What do People Think of Cooperative Trails

[+learn2mine]

What do People think of cooperative trails... I think there okay but sometimes they get a little boring..  Is there any that don't have all the same Caches?

Edited September 3, 2018 by learn2mine

[+cerberus1]

What's a cooperative trail ?

[+NanCycle]

What are cooperative trails? If that's any kind of power trail, they're the scourge of geocaching. 

[321geocache]

If you mean power trail, I dislike most of them. Usually they're just pill bottles in a guardrail every 0.1 mile. 

 

There are power trails with different varieties of caches, yes. The Monon Trail series in Indianapolis is one. The caches are many different container types and often have 2.5+ difficulty ratings. I have been wanting to go find some before they are archived. (It's a long story why they are being archived soon.  ) 

Edited September 3, 2018 by 321geocache

[+learn2mine]

Ya I called them cooperative trails but power trails is probably the same thing

28 minutes ago, 321geocache said:

If you mean power trail, I dislike most of them. Usually they're just pill bottles in a guardrail every 0.1 mile. 

 

There are power trails with different varieties of caches, yes. The Monon Trail series in Indianapolis is one. The caches are many different container types and often have 2.5+ difficulty ratings. I have been wanting to go find some before they are archived. (It's a long story why they are being archived soon.  ) 

The story sounds interesting!

[+cerberus1]

1 minute ago, learn2mine said:

Ya I called them cooperative trails but power trails is probably the same thing

 

Many threads dealing with power trails in search. 

Not in this hobby for "numbers", so I'm okay with them if they're leading me to a decent spot.

Straight line 1.5 same caches going nowhere, I just skip 'em.     

 

[+Max and 99]

1 hour ago, learn2mine said:

What do People think of cooperative trails... I think there okay but sometimes they get a little boring..  Is there any that don't have all the same Caches?

I'm concerned about calling them cooperative trails. I sign your name on  half of the caches, you sign my name on the other half. We each claim a find on all the caches. That's what comes to mind when I think of a cooperative power trail.

[+niraD]

31 minutes ago, Max and 99 said:

I'm concerned about calling them cooperative trails. I sign your name on  half of the caches, you sign my name on the other half. We each claim a find on all the caches. That's what comes to mind when I think of a cooperative power trail.

Yeah, those kind of divide-and-conquer techniques aren't geocaching. They're just armchair logging by another name.

[+learn2mine]

So what about if a group of people go caching.... And they use a group name

13 minutes ago, niraD said:

Yeah, those kind of divide-and-conquer techniques aren't geocaching. They're just armchair logging by another name.

 

[+Max and 99]

2 minutes ago, learn2mine said:

So what about if a group of people go caching.... And they use a group name

 

If everyone only logs a Find on the caches they physically went to, no problem. Signing a group name to save room on the log is ok in my book, but you should mention that in your log. But if you didn't participate in finding the cache, don't log that you found it. 

 

Just curious what you mean by cooperative cache trail. 

[+niraD]

11 minutes ago, learn2mine said:

So what about if a group of people go caching.... And they use a group name

The problem isn't signing a single group name to represent everyone in a group that is geocaching together.

 

The problem is dividing into multiple groups that sign the same group name, so people in one group can armchair log caches found by another group.

[+learn2mine]

I meant a trail where the  lay out a set of rules of where the Caches should be and what kind of container and then anyone can go and add to the trail.

16 minutes ago, niraD said:

The problem isn't signing a single group name to represent everyone in a group that is geocaching together.

 

The problem is dividing into multiple groups that sign the same group name, so people in one group can armchair log caches found by another group.

 

[+Max and 99]

15 minutes ago, learn2mine said:

I meant a trail where the  lay out a set of rules of where the Caches should be and what kind of container and then anyone can go and add to the trail.

 

I have never heard of that. 

[+niraD]

19 minutes ago, learn2mine said:

I meant a trail where the  lay out a set of rules of where the Caches should be and what kind of container and then anyone can go and add to the trail.

That sounds like what happens normally when different people hide caches on a popular trail. The trail becomes saturated with caches that are owned by different people, who used different types of caches, different hides styles, etc.

[+cerberus1]

2 hours ago, Max and 99 said:

I'm concerned about calling them cooperative trails. I sign your name on  half of the caches, you sign my name on the other half. We each claim a find on all the caches. That's what comes to mind when I think of a cooperative power trail.

 

That's kind of what I was thinking as well. 

Sorta like some of the older "cache exchanges", where people were logging countries they've never been to. 

[+cerberus1]

1 hour ago, learn2mine said:

I meant a trail where the  lay out a set of rules of where the Caches should be and what kind of container and then anyone can go and add to the trail.

 

 

We've seen a few now, where there's a ton of  "on the way to..."  pill bottle hides leading to the ammo can on a cliff edge,  placed years earlier for the view.

 - I haven't had an issue yet passing those by...    

 

Most area parks/landowners we know of have some sort of a geocaching policy that sets their "rules" (on top of this site's), and what kind of containers can be used.

 - Asking for permission gets one to find out what they are.

 

I'd think if a cacher was to place "rules" on what/how others placed in an area open to all , they'd most likely be told to, well... you know...

We know of one not too far away that thought they were gonna try that.    They don't even live here anymore.  

 

 

[+TriciaG]

1 hour ago, learn2mine said:

I meant a trail where the  lay out a set of rules of where the Caches should be and what kind of container and then anyone can go and add to the trail.

 

Who enforces the rules? If I added a cache to the trail that didn't follow their rules (wrong type of container, for example), then what?

