Zip Line Geocache

[+CheekyBrit]

I'm just spit ballin' here, am I allowed to do a zip line geocache? I have built zip lines and high rope courses everywhere I have lived and am getting ready to build a really good one at the house we just bought. I figure I could have a retractable line suspended in the middle of the zip line so to reach it and pull it down you need to do the zip line. It'd probably end up being part of a multi cache going to different parts of the yard, maybe having a key hanging from the zip line. It is on my property and I would have to be ready for that kind of liability on my homeowner's insurance. I recognize it is a massive liability to me, just like having a swimming pool or a trampoline in your yard (trampoline geocache high up would be cool!). 
I do love mixing my hobbies with geocaching, like the rappelling caches I have put together and this would be a fun one.

My main question is, am I allowed to do a zip line geocache as far as geocaching.com and Groundspeak are concerned?

I know this is pretty 'out there' but humor me.

[+hzoi]

Plenty of rappelling and climbing caches out there.  Probably not in anyone's back yard, but in theory it's doable.

 

16 minutes ago, CheekyBrit said:

It is on my property and I would have to be ready for that kind of liability on my homeowner's insurance. I recognize it is a massive liability to me, just like having a swimming pool or a trampoline in your yard

 

Potentially, yes.  Perhaps more so because you not only have such an "attractive nuisance" on your property, but also you would be specifically inviting folks onto your property to use said attractive nuisance.  But that's between you and your insurer.

[+Touchstone]

1 hour ago, CheekyBrit said:

My main question is, am I allowed to do a zip line geocache as far as geocaching.com and Groundspeak are concerned?

Groundspeak  merely manages the Listing Service.  You bear all the responsibility of the caches that you list on the site.  You can read further regarding your relationship to the geocaching.com in the Terms of Use that you agreed to when you created your account.  A link to the TOU appears at the bottom of every page on the website.

 

It might be worth keeping in mind that geocaching is a 24/7 activity.  I would be concerned with people wandering around my property in the middle of the night (particularly in regards to my skittish neighbors with fire arms), and possibly getting injured.

Edited February 24, 2020 by Touchstone

[Keystone]

From the Geocache Hiding Guidelines, "Caches cannot require geocachers to contact the cache owner or anyone else."  This means that the visiting geocacher must be able to come onto your property, use the zipline and find the cache without interacting with the residents.

 

Also from the Guidelines, geocaches must be available for "most of the week."  It's reasonable to restrict availability to daylight hours, but it's not reasonable to restrict to, for example, weekends only.

[+ras_oscar]

I would probably not do it because of questions regarding sufficiency or connection points, condition of the rope and pulley, and because I'm afraid of heights. However, I'm sure more adventurous members of the community would welcome the challenge.

[+The Jester]

It sounds like a cache I'd try, but it does raise a few questions (especially with Keystone's points above):

 

How will you insure that the cachers will get the harness on correctly and attach to the zipline properly?  How fast will they be going when passing the point of the 'grab'?  Would it be easy to reset and try again after a failed attempt?  Will the weight of the cacher have much impact on making the grab, safely landing and such?  Will the cachers know how to reset the zipline, and would they do so?

[+GeoElmo6000]

The most recent Geocache of the Week involves a zipline:

https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2020/02/cache-and-release-?-geocache-of-the-week/

[+NYPaddleCacher]

1 hour ago, The Jester said:

It sounds like a cache I'd try, but it does raise a few questions (especially with Keystone's points above):

 

How will you insure that the cachers will get the harness on correctly and attach to the zipline properly?  How fast will they be going when passing the point of the 'grab'?  Would it be easy to reset and try again after a failed attempt?  Will the weight of the cacher have much impact on making the grab, safely landing and such?  Will the cachers know how to reset the zipline, and would they do so?

 

Forget the zipline.  I wanna see the cache that involves bouncing on a trampoline.  That would be hilarious.

[+Max and 99]

1 hour ago, GeoElmo6000 said:

The most recent Geocache of the Week involves a zipline:

https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2020/02/cache-and-release-?-geocache-of-the-week/

Oh that looks like fun!

[+The Jester]

3 hours ago, GeoElmo6000 said:

The most recent Geocache of the Week involves a zipline:

https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2020/02/cache-and-release-?-geocache-of-the-week/

Well, that answers one of my questions (about harness and attaching). 

[+ecanderson]

12 hours ago, Keystone said:

From the Geocache Hiding Guidelines, "Caches cannot require geocachers to contact the cache owner or anyone else." 

That one is DEFINITELY only a 'guideline'.  I could make a pretty good list of "Go into the bar, ask for Joe.  He has the container" vacation caches outside of 1st world regions.

 

[+hzoi]

5 hours ago, ecanderson said:

17 hours ago, Keystone said:

From the Geocache Hiding Guidelines, "Caches cannot require geocachers to contact the cache owner or anyone else." 

That one is DEFINITELY only a 'guideline'.  I could make a pretty good list of "Go into the bar, ask for Joe.  He has the container" vacation caches outside of 1st world regions.

 

I'd like to see it, if for no other reason than to see how many of those were edited post-publication to insert that requirement.

 

Until then, as the saying goes, publication of any prior cache does not serve as precedent for any future caches.

