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Local caches - lack of maintenance


Alan2

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my area seems to have fairly well owner-maintained caches, and many times problems are fixed by the people visiting. Many times I've seen that a finder mentions a full logbook, or lack of a pencil, and the next finder has brought the needed item.

 

Waterlogged items, "contraband" food is removed and noted. Guess we have it "pretty good round these here parts" icon_wink.gif

 

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

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We have a good bunch of cachers in Michigan. We have a list of archived caches that we do rescue missions for. We haul out the destroyed stuff. I have not done a rescue but I have informally adopted one and will keep an eye on it because I am close and the owner seems to have lost interest. Another cacher recently replaced the container on that one. I have also removed a wet log book and replaced it. I have done some repair on containers. Duct tape is wonderful stuff.

You can visit our MIGO website here.

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quote:
Originally posted by Alan2:

Picking up from the topic about vacation caches that are forbidden due to maintenance issues, I was curious to find out how good maintenance is for locally placed caches.

 

So the question is: How good is maintenance on local caches?


 

The caches that I've visited (just a few so far) have all been well maintained, and I note that the cache hunters around here seem to take an active role in that maintenance. I am trying to do the same.

 

OhNoMrBill (Bill Hudson, Gilroy CA)

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The caches I've been to mostly have not been maintained much since hiding (according to the logs) however only 2 have needed mantenance, in one case I emailed the owner because I didn't have the necessary supplies (it was my first days caching), in another, temporary measures had been taken until someone could find a new coffee can lid. One other was replaced by the owner with a larger container, although, the original container was fine for the originally intended theme, that if "mini" items.

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There IS one local cacher in our area who dosen't give a rat's patootie about his caches, and right off the bat need to be 'maintained' with the help of other local cachers. No log book, and containers that are time bombs for getting soaked. Not just a 1 time Noob mistake, either. Even after gentle prodding on what might be a more suitable container. I think he gets his jollies seeing others maintain the caches for him.

 

But he is the only one I know of in the general area. The vast majority of SE Michigan cachers (and as far as I've seen, throughout MI) are good at keeping their own maintained, and also help keep up viable caches of those who are no longer active.

 

I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

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We don't have enough caches in our area to really say whether or not people are maintaining them. They tend to wash out to sea before much time has elapsed or get stolen so they're not around long enough for the owners to bother with maintenance issues. (Kinda gives a whole new outlook on trying to be FTF... you may be the ONLY-TF!)

 

There have been a few newer caches set out recently that will be interesting to follow. I am confident they will be maintained, and not wash away, but I'm interested in how the containers will hold up in our weather (gladware containers/extreme rain) and when they'll have to be switched out.

 

One recently archived cache was placed by an owner who had no interest in maintaining. After a number of DNF's, we went out to see if we could locate any remaining parts to this cache and felt pretty confident in saying it wasn't there. But what I thought was interesting was the owner had NO interest in going out and confirming or denying it himself. He just archived it.

 

What's the point in putting them out there if you just don't care? I mean, really, it wasn't even that great of a location.

 

We've also run into a number of caches in other areas that are poorly maintained, or if new, seem like they'll be prone to troubles in the near future - mainly because of poor choices in containers. One was terribly frustrating - the description made it sound REALLY great, and not too many people had found the darn thing. It was at the end of a 3 mile hike, was in a huge container, and had all sorts of great stuff... The first part of the multi wasn't where it was supposed to be - someone had taken the container and instead of putting it back where it belonged they chucked it into the weeds. At the final, you were supposed to decode hints and then follow the instructions... the marker we were looking for was nonexistent and it sort of went downhill from there. We did finally located the darn thing, but the container was a rather large plastic Sterilite square container (rubbermaid knockoff), wrapped in a BRIGHT ORANGE body-bag sized plastic bag of some sort sitting out in the open. I think the only thing left that was original was waterproof matches - and a darn good thing too, because this thing was taking on water like nobody's business. We weren't able to do any cache maintenance at the time because we were on our bikes and no way to haul out this horrid and huge container - and had nothing to replace it with.

 

I wrote to the owner and asked if he'd like me to do some maintenance on it - now that I know where it is, I might be able to drive in pretty close to the final location if the gates are open. I also offered to take over the cache but haven't heard back from him in either regard. He logs in about once a month and hasn't cached in a year. I'm thinking about going in and altering my log so it's very clear the 'clues' are gone as per the hints, and mentioning that the end bucket is in Really Bad Shape so people aren't disappointed when they get out there. It's only a 3m walk to the cache, but it took one family about 5h to get there and back - a long haul if you have a hard time finding it b/c it's not being maintained.

 

If anyone has suggestions regarding this particular cache, I'd love to hear them!

 

-=-

michelle

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I'm sorry, but this is another case where simple poll responses can't measure reality.

 

Around here, caches over a year old often were placed by ex-geocachers and are maintained (or not) solely by visitors.

 

Those recently placed are happily maintained by owners and/or prepared cachers.

 

The ratio has been changing over the past few months as the newer caches now outnumber the older.

 

(I agree, the gladware containers--often discovered already cracked within days of placement, have got to stop!)

 

Enjoy,

 

Randy

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