+HD_Diva Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 (edited) Just as a curiosity topic, what was the most finds you had in 1 day? What is your secret/tips to finding this many caches in a day? I'm still fairly new to geocaching and my best day is 17. I like taking the bicycle out on trails that have caches. That is what I call having fun while exercising. lol Edited August 29, 2017 by HD_Diva Quote Link to comment
+fuzziebear3 Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 My 'day with the most finds' is not the same as my 'best day caching'. Some of my best days caching are only a couple finds, but the experience made it all worth while. A day of many caches (power trail) can get lots of smilies and can even be fun with friends, but it is not my ultimate goal. Enjoy your rides and walks and paddles, and your friends along the way, that will be the best. 2 Quote Link to comment
+HD_Diva Posted August 29, 2017 Author Share Posted August 29, 2017 I agree about the best day. I was going to start a new topic about your most memorable day out. 1 Quote Link to comment
+Marcas_Found Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 570. On the E.T. Trail in Nevada. And for clarification, we stopped at each cache, replaced the log and container with a stamped the log and container, rotating about 6 containers between 2 people driving and jumping. The best per hour via this method was 72 caches. 1 Quote Link to comment
+mvhayes1982 Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 52 ish driving along county roads just southwest of Chicago. And definitely NOT what I would consider my "best" day of caching. Quote Link to comment
+nutlady Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 A "measly" 29. But they were all really easy park and grabs, and most of them were identical. It was sooooooooooo boring. But my daughter needed hours behind the wheel to get her license so I did it. I had a hard time writing "interesting" found logs that night! Quote Link to comment
+SweetPea&Crew Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 54, on a local power trail. Had to check my stats for that and was reminded that the most 'caches found in one day is labeled "best day," which, as referenced by the 'cachers above, is pretty subjective. Before that, I had a day with 30-ish finds which was far more memorable and enjoyable because the finds were more diverse. I always wanted to do the alien head PT, but doubt I'll ever make it that far west. Quote Link to comment
+nextlogicalstep Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 15 caches, mostly in one park. I don't drive. 1 Quote Link to comment
+thebruce0 Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Likwise, I and 3 friends finished the 2400 size ET trail a few years back, and we maxed at 900 on the nose, dawn to dusk, every cache with a consistent day-long strategy. Thwarted by lack of gas and bad planning, unable to get to another stretch safely. And we still had to get to the hotel. Why? Because we're crazy Good times with great friends. Quote Link to comment
+SeattleWayne Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 32 was my best while hiking. A year later I hit 50 in one day by riding a scooter with two other people on a power trail and then on our way home we found a few more to reach 50. Quote Link to comment
+Mudfrog Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 A hundred and one for us. This doing it the old fashioned way of actually geocaching (finding cache, signing log, replacing cache) on a series north of us. About 10 hours out in the field. Quote Link to comment
+barefootjeff Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Mine is 21 from a day of wandering around central Sydney with a couple of other cachers from the Central Coast. At the other extreme, my longest time to complete one cache (a D3/T5 multi - GC6T5PZ) is 63 days. Quote Link to comment
+MartyBartfast Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 102, done on a ~20 mile walk round a circuit, stopped half way round for lunch at a pub. I think the only way I'd get more than that in a day is if I find another circuit where the caches are a bit closer and so cram more than 100 into that distance as ~20 miles is about my limit for walking and I have no desire to do high numbers caching by car, though I would do it by bicycle if there was an appropriate trail. 1 Quote Link to comment
+RocTheCacheBox Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 (edited) 32. Mostly caches in old cemetery's scatted around rural southwest Ohio. I loaded a PQ in my Magellan for the surrounding area and Mrs Rock and I hopped in the convertible on a beautiful early summer morning and wander from place to place finding caches along the way. Stopped for lunch at a mom and pop in a small town. Probably our most fun and relaxing day of caching. Never had the intent of it being our biggest day because we never do go for numbers. Just happened that way. One particular little cemetery sat in a field on the Ohio/Indiana border. All the trees in it leaned to the east because of decades of the prevailing winds. Pretty neat sight. Edited August 29, 2017 by RocTheCacheBox Quote Link to comment
+J Grouchy Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 50 back in June when I did a Geo-Art (plus a few others nearby). I don't expect to ever break that one day record...but I guess one never knows. Quote Link to comment