[+ecanderson]

 

Some were published that way, and some were clearly modified after the fact.  I'll take just two from one town I visit fairly regularly.  This kind of thing is not at ALL uncommon:

 

Likely published that way: GC7TNQP

Clearly modified after the fact: GC3JXZ4

 

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

21 hours ago, GeoElmo6000 said:

The most recent Geocache of the Week involves a zipline:

https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2020/02/cache-and-release-?-geocache-of-the-week/

 

Looking at the video, the zip line appears to be optional. That creek was not very wide. So, if someone was uncomfortable with using the zip line, they don't have to. And, the line is short, so the family with 5 children can let each one have their turn, and resetting won't take the parents much time.

 

My suggestions are to keep your zipline short (so that multiple users can do it quickly), low to the ground (to reduce the risk of injury if someone falls), and consider an optional way to retrieve the object.

[+The Jester]

16 minutes ago, Wet Pancake Touring Club said:

My suggestions are to keep your zipline short (so that multiple users can do it quickly), low to the ground (to reduce the risk of injury if someone falls), and consider an optional way to retrieve the object.

Another way to make the zipline a true part - first a zipline to a platform where the stage is, then a second zipline to leave that platform.  To make it really interesting, at the platform you climb higher to zipline back to the beginning.

[+JL_HSTRE]

On 2/24/2020 at 10:16 PM, ecanderson said:

That one is DEFINITELY only a 'guideline'.  I could make a pretty good list of "Go into the bar, ask for Joe.  He has the container" vacation caches outside of 1st world regions.

 

Most, maybe all, of those I've seen in the US are older caches grandfathered in or places where Groundspeak will make an exception (ex: official NPS caches).

[+Ry Dawg]

In theory, yes. Although, I would definitely mark the “additional tools required” attribute. There’s a cache around here 60 feet underwater. Obviously, those who cannot or will not dive, don’t go after that cache. Not every cache is for everybody. I think it sounds like a fun one. 

[+HunterandSamuel]

On 2/24/2020 at 8:59 AM, CheekyBrit said:

I'm just spit ballin' here, am I allowed to do a zip line geocache? I have built zip lines and high rope courses everywhere I have lived and am getting ready to build a really good one at the house we just bought. I figure I could have a retractable line suspended in the middle of the zip line so to reach it and pull it down you need to do the zip line. It'd probably end up being part of a multi cache going to different parts of the yard, maybe having a key hanging from the zip line. It is on my property and I would have to be ready for that kind of liability on my homeowner's insurance. I recognize it is a massive liability to me, just like having a swimming pool or a trampoline in your yard (trampoline geocache high up would be cool!). 
I do love mixing my hobbies with geocaching, like the rappelling caches I have put together and this would be a fun one.

My main question is, am I allowed to do a zip line geocache as far as geocaching.com and Groundspeak are concerned?

I know this is pretty 'out there' but humor me.

I love your idea! A family adventure that is free. We found a puzzle cache on residential property. Although it didn't require contacting the owner, he or a neighbor would come over if a cacher was having trouble with it. I say go for it! You sound excited about it and seem to want people to have a fun time caching. 

[+NYPaddleCacher]

19 hours ago, The Jester said:

Another way to make the zipline a true part - first a zipline to a platform where the stage is, then a second zipline to leave that platform.  To make it really interesting, at the platform you climb higher to zipline back to the beginning.

 

I've thought about placing a cache on the island in the river at our house in the Catskills.  I have also thought it would be fun to have a zipline from our backyard to the island.   The problem is that the river gets pretty high and fast some times of the year.  A zip line would make it easy to get onto the island and it's also easy to wade to the island when the water is low.  When it's up and moving fast getting off the island would be difficult and dangerous.  In the photo below the land at the bottom of the picture is our property.  The other side (top) of the river is an island.

 

[+cerberus1]

Your own property should be fine (but I'd ask your insurer anyway  ;-)

We've  done a few lines across water.  That permission thing's important.

The zip line in our yard is used for bird feeders now.   Bit a stretch for the bears.     

 

Seems (to me) that your issue is whether you're okay with people stopping by and playing on your property - whenever.  

Sounds like fun until you get a bunch of knuckleheads who don't have the respect you'd appreciate in your own yard - with the in laws and pastor at a picnic.   

[+ecanderson]

On 2/25/2020 at 10:08 PM, JL_HSTRE said:

 

Most, maybe all, of those I've seen in the US are older caches grandfathered in or places where Groundspeak will make an exception (ex: official NPS caches).

Note my full comment, including the caveat regarding locale:  "vacation caches outside of 1st world regions. "

[+Ambrosia]

We have a zipline in our backyard that is about 170' long, and goes over a creek. We thought about how fun it would be to make a zipline cache, but we really don't want to deal with cachers in our yard at any time, and the potential liability.

[+Oxford Stone]

There are popular caches in London and Oxford behind reception desks, and I've done a "behind the cafe bar" cache in Belgium too...

 

@NYPaddleCacher you'd maybe just need to disable the cache when the river is too high? That's happening on a lot of Thames Path caches this winter.

 

Back to the OP, I'd definitely be up for such a cache!

[+NYPaddleCacher]

1 hour ago, Oxford Stone said:

There are popular caches in London and Oxford behind reception desks, and I've done a "behind the cafe bar" cache in Belgium too...

 

@NYPaddleCacher you'd maybe just need to disable the cache when the river is too high? That's happening on a lot of Thames Path caches this winter.

 

Back to the OP, I'd definitely be up for such a cache!

 

It just wouldn't be practical.  It wouldn't really be possible to have a zipline with a secure harness.  When the water is too low there are some exposed rocks (and others just under the surface).  A fall from a zip line would not be good.   From December to March the water is very cold (it's partially frozen over at times) thus posing a risk of hypothermia.   From April to October is a flyfishing river (one of the best locations in the country).