Night Caches

[blossom*]

I did my first night cache last night and it was soooooo much fun We thought it would be great to do some more and then I started thinking about how to find them. I wonder if they ought to be a separate Type of cache?

Of course, there are problems with this because some night caches are Multi and some are Traditional etc. But all the same, if the over-riding aspect of the cache is Night, this could be selected as the Type if the hider wants it listed this way.

And of course, you can search in some places using the "attirbute" of "best done at night" But there are not so many places you can use the Attributes in a search.

And of course, this may have been raised already!

But I'd like to know what others think?

[SamCarter]

There's a list of night caches in Australia here:
http://forum.geocaching.com.au/viewtopi ... =2&t=12369

[oldfella]

A night time cache still has to be listed as traditional, Multi, Puzzle etc anyway. The owner of the cache will usualy advise in the description if this is a night only cache due to reflective arrows or luminesent paint etc. Also some caches lend themselves to night or late afternoon attempts due to the location of GZ. I have gone out at night to find what was a recommended night time only caches when it was possigble with a lot of descretion to find and log it in daylight. Some cachers will attempt a find in daylight against the recommendation of night time tryng to get the FTF or what ever. There are other reasons why a cacher will attempt to find a night time recommended cache in daylight but in some instances the muggle factor is very real and the possiobility of this cache being muggeled is extremely high. Having said all this I think the only time a night time recommendation will be really relevant is if it is impossible to find it whilst the sun is out due to a luminesent trail etc.

[reasonjo]

I'm still very new to caching so I probably don't know what I'm talking about.. but I'll put my two cents worth in anyway.

I've thought a few times I'd like to go out and hunt a cache at night, just for the fun of it, but haven't been out to do it because I simply don't feel safe. I'm female and I live in an area that just isn't safe for women to be out alone after dark. I have a few friends who go caching with me, but I haven't been able to convince them to come out after dark, and one of them is female as well so wouldn't really help with the feeling safe factor anyway.

If there was a 'Night Cache' category would it be a rule that you could only log the cache if you found it at night? That would kind of suck because I'm in a position where I probably wouldn't be able to do any of them.

[blossom*]

Night vs Day: I reckon you can try any cache at night or in the day - either are valid finds. But most caches are easier to find in the day so it's mostly logical to look in the day if that suits you.

On the other hand, caches that are SPECIFICALLY designed to be done at night are generally pretty hard to do in the day becasue you can't see the shine-at-night fire tacks. It's possible of course to try in the day and if you manage to find it, it's still a valid find.

But night caches are a special experience and that's why I reckon it's an idea to consider making them a separate category. That way, people could know more easily that certain caches were specially designed to be a night cache. At the moment, there is no way to readily know which are night caches unless the name has "Night" in it somewhere.

The list of Night caches in Australia shows how new this is but as it grows, who knows?

Plus night caching is great when you have to work all day

[Captain Terror]

I think it is a bit like the debate of making nano a seperate size catgory. It just falls under the micro category, and it can easily be mentioned in the cahce page.

The same applies here, I feel. As night cache doesnt really describe what type of cache it is, the hider would still need to say if it is a multi/puzzle/traditional in the cache page anyway. so it sorta defeats the purpose a little ay.

The other thing that will happen is if each time a new style of cache appears (such as nightcache), a new category was officially made, then there would be so many it would become inefficient and confusing.

[backPAQer]

I have posted a new event down here in Melbourne dedicated to Night Caching - just waiting for the reviewer to click the button!!!

It's scheduled for October 31st (Halloween!!!)

[pjamesk]

I'm in the process of getting permission to do some night caching at Port Arthur
got a meeting with themin the morning

[blossom*]

Night cache event on Halloween - what a BRILLIANT idea

If there were enough people interested, we could make some new night caches in Sydney and have a mass publishing for Halloween. Anyone interested? I have one in mind for Parramatta area.

[Rainbow Spirit]

blossom*, count me in as I have some ideas for a night cache out here in the SW of Sydney.
And Halloween is my birthday!

[stringy]

I picked yes because I am a geocacher that when I go on holidays I just download any traditional cache (directly to the GPS) without looking at the description and if I go looking for a cache and couldn't find and go back on the internet at home and post a dnf and it was a night cache I would be !@#!@#!@$.!!!!!

[Marcus Vitruvius]

I picked yes because I am a geocacher that when I go on holidays I just download any traditional cache (directly to the GPS) without looking at the description and if I go looking for a cache and couldn't find and go back on the internet at home and post a dnf and it was a night cache I would be !@#!@#!@$.!!!!!

I hate to say it, but if you went looking for a night cache in the daylight and didn't read the cache description before you went, then it would be your own fault. Otherwise.....why have cache descriptions in the first place.

At the moment, I think it's it's fine the way it is. The only suggestion I can throw up is that you could possibly change the colour of a traditional cache from green to blue to indicate a night cache. It's still remains a traditional in the sense that it's represented by a single cache icon, but changing the colour would simply indicate that it's a night only cache. Either that, or add the letter 'N' to the start or end of the cache's GC's code.

[Captain Terror]

Agreed with Marcus Vitruvius

[Papa Bear_Left]

It's pretty unlikely that a traditional cache will be findable at night only, even though it might be recommended for nocturnal hunting (for the view or ambience or whatever.)

Given that the caches with fire-tacks, etc. will be listed as multis or maybe mystery types, it's just too bad if someone doesn't read the description first.

That said, it wouldn't hurt to put something in the title that suggests that it's a night-only cache. Maybe a convention of putting "(night cache)" in the name or something?

[blossom*]

I think I agree with Papa Bear - having a tradition of putting "(night cache)" in the title is maybe a good way to go. Then you can simply search on names with "night" in them and get what you're looking for.

Would you define night caches as a multi? If you had listed co-ordinates to start from and then followed the firetacks to GZ, would that be defined as a Multi? I think probably yes but it's not like a day-time multi where you have to find/calculate the co-ordinates real of the GZ. In this case you just follow the "path".

So is it multi?

I just love all these animated smilies