View Full Version : Do you cache?
I believe I picked up on the idea of caching from WB a few years ago. It has been working well for us the last couple of years of section hiking. What we do is hide a sealable bucket with provisions near a road crossing at our half-way point, about 25 miles into our annual 50 mile section. We simply swap garbage for new provisions and pick up the bucket when we are done. We were in the Whites this year, so I was concerned that with more hikers around we might find our cache had been raided. But we had no issues, so we are likely to continue this in the future.
Do you cache? Thoughts?
I’m not for or against it; I think it should be up to the person doing the hiking. But I thought it was illegal in many areas?
With re-supply readily available is it needed on the AT?
I don't do it. It is a security issue for me. I don't want to get there and have someone or something get into my food.
bloodmountainman
09-05-2008, 18:40
I have done the caching thing several times on various trails close to home. I have left iced down water on some dry sections, and some adult beverages close to planned campsites. Never had a problem with animals getting into it or worrying about it being found by others. I always pick up the cooler after the hike. Good camoflaugh is a must.
I have a six-pack cache in my fridge currently...
Hammock Hanger
09-05-2008, 19:08
Years ago when we only had a week or two to hike and wanted to stay on trail, not go into a trail town my husband always did a midway cache. It was always fine when we got there.
One year we buried a duct taped #10 tupperware container. I blew out a knee and we did not get back to get the cache.
One year later we went to dig it up and it was in perfect condition. Crackers were even crisp.
We went back for the containers on the way home from the hike.
After having spent so many years on the trail I would now just do town resupplies. Cache works but is a pain to plan, execute and clean up after. (Just MHO)
Caching is mentioned in at least one of the journals in the ancient (1975) Rodale Press books. I've never done it. The way I see it, food is only one of the reasons I stop in town. The other(s) include a shower, comfy bed, decent meal, etc.
Blissful
09-05-2008, 20:51
Don't see a reason for it on the AT - enough towns and support nearby.
I agree for a thru-hike or a longer section hike a cache is not necessary on the AT. We are only out for a week and do it to save weight and time going into town.
We do recognize our cache might not be there when we arrive, but so what, there is always plan b. We do camouflage it pretty well and have yet to have an issue.
We don't find it to be a hassle at all. When we stash the cache, the extra driving helps us to get a feel for where we will be hiking. Picking up the cache after the hike is not an issue either.
Refrigerators are good for caching beer. In the woods, we cache beverages that offer a better weight/effect balance.
Refrigerators are good for caching beer. In the woods, we cache beverages that offer a better weight/effect balance.
I agree.
Snow makes a wonderful place to cache white wine:
http://www.pmags.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=17355&g2_serialNumber=2&g2_GALLERYSID=9b7269e0127675108ae6001d1d0952b4
sasquatch2014
09-05-2008, 22:10
There is a book called Forest Under My Fingernails. I read it last year it is a good quick read only 173 pages. In the book the author is doing a thru of the long but more than just doing a thru he wants to be able to spend the whole month out in the forest. To do this he set up a number of Cache's along the way. Kind of a neat idea to really stay out on the trail more. I think that with out help it would be a logistical nightmare to try it for a trail as long as the AT.
envirodiver
09-05-2008, 22:22
I use caches quite a bit (food, clothes, batteries, water). I've bought several Army surplus metal ammo boxes. They are waterproof and bearproof. I usually walk up the trail a bit from the road and hide my cache, to ensure it will still be there. Never had a problem.
Those of you that do catch stuff, do you tag the catch with GPS? I don’t know if this is important when hiking as much as when going back in a car to pick them up and remembering how many and where the container is.
grizzlyadam
09-05-2008, 22:39
i cached twice when i was hiking the mountains to sea trail in 2005. both were in the form of a bear bag and both were along the blue ridge parkway. and, both were there and untouched when i arrived at them....
For the most part, i don't think anyone would touch it even if they happened to find it if something was written on it to indicate it was a cache for a hiker and not some hidden trail magic or a geocache.
Those of you that do catch stuff, do you tag the catch with GPS? I don’t know if this is important when hiking as much as when going back in a car to pick them up and remembering how many and where the container is.
I've never cached food. But I have on many occasions left my pack or my bicycle in the woods near a trailhead, before and during section hikes (most of these lasting three days or so.) The pack's in the woods while I'm biking, and the bike is in the woods while I'm hiking.
No GPS involved.
shelterbuilder
09-06-2008, 13:04
I'm considering doing this for my next longer-than-a-weekend hike. I still have the feeding tube in my side, and the weight of the cans of liquid nutrition make a cache seem like the only possible way to get out for longer than two or three days. In my case, if the cache is disturbed, plan "B" would be a quick text message to my wife to have our son drop off another case of cans!
