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County Bicentennial Caches


EllyScott

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Hello all!

 

I started geocaching in 2007 and was fairly active throughout college, but took a step back for quite a while.  I sit on our county's bicentennial committee and they want to have a tour of local historical sites throughout the county.  Geocaching immediately came to mind.  

 

I have letters and permission from property owners, coordinates, and the history of 32 sites.  I know this is a large chunk to bite off, but I have a ton of help behind me including the support of the entire county.  What I'm needing is a little guidance.  I'm going to visit the sites and work with the property owners to decide the exact placement and type of cache needed.  The maintenance of these caches is obviously a concern of mine, however, they are all placed within a 30 minute drive of my home.  The only caches that look like they are going to be close in location of previous caches are just two that are in town.  I think I can sneak them in alright.

 

How would you go about adding this many caches at once?  I don't particularly want to overload anyone, including myself, but I think we have planned well enough that this project with this quantity is completely feasible.  

 

Thanks in advance for the advice!

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I would recommend talking to your reviewer. Personally, I'd want them all published together. Give the reviewer time to look at them all, way in advance of when you want them published.

Have you given any thought to a Geotour? It's a lot of work and commitment, and some money, but so rewarding too. Just something to think about. Will you please keep us posted on the progress of this endeavor? I can't wait to see what comes of it!

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Money definitely isn't an issue.  The entire celebration, including the caches are all funded.  I am not familiar with a Geotour though.  Is that something that will stay around after the event?  We would like this to be a lasting project for people to get to know the forgotten history of our county for years to come.  Lastly, how would we find out who our reviewer is?  I'd like to explain the project and get their input as well.

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58 minutes ago, EllyScott said:

Lastly, how would we find out who our reviewer is?  I'd like to explain the project and get their input as well.

 

Look at a few local caches, recently published, and see who the reviewer is who published them.  Then email or message that reviewer through the website, outlining what you want to do.  Sounds like an awesome project, and even more so that you have the backing, and funding, of the county to do it right!  

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1 hour ago, Max and 99 said:

Have you given any thought to a Geotour? It's a lot of work and commitment, and some money, but so rewarding too. Just something to think about. Will you please keep us posted on the progress of this endeavor? I can't wait to see what comes of it!

If you look at my profile you can see photos of 2 geocoins i earned from Geotours.  It'll give you an idea of the creative reward you can offer. 

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Keep in mind that the reviewer will likely want to know the maintenance plan for all the caches. They may look at your last hide and the maintenance issues that arised. 

A very big problem with geotours (my experience) is the disregard for caches with problems and even more so missing caches. Many geotours require a minimum number of finds to earn the coin, and that becomes very frustrating when geocaches aren't there.   I've seen some with a dozen + of DNFs over a period of many many months and no response from the person organizing them. You can't earn the coin if you can't log a Find on the geocaches.  

Just wanted to explain a little about geotour maintenance.  

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If you can get the funding for a GeoTour, that would be the way to go. You may want to get in touch with the Washington State Geocaching Association (WSGA), they have helped coordinate a number of GeoTours in Washington State. They may be able to give you some pointers.

 

There is also a GeoTour & Reward Geotrails section in the forum that you may want to check out.

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On 10/1/2018 at 9:58 PM, Max and 99 said:

You really have me excited about your project, so please keep us posted! 

 

Absolutely!  We are seriously considering a geotour.  I spent the day at the library yesterday finding old photographs of the historical sites we are going to feature.  We will definitely keep you posted!

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Update on this project:  We are definitely doing a GeoTour!  We are now figuring out who is going to fund it.  We are looking at sponsorships as well as our tourism board funding it since it will be more long lasting than just our Bicentennial celebration.  When I went through the cost and the pull a GeoTour has with the committee, they asked if we could do more than 32 caches!  I think this is definitely going to be a fairly large event.

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For the two geo tours I did, you got bonus pts for staying at a partner hotel or eating a meal at a restaurant partner, all of which also had caches on the property or nearby, although that's really not important. But I assume the geo tour partners helped finance the geo tour, and giving people bonus pts  toward earning the coin increased the likelihood of geocachers staying overnight or eating at the places that provided financing. Does that make sense?

Ex. Best Western might provide finances for the project, and to encourage people to give Best Western their business, extra points were offered if you stayed at that hotel. It was a win-win situation in my eyes. I got extra pts to earn the coin, and the places that helped finance the tour got my business!.

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