dead_white_man Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 The Ohio river today is 3 feet above flood stage. Several of the caches I have found over the past few months will be either washed away or totally sogged out. If you place a cache in the floodplain, be prepared to have to replace it every spring. Quote Link to comment
+ChrisCindy Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 The Ohio river today is 3 feet above flood stage. Several of the caches I have found over the past few months will be either washed away or totally sogged out. If you place a cache in the floodplain, be prepared to have to replace it every spring. Ammo cans are water proof for the most part so they "should" stay dry. Bag the contents for extra protection. We have a nature area here that is a floodplain and all the caches are cabled to trees...well those that survive are. Plan ahead and they should survive. Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 My caches in floodplains are placed above the normal high water mark, either hung from a branch, or in the crotch of a tree. I also use ammo boxes just in case and will wire them to a branch so they don't get washed away. Quote Link to comment
dead_white_man Posted January 6, 2004 Author Share Posted January 6, 2004 Ammo cans are water proof for the most part so they "should" stay dry. Bag the contents for extra protection. The problem is ammo cans also float and will be 5 states away when the water recedes Quote Link to comment
+ChrisCindy Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 Ammo cans are water proof for the most part so they "should" stay dry. Bag the contents for extra protection. The problem is ammo cans also float and will be 5 states away when the water recedes If you don't cable them to a tree they will. We even have several that are about 20 feet above the ground on a cable that you undo and lower the cache. That good 1/4" cable with a plastic coating works nice. You can then use the U clamps to loop and connect the cable. Quote Link to comment
dead_white_man Posted January 6, 2004 Author Share Posted January 6, 2004 If you don't cable them to a tree they will. We even have several that are about 20 feet above the ground on a cable that you undo and lower the cache. That good 1/4" cable with a plastic coating works nice. You can then use the U clamps to loop and connect the cable. that sounds like a very good system. So far all the ones I have found were simply stashed under a log or tree root. I have lived 45 years in this valley and I am all to well aware of the destructive nature of this river. Even now it is fifty feet from my front door. Quote Link to comment
+bigredmed Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 Put one near the Elkhorn river and after a flood, found that it was covered by 4 inches of new silt. It was tied to the ground, but still buried in muck that dried to a nice hard crust. Needless to say, this may join the many items unitentionally buried along our rivers. Just because your cache is tied to a tree, doesn't mean that your cache can't be compromised, just that if it floats away, it will do so with the tree attached. Quote Link to comment
+ChrisCindy Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 Put one near the Elkhorn river and after a flood, found that it was covered by 4 inches of new silt. It was tied to the ground, but still buried in muck that dried to a nice hard crust. Needless to say, this may join the many items unitentionally buried along our rivers. Just because your cache is tied to a tree, doesn't mean that your cache can't be compromised, just that if it floats away, it will do so with the tree attached. LOL if the river rips up the tree it can have my caches. I placed one in a swamp (not listed yet as I am waiting for the swamp to become a swamp again) and forgot to cable it to a tree and it started raining the next day (Hurricane Elvis for the local folks). I had nightmares of having to go back out there but I made the trek expecting to find nothing but it was still there I tied it to the tree and I am hoping for a wet spring. Quote Link to comment
+RPW Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 My first cache -- the one that everyone babies -- was in an occassional flood plain. Foolishly I did not tie it to a tree but instead left it in a crotch of a tree; it was about 4 feet above the ground. Naturally last spring was one of the worst floods in the last 20+ years. Bye bye cache! Lesson learned. Quote Link to comment
+sbell111 Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 One of mine is a book-themed cache in a very large ammo can. When I first placed it, I did not anchor it. The water was rising, so I hiked in to check on it. The water had reached it and it was floating. I was able to climb out onto a downed tree and pull it to me. I tied it to a tree will an old chunk of climbing rope and it has been safe ever since. Quote Link to comment
+bigredmed Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 One of mine is a book-themed cache in a very large ammo can. When I first placed it, I did not anchor it. The water was rising, so I hiked in to check on it. The water had reached it and it was floating. I was able to climb out onto a downed tree and pull it to me. I tied it to a tree will an old chunk of climbing rope and it has been safe ever since. Climbing on a downed tree to get to a geocache! Now that's devotion to the sport. Quote Link to comment
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