Floating cache?

[Guest bjbest]

I was thinking about hiding a new cache, and I'm looking for some input about the way to go about doing it (that is, if I *should* go about doing it).

 

My thought is to hide a cache at the source of a lake which I live fairly close to. The only (legally) accessible way to access this area is by a canoe or kayak; the surrounding land is private property. I would make this clear in the cache description.

 

Since all the land nearby is privately owned, I was thinking about creating a floating cache. Essentially, I would anchor the cache in an out-of-the-way spot and let people have at it. It should be noted that the water is very slow-moving in this area, so the risk of having the cache wash away is negligible. The reason I want to put a cache here is that there are some amazing deep, cold, incredibly blue springs at the source.

 

I have some concerns/questions:

 

1.) Is it legal to anchor something like this? Is water considered public space? (The lake does have public access.) I should also note that the area I'm considering hiding the cache is very out-of-the-way and rarely visited, so there's no risk of the cache being hit by boats or anything like that (in order to get to the area, you must canoe/kayak through inch-deep water for about 300 yards through a twisting creek). I wouldn't anchor it in the spring of course, but somewhere nearby, probably near shore.

 

2.) What would the cache logistics be? That is, how do you create a floating cache? My thought would be to buy two Tupperware containers, so that one would fit inside the other. I would drill a small hole in the bigger one, and thread an anchor line through and tie it off inside, and then caulk the hole as best I could. I would then glue in some styrofoam or other floating material to ensure seaworthiness. I would then put the smaller container inside, and the actual cache would be in there.

 

3.) Does this sound cool? Lame? Are there other issues I'm not thinking about?

 

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Guest Nemesis]

That sounds like a really cool idea Bjbest!

 

Cheers,

Donovan Govan.

[Guest bacpac]

This is a bad idea. Do not clutter open water for something as frivolous as geocaching.

 

IMHO caches should be unobtrusive and descrete.

[Guest bjbest]

I guess I should note that I would try to be discreet as possible; i.e., it just wouldn't be this floating tupperware container in the middle of a spring. I would prefer to put it on shore, but trespassing (not to mention the land composition--very swampy) prevents me from doing that. Ideally it would be in the water but near shore, and well-camouflaged (there are a lot of fallen logs to hide things behind in the area).

 

[This message has been edited by bjbest (edited 15 June 2001).]

[Guest Uplink]

(this is obviously less of a factor on lakes where power boats are not allowed). Then there is the littering issue raised by bacpac.

 

I thought about putting a cache in a crab trap in Washington's Puget Sound, but the law says your name & address must be on the marker bouy, and anyone else pulling the pot could get a ticket. It would have been pretty cool to get a Dungeness Crab as a cache trinket!

[Guest Exocet]

Although I think "bacpac" was too blunt, I have to agree with him. It seems more likely the cache will end up looking like trash than anything else. If there's a way, go for it, but...

 

It's a good idea, though. The underwater caches I've heard of are very intriguing, though it seems like people are more comfortable with an underwater cache in the ocean than they are in a lake or pond.

[Guest bjbest]

Just an update, I have chosen not to hide this type of cache for many of the concerns listed above. Such a pristine area ultimately should remain that way, I guess. Still, caches and water intrigue me... how many underwater caches are there? How do they work?

[Guest Chris Juricich]

Frankly, bjbest's notion truly intrigues me, simply for the challenge of putting such an item in a spot accessible only through water. The concerns thus far have been

?navigation hazards (safety)

?keeping it discrete (on the water?)

so it doesn't look like trash

 

Well, hmm! It's to be hidden, so there would be no 'trash' to see, yes?

 

Navigation hazards? I don't know-- not being a kayaker or canoer by any long shot. Keeping it off the navigable areas close to shore would make the most sense-- a specialized water-tight container linked to a chain to a rock with brush or logs around it.

 

It seems doable, and as any geocacher worth their salt isn't a littering person to begin with, the litter issue is non, I think.

 

Sounds like a lot of work, though.

[Guest k2dave]

What you need to do if you want to do this is make your cache neg bouyant (so it sinks). They you must tie it to a weight. You drop your weight at waypoint1 and the cache at waypoint 2.

 

[cache]-----(rope)------------------[weight]

 

Have the rope on the bottom (may have to put some weights along the rope). YOu must give both waypoints (and possible the direction the rope is running). They the hunters can drag a hook across this path to snag the rope.

 

The problem with this is they will have a hard time getting it back so make the weight much heaver then the cache so it will stay where it is (so at least 1 waypoint will be correct). Also Scuba or free diving might be able to recover it.

 

To make it waterproof - well I suggest don't just make the contents able to get wet. If not I suggest PVC and include a tube of silicon so the finder can reseal it.

[Guest mfratto]

We've done this in a local lake, in some shallow water near a marsh. Anchored an Otterbox (get one from EMS, they float and are advertised as waterproof to 100') with a 15 pound dumbbell from Walmart on a nylon cord. So far, so good, it is the second part of a three part multi-cache, and one person so far found it just fine.

 

Mauri and Mike

[Guest jc364]

another twist maybe to sink it. Tie a line to a tree on the shore. find the line and pull it in. just a thought.