Multi cache stage distances

[+captain crunch bunch]

Is the distance between multi cache stages 528' same as a traditional cache or can they be closer

[Keystone]

Each physical stage of a Multi-Cache must be at least 528 feet away from any physical element of any other cache.  But within the same Multi-Cache, the stages can be less than 528 feet apart.  For virtual stages of Multi-Caches, there are no restrictions on proximity to other caches.

 

A "physical" stage is anything you place into the environment yourself, like a container, a clue tag, etc.  A "virtual" stage is something already in the environment that you use to provide clues to find the next stage of the Multi-Cache, like signs, plaques or grave markers.

 

For more information about the Cache Saturation Guideline, see this Help Center article.  

[+CCFsmile]

Piggybacking this topic... while I understand a '?' (Unknown) cache has to be within 2 miles of the posted coordinates, I am told by a generally reliable source that a multi can stretch beyond 2 miles. Correct?

Best example of course is the multi at Mingo (rolls eyes...).

[+barefootjeff]

5 hours ago, CCFsmile said:

I am told by a generally reliable source that a multi can stretch beyond 2 miles. Correct?

 

Yes, correct.

[+Calypso62]

13 hours ago, CCFsmile said:

I am told by a generally reliable source that a multi can stretch beyond 2 miles. Correct?

 

I have a multicache where you need to travel over 1000km (620mi). You visit 12 waypoints before the final. It currently has 50 finds with a 98% Favourite Point rating. It's not for everyone but I guess those who complete it enjoy the geocaching experience.

[+smudgepuss]

6 hours ago, Calypso62 said:

 

I have a multicache where you need to travel over 1000km (620mi). You visit 12 waypoints before the final. It currently has 50 finds with a 98% Favourite Point rating. It's not for everyone but I guess those who complete it enjoy the geocaching experience.

I was about go go 'wow, you've got to be some kind of weirdo for that'.  And then realised that the Prague to Istanbul multi that I've picked up the stage 1 information for is 1800km. Guess I'm that kind of weirdo...

[+Calypso62]

I also have my eye on a Virtual, GC7BA16 NC500 (Virtual Reward) in Scotland. It's a 500 mile drive around the northern part. There are just 4 waypoints however one of them can only be travelled to by boat. The trip looks fantastic. I love multicaches, whatever their length.

[+Goldenwattle]

On 6/12/2025 at 2:21 AM, CCFsmile said:

Piggybacking this topic... while I understand a '?' (Unknown) cache has to be within 2 miles of the posted coordinates, I am told by a generally reliable source that a multi can stretch beyond 2 miles. Correct?

Best example of course is the multi at Mingo (rolls eyes...).

Yes. I have done a number of long distances multis up to about a 12,000km drive, but the finals were back near the icon.

I have done Canberra to Darwin (FTF), Darwin to Canberra, Canberra to Perth, Perth the Canberra, Canberra to Hobart (includes an overnight ferry ride), Hobart to Canberra, Canberra to Brisbane, Brisbane to Canberra, Canberra to Adelaide, Adelaide to Canberra, Canberra to Melbourne, Melbourne to Canberra, Canberra to Sydney (this is a 'shorty', only about 300kms). These often over several trips.

I have started a mystery trip by the same CO, but only done the first WP so far. Goodness knows where that will take me! Also by another CO another long distance multi that started in Melbourne. I didn't know it was a long distance one when I found the first WP in a caching walk about Melbourne. But gees, I can't leave that uncompleted, so more than half way to Sydney now, WPs collected on different trips. I'll get there one day. Some of those long distance multis have taken me years to complete. At least another couple maybe about 200kms in length done too. 

I love these sort of multis because they involve travelling. On that I also enjoyed a challenge cache I once did. Find a cache in every Australian state and Territory in one year. One of the hardest things there was actually finding the cache (in the Northern Territory). It was in the wreck of a plane beside an airstrip used in the 2nd world war*, but after a good search, found it. (A bit of trivia some might not know, northern Australia was bombed over a 100 times by the Japanese.) * Quite a few of those old airstrips if you know what dirt track to take to find them. Geocaching led me down dirt tracks to several of them.

Also attempted two multis that have the WP in another country. You contact a geocacher in the other country to find the answer to find the multi in the linked country. In this case it was Canberra and Singapore. I found the one in Canberra with no difficulty, but when I got a chance to do the Singapore one I DNFed it😭. Must go back to Singapore...must. Great Metro system there. In combination with walking, I travelled all over the city. Saw much of it that most tourists don't. Caches on top of tall apartment blocks, in multi storey car parks under buildings, on stairways going up apartment blocks, as well as in parks, etc. Caching does get one about, as many here no doubt will agree. So long distance multicaches are a good fit and so much more rewarding than sitting in an armchair and completed an AL.

Edited June 13 by Goldenwattle

[+barefootjeff]

43 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

Yes. I have done a number of long distances multis up to about a 12,000km drive, but the finals were back near the icon.

 

There's a multi starting in Sydney's botanical gardens, and while the title should have perhaps given me a hint, there was nothing in the description that really made it clear that the final was in Melbourne (about 1,000 km away), with waypoints set along the coast road down there. It was only after finding the first waypoint and calculating the coordinates for the second that I twigged, as the whole degrees south wasn't 33.

