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Maximum distance for multicaches?


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Hi,

 

So I've been looking at the Wood Tick Trail in Saskatchewan, Canada.

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC5CM47_wood-tick-trail-001

 

It appears that the final stages of most of these multicaches are several kilometers away from the posted coordinates (often over 10 kilometers away). Isn't this technique essentially dodging the ~3 kilometer rule for unknown caches (distance between unknown posted coordinates and final cache site cannot be more than 3 km)?

 

Is there a maximum distance multicache stages can be separated?

 

Any insight on this?

Thanks!

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There is no maximum distance for multi-caches, other than the cache owner's ability to maintain. There are multi-caches that begin in the US and end in Europe, with maintenance plan for both parts.

 

That said, I think the reviewer was generous here to permit these to be published as Multi-caches, and not Mysteries. As Mysteries, they violate the 2 mile limit between bogus and actual coords.

 

There is something of a gray zone when using an off-set, and the reviewer clearly decided to let the cache owner have it their way.

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Here in Germany I have knowledge of two very long Multi-Caches. Munich-Venice (GC1FPN1), a hiking cache crossing the alps with a length of 560 kilometers and an elevation gain of 20000 meters. And Deutschland-Tour (GC3JH5D), a bicycle-cache from Germany's north border to the south border with a total distance of around 1600 kilometers.

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Soooo, it looks like using Multis for "Geo-art" is not allowed! Here's what the reviewer said:

 

"After looking into the use of multi caches for Geo-Art I have found that Groundspeak has very clear guidance for us on the subject.

We are to strictly enforce the 2 mile guideline - no exceptions.

If Multi-Caches are used in a geo-art project, it is my responsibility to review them to ensure they are truly multi-caches where geocachers are expected to visit the posted coordinates. Geo-art made entirely of multi-caches with projections more than two miles away from the posted coordinates is considered to be misusing the multi-caches for Geo-Art, because they are set up this way only to get around the maximum distance restriction. "

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Hello CalgaryTowerCachers, I think you misunderstood the reviewer, as to "using Multis for "Geo-art" is not allowed!"

 

Multis are fine in GeoArt. The issue is whether a cache really IS a Multi-cache, rather than an mischaracterized Mystery.

For a hide to be a Multi, the listing coords ought to be place that's going to be visited by the cache seeker.

 

The caches in the Wood Tick Trail series probably ought to have gone out as Mysteries, (with shorter distances between listing and final coords) as they're really solve at home hides, not offsets where there's some point in visiting the first location.

 

That said, much of the clarification from staff has come after this series was published. These caches do meet the old definition of an off-set multi-cache.

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That said, much of the clarification from staff has come after this series was published.

 

Is there also a clarification on the issue of caches which have several stages and where the first and the last stage are considerably more than 2 miles away from each other but where a puzzle has to be solved at home or where first another cache has to be visited (e.g. in order to obtain part of the code which is needed for logging the cache)?

 

It does not make much sense to choose arbitrary header coordinates for such caches within 2 miles of the final when the start into the cache is far away. Everyone in such a scenario will expect the header coordinates to point to the start of the cache/first stage.

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Multi-caches: they aren't Mystery/Unknown caches.

 

No, but they can and often do make use of puzzles.

 

Indeed. No explanation needed for someone who has done this and owns this.

 

The original post referred to a guideline that applies to Mystery/Unknown caches. Multi-caches are not Mystery/Unknowns and are not subject to the guidelines specific to that type.

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