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Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Discussion of CAM, the CAM caches, etc. NO SPOILERS PLEASE!
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Corfmania
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Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by Corfmania »

Here you'll find several frequently asked questions about Cache Across Maryland, and some frequently given answers! If you have a general question you don't see answered or you believe is inaccurate, please post a reply and we'll update the list.

What is CAM?
CAM (Cache Across Maryland) is an annual event hosted by the Maryland Geocaching Society. 10 members are chosen by the MGS CAM Committee to place a total of 10 CAM caches in various locations all over Maryland. Your mission is to find all 10 of those caches and have a wonderful time travelling around this fine State. If you find all 10 and gather the special code from each one, the location of the annual CAM celebratory picnic will be revealed and you're invited to attend.

When is CAM?
It varies from year to year, but the hunt typically begins on a Saturday in mid-March, and the picnic is typically the 1st weekend in May. This gives you about 6 or 7 weeks to find all the caches.

Where is the picnic?
You need to find all the caches and get the information from each one. A special decoder is published each year shortly before the picnic that will reveal the location when paired with the information you discovered (and wrote down, right?) in each cache. The picnic is held in a different location each year, and finding out where is part of the fun!

Who can participate?
Any geocacher can participate, regardless of experience. You must have a valid account on geocaching.com and your geocaching.com username will appear on your Certificate of Completion. If you're not a member of the MGS that's OK, but you're encouraged to join.

Do I need to find all the CAM Caches to attend the picnic?
Yes! The picnic is a special event for those that find all of the caches and you need to visit each cache to get the information needed to find the picnic.

Boy, there is a lot of driving needed to get all the caches! Can I join a group and carpool?
Of course! Just seek out other participants and form a group. You can even post in the forums and ask. There is typically a forum thread dedicated to carpooling as well.

What can I expect the caches to be like? How hard are they?
The CAM caches are usually (but not always) up to a 2.5 Difficulty, 2.5 Terrain rating and a Traditional. Size is at least a regular. You might run into a Multi-Cache occasionally.

What happens to the CAM caches after CAM each year?
The CAM caches are often transferred to the hider of the cache or otherwise adopted out and maintained like any other cache. In some cases the hides are archived, for instance if hide permission is granted by the land manager specifically just for CAM.

Where is the cache information for each of the caches?
On the morning of opening day the cache pages get published in the forums as .pdf files for viewing, and are also included in a special .gpx file you can load on your GPSr. They are NOT published on geocaching.com until after the picnic. They are typically made available before dawn to give you some travel time and the maximum amount of daylight to cache. A word of warning though: You MUST adhere to any restrictions on access times for the land the cache is placed on. Violating legal land access times will not be tolerated, is illegal, and puts future CAMs in jeopardy. The MGS won't bail you out of the Stoney Lonesome either. We try to put accurate hours on the cache listings, but it is your responsibility to comply with local laws.

If the CAM caches aren't published on geocaching.com until after the CAM Picnic, what do I do about logging them in the meantime?
At the start of CAM, a topic will be opened here on the forums for each cache. You may log your experience in that topic and when the caches are published on geocaching.com after the picnic, you can cut and paste your logs. Of course, you can just keep your own notes somewhere until they are available for logging on geocaching.com.

I care what order my caches get logged on geocaching.com and I log using the real found date. If the CAM caches aren't available for logging on geocaching.com until after the picnic, how can I keep them in order along with all my other finds during CAM?
The simple answer is that you can't unless you wait till after CAM to log everything you found during CAM on geocaching.com. If you only worry about find milestone order, then you can use the milestone features on geocaching.com to keep milestones accurate in your account. You are strongly encouraged to backdate your logs on geocaching.com with the actual date during CAM that you found them.

I've got this really cool Travel Bug or other Trackable. Can I put it in a CAM Cache?
Please don't. Since the caches aren't published on geocaching.com during CAM, it isn't possible to log them into or out of the cache, and that's not fair to the owner of the trackable. So, please don't place any in a CAM cache during CAM. If you find one, please take it with you and put it in a cache that's listed on geocaching.com.