+niraD Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 I got 28 caches in one day once. Interestingly enough, that was during my 366-day geocaching streak, so I was generally rationing myself to one find per day to preserve nearby unfound caches so I could keep my streak going more easily later. But some geocaching friends invited me to go on a geocaching hike in an open space that was well outside my blast radius, so I figured I wouldn't need those caches to maintain my streak. There were no secrets. We just planned a route that wandered through an open space that had become pretty saturated with caches. Find a cache, log a cache, hike to the next one, lather, rinse, repeat. 1 Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 24 minutes ago, niraD said: I got 28 caches in one day once. Interestingly enough, that was during my 366-day geocaching streak, so I was generally rationing myself to one find per day to preserve nearby unfound caches so I could keep my streak going more easily later. But some geocaching friends invited me to go on a geocaching hike in an open space that was well outside my blast radius, so I figured I wouldn't need those caches to maintain my streak. There were no secrets. We just planned a route that wandered through an open space that had become pretty saturated with caches. Find a cache, log a cache, hike to the next one, lather, rinse, repeat. I got 33 in a day once. At the time I doubt that I could have done that many in my local area but I had a meeting in your neck of the woods and had a late flight out of SFO the next day. I got up somewhat early and geocached my way to the airport. As I had never geocached in the area before there were quite a few available and I managed to find a variety of caches. Some were more or less park-n-grabs but there were a few that involved up to a mile hike (round trip). It was one of the very few times that I spent most of a day geocaching. 1 Quote Link to comment
XantheandAriadne Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Today was our best day! 6! Pales in comparison to your numbers but we're new to this (total finds is 12, started in April, not premium members) and we're a young family with two girls aged 6 and 3 so they haven't got the stamina I have. Plus lots of the caches around us, and there aren't heaps, are premium only and we can't afford to subscribe. We're happy pottering along and learning the game. Quote Link to comment
Ranger Fox Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Somewhere north of 1,500 in a day. Due to the circumstances, I'm not proud of how that came about. Care for a short story? Work forced me to take five days off because I had to put in a lot of overtime to get a project out the door, so I added several days of PTO to that to make it a little longer so I could get a cheaper flight. I couldn't find people to cache with on such short notice. I was absolutely frustrated about being forced to take time off without being able to get a group together, so I blew off steam in the desert on whatever reckless, unmoderated pace I wanted. I remember being out there after dark one night and thinking it would be a pain to drive two hours back, get up early, and drive another two hours to pick up where I left off. That's when I got the masochistic idea to take a nap, wake close to midnight, and cache straight through that calendar day like old times. I don't doubt there was a little masochism tied up in that because I was lonely. I did calm down quite a bit after that. I hid some caches with Team SageBrushers, connecting his power trail with the ET Highway (using my route). I found three people from Ohio and I cached with them for a day and a half, using them to moderate my pace to a manageable 600-800 a day, or whatever was found during those days. I also forced myself to stop long enough to visit a museum and read almost every placard in it, surprising the curator on duty ("You must really like history: let me show you some other things out back"). Team SageBrushers was nice enough to let me stay at his place towards the end, which helped make sure I had enough time to rest. The time I spent with others was more positive than the time I spent finding all those caches alone. I knew that before, but just couldn't find anyone. ------ Back in 2006, a normal great day for me was around 126, and that's what I averaged in an area I frequented three hours away. A few years later, I accidentally broke this record and did in the 160s, despite not having a plan, getting up whenever I wanted, and having only one person with me. I did the ET Highway v1 like most people, starting at 2AM or so and finishing the power trail in a mad rush right before midnight (we took a break for food and a little rest after 750, despite its still being daylight). There aren't many days you go over 1K in a day, though. When I started, I noticed I would usually average around 32 caches on a Saturday, so I began to use that as quota for local caching. On some days I wanted to be lazy, I would that to force myself to continue until I had reached that as a stopping point. Every now and then, I still use that. However, I've been managing my area over the past ten years for my streak, so I'm careful not to do too many local caches. Quote Link to comment
+fizzymagic Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 (edited) There are 1440 minutes in a day. 1500 caches in 24 hours is more than one cache every minute, for 24 hours straight. Average speed of over 6 miles per hour, even though stopped to find the cache and sign the log. That sounds like the 9th circle of hell to me. Edited August 29, 2017 by fizzymagic 2 Quote Link to comment
