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TB in archived cache


aed8656

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6 minutes ago, aed8656 said:

A new travel bug was placed in a geotour cache that was then archived before anyone else found it. I'm trying to get the cache to display in my Geocaching app, so I can retrieve my TB, but when I put the GC code in, all I get is Archived Cache. Any ideas?

Is the travel bug actually still there? You can go to the website and access the cache. 

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20 minutes ago, aed8656 said:

It appears to be still there, I just can't get the coordinates to show up in my app. I tried adding them as a waypoint on another cache, which might work, I wondered if anyone else had a different idea.

 

So you just want to know how to navigate on the app to the archived geocache to retrieve the trackable? I would get the coordinates from the website and add them as a waypoint to a geocache in the app. That's how I would do it, if I didn't remember how to get there. 

Edited by Max and 99
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You could try getting the Map Compare tool on Project-GC. It's intended to show you which caches you and a friend have/haven't found, but it has the nifty feature of options to include disabled and archived caches. I use it to check an area and if there were a bunch of caches in my intended location that were archived due to muggling, I know that's a bad spot to put a cache.

 

You need to know the correct county / municipality / area for where the cache is. Can be a bit annoying when you are looking for one on the edge of two or more because you may think it's in county A but it won't show on the map due to it actually being within the borders of county B, but if it ever existed on GC, then the cache will be there in Project-GC.

 

Edit: this won't help it show up on the app, but you'll be able to open up the page link on the browser on your phone to know where it is, and / or copy the coords into your map software.

Edited by Darwin473
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If I couldn't get the info in geocaching form, I would have just put the coordinates into a non-geocaching map app.

 

I like the happy ending, including the fact that you got to claim a find on the archived cache. Odd that a lackey would archive it without making sure it was recovered, though. I would have thought they'd be more diligent both to make sure trash that used to be geocaches isn't left around and for exactly this reason: so any trackables could be freed. I'm hoping this is just a timing issue: if you'd waited, someone would have gone out soon to pick up all the caches and release any trackables in them.

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3 hours ago, dprovan said:

If I couldn't get the info in geocaching form, I would have just put the coordinates into a non-geocaching map app.

 

I like the happy ending, including the fact that you got to claim a find on the archived cache. Odd that a lackey would archive it without making sure it was recovered, though. I would have thought they'd be more diligent both to make sure trash that used to be geocaches isn't left around and for exactly this reason: so any trackables could be freed. I'm hoping this is just a timing issue: if you'd waited, someone would have gone out soon to pick up all the caches and release any trackables in them.

Many caches are archived and not removed. They are left just to rot. Not so bad for a metal cache which will eventually rust away (although even then, there might be plastic in it). It's bad when plastic caches are left to crumble into micro plastic. It doesn't appear a policy of geocaching to have the old cache removed, which is rather sad, leaving litter. I would prefer if a notice was put on a cache that could the next finder please remove the cache and contents, and responsibly dispose of the remains; then do another archive notice and inform the reviewer the cache has been removed. Only then would the reviewer archive it. (Naturally if the cache has gone missing this would not be necessary; just archive it.)

 

How cool would it be to have another cache type for this, and geocachers could get a find in this category for removing these old caches. Perhaps even open this up to previous finders. An incentive, to go find this cache and remove it.

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5 hours ago, dprovan said:

Odd that a lackey would archive it without making sure it was recovered, though. I would have thought they'd be more diligent both to make sure trash that used to be geocaches isn't left around and for exactly this reason: so any trackables could be freed. I'm hoping this is just a timing issue: if you'd waited, someone would have gone out soon to pick up all the caches and release any trackables in them.

That is not odd at all.  As is clear from the archive log, the paid GeoTour period expired, and typically Geocaching HQ then archives the caches that are part of the former GeoTour.  As always, it is the obligation of the cache owner to remove their own cache, and that includes GeoTours.

 

Anyways, the thread is about how to find a trackable in a cache that's since been archived.  I am happy to see that this worked out.

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3 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

It doesn't appear a policy of geocaching to have the old cache removed, which is rather sad, leaving litter.