I'm busy or slow, can I finish CAM after the picnic?
You can't finish CAM after the picnic, but you CAN still go find all the caches that remain and see all the wonderful places. It's much better to finish CAM during CAM!

Is there any sort of reward for finishing?
Of course! You'll get to see a bunch of Maryland, meet people on the trails and at the picnic, and generally have a REWARDING time! If you mean something physical, very often (but not always) there is a reward such as a geocoin, Pathtag, or other such thing presented at the picnic to those that complete CAM. And you get a Certificate of Completion because if you finish you definitely deserve recognition! If there are any special reward items, they are strictly limited to one per geocaching.com account.

How will you know I've found all the caches and I'm finished?
Details on how to tell us you've finished can vary from year to year. Check out that year's CAM Information post in the forums for details. It is VERY IMPORTANT to let us know you've finished so we can make the picnic as enjoyable as possible for everyone and to be sure you receive your Certificate of Completion, etc.

Can I get a CAM geocoin/Pathtag/whatever without participating or finishing CAM?
If any are still available after CAM for a year they were produced, they can typically be purchased from an MGS Officer at any MGS event while supplies last.

Is there anything else to do during CAM but find the caches?
There are often some other contests going on, such as the Best Photo contest, vote for your Favorite Hide, etc. and there are a ton of competitions and awards at the picnic. Suggestions are always welcome!

What if I can't find one of the caches, it's missing, or damaged?
You can contact any of the MGS Officers at any time to report any issue with a CAM hide during CAM. We'll coordinate repair or replacement of a hide as quickly as possible so you can make another attempt, but you must find all of them to complete CAM. After the picnic, please contact the cache owner.

I'm really hungry after all that caching. What's to eat at the picnic?
The picnic is a grand pot luck and barbeque. A few weeks before the picnic a forum topic will be started where you can tell us what you're planning to bring.

Who pays for all this?
You do, through your generous donation of time, goods, or money to the MGS. You can offer monetary support through various ways, including the purchase of MGS and special CAM merchandise from the MGS Store, direct donations, purchase of an MGS Maryland License Plate, donations of items for MGS Silent Auctions, and participating in other fundraising activities throughout the year. Everything goes back to the community in accordance with our by-laws.
Last edited by Corfmania on Sun Jan 06, 2013 1:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
GPSGurl
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by GPSGurl »

I am new on here and wasn't sure if this was the right place to ask a question or not but I will try anyway :) I might have missed it in the Q&As...for the CAM, what is the terrain/difficulty level for most of the caches?
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Corfmania
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by Corfmania »

2s as a basic guideline but longer walks are certainly possible. :whistle:
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Terri
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by Terri »

I truly hope if there are longer walks that they end up some place interesting. I hate those long walks to nothing. Plus with limited time taking two hours to do a CAM cache doesn't help. I'm not saying that I want a cache and dash but something reasonable and/or interesting.
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by pco1988 »

I really enjoyed the Pretty Boy Dam multi last year! I hope there will be caches like this one for the up and coming 2013 CAM!
Happy Trails!

Philip Oxman
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zekester
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by zekester »

"If the CAM caches aren't published on geocaching.com until after the CAM Picnic, what do I do about logging them in the meantime?
At the start of CAM, a topic will be opened here on the forums for each cache. You may log your experience in that topic and when the caches are published on geocaching.com after the picnic, you can cut and paste your logs. Of course, you can just keep your own notes somewhere until they are available for logging on geocaching.com.

I care what order my caches get logged on geocaching.com and I log using the real found date. If the CAM caches aren't available for logging on geocaching.com until after the picnic, how can I keep them in order along with all my other finds during CAM?
The simple answer is that you can't unless you wait till after CAM to log everything you found during CAM on geocaching.com. If you only worry about find milestone order, then you can use the milestone features on geocaching.com to keep milestones accurate in your account. You are strongly encouraged to backdate your logs on geocaching.com with the actual date during CAM that you found them."