 

The longest multi I own is about 18km between its furthest waypoints (WP1 and WP2), with WP3 and the final midway between them, but it's meant to be done by train with the three virtual waypoints set on station platforms. The third waypoint and final are only accessible by train (or perhaps boat), unless you want to add a 10km hike in from the nearest road. It's a scenic jaunt, though, with the railway line following the shore of the waterways and the final set on the clifftops above. It's received 29 FPs from 40 finds over its nine years since publication, but the last find was nearly five years ago so I guess multis like this have fallen out of favour.

[+Calypso62]

And that particular barefootjeff multi is just awesome!!!!!! 😀👍😀

[+Goldenwattle]

3 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

There's a multi starting in Sydney's botanical gardens, and while the title should have perhaps given me a hint, there was nothing in the description that really made it clear that the final was in Melbourne (about 1,000 km away), with waypoints set along the coast road down there.

That's, I suspect, similar to the long distance multi I accidentally started in Melbourne. I suspect the final is somewhere in western Sydney. Guessing this, as that's where I think the CO lives. The WPs are heading up the coast. I have done some shorter ones that have start and end about 200kms apart.

3 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

The longest multi I own is about 18km between its furthest waypoints (WP1 and WP2), with WP3 and the final midway between them, but it's meant to be done by train with the three virtual waypoints set on station platforms. The third waypoint and final are only accessible by train (or perhaps boat), unless you want to add a 10km hike in from the nearest road. It's a scenic jaunt, though, with the railway line following the shore of the waterways and the final set on the clifftops above. It's received 29 FPs from 40 finds over its nine years since publication, but the last find was nearly five years ago so I guess multis like this have fallen out of favour.

I approve. I like caches you can use the (city) train/metro, in combination with short walks*, to get to. Hence I like SideTracked caches. I might have a chance to add to my SideTracked caches (367 finds so far) by again cleaning out Sydney of most of them next month. Cleaned out the ST caches in Sydney a couple of times before, but they are breeding. I don't live in Sydney, but because of those caches it's possible I know the train system there better than many Sydneysiders. I can picture the map in my mind writing this. However, I still take a rail map with me, as I can mark the stations I need to visit for the SideTracked caches. Plus what I see in my mind are lines, not station names.

I have also used the train (on and off all day/s) to find STs in Melbourne, Singapore and London.

*Short walks add up, when on and off trains all day.

3 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

The third waypoint and final are only accessible by train (or perhaps boat)

I know exactly the station you mean. I went there for a ST multicache, with an uphill walk. Steep that😜! I found an Earthcache that I passed on the walk as well. A very scenic train route, wending its way beside the water. A request station only, that only every (Newcastle service) second train (one an hour) stops at. You must let the guard know you want the train to stop there and then sit in the last carriage. (Explaining this for others to set the scene.) The small platform will only fit the back door of the last carriage. Then when returning wave at the train to stop. I was nervous using this station, thinking, I don't want to be stranded, but everything turned out to be easy.

Edited June 13 by Goldenwattle

[+Goldenwattle]

3 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

The longest multi I own is about 18km between its furthest waypoints (WP1 and WP2), with WP3 and the final midway between them, but it's meant to be done by train with the three virtual waypoints set on station platforms.

I forgot to ask, how far is the final walk? The ST one was 450m - uphill, so guessing yours would be a km (?).

Edited June 13 by Goldenwattle

[+barefootjeff]

1 hour ago, Goldenwattle said:

I forgot to ask, how far is the final walk? The ST one was 450m - uphill, so guessing yours would be a km (?).

 

The turn-off from the Great North Walk is close to the ST cache, then it's about 300 metres south through a mixture of moderately thick scrub and rock shelves until you emerge atop the cliff overlooking the waterway and the railway line.

 

[+Calypso62]

It's just an amazing GZ!!!!! I loved my visit there!! 👍

[+Goldenwattle]

4 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

The turn-off from the Great North Walk is close to the ST cache

Under the big tree. Is this route track, or off the path bush bashing?

[+smudgepuss]

16 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

The longest multi I own is about 18km between its furthest waypoints (WP1 and WP2), with WP3 and the final midway between them, but it's meant to be done by train with the three virtual waypoints set on station platforms. The third waypoint and final are only accessible by train (or perhaps boat), unless you want to add a 10km hike in from the nearest road. It's a scenic jaunt, though, with the railway line following the shore of the waterways and the final set on the clifftops above. It's received 29 FPs from 40 finds over its nine years since publication, but the last find was nearly five years ago so I guess multis like this have fallen out of favour.

 

That sounds like a great cache!  If only I were 10,000 miles closer...

[+barefootjeff]

7 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

Under the big tree. Is this route track, or off the path bush bashing?

 

No track, but with a bit of cunning you can find a route that uses the many rock shelves and avoids a fair bit of the thick scrub. It's a pretty full-on terrain 4 but not enough to warrant 4.5. One of the finders mentioned an "easier" route straight up from below but I haven't been able to find it.

[+Goldenwattle]

5 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

 

No track, but with a bit of cunning you can find a route that uses the many rock shelves and avoids a fair bit of the thick scrub. It's a pretty full-on terrain 4 but not enough to warrant 4.5. One of the finders mentioned an "easier" route straight up from below but I haven't been able to find it.

Even though I appreciate the WPs can be found by train travel, I think I will give it a miss