Cache Talk – Rating Systems

I found this interesting article on an article exchange and thought I would introduce The Geocacher to the concept of guest authors while at the same time sharing some information related to the rating systems for caches and terrain.  We can explore this a bit more with your comments and future articles.   If you would like to publish an article on The Geocacher please contact the admin via the Contact link at the top of the page.

CACHE TALK #3 by Karen Willman aka little sister
www.moosenosebrothers.com

Face it. By now you are hooked. You’ve walked the walk and talked the talk. Every time you go somewhere the thought is about making time to “park and grab” another cache. Good! 

It’s natural, at this point, to want to share your enjoyment with others. Summer vacation is coming up and you’re hungry for a few out of-state finds. Uncle Fred and Aunt Bertha are certainly in for a treat this year. But wait a minute – Uncle Fred uses a walker. He will never make it to some of the caches you are used to. To make matters worse, you really don’t know the area around their farm. How are you going to introduce the relatives to your favorite hobby and make a good impression? That’s where the Geocache Rating System comes in.

Most official geo-cache web-sites have a rating system for each submitted hide. The rating will show the potential seeker how easy it is to find the cache and the type of terrain you are expected to encounter. Now scroll through the listings until you find a very easy hide and one that will take in account Uncle Fred’s walker and Cousin Emma’s 2-year old. Nothing is more embarrassing than NOT to find their first cache. So make it an easy one and save the juicy ones for later. The most popular geo-caching web-site uses stars for a rating indicator. But what do those stars actually mean?

Of the 5 stars listed – 1 is the easiest and 5 is the hardest.

Do you need special equipment to get to the cache hide (like a boat, 4-wheel drive or maybe even scuba gear)? That is a definite 5 for a terrain rating! Maybe you only have to walk on a paved pathway (1), well packed dirt (1 1/2), or a sand and mud animal trail (2 1/2). What about if there is no trail at all and you need to set off cross country or up a river bed? Try a 3-4. Now let’s add the trail extras like bushes (low or high), thorns or poisonous plants (PI) or animals. What about the elevation? Is it flat or steep? How steep? Do you need to climb up the side of a hill or down into a ravine? 

Let’s put a few of these scenarios together and come up with possible ratings. Take the paved pathway (which could be a 1) and pair it with a slight incline – that 1 has now been elevated (no pun intended) to a 1 1/2 or possibility a 2. Take a sand animal trail at 2 1/2 that crosses a dry river bed and up a semi-steep incline to get out at the other side – it now could be rated a 3 to 3 1/2. Add poisonous plants (PI) or animals and a warning should be issued. 

Finding a cache has ratings as well. If it is obvious then a rating of 1 is in order. Do you have to gather clues to find missing coordinates – try a 2? Do you have to solve puzzles to move forward on a multi-cache hide – try 3? What about signal strength – tall buildings and dense forests will not allow you to pinpoint a hide. This would make the find rating go higher.

Whew! Enough already, you get the picture. Just remember that ratings are based on the opinions of others. A marathon runner will think their hide could be found with “just a stretch of the legs” while the weekend seeker will think otherwise. It is important to read the log entries of past seekers – and not just the top 5. I once set my sights on a real easy cache to use as an introduction to friends that were interested in seeing what this caching was all about. The ratings showed the hide was a difficulty 1 and the terrain was a 1 1/2. This was going to be such a cute little grab, listed as one that their 80-year old, wheel-chair bound Grandmother hid. I was lucky enough to open more of the logs and read the comments of several past cachers. The comment I liked best was that they must have air lifted Grandma with a helicopter to get to the hide since that was the only way a wheel-chair could have gotten there. Naturally I picked a different cache for my friend’s first find but did visit the site hid by old Granny and found the comments of past cachers to be accurate.

I tend to use the terrain rating to help determine possible locations that the cache could be hidden. While in Edinburgh, Scotland a few weeks back I sought a cache that had a 1 1/2 terrain rating. At 1 1/2, I had narrowed my search to a certain type of area. Unable to find the cache, I proceeded to enlarge my search field which included a 4-foot climb up a vertical rock. Bingo, there is was! It did not seem right to rate a 4-foot climb up a rock as 1 1/2 and although it did not hinder the find it did taint the mind-set as to where the search area could be.

Two quick Geo-language words used in this article:

Park and Grab: just what it means – close to parking and easy to find.

PI: Poison Ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, or just about any bad thing that can ruin a day of caching.

Next time we will get into cache common sense, travel bugs and treasures.

About the author:
Wife, mother of 2, grandmother of 3. Retired school administrator, survivalist, former NRA instructor, weapons enthusiast, specialist in trail cooking, world-wide Geo-cacher, explorer of historical detection.