"extreme Geocaches"

[+Seth!]

Hey gang, over the years I've tossed around the term "extreme geocaching" in conversation and maybe you have, as well.

 

The question before you is, what makes a geocache an "extreme geocache". At first blush, it might seem like a 5/5 would qualify. But are any and all 5/5's extreme? Can a geocache be a 1/5 or a 5/1 and be "extreme"?

 

I'd like to know what you would expect if someone invited you to go on an "extreme geocache hunt". If you can cite specific, existing geocaches, that would be great. But hypothetical geocaches are also welcome.

 

Let's go to extremes, people!

 

- Seth!

 

(A quick search tells me that there are ten 5/5's here in Washington and thirty in California--just as a point of reference. They make up a pretty small percentage of all geocaches.)

[+Lil Devil]

TMA-1 is a 3/5 in Salinas, California. It's an old bridge abutment in the middle of a river. You have to throw a rope over, secure the rope on the other side, and climb to the top of the 35'+ monolith.

 

I made this my find #1,000. I'll be watching this thread closely as I'm coming up on 2,000

[+Robespierre]

Extreme geocaching would be after eating beans. The drive to the cache is only for the stoutest of heart, with a car full of cachers.

[+briansnat]

5/5 isn't necesarily extreme because a 5 terrain rating includes caches that require "special" equipment. An easy paddle on a placid lake isn't particularly extreme.

 

I think a cache can be 1/5 and be extreme. A cache on the top of Everest would be extreme, even if it was an easy find when you get there.

[+Isonzo Karst]

Emptor Paradiso is a 1 star terrain 5 star difficulty extreme urban micro.

[+Seth!]

TMA-1 is a 3/5 in Salinas, California. It's an old bridge abutment in the middle of a river. You have to throw a rope over, secure the rope on the other side, and climb to the top of the 35'+ monolith.

Yeah, now that's what I'm talkin' about! What else have we got out there?

 

I think that some scuba caches must qualify as extreme. Share some others!

 

Does a person have to risk life and limb for a geocache to be extreme? Do painful mental challenges count?

[+Fergus]

I have one cache the is located in the top of a white pine tree. I gave it a terrain rating of 4 stars because you have to climb about 20 to 30 feet up a tree. I don’t find this very extreme, but there are a few of the people who have found it who did. I have another cache called Dark that has a rating of 5/5. The difficulty is rated 5 because once you find the coordinates you need to go over a hundred feet away from the spot then approach in a very different way. The terrain has a 5 star rating because portable light is required to find this cache. For many people this is an extreme geocache. I have never found a cache that I found to be extreme, but I guess I have a higher threshold for what I consider extreme.

[+Renegade Knight]

...Does a person have to risk life and limb for a geocache to be extreme? Do painful mental challenges count?

If the means of getting to the cache doesn't involve the potential for death but for your equipment, or training, it's not extreme.

 

If your worst issue is you might get an eye strain migrain from staring at the puzzle print out too long, its not exreme.

[Mighty Tiggers]

Now this one is extreme, and NOBODY has been there to collect the prize, yet...

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...5e-398b4fa817de

 

Very cool!

[TahoeJoe]

There is nearby cache at a ski resort that sits on a double black diamond run that would be extreme to some. I also have a cache on a mountain top Family Ties where I live that has only been logged twice in two years due to the distance and steep climb involved in reaching it.

Edited January 23, 2005 by TahoeJoe

[+Touchstone]

I thought this one was one of the most creative hunts I've seen:

 

[+Ambrosia]

Do painful mental challenges count?

Sigh...

 

*painful memories*

[CoyoteRed]

TMA-1 is a 3/5 in Salinas, California. It's an old bridge abutment in the middle of a river. You have to throw a rope over, secure the rope on the other side, and climb to the top of the 35'+ monolith.

 

I made this my find #1,000. I'll be watching this thread closely as I'm coming up on 2,000

We've been eyeing creating one like this, as well, except it is also in the middle of a lake! We've already scouted it and done most of the logistics.

 

The wife's Sissy's Snarky Walk #1 might be the most extreme around here at the moment. There is one stage that some folks have a problem finding. I've been on the receiving end of more than a few expletives when they realize what is going to be required to proceed.

 

We're planning more.

 

Can we do better? You bet!

[+GeoBlank]

The feast series in Ring Hill forest in washington I would have to say is extreme. We would love to see more cross country caches hidden. When you must use more than a GPSr to find them then it is getting extreme.

 

Things to thing about though...

 

Do you need special equipment beyond what a normal person may have?

Is it difficult because of the terrain or just the thought process needed.

