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"Nightcaching" hides


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I've been looking through the "topics" page for a current "Nightcaching" thread, but I haven't found one.

Does anyone still go nightcaching? There are several caches around me that are "24/7" and "recommended at night," but I don't know if these necessarily count as nightcaches. 

It would be nice to find trails or areas accessible at night that involve using reflectors and headlamps.

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Come to southern Ontario. Lots of intentional night caches in the regional forests. And this year the intent (currently) is to revive the BFL Bootcamp all night night caching event in November :)  (BFL - Big Flash Light)

 

But yeah, even here night caches used to be a LOT more popular. Before covid a group got together weekly Friday nights to go caching at night.  So it's still alive, just not like it used to. Hoping the Bootcamp will revive that aspect of geocaching around here... 

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23 minutes ago, ryan_schunk said:

I've been looking through the "topics" page for a current "Nightcaching" thread, but I haven't found one.

Does anyone still go nightcaching? There are several caches around me that are "24/7" and "recommended at night," but I don't know if these necessarily count as nightcaches. 

It would be nice to find trails or areas accessible at night that involve using reflectors and headlamps.

I've done some really good night caching geocaches, but these days I'm just too scared of the skunks. After encountering a few just feet away from us on different occasions, my interest in caching at night dwindled. About a month ago we could smell them everywhere in town!

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I used to really like night caching.   :)   The two scariest caches we've done were simple, level trails at night.

Now that tourists are moving in instead of visiting on weekends,  many of our game lands (where most is done) have developments all around them.

Hunters have had run-ins while night hunting, and they use green or red light.  We still predator hunt at night too.

 Most we know caching use a standard white-light LED, and much brighter.

A couple years ago a forum thread had a few saying they use 500 lumen lights for caching.  We max at 120. 

 - Get a couple people moving bright lights across someone's bedroom window around midnight isn't a good way to make friends...

We're seeing a couple groups caching at night after events. 

Most logs seem to say they had a good time, but many aren't even near the woods anymore.

But we went along on one (a cemetery) that had a sign out front saying it was closed, and went home. 

Many parks are closed dusk to dawn, but we almost attended two that have been accessed at night by these groups. 

Add in that a few had beer in the mix too... well, no thanks...

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41 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

I used to really like night caching.   :)   The two scariest caches we've done were simple, level trails at night.

Now that tourists are moving in instead of visiting on weekends,  many of our game lands (where most is done) have developments all around them.

Hunters have had run-ins while night hunting, and they use green or red light.  We still predator hunt at night too.

 Most we know caching use a standard white-light LED, and much brighter.

A couple years ago a forum thread had a few saying they use 500 lumen lights for caching.  We max at 120. 

 - Get a couple people moving bright lights across someone's bedroom window around midnight isn't a good way to make friends...

We're seeing a couple groups caching at night after events. 

Most logs seem to say they had a good time, but many aren't even near the woods anymore.

But we went along on one (a cemetery) that had a sign out front saying it was closed, and went home. 

Many parks are closed dusk to dawn, but we almost attended two that have been accessed at night by these groups. 

Add in that a few had beer in the mix too... well, no thanks...

Yeah that thought has crossed my mind a few times. Last "recommended at night" cache led me to a neat dead-end away from houses. The cache was a micro, so it took us a few minutes to look for it. The main challenge was getting through the overgrown weeds.

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Some of my favorites have been night caches, but it's hard to find a good location for them around here. Most parks close at sunset, or half an hour after sunset, or something similar, so there isn't enough time when the parks are open and it's dark enough for a night cache.

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I love night caches and do them whenever I can. They're particularly fun with a team. But they're rare.

 

The term "night cache" normally refers to a cache designed to do at night, almost always involving reflectors or UV paint or things like that that can only be seen at night. I also like to cache at night for normal caches, but that's another topic.

 

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Using Search, set some coords around your hunt zone,  enlarge the radius from the default 10 miles - select only Multi and Mystery, title contains Night. That will get you some of them. Using some coords for an owned hide of yours and that search

   https://coord.info/GC394H5        https://coord.info/GC63693    https://coord.info/GC1GX7B

 

 

Using a pocket query, area around your zone... select cache type Multi, and Mystery,  -> attribute FLASH LIGHT required.

 

In some areas they're commonly listed as Multi, in some Mystery, and in some a mix. 

You can open some that clearly are Nightcaches - see if there's a bookmark list of others!

Edited by Isonzo Karst
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33 minutes ago, Isonzo Karst said:

Using a pocket query, area around your zone... select cache type Multi, and Mystery,  -> attribute FLASH LIGHT required.

 

Don't assume everything with the Flashlight Required attribute is a night cache, though, as three of mine have that attribute because they have things hidden in dark places. Getting to GZ on those ones is best done in daylight.

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9 hours ago, ryan_schunk said:

Yeah that thought has crossed my mind a few times. Last "recommended at night" cache led me to a neat dead-end away from houses. The cache was a micro, so it took us a few minutes to look for it. The main challenge was getting through the overgrown weeds.

