The Long And The Short Of It

[Deva Duo]

Having placed a couple of caches in our area we wonder what the preferences are for long walks or short ones in search of caches.

The two we have hidden are both half a mile from suggested parking spots, but as they are on long distance paths it is also possible to extend the walks from other starting points.

Looking at logs it seems there are many young families involved now who would probably appreciate a short stroll rather than an expedition.

It would be interesting to hear the views of other cachers on this topic.

[+Birders]

Difficult one to answer... we probably tend towards the shorter distance ones because much of our geocaching involves doing several at a time during a day out somewhere. However, when we have time to spare we are quite happy to take a long walk..

[markandlynn]

Have a look at our log (it will be posted tonight) for GCJ39P for a long walk. As a family of 5 we like long walks but the occasional short walk when we are pushed for time is great as well. We sometimes drive for 1 to 2 hours so a long walk becomes more difficult. 0.5 is a good distance for our 4 year old but if thier was a cache at the other end of the walk we would carry on on foot to that one as well. . Give both starting points in the description so we can choose what we would like. On a sunny day a long walk is good and in the rain we would choose the short one.

[Deego]

You can normally make the walk longer by parking further away (what I normally do). But you cant make a long walk shorter (Normally, unless you have a 4x4 )

[+minstrelcat]

Variety is the spice of life! If most of the caches nearby have short walks, I'd place one with a longer walk and vice versa.

Lisa

[+Pharisee]

It's sometimes a bit difficult to make a cache a 'long walk' around the area where I live (Bedfordshire) unless you make the cache a multi. There are so many roads criss-crossing the countryside that you're never more than a short walk from one. No matter where you put a cache and tell people to park, someone with MemoryMap (mention no names or I won't get my next cache approved ) will delight in finding the closest possible access point and legging it in from there.

[+The Wobbly Club]

From a personal point of view we like the caches of less than a mile. Or ones that have a cache and dash point. The only reasons for this is that we are both leg disabled and use walking aids. Problem is we never really notice just how far we have walked when all you are doing is following an arrow. One day we very nearly did not make it back to the car and was considering phoning the emergency services. So when setting a cache please bear in mind that there are people like us who enjoy caching but can't walk far.

 

Have a happy caching day.

 

Colin one part of The Wobbly Club

[+mongoose39uk]

Both, I love really long walks and caches that are very physically challenging. However I also like cache and dash ones or ones with a short walk for lazy days or for when Tigger Two is with me.

 

Thought it was an add for one of my multi pub crawls when I viewed the title.

 

Cheers

 

Tony

[+Molinnis]

Definately both. Half the fun is not knowing what to expect when you get to the location.

 

However I would agree that some reference should be made on the cache pages as to distance (If say over a mile) or difficult terrain (Steep hills/Steps etc) for those cachers that are not able to attempt these through disability or families with young children.

 

On the same note. there are a lot more cachers with dogs now days, So maybe a note on the cache page if for some reason dogs are not allowed on the cache route, Eg Beaches/Parks etc.

[davester]

I'm a definite long walker and prefer to link my caches together all in one walk. I guess it is my aversion to doubling back on myself that makes me tend away from walk from car to cache and back to car.

 

If you haven't read about it elsewhere, I've just launched a site http://www.geohikes.co.uk which is woefully devoid of shorter walks (mainly because I don't do them) and is just begging for members to come and add some more.

[+nfa]

I enjoy both...longer ones can take you to less populated areas, while shorter ones can be fun and are better for my 2 year old son and I.

 

nfa

[+Team Maddie UK]

Personally, I agree with the Wobbly club. 1 mile round trip is about right for me. The longer walks mean I have to take breaks which doubles the amount of time the walk should take. I have nothing against longer walks but would appreciate knowing in advance so that I could determine if I was up to it instead of driving for an hour then finding out. I try to research the areas I go to but occassionally something slips by.

Lynn

[+tyrog]

Long walks for when I'm out on my own. Short walks when I've got the rest of the family with me. That's the beauty of this sport it caters for everyone.

[+Haggis Hunter]

Definately both. Half the fun is not knowing what to expect when you get to the location.