Ranger Fox Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 4 minutes ago, fizzymagic said: There are 1440 minutes in a day. 1500 caches in 24 hours is more than one cache every minute, for 24 hours straight. Average speed of over 6 miles per hour, even though stopped to find the cache and sign the log. That sounds like the 9th circle of hell to me. It. Was. Work. It nearly destroyed my will to continue playing the game. Honestly, I lucked out that I got on a few trails that had the caches only a few feet from the car. It was mindless caching to take my mind off my troubles. When there was enough room for two cars on the trail, I was frequently on the wrong side of the "road" to make things easier for me. When I got with the Ohio cachers later, we timed how long it took us, including driving and finding time. It started as someone running a stopwatch on his iPhone out of curiosity, then it became a fun and constructive competition between us. Good, average caches averaged around 30-40 seconds including drive time and bad ones were around 2.5 minutes. I can't remember for certain about the time on this part, but I think after a minute and a half was timed, a second person hopped out to help and we'd go with a third shortly after. Quote Link to comment
+J Grouchy Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 43 minutes ago, Ranger Fox said: Work forced me to take five days off because I had to put in a lot of overtime to get a project out the door, so I added several days of PTO to that to make it a little longer so I could get a cheaper flight. I'm still trying to get past this part, where it sounds like you are actually upset about having time off from work... Quote Link to comment
+fizzymagic Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 BTW, I in no way mean to imply you didn't do it, RF. I know you are a cacher of integrity. I hope nobody took my comment that way. Quote Link to comment
+Wet Pancake Touring Club Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 61. On that day, I also got 9 different caches types. It started with a bike ride event in Pullman, WA, on a local trail. That got event, traditional, multi-cache, and puzzle types. In the middle of the bike ride, there was a CITO event on the trail. After the bike ride, I did the local web cam cache in downtown Pullman. I found a letterbox hybrid at WSU, then went over to the University of Idaho for a virtual. A short half hour drive to Lewiston for an earthcache to complete the day. Quote Link to comment
+NanCycle Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 My biggest (not best--that's a whole different set of criteria) was 43. Did it with my sister and we also had 2 DNFs and a DNS. My best days are usually around 8 or so caches, few enough that I can remember details of each cache and write decent logs for them. Quote Link to comment
+noncentric Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 (edited) My day with the most 'finds' was fairly recent. I had 101 Found It logs on a Power Trail (PT). I had attempted more than 101, but had a few DNF's. It was a 12-hour day, although I did take breaks for lunch and dinner. I did most of the trail by bike. A few required some hiking, and then there was another section where I got a ride up to the top of the hill and then stopped for the caches while coasting downhill. This was on unpaved forest roads. Accessible by car, but I prefer to bike. I've done other PT's via bicycle. On one of those (Oregon) I found ~80 cache containers, but several of them were Challenge Caches that I didn't yet qualify for, so my count of "Finds" for that day was in the 60's. Another PT I did via bicycle (British Columbia) yielded a find count of around 50. Yet another I did via bicycle (California) got me almost 80. These PT's were not all-day adventures. They were about 9 hrs (OR), 5 hrs (BC), and 7 hrs (CA). Not sure what would be the best advice. Obviously, finding an area that has a lot of accessible caches is important. I generally use the browsing map on the geocaching.com website to find areas that have large groups of caches, then I look at some of the caches in that area to see what cachers have said about it. For example, there might be seasonal access issues or even access fees. Other things to consider are making sure to have enough food, water, gasoline, pens, flashlight, batteries, etc when heading out. If the trail I'm biking has elevation and it's an out-and-back route, then I prefer to start at the downhill end. I'll stop for caches while going uphill, which gives me a lot of chances to rest. If I don't find it after a short search, then I'll just pass on it and grab it on the way down. When I get to the top and am tired, then it's nice to know that the return trip is 'easy' because it's downhill. I can coast and only have to stop if there were caches I couldn't find while going uphill. Besides PT's, it's typical for me to find a dozen or so caches on each cache outing. Most hiking trails in my area have multiple caches, so I'll hike a route that takes me past several caches and I'll probably stop for a cache or two on my way to/from the trailhead. The biggest piece of 'advice' I'd give you is to "stop when it's no longer fun". There are some days that I get excited to hit a trail of caches, but then we get started and I want to call it quits after just a couple caches. Maybe the weather turns sour or the area has been overtaken by unwelcoming vegetation (stinging nettles, thorny vines) or maybe there are just too many muggles that make me feel uncomfortable searching. When that happens, it would feel like an ordeal to continue and so I don't. Edited August 29, 2017 by noncentric Quote Link to comment
