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"power Trails" -


Dan-oh

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120 finds in one day!

94 finds this Saturday. Woohoo!

 

Gaaa! Does this bother anyone else?

I'm having trouble putting my finger on it but it just doesn't sit right with me. Is it like the micro/multi/reverse thing or is there more to it?

 

cache_chain.jpg

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I've never seen anything like that before. <_< Has someone gone along and place a micro exactly every 528'? I guess it would be a good way to up your numbers (Rememeber: It's NOT about the numbers :lol: ) if you cared about that sort of thing. Can't say it bugs me, just don't see much point in it.

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huh. i think it's rather pointless, but amusing.

 

i'd do it if it were near me. even with them so close together, it could be a significant challenge to FIND all those little buggers.

 

if what you REALLY like is the hunt instead of the hike, that's a LOT of hunt'n.

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Those power caching trails are a lot of fun (especially if they are nice trails, like the one we did down in Thousand Oaks by Team Dakiba). It was about a 7 mile loop with 24 caches in the series. It took us all day to do. If all the hides were similar and easy (like, for example, if all of the hides were under light pole skirts, or all of them under benches) I would get bored pretty fast. Fortunately, Team Dakiba's PCT has a great variety of creative hides that vary in difficulty.

 

I'm planning on putting a power caching trail on a 12 mile loop. If all goes well, it will end up with 30 to 40 caches along the trail.

 

--Marky

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Being one of the culprits, I obviously have a vested interest in defending these paths. :lol:

 

I agree that it's NOT about the numbers. However, there is a certain challenge in planning and executing a mega-numbers day. And after grabbing 130 in a day, I can honestly say I will never do that again. Here, the fun was the camaraderie--we had a great time with all the members of our group, and there were many memorable experiences. In my mind, the numbers were secondary. I would have loved to do all of these trails even if there weren't any caches there. Most of my hiking is on trails where there are no caches.

 

However, we can all agree there ARE some people who are number-munchers, and don't care about anything else. For these people, it gives them something better to do than dig around under lamp posts. And maybe it will help get them out into the hills more.

 

These are not Altoids tins tossed out of someone's backpack every 10th of a mile. In my judgment, these are well-planned and imaginative hides of a multitude of sizes, that just happen to be along the same trail. While many of them were quick finds, there were quite a few challenging ones to spot too.

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What is the micro/multi/reverse thing?

 

--Marky

"All micros are lame." - so don't do micros if thats what you think

"Multis are a waste of time" - so don't do multi caches then

"Reverse caches really aren't caches" ...

 

ad nauseum

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These are not Altoids tins tossed out of someone's backpack every 10th of a mile.  In my judgment, these are well-planned and imaginative hides of a multitude of sizes, that just happen to be along the same trail.  While many of them were quick finds, there were quite a few challenging ones to spot too.

That sounds wonderful. Maybe Joani and I will be able to make it down there someday. Heck, it's even in the same state. :lol:

 

--Marky

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The only thing that bothers me the slighest is the resulting log delima.

 

Do you post logs like "Your cache was #13 of 130 for the day, Thanks"

 

Or do you write up a long story about the days adventure then post it in each cache you found, maybe with that first bit added to record where in the days adventure the cache fit.

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Yuck. :lol: I find it distasteful. It's not about the numbers, and what the heck is this doing to the trail? All that searching, the social paths will end up making the trail as wide as a three lane highway. Then again, there won't be any vegetation left to hide behind, so the caches should be muggled in no time. What do the rangers think of this? No thank you. I'll take just a few caches in a park please.

Edited by Planet
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I've been on one cache machine trip and while it was fun, I didn't enjoy it as much as I did finding this one. I'm more of a "climb a mountain" or "follow a trail" kind of cacher, rather than a "drive around" type. To each their own and I'm happy that others find happiness in setting personal goals.

 

However, if one of these power trails were set up along a nice hiking trail, I'd love to do it. I think it's a neat idea and I'd love to know where some of them are so I could search them out when I'm travelling. For instance, I'm in San Jose right now and I'm getting a little tired of looking for film canisters and Altoids tins that are stuffed in a bush outside a dot com headquarters.

 

-E

Edited by TresOkies++
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The only thing that bothers me the slighest is the resulting log delima.

 

Do you post logs like "Your cache was #13 of 130 for the day, Thanks"

 

Or do you write up a long story about the days adventure then post it in each cache you found, maybe with that first bit added to record where in the days adventure the cache fit.

