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Post by firemanak on Nov 7, 2012 18:11:37 GMT -9
Okay a couple of us are thinking of doing a power caching trail. Can someone give us Ideas, what do we look for, how do we plan for it, etc...
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Post by ladybugkids on Nov 7, 2012 19:32:37 GMT -9
Okay a couple of us are thinking of doing a power caching trail. Can someone give us Ideas, what do we look for, how do we plan for it, etc... Creating one, or searching for one? If creating, you'll want to ask blazingpathways, tomanoble, capsheldon, and burtonsinalaska, who created the Ekultna Lake HELP power trail.
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Post by firemanak on Nov 7, 2012 22:24:30 GMT -9
Sweet thanks Ladybugkids...we will..
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burtonsinak
Bronze Cacher
Posts: 60
GeocacheAlaska! Membership Level: Sourdough
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Post by burtonsinak on Nov 8, 2012 19:01:18 GMT -9
what would you like to know? We have some of your answers... lol
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Post by firemanak on Nov 8, 2012 19:03:26 GMT -9
okay what kind of terrain should we look at? How long ? year around caches? Hiking only or snowmachine and 4 wheelers too? that is a good start, or how far from town if we want to make it visitor friendly
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burtonsinak
Bronze Cacher
Posts: 60
GeocacheAlaska! Membership Level: Sourdough
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Post by burtonsinak on Nov 8, 2012 21:26:53 GMT -9
terrain is what you want the difficulty to be and how many cachers you want to find it. Easjer terrain usually means families and less experienced cachers will also go for them. I think yr around caches work better and for a power trail i think you would want it findable yr around esp since our winter is so long. How long to make the power trail is really your choice but the longer you may get more out of state,country visitors. the longer also mean cacher can go back again and again to get them all. Usually a power trail has each cache about 1/10th of a mile (about 600 feet apart to be safe) so if your route is 5 miles you're already looking at 40 to 50 caches. Our HELP trail was 120 caches and there were about 20 along the route before that we had to place our cachers around. And the whole trail was about 13 miles long so if we were hiking or biking that would have been 26 plus miles both ways. A long way and a long day! So you need to consider how much time you want to spending getting all your caches placed. Hiking is great as every cacher can do it and their family and friends can go at the same time as not every one has snowmachine or 4 wheelers, but it can be accessable by all also. Cachers and non-cachers will enjoy the day together if hiking. More visitors may go for the power trail if its closer to town. My wife says that there needs to be another reason to go to the place the power trail is. So, put the power trail on a great hiking trail or biking route or scenic trail. Start it at the trail head. We do not seem to have as many unused trails with caches as you may. Look up the HELP power trail we just put out. We have info on how, hides, containors, securing, distance and logs if you want that kind of information. Again my wife says spend lots of time PLANNING and PREPARING. We had lots of both kinds of sessions at our house with the 3 power trail partners we had. ANd it was fun doing that planning and preparing together. Remember one thing... cache maintenance!! If your power trail is a long way away you'll have to plan special trips out to maintain.
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Post by ladybugkids on Nov 9, 2012 8:56:03 GMT -9
okay what kind of terrain should we look at? How long ? year around caches? Hiking only or snowmachine and 4 wheelers too? that is a good start, or how far from town if we want to make it visitor friendly Relatively few cachers have snowmachines or ATVs, so you'll greatly reduce the number of folks who will do the caches unless they can also be reached by foot/mountainbike/ski/4WD recreational vehicle, etc. The Gilmore Trail had a power trail of sorts until Cav Scout's caches were archived. Those caches were reachable via a long day of hiking and biking and I got my Ford Explorer all the way back on my second try after getting it stuck with Tundra Tim the first time and calling PedalPushin for a rescue. I put a few caches going out the Wickersham Creek Trail (see Lee's Cabin Fever Reliever) and very few people have visited them (11 visits in seven years) even though the furthest out cache is only seven miles from the trail head and it's an area popular with the snowmachiners in the winter and less than thirty minutes from the parking lot with a couple of working dogs. One key thing Robert didn't mention is to make certain the power trail you plan complies with local land management geocaching policy. Alaskan Land Manager policies I am aware of may be found here on the GeocacheAlaska! website. The more enjoyable (for me) power trails I've done have had a theme and a variety of cache containers and hide styles. Other power trails I've done have used the same container and hide style at each location. Two nights ago, I did a driving night cache series on some backroads west of Houston that was a nice change of pace. Get creative! Being Alaska, I typically try to make my caches year-round friendly, if not by placement, then by providing a bomb-proof hint.
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Post by ladybugkids on Dec 22, 2012 17:17:07 GMT -9
Here's another perspective on Power Trails...some have referred to them as "organized littering," so it's recommended one consider cache placement and non-cacher perspective when planning a power trail.
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