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Bushwacking


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Ok I have a question. I recently put my first cache out in a reletively quiet part of a park. In fact, the trail that takes you to the cache is about a 4-5 wide mowed horse trail.

Well, I wentto replace the ammo can that I put out there with a freshlt cammo painted one. To my surprise, when I got to the area of where my cache was, ( about 20-30 feet off the trail) somebody had bushwacked their way to the cache! I have seen trails that people have made by walking to caches, which are normal. In this case, it looked like somebody took a weed eater with them all the way to the cache. It is not overally weedy at all even getting to the site, which is why I picked the spot I did.

My question is this, how many people feel it's necessary to make trails to caches and take the fun out of it for eveybody. I will get off my soapbox now

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I'm picturing a field of tall grass. If you tell me that 6 people in two weeks have made their way to the coordinates, walked around looking, not to mention you're two maintenance visits (8 trips in 14 days ... each person walking back and forth for fifteen minutes), I'd expect it too look like a weed whacker had been used. What were you expecting?

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quote:
Originally posted by DisQuoi:

I'm picturing a field of tall grass. If you tell me that 6 people in two weeks have made their way to the coordinates, walked around looking, not to mention you're two maintenance visits (8 trips in 14 days ... each person walking back and forth for fifteen minutes), I'd expect it too look like a weed whacker had been used. What were you expecting?


Nope, no tall grass at all. Just your normal horse trail with woods on either side. But hey, if I made it any easier I would stand at the trail head and hand the cache to them so they wont even have to leave the comferts of their air conditioned car. DUH!!!!!!!!!!!
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quote:
Originally posted by Team Oddball:

If you don't want them bushwacking try giving them the co-ords to a place to park and where to pick up the start of the trail. icon_biggrin.gif

 

Work Smarter, Not Harder!


Well, I din't think it would be that hard since the park only leads to the horse trail, and the trail is RIGHT off the parking lot. I'm making this a issue of laziness rather than where to park. My point is if you think think it's too weedy or whatever, go home then instead of wrecking the fun of it for everybody else
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quote:
Originally posted by Team Oddball:

If you don't want them bushwacking try giving them the co-ords to a place to park and where to pick up the start of the trail. icon_biggrin.gif

 

Work Smarter, Not Harder!


Well, I din't think it would be that hard since the park only leads to the horse trail, and the trail is RIGHT off the parking lot. I'm making this a issue of laziness rather than where to park. My point is if you think think it's too weedy or whatever, go home then instead of wrecking the fun of it for everybody else
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My thoughts are this being one that hates bushwhacking. First you could place in your hint or description that no bushwhacking is needed. This would let people know that they don't need to make their own trail. Also did someone follow an animal trail thinking it was the trail. I once followed an animal trail thinking it was the path to the cache. After 400 feet of crawling through heavy brush etc.. I found the cache. with a great big trail leading to it. Part of caching is you don't know what trail to take. If you come to a Y like I did you may take the wrong trail. I didn't turn back since I was almost to the cache. In my notes I placed what I did so others wouldn't.

 

Also if the first person takes the wrong path others will follow. I feel the best thing is to place that there isn't bushwhacking involved. I've seen it for caches that have bushwhacking where they state you need to do it so this is the opposite. The other option is to place the cache where you know that it clearly shows bushwhacking isn't involved.

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quote:
Originally posted by Team Golden:

My thoughts are this being one that hates bushwhacking. First you could place in your hint or description that no bushwhacking is needed. This would let people know that they don't need to make their own trail. Also did someone follow an animal trail thinking it was the trail. I once followed an animal trail thinking it was the path to the cache. After 400 feet of crawling through heavy brush etc.. I found the cache. with a great big trail leading to it. Part of caching is you don't know what trail to take. If you come to a Y like I did you may take the wrong trail. I didn't turn back since I was almost to the cache. In my notes I placed what I did so others wouldn't.

 

Also if the first person takes the wrong path others will follow. I feel the best thing is to place that there isn't bushwhacking involved. I've seen it for caches that have bushwhacking where they state you need to do it so this is the opposite. The other option is to place the cache where you know that it clearly shows bushwhacking isn't involved.


Well, I don't think I could have made the cache ANY easier. The completly MOWED horse trail is RIGHT next to the parking lot. From the BEGINING of the trail, the cache is only .13 miles, all downhill. No, this was no animal trail, as I have worked at this park several summers. Somebody got hack happy with a machete or something. The only "hard" part of this cache was taking a right off the trail on walking into the woods about 20-30 feet. The tail didn't fork or anything. It looked like it had a homing beacon right to my cache. I guess I like the outdoors that much that I don't mind having to go througha SMALL ammount of brush. I guess you have to see how simple this cache is in order to understand my gripe. Plus, I ALWAYS wear something to cover my legs, so weeds and brush don't bother me
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But my most recently placed cache, I specifically request that people NOT bushwhack to get to it. The location where this cache is hidden is in the middle of some trees with lots of growth - and that is the point. The growth keeps it well hidden from the general public.

 

It'd be really easy to bushwhack a trail back to the cache - and it'd probably lower both of the difficulty ratings of my cache by 1 or 1.5 points each. BUT - that isn't what I want, so I just put in the description that people please do not bushwhack.

