How did he do that? 100 in a day.
I got word today that there might be some questions or speculation on how I did 103 and then 110 geocaches in a calendar day. Now I know for a fact that there are those that don't agree with this kind of caching, and I know that it is not necessarily quality caching, but there is one thing you cannot deny. It is in one degree or another about the numbers. We all have a number connected to our caching name for better or worse. We all count things in our lives. Cachers count caches. How many you find, how many you place, how many are found, how many logs, how many dnf's. The statistical analysis that is done on a somewhat regular basis right here on GM only reinforces and supports the numbers thing. So.........Here is the how I/We did it.
First of all you have to make some pretty firm decisions on what caches and types you will do. Of course the preferred is something close to the road and with easy parking. It's helpful to run an up to date Pocket Query on caches that have been found in the last week. No time wasted looking for caches that have been DNF'ed or inactive. Next you have to make sure you both have the same information in your GPS units. We used my laptop for that purpose updating and loading new GPX files while I drove to the city we were going to cache in.
I drove and _JohnnyCache did the navigation and decision making about what caches we would do.
When it was decided what cache would be done the Nuvi and it's geocaching POI database got us to the cache. He has written his own POI program that will break the cache types into different categories like Park and Grabs, Caches available 24/7, traditional Caches, solved puzzle caches, corrected coordinates. You get the idea.
We always tried to park on the same side of the road the cache was on. That was not always possible, but we tried.
At the cache location both of us looked for the cache. When it was found the finder opened the cache container and got the log in hand. We both signed most of them and there were a few, especially micros where the person who found it signed both names with both of us standing there. Then I would replace the log and container while JC started the process of getting us to the next location. We tried also to do clusters of caches where there would be minimal distances to caches or cache loops. We tried never to have a cache more than 700 feet or so away when we hit a cluster in a park or walking trail. Loop trails were good for multiple caches because they came back to where you started.
Both of us logged the caches on our own GPS units and we did compare lists at the end of the trip. The interesting thing here is that we were only one off on our two lists. Fortunately the one in question was one we both remembered. Pertaining to GPS units, having one that logs to a text file (Oregon, Colorado or PN40) saves a ton of time in logging caches.
The navigating person is really the key. They make the decisions and direct the driver.
So, that is the way we did it. Some of the important things to consider are:
Cache Density in a given area especially when you have eliminated caches that do not fit your profile. You have to have the numbers in a given area to be successful.
Straight line runs (caches in a somewhat straight line on or near the same street or road). We did one series here that had a cache every mile on a long stretch of road. I think it was called two for or something like that and it involved a benchmark at the location as well that could be found and logged. We did not find the benchmarks, but it was during this run that we had our best cache/hour ratio. We also did that after dark as they were all 24/7 caches.
Mileage. Most of our miles were driven getting to and from the area where we cached. Once in the area we cached we did not drive much more than a hundred miles or so.
You also have to make sure you have enough caches picked out. We had some 250 good possibilities selected in addition to another 250 or so in reserve. The great thing about my partner is that he kind of knew the area a little bit and we knew if we ran into difficulties that there were places we go to where we could put a good run together.
We had 10 or 11 DNF's for the day. We had a 5-7 minute rule we tried to use. Once we were on the cache site we gave it five to seven minutes more or less. We followed that pretty much except for a couple of difficult ones that we specifically wanted to find. Keeping track of the time was a difficult issue. We should have had a stop watch or something like that to help us.
No matter how much you plan you always hit some snags. You have to know this is going to happen and when it does you just have to work through it. Every good cache run I have ever done has an hour that just kind of falls apart. We had two of those where I think we did two or three caches. You just have to keep on keeping on through those times.
The weather is definitely a factor. You need the right weather. No rain or snow. Warm is good too, although my last run was a very cold blustery day.
That is about it. After my run with _JohnnyCache I rested a couple of days doing just a few caches and then did 110 in a long day starting at 3 AM and going until about 9 PM. That run started in one community with just me and ended with my son in law Joining me around noon time. I actually drove from where I was caching and picked him up and we then went to a completely different area that I had not been in and did around 60 to finish.
If anyone has any questions you can PM me and I will answer as best I can. Also, I would love to see someone do the Century thing in Maine. Between Bangor, Lewiston, Freeport and Portland it could be easily done if you had not cached there previously. Until JC and I decided to do it in Maryland I had a run of 100 planned in Maine from Augusta - Bangor - down to Brunswick - Freeport and Portland. It would have been difficult, but I do think with proper planning it could have been done. I was ready to run it starting at midnight, but we had a storm come through and as we know, snow storms change the way you can run and cache.
Maybe we should have a Centrum Cache here in Maine, done in Maine. I think there is a place where one could walk and do 100 caches in NH. One thing for sure, it does not get any better for the scenery that is right here in New England.
