Removing Caches for the Winter?

[Guest lhbadman]

I'm in the northeast (upstate New York), and have several caches out. Even though it's summer time now, I'm thinking about winter and my caches. I have one that is in a section of a state park that is strictly off-limits in winter, I plan on taking that one "off-line" after Labor Day. Some of my other ones, I'll have to consider case by case. I'm worried about the zero winter foilage leaving some of these completely exposed. Same holds tru for many that I've found...

 

Has anyone else dealt with this yet, or thinking about it?

 

LB

 

[This message has been edited by lhbadman (edited 14 July 2001).]

[Guest Elwood]

Thats a really good question, and considering my location (utah) i'm wondering about winter also, but i also want to have a special WINTER OLYMPICS cache placed somewhere that everyone from around the world that comes to the games can come and find and sign, i want to get logs from as many different individuals during the olympic run as is possible hopefully it will really be a worldwide cache.stay tuned for more info on its placement.Elwood

[Guest Markwell]

The change in seasons for the first year of Geocaching sure is making this activity interesting! I suggest looking at the older caches around your area, and e-mailing the cache owners to see what they did last winter. My guess is, though, if the cache is hidden well enough, it should still be hidden when winter comes.

 

As a side note, on at least three separate occasions, I have encountered a really difficult cache that I felt was considerably underrated on the difficulty/terrain. Turns out that many of them were placed in March or April with very little ground cover or canopy, and the owners never checked back. Once they did, they changed their ratings, and usually complimented the cache finders for being able to find it in these changed conditions.

 

The moral? I guess I'd suggest that if your cache is hidden well enough, people will want to cache all winter long, just make sure you take the responsibility and check your cache in the winter and assess its hiding spot and corresponding "winter ratings."

[Guest tslack2000]

I have hidden two caches so far. When winter rolls around they'll both be covered by several feet of snow. I guess during this time I'll have to change the difficulty level to a 5 and since you'll have to use special equipment (snow shoes or cross country skis) that will change to a five as well. I won't be moving any of my caches for the winter though. I doubt they will get much traffic (if any) but I'll leave them there if anyone is up to it.

[Guest mfratto]

We are going to pull all of our caches come Sept/Oct, and recycle them into new winter or spring caches. I think our Morning Walk and Crafty Cache would be okay in winter, but it depends on how much snow we get this year. Would rather pull them in, and plant some new ones during the winter, planned with more consideration for the season and conditions.

 

Mauri and Mike

[Guest cache_ninja]

sometimes winter 'caching has been easier for people due to footprints etc. as a result those visiting caches have at times been kinda creative(run alll over the place to throw people off)...but for less visited caches, best bet is to e-mail cache owner to see if its even possible to find under snow. i've had good luck, but it takes _alot_ longer at times, things look different w/lots o snow on top...

[Guest Lux Lucid]

In addition to snow, I would think that floodwaters may make some caches disappear, for good. A cache's water-tightness relates to it's ability to stay afloat. Unwanted mobile cache.

[Guest RXQ]

If a person wants to go out in freezing weather and enjoy caching, more power to them. My concern is hunting season, some of these caches are in prime hunting areas. A note should be made of when hunting season starts and ends, so people can be made aware, if they come from out of state.

[Guest martinp13]

When you've lived in a climate for a while, you know what sort of "normal" winter to expect. It would be nice to note that type of thing in your cache description if it might pose a hazard. Here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, we normally just have to worry about loss of normal foliage. But up north, I would hope people would label caches that won't be accessible during certain times/months. I don't think you need to remove it, unless you think nature will remove it for you. Remember that not all seekers of your cache are native to your area and might not know "normal" conditions: I will be in Atlanta in Aug and Philadelphia in Sept, and will be hunting caches on both trips!

 

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> Martin

Magellan 330 (1.56/WAAS enabled!)

Don't have time to program and record your shows while geocaching? Get a TiVo !

[Guest martinp13]

When you've lived in a climate for a while, you know what sort of "normal" winter to expect. It would be nice to note that type of thing in your cache description if it might pose a hazard. Here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, we normally just have to worry about loss of normal foliage. But up north, I would hope people would label caches that won't be accessible during certain times/months. I don't think you need to remove it, unless you think nature will remove it for you. Remember that not all seekers of your cache are native to your area and might not know "normal" conditions: I will be in Atlanta in Aug and Philadelphia in Sept, and will be hunting caches on both trips!

 

------------------

> Martin

Magellan 330 (1.56/WAAS enabled!)

Don't have time to program and record your shows while geocaching? Get a TiVo !