That's one of the reasons why Joani and I will never be true power cachers. I log my finds from the field on my Sidekick phone and do no copy and pasting of stories, so there is some amount of time spent at each cache with me just typing my online log in on my phone. Some people might say that I'm "wasting daylight", but I get a kick out of doing it from the cache site when possible. Even if I don't have cell signal, I'll still write my log entry from the cache site into a note and then once I get back into cell coverage, I'll stop and send any finds that are waiting to be sent. It's also kinda cool that people can follow us around online as we log our finds, and we've even had people successfully catch up with us by predicting where we would go next.

 

Still, if someone gets pleasure out of planning something like this out and pasting the main story with a bit of detail added for each cache, then more power to them. It's all about having fun and I'm not going to suggest taking anyone elses fun away just because they are doing something different from me. CACHE ON!

 

--Marky

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Yuck. :lol: I find it distasteful. It's not about the numbers, and what the heck is this doing to the trail? All that searching, the social paths will end up making the trail as wide as a three lane highway. Then again, there won't be any vegetation left to hide behind, so the caches should be muggled in no time. What do the rangers think of this? No thank you. I'll take just a few caches in a park please.

It's the desert. There is no vegetation to trample. The trails are already very well used. The rangers don't object.

 

If it's not about the numbers, why is so bothersome to you if people can pick up 30 caches along a trail? To each his own.

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The only thing that bothers me the slighest is the resulting log delima.

 

Do you post logs like "Your cache was #13 of 130 for the day, Thanks"

 

Or do you write up a long story about the days adventure then post it in each cache you found, maybe with that first bit added to record where in the days adventure the cache fit.

And yeah, after so many caches, it can run together. I try to write a narrative for each "leg" of the trip, and customize it to the best of my memory. We're not quite as high-tech as Marky, but we try to make our write-ups interesting no matter how many we hit.

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Looks interesting. I'd give it a go at least once. If I showed up and didn't like what I saw I'd blow it off.

Anytime I get to a cache site and it dosen't feel right I'll take a pass.

Caches I didn't log:

-Family of homeless living under tree where clue 5 in a mulit was hidden.

-A very clear "geotrail" leading to cache. (Note to owner)

-Lunch time hunt for a park cache, didn't like the way the guys were looking at me.

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Good grief! Are all of these a multi of one cache or are they all on seperate cache pages?

 

Cache page descriptions:

This micro is 528 feet from the last one.

 

This micro is 528 feet from the last one.

 

This micro is 528 feet from the last one.

 

So on and so on.......

 

LOL!

 

I don't see the point in these types of hides unless there is something interesting to see at each stopping point.

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I may have missed this, but where is this "death march" of caches located?

It's a southern California thing :lol:

 

From the guidelines:

 

The approvers use a rule of thumb that caches placed within .10 miles (528 feet or 161 meters) of another cache may not be listed on the site. This is an arbitrary distance and is just a guideline, but the ultimate goal is to reduce the number of caches hidden in a particular area and to reduce confusion that might otherwise result when one cache is found while looking for another.

 

On the same note, don't go cache crazy and hide a cache every 600 feet just because you can. If you want to create a series of caches, the site approvers may strongly encourage you to create a multi-cache.

 

I really don't like these bread-crumb trails, and try to push hiders towards doing a multi. However, the caches do meet the letter of the current guidelines, but not the spirit.

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And this is where the sport just died. The caches were tossed there because nothing else was there. Oh it was hidden well, it wasn't just an altoid tin I finished eating all the mints so I stuck in paper and a pencil made it a micro. As mentioned above, what is so interresting along this trail that you need to search every 528 yds, or whatever the distance. if nothing then space it out some want someone to walk the path make it a 5 stage multi with 1 mile increments or something, that is just nausiating. But then I am not the hardcore cacher others are. I just troll er I mean lurk in the forums, looking for good ideas to actually go back out and search for something.

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It's a southern California thing :blink:

Yeah, maybe it is a Southern California thing, but it's fun, Hemlock! Most of us here in Thousand Oaks will tell you that Team Dakiba's Power Caching Trail is blast! Besides, there are always going to be those power cachers that want to blast through Thousand Oaks with our multitude of micros. This at least gets them on a trail to see what they've been missing.

 

I definitely LOVE the breadcrumb trails!

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The problem with multis over long distances is if one of the stages is missing, then the whole series is ruined. I've experienced that before and it's been quite disappointing.

 

Seriously, anybody who is so skeptical of the idea of the power trail should actually try doing one. Team Dakiba's trail in Thousand Oaks is one of the best caching experiences we've ever had. Echo that for the four trails in Palm Springs that we tackled last weekend. Sure it was the number of caches that initially led us out there (I could've stayed home and done a long hike for one or two caches, which I frequently do), but now that I've been exposed to the uniqueness of each of these areas, I would love to go back and hike those same trails over and over again.