 

However I would agree that some reference should be made on the cache pages as to distance (If say over a mile) or difficult terrain (Steep hills/Steps etc) for those cachers that are not able to attempt these through disability or families with young children.

 

On the same note. there are a lot more cachers with dogs now days, So maybe a note on the cache page if for some reason dogs are not allowed on the cache route, Eg Beaches/Parks etc.

Heres a link that you might like. I seen it on another cache, and have now adopted it for all of my caches.

He also gives you help on dressing up your cache page.

I think it's another 2 great sites.

[+allieballie]

I think that ANYTHING is good!

 

We will tend to save the long ones for a family day out, whilst myself and wee man will do shorter ones on our own whenever we can. I read an article about encouraging children to enjoy walking as a pastime, and how you should start them young, but it suggested a rough rule of 0.5miles per year of age, certainly for younger ones. I use this as a guide when planning caches with the wee man - and so I'd be reluctant to take him on walks of more than about 2.5miles total. Plus with children you have to take account of the fact that they will dawdle along, so a walk of even one mile can seem to take forever!

 

I've been setting a few caches recently and all of these have been what I would call short (including two which are pretty much drive-by). Whilst I did wonder whether people would enjoy, or even expect, a longer walk, at the end of the day my aim so far has been to set them in interesting locations rather than providing a long walk. What I have done though is try to make them multicaches if I can - so at least people are having to do a wee bit of extra work for their cache!

[+MarcB]

In my case it depends... sometimes I just want to get it over and done with, other times, if the area is nice, a longer walk would be better.

A nice tip for any cache setters is to list the various access points to the cache and roughly how far away you'll be if you start from there.

MarcB

[+Sue and Bernie]

Sue & I don't mind - we'll use the bikes anyway!

 

Variety is the key. We always enjoy a quickie (cache) but thoroughly relish the more distant ones that require a good 50 mile round cycle to gather.

 

We do not enjoy urban caches where you have to dash in and stand around conspicuously out of place, pretending to be incontinent again!

[+choccymandm]

We've seen one cache recently (but I'm sure there are others) that offered parking co-ords for a long walk or a short walk ... not telling what route we took!

 

Another thing to think of is are you prepared to walk the extra distance to do the maintence visits?

[MCL]

Ah now choccy has hit the nail on the head there about maintenance visits. When I do multicaches set by certain people I know full well that even though the cache page may say it's a 2 mile walk, the cache itself will probably be within a few yards of a raod parking place, simply so that the owner can quickly check on their cache without having to trek across country for hours. So I do these caches with a map to hand and usually end up doing a park-and-dash job.

 

Not that I'm a lazy b&%@er or anthing....

[The Ringwood 4]

We enjoy both long walks and quick cache dashes, but it can be disappointing to do a long trek only to find a micro which could, more often than not, have been a proper cache - the kids look forward to swapping items after a 1 or 2 mile trek!

[+lathama]

I think the best way to look at this one is by looking at what the hider would put in the cache notes/clue. If it is going to read "look for the vegetation boundry and follow this till the stream then bear 62 degrees to the cache site" then a short walk is fine as getting the cache is going to be tricky. BUT, if it reads "accessibly (maybe even viewable) from the footpath, make it a long walk because if it is viewable from the path to a cacher it is also viewable to anyone else and so if you have parked in a forestry commission carpark (lots of people) get the cache a long way away from the crowds or else your cache has a greater chance of being discovered and taken away by the public!

[markandlynn]

We enjoy both long walks and quick cache dashes, but it can be disappointing to do a long trek only to find a micro which could, more often than not,  have been a proper cache - the kids look forward to swapping items after a 1 or 2 mile trek!

Right on the money with this one, we avoid micros with the kids unless they look something special or are part of a multi. The oldest (nearly 11 years old) is however now more in it for the "hunt" than the swaps.

[+Jan and the Percey Boys]

Hi there I have put up fairly recently a cache in Chester with both a long and a short option - the short being to drive close to the offset cache - but this does not seem to have been popular

Edited September 13, 2004 by Jan and the Percey Boys