 

The feast series is not hard to locate the finds once you fight your way through the terrain and wilderness to get to them. I honestly was glad that they weren't impossible to locate once fighting natures pieces of the puzzle. I guess with the new attributes option we could also help describe things such as this. Compass and life line required type of thing...

 

If you know of difficult ones in western washington due to the land and location please let me know

[+souperteam]

I thought this one was one of the most creative hunts I've seen:

 

That looks like a lot of fun! I love hot air ballooning. How fun would it be to combine both hobbies? I like it.

[+cudlecub]

I have an underwater virtual that sits in about 60' of water at S. Holston Lake. To me it isn't all that extreme but then again I'm a certified tech diver. Read all about it here Deep Dam Cache

 

I plan on placing another one, only I'm figureing out some type of underwater container for it, in an area of the lake not far from the dam. This one will be in about 80' of water for the more adventuresome diver / cacher.

Edited January 24, 2005 by cudlecub

[+Seth!]

Isn't there one in an old car at the bottom of Lake Chelan (WA) at a depth of 150' or something like that? That sounds extreme.

[+ironman114]

Here is the one you are thinking of Seth. Chelan Scuba Cache.

 

It has only been found 3 times in 2 1/2 years.

[+AtoZ]

The term EXTREME is abused quite a bit. I have been a avid mountaineer, rock climber, Ice climber, SCUBA diver and Cave diver, and skier, down hill and backcountry. I have come off mountians in whiteout conditions, reppeled out of helicopters, skiied across avalance fields dove in caves in floirda deep dives in the Ocean. So when does it bdcome extreme. The term extreme really applies ehen the folks at the TOP end of a sport push the limits a little more. On Backpacker people talk about extreme backpacking. To me as a mountaineer backpacking has been nothing more then to get my climbing bear from point A to point B. Extreme is not a relative term that applies to a person pusing their own personally limits as I have heard it said. No extreme is pushing the limits of the sport. Now What would extreme Geocaching be hummm.... you can incorperate a lot of other aspects into find a cache. I have done cache that require a 70 foot repel, another a scuba dive all rated 4/4 above but were they extreme NO! Did they push my limits NO! WOuld they push someone elses limits YES. So does taht make them extreme, NO!

Personally do I do extreme sports NO, I am to safety concious and want to have a long enjoyable live, I have ahd friends that do exteme sports and some of them are not with us now.

I tuess an extreme geocachw would be a really hard find, maybe combined with a hard approach. O'well jsut my 2 cents worth. But Then A micro in a rock pile can be conxicered extreme.

cheers

[CoyoteRed]

As a kid I was into extreme tiddlywinks. You could put an eye out!

 

Actually, I think when you talk about "extreme geocaching" it's not so much like letting go of your bike as you do a 60 feet jump, but more like something you have to go well beyond what you would normally do.

[+RJFerret]

Agreed. I did a night cache last Fall that was VERY challenging. First I was attempting it pre-approval, so had less information/resources then normal.

 

I was happy to successfully find the beginning!

 

Then, it wasn't a easily followed trail but required faith and careful searching.

 

Each reflector was like hunting for a 4-rated cache on it's own!

 

After investing multiple hours, I'd completed the first leg--of who knows how many? (Including a unique hide technique in this area.)

 

I then couldn't find the start of the next. I returned in daylight to no avail. I returned later with the cache page info and was able to pickup where I left off.

 

After more searching than most caches, I found my offset and was able to go to the next leg's start--only to spend, again, more time than most caches trying to figure out where it headed.

 

Halfway through that I got stumped. After a meal and more persistence, I was able to continue on.

 

Ultimately I'd achieved it. That was the biggest caching accomplishment I've ever had (including many FTF's, several pre-approval finds, winning the Magellan contest in CT, winning Schnuffle's Silver Treasure...)

 

The oft-abused "extreme" should apply as some of the prior posters have indicated, to a cache that goes beyond 99% of other caches in regards to geocaching. Such that excellant geocachers are significantly challenged by it regardless of other skills.

 

(Yes, I have caches in trees, at the end of drainage tunnels, requiring puzzles/math, etc.)

 

In over 300 caches I'd never had a favorite until that one--so I would nominate it for that over-hyped label. It's a geocache that requires geocaching skills to the extreme. Ironically, I don't think it's rated terribly high... (After all, the rating have nothing to do with required geocaching skill level--they pertain to terrain and depth of hide.)

 

Enjoy,

 

Randy

[Napoleon_Dynamite]

I would consider this extreme:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...80-9bdce718c44f

 

And it is a micro?!?

 

I don't know how this got approved. Idiots!

 

ND

Edited January 26, 2005 by Napoleon_Dynamite