Last week I got this log on one of my caches,
Hiking through History: The Indian Rock Loop Trail.
It's been a year since this cache was last found or maintained. I searched for a bit since I noticed not many cachers come up here judging by other logs on other caches. A multi cache would have been nice on a day like today.
I'd like to say I remained calm and unfazed. But I didn't. And here's why. Why would anyone request a cache be archived just because it hasn't been found in a year and that the last few seekers left DNFs? Does that in any way mean the cache isn't there? And what does this guy mean that it has been a year since it has been maintained?
Not surprisingly, I got very indignant about this post, but at least looked into this cache's history a bit before sending him an email. It is true, that the cache was only found once, by two cachers seeking the FTF way back in January of 2015. Two other cachers posted DNFs in March. The first one had mentioned being confused by the additional waypoints I added at trail junctions and I suspect that this cacher didn't actually look for stage one in the correct location. I reached out to that cacher at the time, but never heard back from them. The second cacher to leave a DNF admitted to only searching for a few minutes. And after these two DNFs I simply did not feel it necessary to go out on a maintenance check. Perhaps I should have. The cache has gone unfound since then and I can imagine that some cachers that might have been interested in it have skipped it because if its find record.
But even after reflecting on all this, I felt a bit offended that someone would post a Needs Archived (NA) log on this cache. Why not just post a DNF and Needs Maintenance (NM) log? That way you've expressed your belief that the cache isn't there and needs a check. But going a step further and requesting that the cache be wiped from the game? That seemed overly presumptuous to me. So I wrote to this cacher, to let him know that I am very interested in maintaining my caches and up until their log, had no reason to believe that there was an issue. I even went so far as to ask him to delete the NA and post a NM instead, which he went ahead and did. And I made plans to do a maintenance run on this cache.
Next came my period of gross suspicion. Who is this cacher anyways? Looking up his profile, he is a cacher from Canada that has never cached in Tennessee before. Would this cacher happen to be down here and just happen to after my cache in a remote State Park, and no other caches? Now I was getting really suspicious. This cacher went through the bother of posting a NA on my multi cache, and presumably hiking out there, but then didn't log any of the other caches in Big Ridge State Park? Now I was thinking that maybe this was an armchair log, and was getting really infuriated. My internal fury calmed a little when I saw this cacher log my cache,
Sharp's Station and also replied to my messages. I had invited him to come out with me the next day to check on the cache, but he declined. He did mention another nearby cache in Big Ridge that needed maintenance though, so his story was beginning to seem more plausible. Still, the nagging thought in the back of my head is why in the world would someone be down here from Canada and only find a few caches in this one out-of-the-way State Park that even local Tennessee cachers mostly ignore? My suspicion creeps back in.
The next day I puled into the park early in the morning, the first car in the lot. A cold weather was pushing through and it was windy and cold. Actually, it wasn't too cold, but it got colder as the day went on. But never too cold for trail running. As I clogged up the ridges, the one thought in my mind was whether that first stage would be there or not. I crested onto Big Ridge and went right to the hiding spot, and there was the cache, looking pretty much undisturbed. I opened it up, contents were in good shape. Then I checked my GPSr, and saw it was pointing me something like 50 ft away. Hmmm... that could account for people not finding it. I walked over to where the GPSr was telling me to go, and ended up in a spot in the woods, surrounded by some stumps and fallen logs... perfect cache hiding spot. Now I was seeing why people were having trouble finding the stage. I didn't re-take coords just then though, opting for checking this one again on my way back out. It is a loop trail after-all.
I jogged over to the final next and found it easily as well. But once again, the coords I had were way way way off. Like over 100ft. It is on the side of a steep ridge-line, so satellite coverage can't be that good, but still, 100ft is terrible. I took new coords and headed off to stage 5.
Stage 5 was closer to being on coords, only 49ft off according to my GPSr that morning, but still too far for my liking. I wasn't very confident in my GPSr accuracy this morning though. One reason is that it took an abnormally long time for the unit to lock onto the satellite signals. In fact, it failed to get a lock on the first try, which is pretty unusual when I'm outside. It made me think twice about my readings, but what could I do? I was out there to perform maintenance and the GPSr was telling me the coords were off. Should I believe it, or trust the original coords? I hemmed and hawed about this for a bit and decided I would add an update strip inside the stage with new coordinates for the Final, but also leave the old coordinates in the stage. I then added a small note saying check whichever coords are closest to the trail first, and that the cache was less than 10' off the trail. Hopefully, that will be enough for the next seeker. But it also might be just plain confusing. In a game that depends on having good GPS accuracy, questioning your GPSr reliability isn't good.
Stage 4 was in good shape, and also the coords seemed pretty close, only ~30' off. This is on the margin of what is considered acceptable, since on any given set of coords, a 15' error can be expected, and since the person taking the coords can be 15' off, and the person going to the coords can be 15' off in the other direction, 30' error is feasible. With the hint, this stage shouldn't be too hard to locate. I added a strip of paper to this stage with new Stage 5 coords, then took a detour off to Sharp's Station. If it was windy elsewhere on the trails, Sharp's station was a maelstrom. The wind was really whipping across the reservoir. My initial thought of eating a snack at my cache there was scuttled. I did check on the cache though since I was keenly interested in whether the cache was indeed found open the previous day by the Canadian cacher. Sure enough, his name was in the logbook. I silently chided myself for being so skeptical of his logs earlier.
Getting to stage 3 took some huffing and puffing. Also, I didn't run for much of this leg, the trial is just too steep. But upon reaching Stage 3, the coords were once again pretty far off, 46'. And it was also a bit more difficult to remember where this cache was hidden, so it took me slightly longer to find the stage, but I find it I did, and it was in good shape. I averaged some new coords for this stage, left an updated clue and continued on up the trail.
Stage 2 was the only stage I found to be somewhat compromised. It was also the only stage that had coords which took me right to it. It is hidden in the hollow portion of a small tree, and tethered using some spider-line. A critter, probably a chipmunk or squirrel, had chewed through the tether and I had to reach way into the hollow to find the stage, which also had been chewed on. The cap was about 1/3 chewed off. The contents were perfectly safe though, and I had the foresight to bring extra caps with me, so it was easily repaired. I also had some extra spider-line, so I re-tied the tether, added an update note with coords for Stage 3 and was off to complete the loop.
Upon returning to stage 1, my GPSr took me right to the stage. Where it had been over 50' off only an hour earlier, it was now 15' off, perfectly accurate for geocaching. I had wanted to add some updated coords to this stage, but now I didn't have much to update. Still, I took a new set of coords. My maintenance run complete, I ran back to the parking area, passing the one and only hiker I saw all morning on the way. It was great to be back out in this park. Maybe I should place some more caches out here?
The drive home offered some needed time for reflection. Why am I so darn suspicious of cachers? Sure, posting a NA was not entirely appropriate, but harboring doubts about everything this cacher said afterwards left me feeling petty. I doubted his claims because I wanted to, because I was incredulous that he would dare to tell me my cache needed archiving without contacting me first. And this is wrong of me, or at least it feels wrong. In the end, only good came from his log, I took the opportunity to check on a lonely cache of mine that rarely gets searched for, verified it was still in pretty good shape, fixed up a few things that needed fixing and hopefully improved the cache as a whole. And I had an excuse to spend the morning out trail running. Definitely a lesson I'll have to remember next time someone informs me my cache needs to be archived.