Blue Square Thing Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 4 hours ago, XantheandAriadne said: Today was our best day! 6! Pales in comparison to your numbers but we're new to this (total finds is 12, started in April, not premium members) and we're a young family with two girls aged 6 and 3 so they haven't got the stamina I have. Plus lots of the caches around us, and there aren't heaps, are premium only and we can't afford to subscribe. We're happy pottering along and learning the game. Sound's like a fine idea to me - I'm pretty much still doing exactly that after 6 years :-) Quote Link to comment
Ranger Fox Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 2 hours ago, J Grouchy said: I'm still trying to get past this part, where it sounds like you are actually upset about having time off from work... I was a little upset. The same things I do at work I do as a hobby. I have to be doing something with my time. I don't like taking time off work without having something planned. 2 hours ago, fizzymagic said: BTW, I in no way mean to imply you didn't do it, RF. I know you are a cacher of integrity. I hope nobody took my comment that way. Nope. I'm not proud of what I did because of the circumstances and being solo. I do care, though, to point out if you want to see how many you can do in a day, you'll like yourself more in the morning if you do so with others. I've enjoyed many cache runs with others, both of the quality and quantity varieties, but few extended trips solo. Just for you, fizzymagic, since I think you like stats, I went into detail about the stopwatch app's findings (that was on the Dixie power trail near Winnemucca). I think that's the ceiling for four people in one car (as opposed to two in two doing leapfrog). I don't care to test something like that out. As a tangent, though, I did discover during that time that the driver has a greater impact upon the team than I thought. I'm fascinated about team dynamics and such. Quote Link to comment
TahoeJoe Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 My best day was 13 back in 2003. I'm pretty selective on the caches I look for. 1 Quote Link to comment
+Think Tink Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 42. This took >30km of hiking through 2 different trail systems in the same day. We hadn't set out to break any records, but that's just how many we came across. Some were quick finds, others took a good search. Quote Link to comment
+SeattleWayne Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 8 hours ago, fizzymagic said: BTW, I in no way mean to imply you didn't do it, RF. I know you are a cacher of integrity. I hope nobody took my comment that way. Nah. I actually appreciate the stat because eventually I'll be heading to the ET highway to hit the PTs there. Quote Link to comment
+Rainbow Spirit Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 122, on a smallish power trail, I was alone and driving, and I stopped and signed every cache. Quote Link to comment
+J Grouchy Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 (edited) 2 hours ago, Rainbow Spirit said: 122, on a smallish power trail, I was alone and driving, and I stopped and signed every cache. That's the only way to validly do a power trail, in my own opinion. I don't consider the team effort a real "personal record". Not to discount the achievement, but if I'm looking at my own personal "highest number day", I must be personally responsible for finding, signing and replacing every cache. Edited August 30, 2017 by J Grouchy 1 Quote Link to comment
+thebruce0 Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 51 minutes ago, J Grouchy said: Not to discount the achievement, but if I'm looking at my own personal "highest number day", I must be personally responsible for finding, signing and replacing every cache. This is a good mentality, imo. Since there's no objective way to measure 'records', as it were, every criteria for a find count day is arbitrary. People upset because someone claims 500 and they only managed 45 shouldn't be bothered. Look at the criteria, the strategy used. If it's not the same, then there's simply no comparison and no reason to somehow feel bested. And, the best criteria for a count is, "I did it, myself, my own way" - then there can never be anyone to compare against, and no reason to ever be bothered by other people's "high count days" . And if you need to compete, you only need compete with yourself; and if you're a good sportsman with yourself, it's win win I have a 900 high count day in Nevada. But that was a vastly different strategy than 170 with friends doing regional roadsides without trying for a high count day. Which is vastly different strategy than 120 biking a power trail solo on a rainy day. Which is a vastly different strategy than doing 90 on foot chatting with a buddy, or 50 around town by bus. (those are random educated guesses, but it's somewhere in those ranges, probably). If you want to keep track of high counts, just keep in mind the context. But don't make it competitive unless you've agreed upon some set of guidelines with someone else. For your and everyone's sake Quote Link to comment
