be sure to go pick them up the next time you are in the area.

 

Personally, I would offer most of my caches up for adoption and archive them if they wer enot adopted. I have a couple that are out for personal reasons and those I would archive outright.

 

We have several around here that were left behind by folks moving out and they invariably fall into poor condition with the owners never posting anything on them and relying on the kindness of the local commuity to keep them going. I just don't cotton to that kind of "ownership".

[+TheHarleyRebel]

Find somone to adopt them, or a local to maintain them and keep them under your account.

[+cerberus1]

I would keep them until a maintenance issue forced me to archive them. No need to archive them until they need it.

 

If you take this route, just be sure to go pick them up the next time you are in the area.

 

Personally, I would offer most of my caches up for adoption and archive them if they wer enot adopted. I have a couple that are out for personal reasons and those I would archive outright.

 

We have several around here that were left behind by folks moving out and they invariably fall into poor condition with the owners never posting anything on them and relying on the kindness of the local commuity to keep them going. I just don't cotton to that kind of "ownership".

Agreed.

They may have every intention of returning, but things happen.

- Then they have to, "rely on the kindness of others" to pick up their crap...

[+MI_CO]

My two cents...

 

If the caches have been around for a few years, have a lot of favorite points, and are fairly maintenance free, keep them. See if there is a local cacher who is willing to provide minor/temporary maintenance on the cache if required (you will be able to tell by the logs) until you can provide proper maintenance. If the caches are 'cache and dash' or in a popular spot, archive and free up the space for someone else.

 

I speak from experience here. I moved from my home state to another 1200 miles away three years ago. While I make it back home for the holidays and a couple of long weekends during the year and fully intended on visiting my caches and provide any maintenance, a few days or even a week back home is totally consumed by visiting family and friends and leaves NO time for traveling around doing cache maintenance. After my second trip home the first year I moved, I collected the containers and archived all of them.

[+hzoi]

We've moved three times since we started geocaching and will continue to do so, at least until I'm out of the Army, so this is something we face every couple of years.

 

I have yet to actually adopt out any of our listings. I've handled the move three different ways so far:

 

In Germany, caching friends wanted to keep our caches alive. I coordinated with the local reviewers to basically reload the listing. I disabled my cache listing, our friends created new cache listing and replaced the log book, reviewer archived my cache listing and published the new listing at the same time.

 

In Virginia and Alabama, I archived most of our caches but kept a couple going after coordinating with caching friends to keep up with maintenance.

 

We have a year and a half left in Oklahoma; I'm putting out fewer caches than I did in Alabama. I doubt I'll leave more than one or two physical caches active, depends on whether anyone wants to help with maintenance. If no one is interested in keeping them going, either under my name or theirs, I'll archive them and pick up the containers.

 

Easiest ones to take care of are the earthcaches: just left them in place, no fuss, no muss. Our goal is to leave a few ECs behind wherever we go. Unfortunately we really only started publishing earthcaches after we left Germany, so none left there, but we published one in Norway, so it almost counts.