 

From the number-junkie side (since I've visited close to 950 caches in the past year), who would argue that finding 30 caches along a beautiful trail wasn't superior to driving around and finding 30 assorted film cans and mint tins stuck to every guardrail in town?

 

So, those who like hiking get to hike. Those who like numbers get the numbers AND get to do some hiking. So who really loses here?

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... So who really loses here?

The ones who think there is only one way to play the game, thiers.

 

I just drove to the other end of the state, I drove past serveral caches. I'm saving them for another time.

 

It occurs to me that you could do the power trail that way. Keep coming back and finding one cache each trip. It works if you like the area, you get to log finds and re-visit a nice trail. Doh! Another way to play the game.

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IMHO, there is probably a "reason" for almost every cache as long as it ain't trash. In Nashville, you can find them packed at the .10 limit in a lot of places but, you can also find ammo cans about a block and a half away under some fake ivy. The micros are there for folks that want a lot of finds and that's cool. It all depends on what you want. In Western North Carolina, there's a guy that places caches in somewhat out of the way places where its definitely about the journey and not about the cache. Chances are, his caches may not get hit more than 3 or 4 times a year. Who cares? They're there because of the surroundings.

 

My point is, if they fit the Groundspeak guidelines and don't hurt the environment or endanger anyone, why complain? Don't like 'em? Don't hunt 'em.

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<<SNIP>>

(since I've visited close to 950 caches in the past year)

<<SNIP>>

That pretty much sums it up, folks.

That's less that 3 caches a day. In areas where caches are plentiful, this is fairly easy to do. I'm thinking that this doesn't really sum anything up at all. :blink:

 

--Marky

 

(Of course, maybe I'm just defending myself, since I've averaged 1500 a year for the past two years and don't really consider myself to be a "power cacher". )

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That pretty much sums it up, folks.

That's less that 3 caches a day. In areas where caches are plentiful, this is fairly easy to do. I'm thinking that this doesn't really sum anything up at all. :blink:

 

--Marky

 

(Of course, maybe I'm just defending myself, since I've averaged 1500 a year for the past two years and don't really consider myself to be a "power cacher". )

All that signifies for us is that we don't have kids, yard maintenance, or other time-consuming obligations other than work, and we don't have any other worthwhile hobbies. :lol:

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As long as you're not logging fake finds, I totally love you.

I agree. And as long as a person doesn't go on a big ego trip by claiming that they know more than me because they have 300 more finds, I'm fine with them doing a power trail. It's when they got those extra 300 on a power trail and then try to belittle everyone with their knowledge of all things geocaching that gets to me. We're all the same whether we have 50 finds or 500 finds. It's not about the numbers, it's about the fun you had and the stories you can tell about getting those numbers.

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That pretty much sums it up, folks.

That's less that 3 caches a day. In areas where caches are plentiful, this is fairly easy to do. I'm thinking that this doesn't really sum anything up at all. :lol:

 

--Marky

 

(Of course, maybe I'm just defending myself, since I've averaged 1500 a year for the past two years and don't really consider myself to be a "power cacher". )

All that signifies for us is that we don't have kids, yard maintenance, or other time-consuming obligations other than work, and we don't have any other worthwhile hobbies. ;)

I'll loan you my kid, my yard, and my other hobbies. Wait I take back the part about my other hobbies. :blink:

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As long as you're not logging fake finds, I totally love you.

I agree. And as long as a person doesn't go on a big ego trip by claiming that they know more than me because they have 300 more finds, I'm fine with them doing a power trail. It's when they got those extra 300 on a power trail and then try to belittle everyone with their knowledge of all things geocaching that gets to me. We're all the same whether we have 50 finds or 500 finds. It's not about the numbers, it's about the fun you had and the stories you can tell about getting those numbers.

More finds does not inherently mean more knowledge of, or more dedication to, geocaching. I've only been caching for a year, so I haven't seen it evolve the way that the long-timers have and certainly don't have the historical knowledge that they do. I have cached solely in California, with the exception of one weekend trip to Arizona, so I can't speak for things on more than a local level. The easy 1/1's continue to skunk us. One of our 4-star difficulty caches continues to stump the high-finders, while recently someone found it as their first cache find. We're all the same, whether it's 40 finds or 4000 finds.

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That pretty much sums it up, folks.

That's less that 3 caches a day. In areas where caches are plentiful, this is fairly easy to do. I'm thinking that this doesn't really sum anything up at all. ;)

 

--Marky

 

(Of course, maybe I'm just defending myself, since I've averaged 1500 a year for the past two years and don't really consider myself to be a "power cacher". )

All that signifies for us is that we don't have kids, yard maintenance, or other time-consuming obligations other than work, and we don't have any other worthwhile hobbies. ;)

I'll loan you my kid, my yard, and my other hobbies. Wait I take back the part about my other hobbies. :blink:

:lol:

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Bother me? yes it bothers me a great deal! :blink:

 

Why isn't there a path of caches around me like that? :lol: Talk about a fun walk...

