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As you have discovered, the rating system (1-5... ) is very relative
to what the locals have in mind and what they are used to. In
Colorado, where everybody expects a walk up a hill, they might call
a 2 mile walk up a hill a 2 because that is what they all
are. "Nothing special, just a 2 mile walk up a hill". Around here,
we would call it a 4 since we dont really see those kinds of hills.
In the desert you could see a lot of "bring plenty of water and a 4x4
for this easy 2/2 cache and 4 mile walk." That would be a 4/5 , for
long walk, special equipment, ect. So ya really have to take the
ratings with a grain of salt and with the local environment in mind.
Glenn
I dont venture into the shark infested forums either. I have survived
much better than most folks there.
At 12:44 PM 8/11/2005, you wrote:
Ya Think?? ;+)
We might not be the most prolific cachers, but I do read a LOT and know better than to go to the forums and start or even join in on most conversations there. Some of the forum regulars appear to live for fresh meat. I do read the forums and pick up all the interesting "gossip" and changes.. but to really join in .. no way.
Did you get "markwelled" with a topic like rating systems? Theoretically, there IS a rating system somewhere. There's a link from the SLAGA site I believe. The problem I'm running into for a vacation is that while a 1.5 - 2 terrain that includes a 4 mile "walk" might be doable here, it's probably not a wise choice for US on vacation -- unless there's a great payoff at the end. I'm not finding a ton of those -- with a payoff.
And, Bernie's PQ suggestion .. well ..that could eliminate some nice caches that may or may not fit into our vacation plans. And, without a nice description it would appear that even a "less than 1" rating means something different in some areas than here. I looked at one that was a 1 rating and pictures people posted showed a rocky unpaved minimountain with captions like "Whew.. tough hill without a path" "did this one after a rain and slid 30 feet into a creek" It's very possible that the cache placers in that area not as big of wimps as I am lol. I've run across quite a few grandfathered caches that were placed by people visiting on vacation. Geostandards have changed a bit in 4-5 years too.
I've concluded that in this area we're better at describing the terrain with one-legged pregnant cachers in mind.