+simpjkee Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 142. Quite frankly it was a little miserable. I was with other people and they insisted that we get up at the crack of dawn and go hit a power trail. I insisted that I sign every log and that the cache be found and rehidden as it should be. At least one person in the group seemed irritated at me because they wanted to rotate caches and engage in other nonsense that is not geocaching. I would not recommend this. It's much more rewarding spending all day finding one cache than spending all day finding 142. 3 Quote Link to comment
+on4bam Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 139 and that won't increase, ever... It was geo-art with all coordinates to be solved from morse code. We started at 10 in the morning with our bikes along mostly calm, almost traffic free country roads. We signed each log and placed caches back as we found them. at 19:17 we logged the last one. Distance was 60 Km and we had a break for a picnic and in the afternoon we stopped for icecream Our next caching day we found 2 multi's. 1 Quote Link to comment
+HHL Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 168 (with 57 FTFs) on 27.03.2012 on a solo cache tour. Hans Quote Link to comment
+MysteryGuy1 Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 My highest 1-day total was 21, and I don't see myself breaking that record anytime soon. As much as I enjoy this hobby, I don't have the ambition to put in the time it would take to find that many at once. My one day record happened while I was caching with a friend, and upon realizing I was close to breaking my previous record of 20, we decided to make this a goal. And having someone along made it more enjoyable, as I usually cache on my own. Quote Link to comment
+cerberus1 Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 Rarely look at stats (just found out what my find count is now), and this site's stats page says my "Best Day" is 31, highest number only because I accessed all hides on a loop back to the car. Could have quit when I wanted I guess... What I'd call my Best day was one cache that took most of a day to access. 1 Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 On 9/5/2017 at 11:11 AM, cerberus1 said: Rarely look at stats (just found out what my find count is now), and this site's stats page says my "Best Day" is 31, highest number only because I accessed all hides on a loop back to the car. Could have quit when I wanted I guess... What I'd call my Best day was one cache that took most of a day to access. As I wrote earlier my "Best Day" was just a couple more than that. I started in the morning in Mountain View, California and work my up to SFO, arriving there a few hours before my flight. I don't remember all of my finds that day (in was 9 years ago) but it included a cache placed in March 2001, an interesting gadget cache, one placed at a spot related to my first technology related job (it was outside the bar where the first Pong game was installed...I worked for Atari testing and repairing the first home version of Pong), one where I met a local geocacher and a few other interesting places. My best day also involved just one cache but it was more about what I did that day rather than the cache itself. It was just outside the entrance to a national game park in Tanzania and I saw elephants in the wild from the cache location, but most of the wildlife I saw was inside the park (though I did see, giraffe, zebra, elephants, gazelle, and baboons before ever entering the park). I was more of "the best day I've had when I found at least one cache". Quote Link to comment
+thebruce0 Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 "Best" can be interpreted in many ways Heck someone's "best" day could have zero finds! Quote Link to comment
+on4bam Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 54 minutes ago, thebruce0 said: "Best" can be interpreted in many ways Heck someone's "best" day could have zero finds! It has Well not "best" but at the top... Quote Link to comment
+HawkMan1999 Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 My most in one day is 32 caches, walking a bike trail grabbing the mystery caches I had solved for earlier in the week. Best day was only 9 caches, to fulfill a terrain challenge. Quote Link to comment
+Team Christiansen Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 (edited) I attempted a power trail in Utah that has several hundred caches. But after only 102, I got bored and very tired and needed to quit although I did reach my goal of reaching 100 that day. I went to the Statistics section of Project-GC website and saw that the #1 listing world-wide of most finds in a single day by a single cacher is 5,578. I will leave it up to you to comment on the believability of that cacher's logs. Edited September 7, 2017 by Team Christiansen left out word 1 Quote Link to comment
+HHL Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 10 minutes ago, Team Christiansen said: [...] in a single day by a single cacher is 5,578. I will leave it up to you to comment on the believability of that cacher's logs. That's appr. 3.8 caches per minute. Technically not doable without the help of a team. Hans Quote Link to comment
