Difficulty Placing Cache

[+General Grant & The Mad Dog]

Is it coincidence or is every on the same wavelength? I'm trying to place a regular cache in Los Osos/ Morro Bay, California area, but every spot I pick is already taken by another geocache. I know the distance requirements, but I don't want to be running around with 200 printouts all day long, yet I don't want my caches to be held up because I unknowingly placed it near another cache, and have to hunt another spot. Does anyone have any suggestions????!!???!!?? I'm baffled. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx in advance.

 

A Salute from General Grant & The Mad Dog

[Major Catastrophe]

Create a Pocket Query that includes all of the caches in the area where you want to hide. Load all the waypoints into your GPSr. Then, go out and search for a place to hide your cache. When you find a likely spot, check the nearest cache that is in your GPS waypoints; if it is farther than the minimum distance, make the hide! (To run Pocket Queries, you would need to become a paid member.)

[+JohnnyVegas]

It would also help to print out a map of the area with the caches in that arae on the map. That might give you a better idea were to start from

[+Alibags]

Tell me about it! And I have found it frustrating when I have hatched a plan for a fabulous well in my eyes anyhow!) cache to have it blocked by a boring (in my eyes) traditional micro. On the plus side, you only have to be 500 feet away, so without wanting to have caches popping up absolutely everywhere, there has got to be some places that you can still hide the thing! Spend a merry evening plotting local ones on a map.

[+briansnat]

Pockety queries will work but if you aren't a member, you can just search on the zipcode for the area you want to place it, or find a cache near where you plan to place it and do a search for nearby caches. You can then download the nearest 25, 50, 100 or more waypoints to your GPS. You'll need Easy GPS for this.

 

You can also use maps, as JV mentioned, but they aren't real detailed and might not be a lot of help

[+briansnat]

>>>>personal attack and profanity deleted<<<<

Edited August 20, 2004 by briansnat

[+CompuCash]

GSAK will sort on the distance from a cache and you can select any cache to home on.

 

The geocache map that shows all the caches in the area of the map may be helpful also.

[+bobbyfrass]

Regarding placing caches....I have seen discussion on whether or not to ask permission to place a cache. Now I can't remember where I saw it, but the crux of the matter was that some people felt that what a park authority didn't know wouldn't hurt them. I am new to geocaching and haven't placed any caches yet, but I have read the rules which state that you must have permission to place whether on public or private land. I feel a little intimidated about asking permission...what could I offer someone as a benefit to having a cache on their property or in their park? (Please let me know if I need to move this to a new thread) Thanks, Bobbyfrass.

[+briansnat]

but I have read the rules which state that you must have permission to place whether on public or private land.

 

The rules do not say that. The rules require permission for private property and that "adequate permission" be obtained for public land. Meaning that if permission is required by the authorities, you need to have it, but if it isn't, then you don't.

Edited August 21, 2004 by briansnat

[+bobbyfrass]

How do I know if I have adequate permission? Is that a don't ask, don't tell policy? The place I am considering for a cache is a small urban park--I want to place a micro or a nano.

[+bobbyfrass]

One other thing: is it possible to contact a local cache reviewer to ask about local policies (i.e. city/state laws), or should I just email a local cacher?

[+IV_Warrior]

One other thing: is it possible to contact a local cache reviewer to ask about local policies (i.e. city/state laws), or should I just email a local cacher?

If you know WHO your local reviewer is, they're generally happy to help out. The problem can be figuring out who your reviewer is. That's where a e-mail to a local cacher who has recently hidden a cache might help out.

[+bobbyfrass]

Yeah, I didn't know if it was possible to find out who the local reviewer was. I guess it makes sense not to make their names easily accessible...I can only imagine how often they'd be contacted.

[+briansnat]

How do I know if I have adequate permission? Is that a don't ask, don't tell policy? The place I am considering for a cache is a small urban park--I want to place a micro or a nano.

There is usually sign in front of parks listing the things you are not allowed to do. Look for geocaching. If its not there, you're good to go.

 

If there is no sign, you can call whomever runs the park. Ask them if there is a geocaching policy. If they say "what is geocaching?",you 're set...unless you try to explain it to them. Once you do that, you're taking them out of their "comfort zone" by asking them about something that isn't on their list. That means you'll either get an "absolutely not", or they will tell you to wait while they discuss it with their boss. After 3 months, the boss will decide to run it by the town attorney.

