Geo Tour Needs Maintenance

[+Twinklekitkat]

I have been wanting to complete a local Geo-Tour for some time now and had started it months ago but I got very disappointed in the lack of maintenance on the caches. Most of them already had needs maintenance on them and quite a few have already been archived. I guess I'm wondering why this is allowed if it's a Geo-Tour? This group is planning on placing more geo-tours over the next 2 years. It seems if you don't go at the very beginning you are going to have to suffer through broken/wet/mushy & moldy logs that are really not that much fun to find and run the chance of there not being enough caches left in order to qualify for the 'prize'. I realize I could just skip the whole thing but I like the idea of getting a coin. Has anyone else noticed this with Geo-tours?

[+cerberus1]

Nope.

We noticed carpy caches do seem to be in certain areas though.

 

Guess if you really want that coin, your gonna havta grab a box of nitrile gloves.

[+Twinklekitkat]

 

Guess if you really want that coin, your gonna havta grab a box of nitrile gloves.

 

Duly noted! Guess a visit to the drug store during lunch is in order.

[+L0ne.R]

I have been wanting to complete a local Geo-Tour for some time now and had started it months ago but I got very disappointed in the lack of maintenance on the caches. Most of them already had needs maintenance on them and quite a few have already been archived. I guess I'm wondering why this is allowed if it's a Geo-Tour? This group is planning on placing more geo-tours over the next 2 years. It seems if you don't go at the very beginning you are going to have to suffer through broken/wet/mushy & moldy logs that are really not that much fun to find and run the chance of there not being enough caches left in order to qualify for the 'prize'. I realize I could just skip the whole thing but I like the idea of getting a coin. Has anyone else noticed this with Geo-tours?

 

Yes. Tried caches in 3 "geotours" (I"m not sure if they were official but they were placed by the county and there was a geocoin reward). Same problem.

You might try contacting the organisation.

[+Twinklekitkat]

 

You might try contacting the organisation.

 

I have tried that repeatedly through both the message center and e-mail and get zero response. They also don't respond to Needs Maintenance cache logs either (obviously).

[+Manville Possum]

 

Guess if you really want that coin, your gonna havta grab a box of nitrile gloves.

 

Duly noted! Guess a visit to the drug store during lunch is in order.

 

Pick up some pill fobs and write in the rain paper to make "repair caches" while you are there.

[+J Grouchy]

 

You might try contacting the organisation.

 

I have tried that repeatedly through both the message center and e-mail and get zero response. They also don't respond to Needs Maintenance cache logs either (obviously).

 

Needs Archived logs.

 

Hold them responsible for the caches they put out.

If they don't respond to those, there's no saving it anyway.

Edited July 19, 2016 by J Grouchy

[+Manville Possum]

 

You might try contacting the organisation.

 

I have tried that repeatedly through both the message center and e-mail and get zero response. They also don't respond to Needs Maintenance cache logs either (obviously).

 

Needs Archived logs.

 

Hold them responsible for the caches they put out.

If they don't respond to those, there's no saving it anyway.

 

I agree, it may be time for an NA log and let the reviewer take a look at what needs to be done.

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

All of the GeoTours that I have completed have been well maintained. I took a look at your local GeoTour (Spring Grove?), and noticed that the owner is a group account.

 

I have a hypothesis about this. Using a group account implies there might be an organization in between the e-mail logs, and the cache maintainer(s). I also noticed that several of the caches were archived by a reviewer. So, it looks like the DNF, NM, and Archived logs were being ignored, or not being passed on.

 

The GeoTours that I have completed have had, for the most part, the person that placed the cache as the owner. When I click on the owner, it takes me directly to the CO's profile. The group that is paying for the GeoTour places a watch on the caches as their means of notification. This means that at least two people see the logs for each and every cache in a GeoTour. To me, this seems like a better way to handle the communications. The CO gets notified directly, and the organization can still collect their statistics.

 

I wonder if any others have seen a correlation between cache maintenance levels and the use of group accounts of the caches?

[+cerberus1]

 

You might try contacting the organisation.

 

I have tried that repeatedly through both the message center and e-mail and get zero response. They also don't respond to Needs Maintenance cache logs either (obviously).

Maybe "they", possibly thinking this was gonna bring much-needed revenue to the area, decided that the return on the big geotour bucks wasn't that much, and simply lost interest.

Sounds like it was at one time a geotour, and now folks may have to go the normal route of NM and NA to get things cleaned up.

[+Manville Possum]

 

You might try contacting the organisation.

 

I have tried that repeatedly through both the message center and e-mail and get zero response. They also don't respond to Needs Maintenance cache logs either (obviously).

Maybe "they", possibly thinking this was gonna bring much-needed revenue to the area, decided that the return on the big geotour bucks wasn't that much, and simply lost interest.

Sounds like it was at one time a geotour, and now folks may have to go the normal route of NM and NA to get things cleaned up.

 

Before GeoTours our County Tourism placed a Rewards Trail of geocaches that are now in a state of NM and NA and looks as if the owner has left the game.

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

Maybe "they", possibly thinking this was gonna bring much-needed revenue to the area, decided that the return on the big geotour bucks wasn't that much, and simply lost interest.