Ranger Fox Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 36 minutes ago, Team Christiansen said: [...] in a single day by a single cacher is 5,578. I will leave it up to you to comment on the believably of that cacher's logs. There are several situations that can cause this: The cacher transferred all finds to another account and just logged them on the same day instead of taking the time to log them on the date found. The cacher did a run with others and, instead of keeping track of when caches had been found, just logged them all on the same day at the end of the trip. This is more believable during the age when we didn't have nifty GPS receivers that created field note files. However, some cachers I occasionally cache with create GPX files that contain the day's found caches. This messes with my field note system, so I've had to create programs to digest things. The person, unfortunately, did a divide and conquer cache run. I've been on those and it's really hard on my morality because I place a higher value on having people to cache with and being invited for the next run. If I can log just what I found without angering key team members, I'd like to do that. But if it means I won't be invited back, I'll swallow my pride and log with the team to be nice, but I really need to find other people to cache with. One might say the person could have been doing leapfrog running in the desert. Knowing the layout of desert runs and the extremes as I do, I can't say that's possible if all cars were on the same trail. Adjusting for caches not being exactly 0.1 miles from each other, that's 580 miles of driving. Let's assume three cars and people driving as I usually do with a team in the desert. Ideally, you're driving 0.3 miles to the next cache and could get up to 45mph--but you're still driving 580 miles. So let's assume an average speed of 25mph. That's 23.2 hours. It takes at minimum five seconds to swap out the pill bottle at the cache site if you get the distance right. I'm good at what I do, but not perfect, so I might stop anywhere between five to thirty feet from the cache. So let's assume it actually takes an average of, say, ten seconds to swap the cache, factoring in time to find out which sage bush contains the cache, but not factoring in fatigue. (5578 / 3) caches * 10 seconds/cache = 18593 seconds = 310 minutes = 5 hours just dealing with the cache. So, to find 1859 caches over 580 miles, it would take 28 hours. This does not factor in acceleration and deceleration times; I know that. One might say the person split the run into three segments and did not do leapfrogging. You'd be driving only 200 miles with an average speed of 20 mph. That cuts the driving time to 10 hours. Factor in the minimum 5 hours for caches and 15 hours would get you the 1859 caches you'd need. Now, knowing the desert layout as I do, there are several runs with 800+ caches and a few with 2500+ caches. The runs with around 800 are nice, but you'll be driving quite a bit to the next one. Since you need 15 hours, I can see where you have the time to drive to the next run. However, you'd have to plan out the run meticulously and you most certainly wouldn't be doing the runs with everyone. This format would require at minimum six hardcore people, nine good people, or twelve who know what they're doing (based on my theory of roles people take in a car while doing number runs). Still, I'd prefer it if the team did leapfrogging and were on the same run together, not doing different runs in the vicinity (80 - 200 miles) of each other. That still rubs me the wrong way because you're not getting the experience of being there, in the moment. I didn't start out with the intent of making a long post here and I most certainly didn't think I'd be able to come up with something even vaguely plausible. Let's get someone to put out 6K caches in a line in the desert and put this theory to the test. At the very least, I'd have something interesting to do with my vacation time for a week or so. Quote Link to comment
+Team Christiansen Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 9 minutes ago, Ranger Fox said: There are several situations that can cause this: The cacher transferred all finds to another account and just logged them on the same day instead of taking the time to log them on the date found. The cacher did a run with others and, instead of keeping track of when caches had been found, just logged them all on the same day at the end of the trip. This is more believable during the age when we didn't have nifty GPS receivers that created field note files. However, some cachers I occasionally cache with create GPX files that contain the day's found caches. This messes with my field note system, so I've had to create programs to digest things. The person, unfortunately, did a divide and conquer cache run. I've been on those and it's really hard on my morality because I place a higher value on having people to cache with and being invited for the next run. If I can log just what I found without angering key team members, I'd like to do that. But if it means I won't be invited back, I'll swallow my pride and log with the team to be nice, but I really need to find other people to cache with. One might say the person could have been doing leapfrog running in the desert. Knowing the layout of desert runs and the extremes as I do, I can't say that's possible if all cars were on the same trail. Adjusting for caches not being exactly 0.1 miles from each other, that's 580 miles of driving. Let's assume three cars and people driving as I usually do with a team in the desert. Ideally, you're