Looking for advice on a cache I placed

[+NomadNurse]

Hey all, just looking to see if I was right with my thinking about a cache I placed recently. It is a small bison tube placed up a tree in a local natural area, a bit off of a hiking trail. The container is easy to see once you find the GZ, but is a bit difficult to reach because you have to do a small amount of tree climbing. I made the cache a difficulty 2 and terrain 4. (Also added a tree climbing attribute) 

 

I recently received this log ( attatched) and wondered I'd they were right or if my rating was appropriate. This wasn't a brand new cacher, so I didnt want to ignore any potential learning experiences on my part if I had made a mistake. Also, I am a bit annoyed that they have a huge hint to the location in their log (only climbable tree in the area), but that probably shouldn't matter because I put the tree alclimving attribute on the log (not that everyone checks attributes).  

 

Thanks so much for the advice all! Just trying to be a responsible CO

 

-nomadnurse

Edited October 16, 2018 by NomadNurse
Misspelling

[+MartyBartfast]

Sounds to me like you got it about right. The fact that you have to go off the trail and climb a tree is reflected in the 4*Terrain rating, and has nothing to do with the difficulty. If it was a well camoflaged bison, or disguised as a branch/fir cone/etc. then that  might be justification for a higher D rating, but from what you describe a D2 seems about right.

 

[+Max and 99]

This is just MY opinion. The T rating may depend on the difficulty of the tree climb. Normally I would consider 4 a bit high, but it depends on the difficulty of the climb. 

I think your 2D sounds perfect.

I would not consider the log a spoiler since the attribute is on the page.

 

Just my opinions based on what I see above.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

19 minutes ago, Max and 99 said:

This is just MY opinion. The T rating may depend on the difficulty of the tree climb. Normally I would consider 4 a bit high, but it depends on the difficulty of the climb. 

I think your 2D sounds perfect.

I would not consider the log a spoiler since the attribute is on the page.

 

Just my opinions based on what I see above.

 

The difficulty of the tree climb should have nothing to do with the D rating.   That's represented in the terrain rating.   A D2 sounds about right to me.   To me, "a small amount of tree climbing" wouldn't justify a T4 rating.   If special equipment (e.g. a climbing harness) is required that would make it a T5, and a T4 rating suggests that it's a very difficult climb that can be done without special equipment.  

[+Max and 99]

8 minutes ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 

The difficulty of the tree climb should have nothing to do with the D rating.   That's represented in the terrain rating.   A D2 sounds about right to me.   To me, "a small amount of tree climbing" wouldn't justify a T4 rating.   If special equipment (e.g. a climbing harness) is required that would make it a T5, and a T4 rating suggests that it's a very difficult climb that can be done without special equipment.  

Sounds like what I said. T is for the tree climb. 

[+cerberus1]

Attribute and hint already show "up a tree", so that whining "difficulty" logger's log is no big deal (I feel).  Consider the source.

Most logs will have at least a mention (and do...) of what they were in for/ experienced.  It's human nature.   

You don't say how high into the tree the cache is. I find a simple "small amount of climbing" cache from a trail around 3.5, but if difficult, 4's okay. 

Edited October 16, 2018 by cerberus1
"Duh" spelling :D

[+NomadNurse]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I think I'll leave my rating as it is (might drop the terrain to a 3.5). Thanks for the help and reassurance! 

[+dprovan]

Sounds like a good chance to chat with the person filing the log to see what they were thinking. I agree with everyone that it seems likely that they were confusing terrain with difficulty, and, if so, you can enlighten them. But having said that, in my experience, small bisons I  have to climb up to are notoriously difficult to spot. I think some COs don't appreciate how much easier it is to spot a bison in a tree when you know where the bison is in the tree. That doesn't sound like the issue here, but it's a possible factor.

 

Don't worry about the hint in the log. You could mention it and ask him to remove it if you want, but there's no reason to be annoyed by it. Besides, people don't normally start reading logs until they have a problem, so it's probably a good thing for them to find a hint about it being up in the tree once they get that desperate. And soon enough, the log will be down far enough that no one will see it. But remember that not everyone can see attributes in the field, so you might want to consider making "up in the tree" your own official hint instead of depending on people noticing the attribute.

[+DerDiedler]

I´d say you you made it right.  The Difficulti to get to the cache is shown appropriately by T-rating. Als log as there is no maze to solve to get there D 2 seems  good enough to me.

[+CachedIronSkillet]

Everyone has a different experience.  I've had someone solve a difficult puzzle in seconds and had an easy gadget cache puzzle stump very intelligent problem solvers.  But what I would do in your situation is contact the next two experienced cachers who find the cache and ask them if they think the ratings are within the range they would place on the cache.   I try to contact the first-to-find to affirm my rating and have recently bumped a new cache from 3.5 to 4.5 difficulty from early feedback... and found that most people are not solving the gadget on first visit.