 

hey sometimes I walk 6-10 miles for one cache... why not do the same for 60 caches? I'm not saying make every trail like this, but I think it would be fun.

 

Closest thing like this to me is Lower Table Rock which had 16 caches in about a 6 mile loop. I thought it was pretty fun. The density of these trails might be a little high... but I'd still think it would be a blast.

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On the other hand:

 

A series of caches like this would motivate a cacher to do the entire trail. I know of many people that follow the trail, get the cache and then head back to the car, never knowing what they might be missing.

 

Would I do a cache series like this? Maybe, if a bunch of my team members made a day out of it and actually spent time looking around us...not just having tunnel vision for the next cache container.

 

I wouldn't hide a series like this but credit is due to the people who did hide this series. I'll bet maintenence can be a pain on a series that large. I don't think it's going to be a huge issue with them popping up all over the place now.

 

It's just something fun to do and if it doesn't fit in with your idea of fun, then don't do the series.

 

Many people say, 'it's not about the numbers'. I agree with this somewhat. I am not in a competition with ANYONE else. But I personally enjoy seeing my numbers climb and think of it as a small achievment (or major, depending on the cache), every time I log a find. My numbers motivate me to get my butt out of the house, get some exercise and see places I have never seen before.

 

Do I care how many caches 'Team X' has found compared to my measly 83 finds so far? No! All I care about is having fun with my team and finding caches at our own pace. I enjoy knowing that *I* have found 83 caches with my team and had a heck of a lot of fun doing it.

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Bother me? yes it bothers me a great deal! :blink:

 

Why isn't there a path of caches around me like that? :lol: Talk about a fun walk...

It bother me not just for the reason quoted, but also because I didn't think of this myself! What a neat idea! If done well, and it sure sounds like it was.

 

Did ONE person place all those caches? it sounds like it.

 

I love seeing what people's devious twisted minds can dream up that still is within a certain set of rules. Or at least close. (Hey, same thing with motorsports.) Isn't that part of what makes geocaching as fun as it is?

 

But when somebody gets close to the limit, it is going to give some other people that vague feeling of offense that the original poster mentioned. In my opinion (opinions differ!), you're no more holy if you're dead square in the center of the rules than if you're on the boundary....as long as you're on the correct side of the boundary. Cheating makes me as angry as the next person. But getting up close to the edge of the rules and taking full advantage of them? Cool.

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I suspect it might be fun at the start, but finding all of them woudl certainly be a chore I wouldn't want to do, especially logging all of them!

What happens when all of the logbooks fill up at once, and they need changing, what a trek :blink:

What happens when some prankster puts film can x at film can b's spot? It would still be fun to start on, I suppose.

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Looking at the map, I think that's a bit much and I'm speaking as person who introduced something similar to my region. The "power trail" I placed had 8 caches over about a 8 mile hike and I did receive some criticism for it. I think the critics had a point and one said something like "do you really need to get a smiley every mile to make the walk worthwhile?" and I sort of agree with that.

 

On the other hand, I want people to find my caches and it seems that the single caches, miles away from others are rarely visited, no matter how nice the walk is.

 

Sadly, too many people are into the numbers and don't give a hoot about the hike.

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After some discussion with Mopar and GeoHo this evening, we talked more about this type of trail and it sounds like it's not one right after the other, and it's a really long trail, and I will say, that while I think that say 10 caches would be enough to get you down the trail, this may not be as bad as it first sounded. So since I am a woman, and it's a woman's perogative to change her mind, I might just change my mind. From that map it looked like they were all squished up in one area. If it's actually a 25 mile long trail, it's a different story. The map was what threw me off. But still, what a logging nightmare! :blink:

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Cool. ;)

 

I am a "Power Cacher" without even knowing it. :lol:

 

I found all five caches in about a 1,000 square mile area! :P

 

And it only took me 21 hours and 400 miles to do it! ;)

 

Besides, power cache trails are like the rest of the game. Just a fad. And won't last long. More then likely it will all go away in a couple years. :blink:

 

And for whatever reason, we all go through stages as we play the game.

 

How many of you have "power cached" one weekend/month and then only logged a couple caches for an extended period of time? I have. Several times.

 

And it does look like a cool way to get people out and around the whole trail. I have a multi stage cache that is about 15 miles front to back, 11 waypoints but only good for one find. I guess I could put a cache at each waypoint and make it a total of 12 caches instead. Nah, I like to make you work for it.

 

logscaler.

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