Caching In The Rain.

[+2qwerqE]

Jeremy's thread about rain gear for caching not withstanding, I've gotta say that I don't really understand why people must cache in the rain.

 

I had a few logs posted on one of my caches that it was wet and moldering, Bushwacking With the Beave so I went and brought the cache home to dry it out. The cache container, like most of my hides, is a Coleman thermos jug. Absolutely waterproof, and I even test it in the kitchen sink to be sure the gopher teeth marks haven't compromised it in some way. It's fine. But there are a couple of logs posted that speak of caching in the rain.

 

After I dry the cache out, I decide that it needs a new placement anyway, as the hidey-hole that I chose for it is now home to a gopher or something, and it keeps evicting the cache box. So I archive the original, and replace it with this one:

Bushwacking with the Beave's Brothers And the second find logged says:

RAINING HARD!!! But I did find it... great spot to revisit if its not raining. T:Handy Wipes L:Jeep trailer plug.

 

Sigh.

 

The same week, another new cache I placed has a rain log. Cataract Falls Towering Pines

 

Sigh again. Fair warning: rant ahead:

 

It stands to reason that a watertight container remains watertight, whether the water is inside or outside of the box. Once that rain gets in, it won't evaporate out again. It just gets moldy and nasty.

 

So, geez-o-pete, people, if you must cache in the rain, (why? why? OK, I did it once too, I admit it, on a warm Aug day in an all day steady downpour, and I also admit it was fun , and I do get the Pacific Northwest dilemma of cabin fever, and if we gotta wait til the rain stops, it'll only be because it turns to snow-- but I love caching in the snow and I do digress-- but hey, this is Indiana I'm talking about!) So, anyway, if you must cache in the rain, bring plastic to cover the cache box with when you open it. Keep the cache dry!

 

Thanks for the space to vent. Don't know if it'll do any good, but maybe it'll make me feel better. Now I need to go out and check on the Beave's Brothers cache and see if it's all wet inside. Except it's raining all day today, and it's not August, so I'll just wait to do it another day. There. Now was that such a hard decison to make?

[+The Cheeseheads]

I've cached in the rain. Not by choice, but once you're so far into the woods, you're going to get soaked whether you head back to the car of keep going for the cache.

 

When you get to the cache, it doesn't take a whole lot of effort to open it in such a way as to minimize the amout of moisture that could get inside. Even still, I can't imagine enough rain getting inside in the short amount of time the cache is open as to get the contents that wet.

 

I'd guess that someone probably just didn't close the lid tightly enough to create the seal necessary to keep moisture out, so the dampness got in through the usual methods for non-airtight containers.

[+Divine]

What Cheesy said. I have a feeling that every time I can find time and opportunity to go caching in the capital area (-> the densest cache area in the country), it's always raining there. And I'm not going to come back home 200 km just because of that. Usually I have a rain poncho or an umbrella when caching in the rain, and when logging it's quite easy to hold a poncho sleeve or the umbrella so that the rain won't go inside the container. Many times I've actually left the cache drier than it was when I found it, since I've poured the water away from the broken container and put the contents inside small ziploc-type plastic bags. Many people leave small bags of silica gel inside cache containers, which absorbs the moisture quite effectively - especially the small amount of moisture that can get inside the cache when someone opens it during a rain.

[+Gorak]

Jeremy's thread about rain gear for caching not withstanding, I've gotta say that I don't really understand why people must cache in the rain.

Because where I live it rains pretty much all of October through May. It also gets dark at 4:30 in the afternoon for much of the winter so not only do we have to cache in the rain but we also have to do it in the dark. It all just adds to the "cache experience".

[MMACH 5]

Many people leave small bags of silica gel inside cache containers, which absorbs the moisture quite effectively - especially the small amount of moisture that can get inside the cache when someone opens it during a rain.

I saw a thread that mentioned these, (I can't remember if it was here or at texasgeocaching.com), but there was a suggestion that GC.com brand and sell them.

I'd buy 'em.

My prototype.

[+The Puzzler]

Gosh, I started Geocaching a year so back during the winter in British Columbia. If I wanted to Geocache, it was often in the rain. I found that an umbrella was an indespensable item. Small folding umbrellas are light, and don't work in windy or brushy condisions, but they are a lifesaver if you are trying to keep a cache (or palm pilot) dry while you are logging it.

 

I suggested it once before without sucess. I'll suggest it again, right a long with some Geocaching.com silica gel packets, I would sure like to see some geocaching umbrellas out there. Heck, you could even use them while walking around if you really wanted to (the umbrellas, not the gel packs).

[+fly46]

Many people leave small bags of silica gel inside cache containers, which absorbs the moisture quite effectively - especially the small amount of moisture that can get inside the cache when someone opens it during a rain.

I saw a thread that mentioned these, (I can't remember if it was here or at texasgeocaching.com), but there was a suggestion that GC.com brand and sell them.

