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Changing surround for cache


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Has anyone placed a cache and sometime later the surrounds change?

I placed a cache in a grotty laneway, and although recently I was aware that building work had started nearby, it was only today I saw a photograph of the laneway, and went , "Yikes, that's not 'my' laneway!:o" The building work has changed it beyond recognition.Pictures of how the laneway used to look: https://www.geocaching.com/seek/gallery.aspx?guid=8ae71b3c-bcfd-4def-bf97-bd83a556784c

And below, how I discovered it looks now. I need to go revisit it! HUGE change. 'My' grotty lane has gone up market.

 

So, has anyone else placed a cache, only to have major changes happen around your cache?

Verity-Ln-Market-Photo-Facebook-810x540.jpg

Edited by Goldenwattle
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I visited Texas recently and before I left I looked up any easy Jasmer holes I could fill.  There was a T1 cache in a park near where I was heading so I made it a point to pick that one up.  When I arrived, it was an overgrown jungle.  I wasn't prepared to go into that at all.  I still wonder whether COs should adjust their ratings over time if needed.  I know some people get mad when COs change their ratings.

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46 minutes ago, GeoElmo6000 said:

I visited Texas recently and before I left I looked up any easy Jasmer holes I could fill.  There was a T1 cache in a park near where I was heading so I made it a point to pick that one up.  When I arrived, it was an overgrown jungle.  I wasn't prepared to go into that at all.  I still wonder whether COs should adjust their ratings over time if needed.  I know some people get mad when COs change their ratings.

I adjust the ratings as need be, to represent as best as possible the present situation, so as not to mislead people. No one has complained yet. Anyway, my highest rated cache is only 3, and I imagine it would be the highest ratings that might upset some people if changed, not a mere 3 or lower.

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4 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

So, has anyone else placed a cache, only to have major changes happen around your cache?

My first cache was hidden under a set of wooden steps. I underestimated the abuse the local skateboarders would inflict on those steps. At first, they were just dislodging the cache and its camouflage, and the cache was getting muggled. Then they actually destroyed the steps. The city replaced the destroyed steps with slightly different wooden steps. While I was revising the camouflage to fit the new steps, the skateboarders destroyed the new steps. The city stopped trying to replace the steps, and I archived the cache.

 

Another cache was in a community garden. The property was sold to developers and I archived the cache.

 

Another cache was in an area that was going to be inaccessible for a couple months for construction. I disabled the cache. Then the construction was delayed, and delayed again, and delayed again. Eventually the construction finished, but the cache location changed when I was told it wasn't going to be changed at all. The old camouflage wouldn't fit any more, so I created new camouflage. Then that camouflage was destroyed, so I replaced it. Then the replacement was destroyed, so I changed the camouflage again. That one is still in place.

 

Yeah, stuff like that happens, especially with urban/suburban caches.

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My first cache was in the park across the road from my house.  There is a chain link fence one side and I put a cache in the fence post.  Five years later the park was complete re-landscaped and the fence replaced.  The new fence doesn't have removable caps so I didn't rehide.   Someone placed a cache in the park at the base of a tree on a month or so after I archived.  That tree was cut down about a month later.

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13 minutes ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

That tree was cut down about a month later.

I had hidden a cache at the base of a tree. The tree was cut down, but I located the cache and log, although they were not together. I placed it in another tree. That was cut down, so I placed a new cache and log in another tree. That became unsuitable when muggles found it, so I moved it under a small bush. Someone dumped a load of rubbish on top of the bush. I had no desire to dig my cache out of the rubbish, so I gave up with this cache and archived it.

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2 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

I had hidden a cache at the base of a tree. The tree was cut down, but I located the cache and log,

This has happened to 5 of my hides so far - in 4 cases, the cache remained in place. The only thing I had to do in the short term was to change the hint from "Base of a tree" to "Stump" ;) . In the longer term, though, I had to move 3 of the 4 remaining hides. It was not a single cut-down tree, but a whole area had been cleared. And when the big trees are gone, brambles and stinging nettles conquer the area rather quickly.

