End Of Summer Inspections Of Your Caches

[+GOT GPS?]

There has been alot of rain in Michigan, and everything is out of control with all kinds of vegitation that does not belong at some of my caches, also there are some discusting weed vines that are choking out many of the trees in the wooded parks in and around the Metro Detroit area.

 

What is it like in your area's where you live?

Are your cache sites better, worst, or the same after a long growing season?

Are there any foreign invading plants that do not belong at your cache sites?

Any of you have cleared any of the bad vegitation from the sites this year??

 

Here is a link to a cache of mine that has gone missing and back to nature, I had left an August 24th note about the situation. I had left a question in that note.

 

America's Bicentennial II Cache

[+Brian - Team A.I.]

There's more freaking poison ivy around here than there is dirt to grow it in.

[+Team Perks]

Let's see...mostly dirt with a few creosote, Joshuas, and cholla sprinkled about.

 

Yep, still looks like the desert to me.

[+Team RedHawk]

Dirt, rocks, cactus--- no rain yep Phoenix is still desert. See what you get for moving Brian

[+garri]

This summer i had problems with my night cache. A lot of vegitation had grown on the night trail. And the bark of he trees fell so lots of firetraks attached in the trees had dissapeared.

[Pto]

My hides in NW Wisconsin all suffered from some intense growth of ferns early in the summer. I placed the hides in Late Sept & early Oct - so there was very little fern growth around then.

1 I had to move since the path thru the ferns made the hide 100%obvious-

1- wasnt affected

The other 2 are OK, but most logs mention the lack of a trail due to the overgrowth.

They are rated 2.5, 3 and a 4 tho so.....

 

edit to correct E/W

Edited August 24, 2004 by Pto

[+briansnat]

Its a jungle out there!!!! I have a lot of caches in the higher elevations (in NJ that's 800-1200 feet) and I also do trail maintenance in the park where many of my caches are. Thanks to several years of drought and a serious gypsy moth infestation, most of the trees at higher elevations are dead.

 

Because of that, the understory gets a lot of sunlight. Add in all the rain we've received and its just impossible to keep some trails open. About 6 weeks ago I spent an entire day opening a 1/4 mile section of trail that was overgrown with thorny bushes and while up there I put a cache along that section. The most recent finder complained about the overgrown condition of the trail and all the stickers . It's like that in a lot of places in northern NJ.

Edited August 24, 2004 by briansnat

[+fly46]

Mine should be exactly as hidden. But then again, considering the nature of the hides, I don't think there'd be a problem.

[+Pyewacket]

Luckily, there's still the occasional finder of my cache, Nearly Near a Mere Mere, as I doubt I'd be able to get to the cache myself right now. I've been relying on the finders' logs to keep track of any maintenance that might be needed. When I placed it, there was plenty of vegetation in the area, even though the brush had been burned back a few months before. The growth is so thick now that even non-gimps find it challenging. The cache itself is in a somewhat protected location, so I'm not terribly worried about the contents. If a problem arises, I'll find a way to get in there to check out the situation

 

In my opinion, the extra plants, brambles and briars, and other obstacles just make the cache that much more muggle-free; it's highly doubtful that anyone but a cacher would venture into that area. Still, as soon as the flora and fauna wanes, I'll make the trek to make sure all is in order, and perhaps replenish the swag and replace the log book.

[+CYBret]

My Walnut Points multi is overgrown and a few of the containers are suffering from animal problems. Nothing too horrible and the cache is still workable, but I need to do some brainstorming on it soon.

 

My Midway Memorial Mini-Multi Micro is currently disabled because it turned up missing. I'm waiting until after this weekend (the last big summer park event) to replace it in a new way.

 

Other than that, I've checked on a couple other caches and they look great. Personally, though, I'm not going near How Far Can You Walk Into The Woods? until October. That place is just naaasty!

 

Bret

[+Imajika]

I live in Colorado and we've been getting HUGE amounts of rain over the past week or so. I am happy to say that none of my caches went for a swim and my logbooks are dry! Woohoo!

[+garri]

Last week i needed an air matress to search this cache. The previous finders could find this cache with a 4x4 or hiking, this summer the reservoir is plenty of water.

 

I needed two tries to find the cache because you had to climb a bit and the first try I was going barefoot.