I'd buy 'em.

My prototype.

It was here and that would be cool.

[+C&C+COMPANY]

I always cache in the Rain, It's when I perfer to go caching. Most of the caches in the maritimes(Canada) have all items in zip loc bags, and some of the senior caches invest in waterproof note pads. That being said I make sure that I leave that cache always dry.

[+2qwerqE]

Of course I put everything in baggies, but baggies are not bulletproof. As we have all see at caches everywhere, the pen and/or pencil always pokes a hole in the bag; the zipper quits and stuff gets ruined. My caches so far have proven to be water tight and weather proof, even groundhog and elk proof (one of my caches is in a park where elk and bison are captive, but they roam free within the park confines. People are the ones caged in their cars, at least in the bison sector. But we can walk around freely in most of the elk preserve, as the elk just move away from people. So caching is OK there. My cache was evidently used as an elk soccer ball once, and it survived fine.)

 

Anyway, all due precautions are practiced on my end. I just wish visitors would do the same, that's all.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.I'll look for the desicants. But I'm half concerned that someone will just think it's an odd trade item...

[MMACH 5]

...I'll look for the desicants. But I'm half concerned that someone will just think it's an odd trade item... 

 

I thought of that too. Sometimes you might put them in caches to be trade items. I guess you'd have to label them accordingly. If it's for trading drop it in a baggie with a note, otherwise write on the packet something like, "Official cache drying system. DO NOT REMOVE."

[+flask]

this is what the weather is like here: blue sky, no visible clouds, raining anyway.

 

scenario b: not raining when you start the hike (.2 mile), pouring when you get to the can.

 

i have never opened a wet ammo can. not wet on the inside.

 

i have, once or twice, declined to sign a log due to extreme weather. when it's raining horizontally i MAY just take my picture with it to provide enough evidence; detailed evidence to the hider. i should mention that i have only resorted to this once or twice and that it is not appropriate where the challenge is opening the container.

 

if the rain is falling in the normal vertical fashion it's usually good enough to do a quick signature while kneeling on all fours over the container. in hard rain the cache gets my very nice rain jacket while i go all moist and get moldy after.

 

similarly, if your gladware is frozen solid and i have hiked in to get it and i would destroy it by giving it a swift kick, i'll decline to dislodge it. if any of you would like me to sign the log to definitively claim a find, i will be happy to kick the thing loose. i will be happy to painstakingly chip it free with my pickaxe or to light a fire under it. no ammo can has ever come out the worse for its time with me. and yes, i did light a fire under one. it was a small fire, and i just had to melt the ice enough to get it out.

 

to borrow a phrase, i have left caches unopened due to weather more times than most people have noses.

[+Renegade Knight]

The temperature cycle might also make your perfectly dry container wet. Damp air goes in, it cools, condenses, gets the log wet, finder opens it, more damp air gets in... repeat.

 

You would get that effect even if they kept 100% of the rain out. It's probably not a universal effect and a few things have to come together to make it happen.

[+Gorak]

Wet caches are a fact of life around here, especially in the winter months. It doesn't really matter how waterproof the container is. No matter how careful finders are at keeping rain out, between condensation, damp trade items, etc. it is enevitable that caches will get damp at some point over the monsoon season. Around here, virtually every cache has the logbook in a ziplock and I noticed an increasing trend for people to leave their trade items in a ziplock as well. I generally carry a good supply of ziplock freezer bags in my caching bag to replace damaged bags or to bag a porous trade item, like a stuffed animal, that has become damp so that it does not affect the rest of the cache.

 

The most common cause of damp caches I've come across is caches that are too full which often results in something, like the corner of a bag, getting stuck in the container's seal when it is closed and allowing the rain to get in past the seal. Cheap containers with poor seals, like the clone Lock & Lock knockoffs, that cannot withstand the elements are also a problem.

 

Another pet peeve is people who put their caches inside a plastic bag to either improve the camoflage or in a misguided attempt to make the cache more weatherproof. What generally ends up happening is that the inside of the outer bag becomes a gooey, mildewy, disgusting mess for all finders other than the resident slugs who invariably find their way into the bag.

[+Runaround]

I've always liked hiking and caching in the rain. I usually just shield the cache with my poncho or huddle over it. Most of the logs that are already damp are from humidity and condensation anyway, not the rain.

[+Will+Bill]

We were first on that cache!

[+planetrobert]

I love caching in the rain.

 

BUT i carry something that i can protect the cache with so that it doesn't get rained in.

 

if it is a micro i just open it protected in my coat or pocket, if the cache is a drive by ill just get back in the car with the cache and open it there.

[+WalruZ]

When I'm out on a rainy day I wear my poncho. When I open a cache, I keep it under my poncho and just duck down out of the hood . I'm effectively in a tent at that point and no rain gets into the cache.

 

Apparently some people do it different. You can rant all you like, but they don't read the forums.