 

Hopefully that will be enough to keep the destruction limited enough that I won't have to remove the cache.

 

--== http://www.bigfoot.com/~rbatina ==--

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I also put in my description that no bushwhacking is required.

 

Bushwhacking is bad for a few reasons. One, it creates a trail that non-geocachers may see and find the cache.

 

Two-This is the reason the site has gotten some bad publicity lately as people are destroying the natural habitat to find a cache.

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quote:
Originally posted by The Weasel:

Well, I don't think I could have made the cache ANY easier. The completly MOWED horse trail is RIGHT next to the parking lot. From the BEGINING of the trail, the cache is only .13 miles, all downhill. No, this was no animal trail, as I have worked at this park several summers. Somebody got hack happy with a machete or something. The only "hard" part of this cache was taking a right off the trail on walking into the woods about 20-30 feet. The tail didn't fork or anything. It looked like it had a homing beacon right to my cache. I guess I like the outdoors that much that I don't mind having to go througha SMALL ammount of brush. I guess you have to see how simple this cache is in order to understand my gripe. Plus, I ALWAYS wear something to cover my legs, so weeds and brush don't bother me


 

the cache was fairly easy, making it easier would make the cache no fun.

 

whack.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by Eric K:

I also put in my description that no bushwhacking is required.

 

Bushwhacking is bad for a few reasons. One, it creates a trail that non-geocachers may see and find the cache.

 

Two-This is the reason the site has gotten some bad publicity lately as people are destroying the natural habitat to find a cache.


I agree totally with you Eric. I already was concerned with mushroomers in the fall, now I have to keep checking the cache to see if its still there, and try and "fluff" up the trail that was made to the cache
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I am not talking about walking into a cave and knocking down stalagmites that will take thousands of years to come back. But walking over a field of grass or weeds that will grow back in a few days or months is no problem. Much of the forest here in Colorado is pretty arid so there is no/very little grass. I don't think walking over a bunch of dead needles is going to cause any harm. In the Pacific Northwest and many other areas of the country plants grow back so fast it is not a problem. The trick is to realize what your doing to the enviroment around you.

 

Part of this does involve the cache owner. If a lot of people are visiting your cache, move it. This is even more important during the first couple of weeks when all the 'hard-core' people visit.

 

When I place a cache I try to think of how would a person who has never been here approach the cache, not my impression of what the "right way" would be. When I placed my Roaring Creek I placed it in a area with wide access to the spot off the trail. It was unlikely that two people would leave the trail at the same spot. The area had lots of dead trees in the area from a blow down also causing people to change routes from what the arrow on the GPS is pointing.

 

One other trick I have used is to make sure the nearby approach has rocks or other hard pack.

 

A = A

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Interesting paint job on the cache container. What exactly did you glue to the ammo can?

 

Responsible cache placement requires an investment in time to decide what is the proper place to put the cache so there is the minimum of potential disturbance to the area, and an acceptance that the best area to place the cache is not always the spot you really like the most.

 

19973_600.gifThe adventures of Navdog, Justdog, and Otterpup

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I designed This cache specifically to vex bushwacking, and it worked on the very first one! The cacher who searched for it JHWF4, is a good and smart cacher, but he followed his arrow a little to closely. The multi-leg aspect allowed me to force people to have to think and circumnavigate god-forsaken bogs and swamps. It is a real "stop and think" cache. If you do the 400 foot trot (you know "the trot" if you've found more than one cache) you get punished. Tell me JHWF4, how did the swamp taste ?? icon_biggrin.gificon_wink.gif

 

boo2.jpg

 

 

Ahhhh......the moist nose of a German Wirehaired Pointer!

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I designed This cache specifically to vex bushwacking, and it worked on the very first one! The cacher who searched for it JHWF4, is a good and smart cacher, but he followed his arrow a little to closely. The multi-leg aspect allowed me to force people to have to think and circumnavigate god-forsaken bogs and swamps. It is a real "stop and think" cache. If you do the 400 foot trot (you know "the trot" if you've found more than one cache) you get punished. Tell me JHWF4, how did the swamp taste ?? icon_biggrin.gificon_wink.gif

 

boo2.jpg

 

 

Ahhhh......the moist nose of a German Wirehaired Pointer!

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I may be way off base here, but I really think that there are people that just love to "whack" things. I mean they feel macho, tough, rugged, or cool waving a big knife or machete around. Kinda like "some" of the gun toting GeoCachers. Sure there are places where bushwhacking or carrying a gun are appropriate, but i betcha alot that carry do so because it makes em feel tough or something. Not trying to start anything, just stating MHO!

 

Before i get pounded here, i will say that we carry a gun and a machete in the vehicle and if i ever feel that it is needed on an actual cache hunt, i wont hesitate to pack. But out of about 100 finds i havnt felt that need yet!

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quote:
Originally posted by Navdog:

Interesting paint job on the cache container. What exactly did you glue to the ammo can?

 


I spray painted the entire ammo can in hunter green, then went to Michaels and bought a leaf stencil and stenciled leaves on it. When that paint dried, I bought some platic ivy that looked similar to ground ivy and pulled individual leaves off it and hot glued them to the can in between the stenciled leaves, and on the top and sides. If anybody wants to see pics of it, check out the link to the cache page. Tell me what you think of it.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=29548

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