 

We've seen "night caches" change over the years here too. 

 Many were deep in forests, or maintenance game land "blue" trails leading to the Appalachian Trail.

Now that city folks moved in, looking for the "quiet of the country", seeing lights flashing in the woods causes concern.

This state is unusual, that they allow folks to have their property right up to game lands.  Hope you pick the correct driveway too.

That drive to game lands along the neighbor's property sometimes has some embarrassing moments.   :)

Our last true night cache had the cops bellowing out my name over a megaphone to come out of the woods with hands up.

The other 2/3rds was with me, and her crying might have given us some time for them to realize we weren't doing anything "illegal".

The person who reported us was a new neighbor from the city, not realizing that hunting would be allowed at night too...

 

We have long-time locals and cachers who believe that there's no Sunday hunting in our game lands.  That's never been true.  

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I did a night-cache a few years ago (in Germantown, NY) that was fun. 

 

It was in a LARGE commercial parking lot, with MANY lightpoles.

 

You went to the pole at the posted coords, then looked around for another pole with reflectors or firetacks or something. Then, went there, and repeat. 

 

I don't remember the details; maybe it eventually just led you the final location, or maybe there were numbers to collect on each pole in sequence to develop coordinates, or something like that.

 

The reflectors were all about ten feet up. I think there was a pattern; maybe two or three in a line horizontally or vertically so you knew it wasn't just a random thing.

 

I do remember that the snag was that you had to make SURE that the pole you were sighting, which could be ALL THE WAY across the lot, was the one where the reflectors were pointed right at your position! The sightlines for the stages, being diagonal lines across the lot, would allow you to see some 'unwanted' reflectors from an angle.

 

Binoculars worked. Look at a distant pole and see if they appeared CENTERED on the pole. TOUGH at night! While the poles were somewhat lit, they weren't very WELL lit.

 

Here's the funny part. We came across this away from our home area, and wasn't prepared for it. Searched the car, didn't have a flashlight!  ANY flashlight, much less one that would project adequately over two hundred feet or more!

 

So picture us, me walking, and her driving the minivan in tight circles, using the HEADLIGHTS to search for these things!

 

It was a good thing that mall was closed, and the parking lot was deserted.

 

It was a great game. I remember the CO advertising on the cache page for someone to adopt it, or it was going to be archived.  Too bad I didn't live closer; I would've taken it.

 

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6 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

 

Don't assume everything with the Flashlight Required attribute is a night cache, though, as three of mine have that attribute because they have things hidden in dark places. Getting to GZ on those ones is best done in daylight.

I'd search on Flashlight Required AND Night Cache (and maybe try Recommended at Night).

Edited by The Jester
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7 hours ago, Isonzo Karst said:

You can open some that clearly are Nightcaches - see if there's a bookmark list of others!

This is a big help. Once you find a single night cache, you can often use the bookmark lists that it is on to find other night caches.

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On 5/23/2020 at 3:24 PM, niraD said:
On 5/23/2020 at 7:32 AM, Isonzo Karst said:

You can open some that clearly are Nightcaches - see if there's a bookmark list of others!

This is a big help. Once you find a single night cache, you can often use the bookmark lists that it is on to find other night caches.

 

And this works for many non-standard cache styles or categorizations. Bookmark lists are a big help if someone out there has had a similar thought = )

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Recently, I got into placing nightcaches myself, and I've just (2 hours ago) got my second nightcache published: https://coord.info/GC8RJM3, named: The Stars, Like Dust. Anyone get that reference?

 

It's pretty hard out here in the Netherlands. Almost all forests are forbidden to be entered after sunset. Rural roads would seem like a good option, but I prefer nightcache routes that don't lead next to houses/farms, to avoid disturbing people who live there... so all in all, some creativity is definitely needed.

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4 hours ago, igator210 said:

Nightcaching is still quite popular is some areas. I think I've found over 60 at this point.

I have public list for various parts of the US / Canada as I travel. I probably should update it soon.

https://www.geocaching.com/plan/lists/BM2JWXC?sort=name&sortOrder=asc&skip=0&take=500

Hmm, I've found a few on that list, and own three.  I'll have to check that list out when we start traveling again.

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I've only started night caching because of this pandemic...it's been great. As a way of keeping my mental and physical health maintained, the adventure in the journey to the cache is always more interesting than the cache. I'm saying this because I only walk or run to these caches from my home, and have gone 20 kilometres at one point to get a cache...and made a full marathon of that walk. (beating my old walking record consistently...I think it was 25 km two years ago)

I really appreciate that aide of the game now, and despite living in an urban centre, I walk toward the suburbs of my city, where it's easier to night cache...albeit I usually never cache in a wooded area or thicket unless I decide to. Tonight I'm going for an easy walk, about 15-18 km to get some easier caches....one might be tougher due to a subdivision, although I've figured I might now start hiding more night friendly caches now....of course once we can actually get them published.

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