driving 0.3 miles to the next cache and could get up to 45mph--but you're still driving 580 miles. So let's assume an average speed of 25mph. That's 23.2 hours. It takes at minimum five seconds to swap out the pill bottle at the cache site if you get the distance right. I'm good at what I do, but not perfect, so I might stop anywhere between five to thirty feet from the cache. So let's assume it actually takes an average of, say, ten seconds to swap the cache, factoring in time to find out which sage bush contains the cache, but not factoring in fatigue. (5578 / 3) caches * 10 seconds/cache = 18593 seconds = 310 minutes = 5 hours just dealing with the cache. So, to find 1859 caches over 580 miles, it would take 28 hours. This does not factor in acceleration and deceleration times; I know that. One might say the person split the run into three segments and did not do leapfrogging. You'd be driving only 200 miles with an average speed of 20 mph. That cuts the driving time to 10 hours. Factor in the minimum 5 hours for caches and 15 hours would get you the 1859 caches you'd need. Now, knowing the desert layout as I do, there are several runs with 800+ caches and a few with 2500+ caches. The runs with around 800 are nice, but you'll be driving quite a bit to the next one. Since you need 15 hours, I can see where you have the time to drive to the next run. However, you'd have to plan out the run meticulously and you most certainly wouldn't be doing the runs with everyone. This format would require at minimum six hardcore people, nine good people, or twelve who know what they're doing (based on my theory of roles people take in a car while doing number runs). Still, I'd prefer it if the team did leapfrogging and were on the same run together, not doing different runs in the vicinity (80 - 200 miles) of each other. That still rubs me the wrong way because you're not getting the experience of being there, in the moment. I didn't start out with the intent of making a long post here and I most certainly didn't think I'd be able to come up with something even vaguely plausible. Let's get someone to put out 6K caches in a line in the desert and put this theory to the test. At the very least, I'd have something interesting to do with my vacation time for a week or so. Great post! I tell people I went into my profession because I couldn't do math. Quote Link to comment
+The Jester Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 My highest numbers for a day are 14,100 - twice! Of course, that's feet of elevation, two caches on top of Pike's Peak. My highest find count is 86, done in the Tri-city area in Washington state during a Cache Machine. A wide variety of caches, including a least one hike and a meal break. We messed up the record keeping and missed our 90 goal. 1 Quote Link to comment
+L0ne.R Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 15 hours ago, Ranger Fox said: The person, unfortunately, did a divide and conquer cache run. I've been on those and it's really hard on my morality because I place a higher value on having people to cache with and being invited for the next run. If I can log just what I found without angering key team members, I'd like to do that. But if it means I won't be invited back, I'll swallow my pride and log with the team to be nice, but I really need to find other people to cache with. Thanks for this. Team caching (divide and conquer) happens quite a bit in my area, not just PT caches but to regular caches. This is an interesting perspective on the pressure felt to do the wrong thing. I've read something similar on another forum where someone tried to gently suggest an uneasy feeling to their group. 1 Quote Link to comment
+thebruce0 Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 1 hour ago, L0ne.R said: I've been on those and it's really hard on my morality because I place a higher value on having people to cache with and being invited for the next run. If I can log just what I found without angering key team members, I'd like to do that. But if it means I won't be invited back, I'll swallow my pride and log with the team to be nice, but I really need to find other people to cache with. Yeah team caching can get iffy if other members' ethics are different. For example, 5 people go out, 2 split off and find 5 caches for the rest of you. You're with the 3 who didn't go to them. You decide not to log those other 5 caches, but the other 2 you were with (who also didn't go to them) do log them, because team! Now they may feel guilted if someone wonders why you didn't log all the same caches everyone else did. Did the team actually find those? Or did you forget to log those? It can become like a public call-out if it's known that some of you didn't visit all the caches, and yet they logged them anyway. At which point they might not ask you back. Some people care that much. In our area, there's a much much larger group, and it's not as much as issue. Maybe a handful of people tops actually visit every cache on their list, but the group name is always signed so that people can decide which they want to sign in on. But with so many people, it's just not worth it for anyone to 'police' the finds and who actually found what. But large group caching has a different dynamic than small groups of a few friends. Cache with people who have a similar caching ethic, or who just don't care either way. 1 Quote Link to comment
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