 

EDIT TO ADD: Unless, like cerebrus said, they are rules set forth by the land manager. Those should, of course, be followed. 

Edited September 3, 2018 by TriciaG

[+cerberus1]

4 hours ago, learn2mine said:

What do People think of cooperative trails...

 

Saw another thread seems to have vaporized. 

If you need a glossary  pertaining to terms used in this hobby for years,   The Glossary from Getting Started might help. 

[+learn2mine]

4 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

 

Saw another thread seems to have vaporized. 

If you need a glossary  pertaining to terms used in this hobby for years,   The Glossary from Getting Started might help. 

Thankyou

[+Max and 99]

23 minutes ago, TriciaG said:

Who enforces the rules? If I added a cache to the trail that didn't follow their rules (wrong type of container, for example), then what?

 

 

They will no longer invite you to their parties! You wouldn't want that, would you?

 

Good question, actually. Whose rules makes a big difference!

[+Touchstone]

5 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

Saw another thread seems to have vaporized. 

Yep.  Maybe there should be an enforced waiting period before threads can be removed in that fashion.  Kind of annoying.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

14 hours ago, learn2mine said:

So what about if a group of people go caching.... And they use a group name

 

If they're going to use a group name when they go caching they should use a group name when logging the finds online.  Forming an adhoc group, then splitting up and having everyone sign with the group name is just a way of gaming the system (getting a signature on every cache) so that individual geocachers can convince themselves that they've found more geocaches than they actually did.

[+niraD]

5 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

If they're going to use a group name when they go caching they should use a group name when logging the finds online.  Forming an adhoc group, then splitting up and having everyone sign with the group name is just a way of gaming the system (getting a signature on every cache) so that individual geocachers can convince themselves that they've found more geocaches than they actually did.

If you're splitting up, sure. But not everyone who signs a team name splits up. Some of us use a team name as a favor to the CO, to avoid filling up small log sheets.

[+CAVinoGal]

49 minutes ago, niraD said:

Some of us use a team name as a favor to the CO, to avoid filling up small log sheets.

 

This.^^^

 

Those nano log rolls fill up quickly, so if there's limited space, and two or 3 of us are caching together, we sign a "team" name, log the finds individually with our own account, but note in the log we signed as "XYZ" and who was in the group.  If there's a nice roomy log or logbook, we'll sign our own names.

 

Back to topic - there are a couple of bike trails and stretches of roadway near me that have multiple caches, placed by several CO's and a variety of styles of containers and hiding techniques.  It's interesting.... but I wouldn't call it a "cooperative" trail in the sense the OP is asking about.  We see an open spot, and a good place for a hide, we'll add one to the trail.  Others do the same.  The trail of caches grows but there's no cooperation between the hiding CO's.  It just happens.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

3 hours ago, niraD said:

If you're splitting up, sure. But not everyone who signs a team name splits up. Some of us use a team name as a favor to the CO, to avoid filling up small log sheets.

 

Yes, I know that some use a team name as a convenience and even to save space on log sheets.  Since, however the thread is about 'cooperative trails'  (still wondering why they're being called that), it's probably more common for those that tackle those sort of trails with a group, they're doing it to expedite the number of finds, and somehow the "team" dissolves when it comes time to post their finds online.  

[+The A-Team]

Now that I see what the OP is referring to, I can actually provide an example. Here's the first cache in a "cooperative power trail" of which I found a few caches last year. Apparently, anyone can add to the power trail by using the same naming convention and just incrementing the number on the end.

[+Max and 99]

9 minutes ago, The A-Team said:

Now that I see what the OP is referring to, I can actually provide an example. Here's the first cache in a "cooperative power trail" of which I found a few caches last year. Apparently, anyone can add to the power trail by using the same naming convention and just incrementing the number on the end.

At least cell service is great there if you run into trouble! 

Thanks for the link. I've never seen that kind before.

[+barefootjeff]

1 hour ago, The A-Team said:

Now that I see what the OP is referring to, I can actually provide an example. Here's the first cache in a "cooperative power trail" of which I found a few caches last year. Apparently, anyone can add to the power trail by using the same naming convention and just incrementing the number on the end.

 

I just looked at the most recent log on that one: Like many power trails, at some gz I found the cache, at others no cache was to be found, and at a few there were 2 containers! I completed maintenace as required, using the containers I had on hand and the containers I found when 2 were left at gz. Nuff said.

[+The A-Team]

21 minutes ago, barefootjeff said:

I just looked at the most recent log on that one: Like many power trails, at some gz I found the cache, at others no cache was to be found, and at a few there were 2 containers! I completed maintenace as required, using the containers I had on hand and the containers I found when 2 were left at gz. Nuff said.

Yep, a cooperative power trail is still a power trail, complete with the questionable tactics. For the two caches I found in that trail, I didn't throw down or three-cache-monte at either. I swear. 

[+hzoi]

10 hours ago, The A-Team said:

Now that I see what the OP is referring to, I can actually provide an example. Here's the first cache in a "cooperative power trail" of which I found a few caches last year. Apparently, anyone can add to the power trail by using the same naming convention and just incrementing the number on the end.

 

We had a few of those pop up in Germany the last time I was here - the "Ehrentafel" (Roll of Honor).  The first one I visited had a big seed cache with containers ready to go; cachers could publish their own hide under their own name in the area, and other hiders could use the seed cache to maintain any that needed maintaining.

 

I'm thinking of hauling an ammo can out to the local Ehrentafel here just to be part of it, but I'll be doing the maintenance on it (and picking it up when we eventually move, which given my job will happen at some point).