Sounds like it was at one time a geotour, and now folks may have to go the normal route of NM and NA to get things cleaned up.

But someone still paid the annual maintenance costs to keep this listed as a GeoTour. Sounds like a disjointed organization. It will be interesting to see just how long it stays on the list.

[+AB&JB]

If it is the Spring Grove geotour, I've noticed the same problem as well. Last summer we completed the 2014 and 2015 sets. The caches were amazing quality (some of the best we had ever found). We took a trim down to finish the 2013 series and there are so many in the tour that are destroyed and getting archived. I was told at the coin event last year that there would be a 2016 series but haven't heard anything yet (the coin you get is a 4 part jigsaw puzzle and 2016 and 2017 are the last 2 parts). I really hope they can get the tour back on track. On a side note, the original caches were so cool I debated duplicating some of them closer to where I live, which is about 3 hrs away.

[+Twinklekitkat]

Maybe "they", possibly thinking this was gonna bring much-needed revenue to the area, decided that the return on the big geotour bucks wasn't that much, and simply lost interest.

Sounds like it was at one time a geotour, and now folks may have to go the normal route of NM and NA to get things cleaned up.

 

They have not lost interest. The plan is for more caches this year and more next year. If you are not going to maintain what you already have, why place more?

[+cerberus1]

Maybe "they", possibly thinking this was gonna bring much-needed revenue to the area, decided that the return on the big geotour bucks wasn't that much, and simply lost interest.

Sounds like it was at one time a geotour, and now folks may have to go the normal route of NM and NA to get things cleaned up.

 

They have not lost interest. The plan is for more caches this year and more next year. If you are not going to maintain what you already have, why place more?

Yep.

I kinda agree with Wet Pancake Touring Club, that if there's no active cacher working with 'em on this, that might be the problem.

If there is, an earful's in order.

By AB&JB's post "Last summer we completed the 2014 and 2015 sets", sounds (to me) like they concentrate on the new year (new business) as a replacement for the last ("that was so last year" - old business) thing, without much stake in maintenance and permanence.

You really want that coin that bad ?

[+The A-Team]

You might try contacting the organisation.

I have tried that repeatedly through both the message center and e-mail and get zero response. They also don't respond to Needs Maintenance cache logs either (obviously).

I think it's time to contact the actual organization, not just the geocaching.com account. Looking through the list of different authorities that are "partners" in placing this Geo-Tour, I'd start with either the Chamber of Commerce or the Parks and Recreation Center. If you can track down the actual group that placed them, maybe you can give them a kick in the rear to get their act together.

 

Something else you might want to do is bring up your concerns to Groundspeak. If Groundspeak knows that the previous Geo-Tours from this group have been abandoned, they might be able to discuss things with the group when they try to submit their 2016 and 2017 caches.

[+Twinklekitkat]

Well the good news is a Lackey has gotten in touch with me regarding this situation and will hopefully speak to them and get them back on a maintenance plan.

[+Manville Possum]

If Groundspeak knows that the previous Geo-Tours from this group have been abandoned, they might be able to discuss things with the group when they try to submit their 2016 and 2017 caches.

 

Do you think Ground$peak will refuse to allow them to set up another GeoTour?

 

I know geocaching is a game, but it's also a business and GeoTours are not cheap to set up.

[+MissJenn]

Thanks so much for the feedback, Twinklekitkat. I can help by letting the GeoTour Host know directly.

Everyone benefits when caches are well-maintained.

[+cerberus1]

Well the good news is a Lackey has gotten in touch with me regarding this situation and will hopefully speak to them and get them back on a maintenance plan.

That's great !

[+ODragon]

Its funny you bring these up as I took off Tuesday and went and did the new set down there (Hanover 2016) and cleared up a couple of old SGT caches we'd previously DNFed/couldn't do.

 

I would agree that as I look at nearby caches, some of them have deteriorated enough that they are now disabled/archived. I also know that in Spring Grove, space was becoming an issue as you could see he had to archive some of the earlier ones to make room for the newer ones.

 

I hope that he fixes the old ones and creates a 2016 version of them. It is a fun outing and while it is a 3ish hour trip, it is worth it.

[+Twinklekitkat]

Its funny you bring these up as I took off Tuesday and went and did the new set down there (Hanover 2016) and cleared up a couple of old SGT caches we'd previously DNFed/couldn't do.

 

I would agree that as I look at nearby caches, some of them have deteriorated enough that they are now disabled/archived. I also know that in Spring Grove, space was becoming an issue as you could see he had to archive some of the earlier ones to make room for the newer ones.

 

I hope that he fixes the old ones and creates a 2016 version of them. It is a fun outing and while it is a 3ish hour trip, it is worth it.

 

Yes, I hope they fix them also and realize not everyone has gotten what they need for the first 2 parts of a multi part prize. I have heard they are worth it so I'm going to try to get there soon.

Edited July 22, 2016 by Twinklekitkat

[+prairieview_IL]

I got an e-mail from Geocaching.com today, touting Geotours. I looked at the one closest to where I live....6 of the 20 caches are archived. Does not look like Geocaching is paying very close attention to these "tours".