zarbatavis: Having read the latest discussions about "Terre-Noire", i have decided today to archive the cache.
It has been amazing how many people have used the cache site in the past 3 weeks since its publication. Thanks!
Let me answer some questions that have arisen in the recent discussion:
- the coordinates, that are "pointing" into the seine:
when hiding the cache i used the average of 150 coordinate snapshots on my GPS. I could have stayed there for an extra 20 minutes to recieve even more readings, but with the cache being hidden under a bridge, there is always going to be a margin of ~5m precision. And since the cache was exactly 70 cm away from the seine, the coordinates will point into the seine for some GPS users.
i have marked the cache as not suitable for small children, since the cache is directly at a fast flowing river, and in close distance to the "quai des bergers", a dangerous street with fast traffic, that should NOT be crossed. Being a geocacher however, i know that sometimes the obvious direct access is not the best access to a cache. In the case of "terre-noire" the access is indeed not via this traffic overloaded street, but via the buggy-wheelchair-strolley-bicycle friendly ramp leading to the "yacht de Paris" quay. From there you just had to walk 100m back to the bridge on a footpath.
- the homeless people, SDF of Paris:
Once at the bridge, you did not have to look under the street side of the bridge, but on the river side. For those amongst you that looked closely at the bridge, you would have noticed the name "Terre-Noire" on the iron bridge beam,on the river side ,under which the cache was hidden. I have accessed the cache site 3 times. Not once did i have to climb over tents of homeless people nor search their stuff in order to access the cache.
Why have i archived the cache, despite so many people finding it and being happy to exchange TB, Coins, and other items?
- As with all caches, there is always a margin for interpretation, a margin of error and an element of trial and error. Of course i could have written more detailed instructions on how to access the cache site, which beam of the bridge to look under (even though the name "Terre-Noire" kind off gave it away already), etc. But for me geocaching is not just being told exactly all the steps necessary to find the cache container. I believe, that once arrived at a cache site, common sense, logic, and a little bit of adventure should lead us to the final hiding place. Finding a cache that way is much more rewarding than having all the clues spelled out already in front of you as a print out.
Anyways, these are just my thoughts, i believe that a big part of the geocaching community agrees with me on this though.
Almost one person a day has found the cache Terre-Noire over the last 3 weeks. I thank all of you who took the effort to look and discover it, and apologize to those who couldn't find it, or were discouraged by the circumstances.
Better Luck next time!
Happy Caching,
Zarbatavis
p.s: I have collected the container, and added logs to the present travelbugs and Geocoins. The following coins were no longer present though:
nielsenc German Geocoin
nielsenc Triple Wisdom Geocoin
Generic 2007 Geocoin