 

The request will sit on his desk for another couple of months, then he will pick it up and declare that it's fine to place a cache as long as you get a $1,000,000 liability policy, make the town the beneficiary, place it in a clear container and you're only allowed to have it out for one day. Meanwhile, someone else will have placed a cache in the park right where you were planning to and dozens of people will have had fun finding it.

 

Yeah, I didn't know if it was possible to find out who the local reviewer was. I guess it makes sense not to make their names easily accessible...I can only imagine how often they'd be contacted.

 

No big deal contacting them. Its part of their job. If you own a cache, look at the bottom of the page and it will tell you who approved it. He's probably your local approver (though sometimes other approvers will step in and help). Another way to find out who it is, is go to your regional forum and ask.

Edited August 21, 2004 by briansnat

[+Thot]

go to you regional forum and ask.

I've seen several references here to regional forums. Where are they?

[+Muirwoody]

I've seen several references here to regional forums.  Where are they?

On the main Groundspeak forums page you'll see several groups of topics. The first is General Geocaching Discussions. You are there now - in the Getting Started. The next group down is Geocaching Related Topics. Below that is the Group Geocaching Adventures. Below that is Geocaching Groups by Region/State - these are what you want. Find yours and click away.

[+Thot]

Thanks. I had just never scrolled down far enough. I thought the last forum was Clayjar's talk or something like that.

[+bobbyfrass]

Thanks for breaking it down, Briansnat. That's what I was worried about to begin with. I'll just place the cache--if all goes well no one will know anyway (except cachers, of course).

Edited August 21, 2004 by bobbyfrass

[+DavisFamily]

We went through an absurd amount of effort obtaining permission to place a cache in one of our county parks. It took four weeks for the naturalist to visit the cache. By that time, there was a wildflower bloom all around our cache and we were unkindly asked, "Were you AWARE that you placed your cache in the middle of a wildflower bloom?" We kindly reminded them that when the cache was placed a month prior, there were only dead leaves and dirt there. So we moved it and waited several more weeks before finally obtaining the permit.

 

We noticed this summer, some local cachers placed a cache in another one of the county parks, not realizing the proper channels they were supposed to have gone through. Somehow the park PTB discovered the cache and promptly busted them. After several weeks, their cache is finally back up and running again.

 

I don't really know what the point of my story is, just be aware that you may get busted if there was a protocol you were supposed to follow.

 

The real bummer is that their permits are only good each year til Dec. 31st then we have to move the cache and go through the entire stinking process again.

[+bobbyfrass]

That's awful! It seems like a combination of bureaucratic red tape, extreme environmentalism, and fear of litigation (due to sue-happy ambulance chasers) that are the driving forces behind the difficulty in getting approval for caches. I'm actually surprised that they went to all the trouble to approve you at all. My experience in areas requiring permission (other than geocaching) is that if it requires a process, or work on the part of those doing the approving, then the easiest and most likely answer is a "NO."

[+IV_Warrior]

We noticed this summer, some local cachers placed a cache in another one of the county parks, not realizing the proper channels they were supposed to have gone through. Somehow the park PTB discovered the cache and promptly busted them. After several weeks, their cache is finally back up and running again.

It sounds like someone should inform the local cache reviewer of the permit policy, so he/she knows to ask cachers if they have obtained the permit, to save other cachers from "getting busted" for placing one without a permit. That way, the hiders can have their stuff straight, before the cache goes live. It just might help prevent it from going from a "permit policy" to a general ban......After all, geocachers aren't the only people who know how to do a zip code search on gc.com, I'm sure more land managers are checking the pages periodically to check for un-permitted caches on "their" property.

[+briansnat]

Thanks for breaking it down, Briansnat. That's what I was worried about to begin with. I'll just place the cache--if all goes well no one will know anyway (except cachers, of course).

Its a fact of life. Once in a while there are success stories, where the park authorities say "thanks for asking" and enthusiastically endorse the sport. But too often they're worried about liability, environmental "damage" (Yeah, a cache is really gonna damage a town park that has probably been logged, farmed, reforested and landscaped over its lifetime), or just allowing something that they don't understand to go on in the park.

Edited August 21, 2004 by briansnat