 

A case, where nature totally consumed my cache location was this: A had placed a cache at the end of an old path/boardwalk along the side of a small river. The path was muddy, the boards partially rotted, but all in all it was a straight-forward walk - I listed the cache as T2. Then, a few months after I had placed the cache, a period of very heavy rain cause the area to be flooded. It took a while until I tried to look after my cache, but when I finally did, I had to find out that the path/boardwalk had completely vanished! Only reed all over the place! I had to archive the listing. Using Google Earth's "time machine" feature, I later found out that the path had been existing since at least 15 years (and probably much longer)  - only to be totally claimed back by nature about half a year after I had placed my cache.

 

And changes in urban environment, like in the first posting, happen all the time. There are areas here in Munich, which have gone through the phases of "abandoned industrial site" via "overgrown wasteland" to "redeveloped modern housing area" within the last 10 years. I've found caches in all phases :), but none of them lasted more than a few years. If an area totally changes its character, the typical geocache probably won't survive this (without being changed itself, at least).

Edited by baer2006
Typo (reed, not reef)
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I went to find a cache once and found what's in the photo below.  Looked like I caught the parks people on a lunch break, so I logged below and the CO went and retrieved the cache just in time.  I was obviously the LTF.

 

My log: "CO may want to rescue this cache immediately as GZ is about to be destroyed by a wood chipper. Was able to SL. TFTC!"

 

CO's log (same day): "Well... I am not sure why the city of Clifton thought it would be a good idea to remove this beautiful, healthy tree from this PARK. I guess nowadays trees are not allowed in parks or something....what a shame. I have removed the cache and will be finding a new spot for this cache in the same park shortly. Really sad because this is the first cache we ever hid...thanks to GeoElmo6000 for giving me a heads up."

 

Not sure if this is off-topic but the previous posts reminded me of this experience.

 

ceaf9546-b6b7-4790-9b3d-287ac303236a.jpg

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Lots of our early cache finds were archived after the unspoiled area we were brought to became a road , parking lot, or visitors building.

When this hobby started, locals were just getting into the "open space" idea, and really didn't know what they were going to do with the properties yet.

One nearby was used for logging.  We found caches off old logging roads that required muck boots or waders to walk.   :)

 - Many of those cache locations are now a winding, paved road and large parking area...

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I've had one hide dealing with this....it was a tiny parkette on the corner of two side streets, but half a dozen buildings were under construction around, literal skyscrapers going up next to a bunch of houses in a well established neighbourhood. 

I disabled the cache due to the virus thing happening currently, as the cache is next to a park amenity....said park amenities were off limits by the city for months, anyone near it or using it would be fined.

 

Sure enough, once I had a reason to go to this area (even though its less than a mile from my home), I foudn out the city/developer were working on expanding the park...two apartment towers were going up next to the parkette, and the developer expanded the parkette by about 3 times its original size. The old parkette was modified as a result, and the cache, well....it might still be there. The actual hiding spot is present, but I don't know if the workers cleared off the stones and shrubbery much. (Since the cache is between a big shrub and a rock).

 

In any case, this cache is still disabled...I'm waiting for the shrub to be less pokey since I don't feel like sticking my arm down there...it's awkward even when the shrub is cut back, but also, I'm waiting for the remaining fences in the new park to be removed. The actual cache is a  bit tougher I think, since there's more muggles then ever....those two buildings have about 600+ people in them combined.

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We have a multi stage cache in a state game lands where the first stage was lost to game commission brush hogging (heavy duty mowing that takes out trees several inches in diameter) of the edge of the woods to enhance the area for wild turkey.

 

A fellow geocacher who previously found the cache gave us the heads up.

 

Hard to argue against more wildlife in a game land!  I moved the stage.

 

The change in the area was mind-boggling.

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I have a cache that was originally located between the roots of a tree on a hillside about 20 feet above a trail.  After many years, the tree uprooted and fell over parallel to the slope of the hill, but luckily the cache was on the side away from the fall.  So I rehid the cache next to the rootstock with conventional geoflage.  Several years later, there was a DNF, and when I arrived at the GZ, I found the tree had rotted further.  The cache was gone, but I saw that the rootstock had rotted off the main trunk and rolled down the hill, below the trail.  I went down to the rootstock, searched around and found that the cache had tumbled down the hill with the rootstock.  I went back up and replaced the cache and secured the hiding spot a little better with several large rocks.  

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