This is confusing. On the one hand you say we can't log the caches as they are not published until after the event. On the other hand you say to backdate the caches for the date they were found. Thus all of the CAM caches would have log dates before they were published; this makes no sense. Why is it we would be searching for unpublished caches, why don't you just publish them when it starts???

Why is it set up like this? We absolutely log caches as we find them, and in the order found. We find that delaying logs makes us lose track of which cache was which, and lose pertinent details that we would have included in the logs if we had logged them as we went. Also, being a travel bug, Zekester wants to have an "accurate" measure of his travel from cache to cache, which requires logging them in order. We'd also like to launch travel bugs in these caches, as we know they will be well visited, and the bugs will likely move more. By launching CAM before the caches are published you prevent this as well.

Please explain the reasoning behind this approach.
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by robert »

It's set up that way to keep people who are not participating in CAM from inadvertently doing something that could possibly jeopardize the caches.

I would keep a Word doc or spreadsheet with log info and then after CAM go back and copy/paste the logs. I am sure many do it the same way if they really want to log in exact order. Otherwise log everything else and then go back to log the CAM when they are published.
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by cooley1103 »

Groundspeak knows about the situation with CAM and they actually approve of the backdating of logs. While the "published" date will be May, the "placed" date will be Feb/Mar.

With regards to mileage, the mileage of TB's and such is based upon the date/time format of the logs. This date/time is dependent on the order in which you log your caches. So if you go on a CAM run and find 5 caches plus 2 CAM caches then I suggest waiting til after CAMs are published to log this day. However you can log all other days that do not have CAM finds. The geocaching.com stats page will adjust for the additional finds.

If you log the 5 caches now and then the CAMs later then this will mess up your mileage because it thinks you found them last on that day.
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by TheWeatherWarrior »

My FAQ:

Why is the interval between the release of CAM in March to the picnic in May so short?
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by OhMelli »

LOL! I have issues with BOTH the last 2 questions!

I'm SO excited about doing CAM this year... but I just found out something has come up that is going to prevent me from STARTING it until after EASTER!!! (probly) :brick: Annnnnnnnnd... I'm only 100 caches away from my 1000th - which I would still love to be the 1000 Steps in PA... but I'm suuuuuuure that's going to fall within the time I'm doing CAM! :violin: (can I cry you some more blues???)

Don't worry! I'm just gonna suck it up and DEAL with it! CAM is what it IS and last year I couldn't do it at all -- and this year I CAN! Life is GOOD! :dance:
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by JL826 »

Will there be a teaser map released this year?
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by _JohnnyCache »

JL826 wrote:Will there be a teaser map released this year?
Look for it on Friday 3/15
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cooley1103
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by cooley1103 »

but Friday was 3 days ago :shame: :shame: :shame:
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by EagleBlazer »

Bunch of rookies, like you don't know where the 10 caches are going to end up. :roll: :D
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by JL826 »

My guess would probably be across Maryland. :D
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by Calvertcachers »

CAM Fever!!!!!
We are excited and ready to go! :dance: :-D :dance:
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by DudleyGrunt »

EagleBlazer wrote:Bunch of rookies, like you don't know where the 10 caches are going to end up. :roll: :D
Mmmmm..... I'm thinking I could come up with a rough "teaser map" based on some publicly available data elsewhere on the Internet - at least when it comes to some of the extremes.
Happy Trails! :smt006

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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by HiTech_MD »

I think I could make a few educated guesses if put the time into it.

HiTech MD
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by EagleBlazer »

While out doing the dry run we stopped by and took a few pics of the picnic location. :( :whistle:
uploadfromtaptalk1363124522568.jpg
uploadfromtaptalk1363124480412.jpg
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Re: Cache Across Maryland (CAM) Frequently Asked Questions

Post by jpatton »

EagleBlazer wrote:While out doing the dry run we stopped by and took a few pics of the picnic location. :(:-P.
uploadfromtaptalk1363124480412.jpg
uploadfromtaptalk1363124522568.jpg
It's going to be a tad crowded with a couple hundred people on that bench. I think I'll try to get there late so I can be on the top of the pile.
Jeff
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