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GorgonVaktmester Geocacher since: January 1st, 2009 Cachetur.no user since: January 15th, 2009 Number of finds: 12 113 Number of trips: 142 Number of trip templates: 22 Favoritt cache type:  Wherigo (NOT reverse)Favorite print template: Detailed, left aligned – GC version Home region:  Telemark  Norway |
What’s your caching style?
The majority of my caching is done during vacations, and on weekend trips, that is trips lasting several days. Then I cache along the road to and from my destination, followed by caching on my destination. It may be out in the bush, or it can be urban caching, it all depends on where I’m going and who I travel with (if I’m not traveling alone). I do some traveling by my self, especialy the longer trips are done by my self. My weekend trips varies, if I’m with or without company. I love caching with others, but I also enjoy going on a trip alone for 3-4weeks.
When I’m caching by myself I need to think about my own safety. And then I have to skip some caches, that I definitely would have tried acompanied by others. Another thing I do for safety reasons, is that in some cases (should i venture up a mountain, or other places where something could happen and I’m uncertain about whether or not there’s phone coverage) I’m letting a friend know where I’m starting from, where I’m going and for how long i estimate I’ll be gone. And when I’m back I let him know that I’m safely back. Should I not be back by the pre estimated time my friend will be able to notify rescue services. SAFETY FIRST!
Tell us a bit about your last trip
I’m actually out traveling now. I’m on a 4 week long trip with my RV along the coast of Trøndelag (the northern part) and Nordland, as well as some municipalities along the Swedish border. I have a long-term goal stating that I will find at least one (most preferably more) caches in each municipality, the way the municipality map for Norway looked like. January 1st, 2009 which is the date I started caching.
The planning of the trip started already in February where I made a rough sketch of the trip and started adding caches. During springtime , the trip was getting more complete, and I started dividing it up in daily stages based on cachetur.no’s calculation of how long a certain set of caches would take. A bit depending on the number of ferries, the distance I have to drive and how long the distance away from the road the caches are, as well as cachetur.no’s calculation of how long it usually takes to find the cache, I end up with 20-50 caches per day (usually somewhere between 30 and 40).
Which feature on cachetur.no are you most happy about?
As an RV-cacher I’m quite fond of the “RV sites” function. That helps me a lot by letting me know about places where others (or my self) have been before, and tells us that overnight stays are possible.
But it might be full, and then a quick search will show me if there’s any other places nearby where I can drive to instead of starting to look at random. The database of these places is still under construction so it’s very great when other RV-cachers register the places they’ve been on so that others can enjoy the information and the location later.
The registration form is quick and easy to fill out!
What functionality do you emphasise when talking about cachetur.no to people who do not use cachetur.no?
I’m doing a lot of beginners courses, where I go through the whole process, from the decision to make a trip up to having a finished trip in the form of a GPX file for the GPS (for those who use that) , a printout and now the last adition, a view of the app that can help you keep track of the time spent on your trip. So the most basic in planning a trip. And then I quickly show some of the other features so that you know what can be further developed. But first and foremost, it’s important that you learn to build a single trip.
What is the most important thing cachetur.no does for you?
Helps me to plan my trips. Then I don’t have to make that many decisions on the fly when I’m out caching. With cachetur.no I have already considered whether a cache is of a type that suits me or not. I’ve seen if it has many DNFs or NM logs and on the basis of it, I have considered if I would like to try to find it.
But having said that … Plans must not be followed slavishly. If I see that I’m behind on time I can skip some caches. But once I’ve looked at them in advance and prioritized them, it’s easier to know which ones to skip and which ones to prioritize. I can also make changes to my plans on the basis of input I receive during my trip.
A few days ago I received a tip about a very special cache that was not on my plan. I chose to follow that tip, and then skipped other caches into the plan. But when you have a very concrete plan, it’s quite easy to make such changes.
How did the cachetur.no app help you on your trip?
Since I have been (and am) on a trip along the coast road (Fv. 17, Helgeland coast) this summer, I have had quite a few ferry trips, and all these ferries do not have very frequent departures. Being able to keep track of how I am currently in order to reach certain ferry departures has been very useful!
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