Australian Power Trails

[noikmeister]

I think that if they are well conceived and (here is the crucial point) well maintained I don't have an issue with them. I enjoy the numbers boost and I got a nice mini-boost during my airport stayover in Melbourne.

[Zalgariath]

Ive done 2 trails over here. One was a 33 10 mile (16km) bike ride through Derbyshire... now archived for unknown reasons. It was great. Each hide different, various sizes from micro to ammo, and probably about 300m-500m average between each so you got to enjoy the ride along a dedicated track. (Old railway line).... then of course you had to ride back

The other is the "WTF (Water to Follow)" Trail in West London. I did half of these, 70+ spread over 17km's. I used these to maintain my geo-streak over the summer one at a time. Nearly all were film pots, but 90% of them standing alone would be better then average micros, and the number that were "great" far outstretched the number "crap". Almost every hide was different and being along rivers and canal... rather a number were high terrain where you HAD to get wet Doable on foot in a day in summer with an early start, but a hell of a challenge. Bike would help. Would be an amazing experience though I enjoyed them 1 at a time. Now they are full of Munzees too, I might even go back and try it again, redoing the ones I already found and grabbing the other half I missed.

PT's like that, are tops. I think the keys are:

Location - The trail need to be interesting.
Variation - Mix up the hides and/or containers
An Anchor - There needs to be a interesting reason/theme/challenge involved.

If a PT satisfies those conditions, I will jump at it. If it is just a line of 100 film pots on a guard rail... Id wait until I was REALLY bored

[Marcus Vitruvius]

PT's like that, are tops. I think the keys are:

Location - The trail need to be interesting.
Variation - Mix up the hides and/or containers
An Anchor - There needs to be a interesting reason/theme/challenge involved.

A very good recipe for success!

[MtnLioness]

If it is just a line of 100 film pots on a guard rail... Id wait until I was REALLY bored

Come to SA and find the rusty tins full of soggy pulp and earwigs for a chance at the famed litter trail up north!

[Philipp]

You could update the wiki. I would try and keep controversy out of the wiki page, though.

That's exactly why I don't update the wiki I wouldn't get the wording right on this one.

Lets make sure we acknowledge ALL the members from Team Woodland for their efforts in this series, it took a team of people to make this come to life.

Well he gave the impression it was just him.

[lemmykc]

I have done the Lady Talbot trail in vic up near where the devastation of Black Saturday was: in Marysville. Let me put it this way: if there was one cache along the trail, I certainly wouldn't have made a day of going up there to complete that one cache. However I was attracted by the 20 strong power trail and made a day of going for it. It was incredibly fantastic to see how well the wildlife and flora has sprouted back to life in a fascinating area. And the trail was good: reasonable sized containers for most finds, and then a few micro hides that are creative, but I am sure most have seen the before.

I have also completed the Rail Ride trail but if you want a lot of numbers in a short period of time, I wouldn't go for it. The hides are bloody brilliant (some of the best I have EVER seen) and the locations are alright (I can see why you would place them there: they are nice but not fantastic), but some of those hides are very hard.

I have also completed the Mornington Peninsula Trail and that was alright. It was well set up and all and it was a quick way to get 12 or so caches in a very short time.

I enjoyed the first two trails a lot and I am looking forward to completing the Woodlands 100.

[caughtatwork]

I was just reading this on the GC forums.
http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index. ... pic=285365

Alien head is a power trail.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_de ... 3bf66eb7db

Check the latest Google Maps imagery.
http://g.co/maps/7gcs2

Geocachers leaving their mark, visible from space.
I'm not sure that's a good thing

[The Empire]

Is it a 'Power Trail' or a long series of caches? I have done 3 in the past month...

Woodlands on Sunday
101 Dalmations in NZ
and 52 Cache Pick Up in NZ

None of these cache series are like ET (from what I can gather from YouTube clips). In each of them (more so the ones in NZ) you have to park, get out, start looking for the cache which is usually hidden 10+ metres from the road (not just behind the reflector pole covered by a rock) in a different way from the last. Sometimes deep in the bush (Dalmations) and damn hard to find I had a few DNFs in Dalmations and 52 Cache Pick Up. So many that I didn't have all the clues to complete the final mystery. When I did Woodlands, some of them involved all 4 of us out there scrounging around looking. I've seen in the logs that people have DNFed a few of them too.

I'd consider all three of them to be long series of caches, and very good fun!

[caughtatwork]

Well, your scrounging around was all due to the bike, I'm sure.

[Alansee]

I certainly wouldn't be putting the likes of Rail Ride or Bellarine Rail Trail as Power Trails. 12 or 14 caches spread apart make for a small series only.

It is also clear that those who have completed Woodlands have by and large enjoyed the experience. The logs on #100 make that pretty clear. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_de ... wp=GC35E2X. It is in a really nice park with a number of attractions, and there are a variety of natural and non-natural hides.

And I think that Robmc has been misinterpreted - there were definitely four people involved in that series.

[The Empire]

Well, your scrounging around was all due to the bike, I'm sure.

My bike was all sorts of awesome

[cantanga]

As the owner of a now archived powertrail it was set up as purely a numbers thing. Well perhaps a bit of mocking at the same time. As far as I'm concerned a power trail has to be numerous caches in close proximity to each other to make for easy gathering. If they are spread out more than say 200-300m it's just another series. Basically they are a good way to cachers to an area for whatever reason. Have an unloved cache? place a powertrail and it becomes worthwhile for people to travel there due to increased cache density.
But to answer your original questions, yes they can be fun however I reckon I would get bored if its any longer than say 20 caches. Are they a numbers game? Yes. Would I return to the scene to collect the rest? That would depend on the accessibility of the area and the amount left to find, if I have to travel more than 15 minutes then probably no, at least unless there are other caches in the area that I decide to go get. Are they pointless? No more then any other cache after all the hider hid them for a reason and finders find them for a reason.

[mtbikeroz]

As the owner of a now archived powertrail it was set up as purely a numbers thing. .

And a real hoot that was too, loved it.

[rogerw3]

At the risk of blowing my own horn, come up the Blue Mountains and do the 60 caches GCA Power Trail, (tag bmpt). Not a micro or nano to be found!

[pjmpjm]

At the risk of blowing my own horn, come up the Blue Mountains and do the 60 caches GCA Power Trail, (tag bmpt). Not a micro or nano to be found!

Have now logged 45 (I think) out of the 60 BMPTs and can highly recommend this new series!

Most are not hidden right on the Great Western Highway and some even involve mini bush walks. The caches run all the way from Penrith to Lithgow.

And once you get out in the Blue Mountains, there are plenty more GCAs and GCs to find.