 

When posting an Archive log, on the website at least, there's a prompt to remove the container if you haven't done so already (admittedly in very faint grey writing which I've enhanced in this screenshot):

 

image.png.dafae4cc3955b20bcdee601adfa5f18c.png

 

There's also this paragraph in the Terms of Use that we all agree to by ticking the box in every new cache submission:

 

image.png.b4c9cee96e065b14b18dc6ad8d025f89.png

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7 minutes ago, barefootjeff said:

 

When posting an Archive log, on the website at least, there's a prompt to remove the container if you haven't done so already (admittedly in very faint grey writing which I've enhanced in this screenshot):

 

image.png.dafae4cc3955b20bcdee601adfa5f18c.png

 

There's also this paragraph in the Terms of Use that we all agree to by ticking the box in every new cache submission:

 

image.png.b4c9cee96e065b14b18dc6ad8d025f89.png

The sort of cache that is archived by a reviewer, after no response from the owner, is likely to be that sort of cache; left to rot. You could have 'pick up the cache' in flashing lights and trumpets sounding, and it would make no difference. Many of these COs have not visited the site for years and just don't give a fig.

 

That's why I suggested what I did. If a CO does the archiving, I would hope the percentage of caches picked up is higher.

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12 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

I would prefer if a notice was put on a cache that could the next finder please remove the cache and contents, and responsibly dispose of the remains; then do another archive notice and inform the reviewer the cache has been removed. Only then would the reviewer archive it.

 

As a resident of a country with at least one relatively active alternative cache listing service, can you see the issues this would create for Geocaching HQ and for the local Community Volunteer Reviewer?  An archived cache could be active on another listing service.  As a volunteer, I have zero interest in taking on potential liability for orchestrating theft of personal property.  And yes, before you ask, I've encountered this problem very directly in the past.  I've since changed my practices to stay well clear of facilitating any physical cache removal, except for the ones I own as a player, of course.

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21 minutes ago, Keystone said:

An archived cache could be active on another listing service. 

I can only think of two caches I have found that belonged to both sites. One on my recent three months travels. I logged both sites. (On the Australian site my main motivation is logging trigs.) It's rare. However, if a cache was a crumbling mess, with rotting log, the cache is useless on both sites.

 

I have no hesitancy removing a crumbling mess, rather than leave it to break down further. Littering is an offence, and that's what an abandoned cache has become. Besides, if there was a community clean up, or government clean up in the area and they found it, it would also be removed.

Edited by Goldenwattle
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On 9/28/2022 at 8:49 PM, Keystone said:

Anyways, the thread is about how to find a trackable in a cache that's since been archived.  I am happy to see that this worked out.

Well, yes, the OP was asking about tracking down the archived cache, but a related issue is who's responsible for releasing TBs stuck in an archived cache. While I applaud the TO for taking sole responsibility for saving his TB which, thanks to proximity, he could do, I think a valid question for the TO to be asking himself is why his TB was stuck in a cache archived by HQ for purely administrative reasons. Well, actually, from what you're saying, it was purely for a monetary reason.

 

Despite your personal knowledge about the cache, the archive notice by the HQ Lackey is written as if HQ is fully responsible for the cache and, therefore, my impression that HQ should have insured that the OP didn't have to go find the archived cache in order to rescue his TB is a valid conclusion even though your insider information tells us that despite the Lackey's archive log, HQ has no responsibility at all for the cache and its contents. In retrospect, the problem here is that the archive note was essentially claiming full responsibility for the fun people had seeking the cache without giving the slightest recognition to the party actually responsible for planting and maintaining the cache. The least the archive message could have said is, "We'd like to thank the BledsoeGeo team for setting and maintaining this geotour," if not adding the more specific "...and we've been assured that they will pick up the geoliter and release any trapped TBs soon." You might want to mention that to them.

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4 hours ago, dprovan said:

You might want to mention that to them.

 

No thanks, as the guidance I've received is quite clear.  You are welcome to press the point by writing to Geocaching HQ or by posting an on-topic forum thread in the correct forum section.  Meanwhile, I'm closing this thread, as the travel bug in the archived cache was retrieved successfully thanks to the help provided by the community.

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