I cached food and stuff near several road crossings when I hiked Maine with a 9-year-old in 1991. My reasons were simple. I didn't want to hitch hike with a young child. Towns in Maine tend to be a long ways from road crossings. Also I wanted him to experience the woods and mountains and not be distracted by town affairs. It worked so well, that in 1995 when I hiked Connecticut and Massachusetts with the same child plus his younger cousin I did the same.
I used 3 gallon plastic food buckets, sealed the covers with duct tape, and placed them in black plastic garbage bags behind bushes, fallen logs, and stumps a few yards off the trail. None were disturbed by either humans or animals. The buckets more than a decade later remain in my kitchen, storing flour, corn meal, sugar, rice and other bulk food essentials.
The Maine walk was the closest thing to the illusion of wilderness I've ever experienced. My grandson built a campfire every night and for weeks afterwards I would wake up during the night and think the red led on our bedroom VCR was a coal from one of his fires.
In contrast, when I walked most of the trail in 1993, I never once experienced that sense of wildness. There were just too many town stops.
Weary
I agree.
Snow makes a wonderful place to cache white wine...
What about Red? :D
I'v cached many times most recently last fall doing 110 miles in GA and NC...helps me keep the weight low and gives me something to look forward to at the half way point of my solo trips. I'v even changed out cloths and put in "just in case" gear like extra reading glasses, or a paperback to trade out. I like going back after it too...sort of a transition time before my drives back home.
MyName1sMud
09-09-2008, 15:10
I don't do it. It is a security issue for me. I don't want to get there and have someone or something get into my food.
Exactly. It would make me so mad if someone raided my stuff and I wasn't there to get to beat some sense into them.:o
superman
09-09-2008, 15:22
I cached many times. I hang them like a bear bag and they've always been there when I came back for them, even the one that fell to the ground. The cord looked like it was chafed through. It was just laying there on the ground completely intact. I have spotted other peoples caches and just left them alone. It works fine except that you really have to anticipate what you will need. One time I over estimated how much I would eat, so I wound up carrying almost double food and that's heavy.
OldStormcrow
09-09-2008, 15:34
The only thing that I have ever bothered to cache has been beers at stream crossings near the road (when section hiking). Freeze dried food is light enough to carry enough of, but a cold beer is a nice treat while taking a break next to a stream crossing. Yeah, I know it's probably illegal, but then, aren't most fun things?
Never have and doubt I ever will. Not against the idea at all, just always found and used alternatives.
I have on AT but more on other trails where resupply could be an all day deal
RadioFreq
09-10-2008, 16:22
Do you cache? Thoughts?
No, I prefer to piche...or maybe play in the outfield. :D
DuctTape
09-11-2008, 01:53
I just returned from a hike in the Grand Canyon where I had to cache some water. It's bascially a necessity for some hikes here. I left two gallon jugs and the second one was only half full - it looked like a raven or something had gotten into it with a jagged cut along the top half.
trailale
09-12-2008, 11:19
I cached a bear bag one time and opened it to find that someone had left me a note that said "Hi!". Food was all still there but it was a little creepy.
NorthCountryWoods
09-12-2008, 14:14
Back in my volunteer days on the LT, we were instructed to always pack out found caches. The leader used to say "if it's not under your control it's litter".
Back in my volunteer days on the LT, we were instructed to always pack out found caches. The leader used to say "if it's not under your control it's litter".
I'm not sure that was good advice...a cache can be a life line sometimes...
Kind of eliminates some desert loop hikes...I've been instructed by park rangers to cache water if I wanted to do some longer hikes in Big Bend..
I cache often, to avoid the hassle of hitching to town, and to be sure I have the things I want. For an AT thru, I wouldn't bother, but for a 1 to 4 week hike, it works great. I use bear canisters, and just hide them a short distance off the trail (100' is plenty). Never had one disturbed in any way, never had trouble finding them (didn't use GPS, didn't even write down where they were - memory works just fine)
superman
09-17-2008, 08:56
I cache often, to avoid the hassle of hitching to town, and to be sure I have the things I want. For an AT thru, I wouldn't bother, but for a 1 to 4 week hike, it works great. I use bear canisters, and just hide them a short distance off the trail (100' is plenty). Never had one disturbed in any way, never had trouble finding them (didn't use GPS, didn't even write down where they were - memory works just fine)
Cacheing works great for re-doing chunks of the LT. I can hang them near road crossings before getting dropped off. It keeps my pack weight down and allows me more hiking time rather than resupply time which allows me to better predict my finish time for pick up (no cell phone or other gadgets). I may only have three functional brain cells but even I can remember where I put my cache. :)
SunnyWalker
02-11-2009, 23:50
Weary: Thanks for your comment. I enjoyed it and really would like to do that in 100 mile wilderness If I can set it up.