ByronForestPreserve

I did a basic search from my zip and sorted by size. I own two of the four large caches in a 30 mile radius; about 150 are regular size, and the other 1,800 that pop up are small to nano. I can't say how many of the regulars are ammo cans, but we still get new ones hidden every once in a while (commemorative caches to celebrate a milestone tend to be ammo cans). I think it's a mix of what you all have said: preforms and the like are cheaper (we have several power trails through parks and along bike paths of 100+ caches) and easier to hide (ammo cans on those bike paths would get muggled). I do go out of my way when I see a regular on the map, especially if the description says it's an ammo can, but for me, caching is about getting out to interesting locations. If I find an ammo can--great. But if I find micros...well, that's fun, too. I discriminate by location and favorite points rather than by size. And yep, I biked about half of one of those power trails and had a great time even though it was all pretty much the same container attached in the same way over and over again. I don't think I would have hauled my bike down there if not to geocache.

One of those drawings where you have to find and circle the hidden objects, which of course would be different geocache containers. You could probably take a basic coloring page and trace it, and draw in an ammo can, bison tube, etc.

On a T5 cache near me: And for some reason a NM log:

Soooooooo anyway...I don't have a problem posting NM or NA when I feel it's appropriate. Only once was I called out for it, and not by the CO. I'd found a giant tangle of cut down trees at GZ (apparently park maintenance), there were several recent DNFs, and the CO hadn't logged on in over a year. Figured if the owner wasn't active, the NM log might eventually lead to an archive, but if they checked on it, then great. I got a message from a different cacher who said that "the cache was just difficult" and I shouldn't post NM just because I couldn't find it--all the usual, though not in what you might call a friendly tone. As it turns out, the CO checked on it, posted an Owner Maintenance log, and all is well. As for checking on my caches, I try to do that in the late spring, as many of mine are on prairies that are burned regularly. Two of them were charred to slag this year...and I would have replaced one of them even sooner if I'd gotten a NM log on it instead of a DNF that didn't make it clear he'd found some burned plastic. One in particular I check far more often, as it is my only nano and seems to get dropped and lost in the leaf litter a lot. If that one gets a couple DNFs in a row, I head out there with a replacement in my pocket just in case.

I had a cache cam once, but not specifically to watch the cache. I placed a cache at a new picnic shelter, and our landscaping equipment was vandalized (and the cache was muggled). Maintenance put up a camera waaaaay up in the ceiling, and the problems stopped. I never looked at any photos, of cachers or anyone else, though. I did not put a notice on the cache page...AFAIK, they would have only looked at photos if there had been other problems with the equipment. Possibly if those cameras are on park property, they are for similar issues or are just plain trail cams.

I have nearly always put an unactivated coin in my cache for the FTF, not as an incentive, but just as a fun gift. There isn't a ton of competition out this way (as far as I know), or at least I've had different people FTF each of mine. I have also put gift cards and books. My next one out (written up but not submitted) will have three unactivated coins with the request that the FTF take choice of the first and leave the others for the next folks. I'm tempted to also get a pirate Lego set to stick in there since the container is big enough. That should be a first for someone.

I have 13 (about to be 14). They're not hard to maintain, as most of them are where I work. In fact, I walk past many of them on a regular basis and give them a glance when I do. One I let slide (whoops) was one I loved but had lots of muggle issues and was down a flight of 200+ steps in a state park (not forest preserve property). It was not fun for me to maintain. At some point I'm putting together a geotrail for the forest preserve, which will add 12 or so to that. Though that nearly doubles my caches to maintain, at that point I can go on work time to do maintenance runs so it won't be so bad. I'm already choosing 3-4 I'll archive when that happens, but I don't want to quite yet because they're otherwise "holding" a really nice area for one of the new ones. My most troublesome one is my only nano, also at the state park, but I drive by every day and it's a PNG (but a fun one, I swear). I have to go put out a new container a few times a year, but I think it's worth it. I can't imagine more than a couple dozen and applaud those who manage it!

For science, here's the Suncast deck box with paint (the latest coat of acrylic spray still drying, and it will need several more). At a whopping 22 gallons, it's definitely a large. Those signs look like something painted by children, and will hopefully add to the atmosphere rather than cause concern, though if I saw them near private property I'd be worried. The other photo is the sinkhole...you can't see a thing into it from the trail, and I'd be surprised if even our most regular visitors know it's there. I will put one of the signs barely visible to show the way in, because there's a really nice but hidden deer trail to the interior, but if you miss it, you'd be walking through head-high sunflowers for 20' in any other direction. Thankfully it's shaded enough inside (and deeper than I remembered, maybe 8') that the ground is clear once you get past the barrier of prairie grass. Anyway...back on topic, I'll try to remember to post an update on how this container does. I really like the look of it--perfect treasure chest!

I had one at an historic location tucked into a hole outside a natural spring. Unfortunately it is also a popular fishing spot and hiking destination, and it was found by the park ranger one time (about 200' straight up a bluff from GZ), found out in the open by another cacher, taken by kids and later returned (it turned out to be neighbors of a co-worker, and the cache had Byron Forest Preserve on it; kind of miraculous really), and reported muggled by another cacher. I disabled it again to try to make a better hide out of it, and never did it. I finally decided it would have to be a completely different container to work there and possibly a good distance from the spring, which was kind of the whole point, so. OTOH, I had one cache torn apart shortly after it was placed, but has not been muggled again since. We had small construction equipment also vandalized at the site and so put in a security camera, so that may have been what helped. Some locations just aren't great, and you might try replacing the cache once...or decide on the number of times you'll do it before giving up on it. Maybe think about different cammo. Good luck, whatever you decide to do with it.

When they see the "keep out," they'll post a NA, assuming that it's trespassing! (Really, they're ever-vigilant, and every now & then with good reason.) It will be super obvious, I hope! They are some pretty cheesy decorations. I'll make sure the second sign says "Bluebeard's Cache" or whatever. I hid a cache a while ago in a picnic shelter constructed from a donated house (it's cool) and there were still real "No Trespassing" signs along the drive when it was published. Everyone ignored them.

I like this idea. I was going to suggest something similar - a treasure chest box that looks great, with a waterproof container inside that. I checked out some toolboxes and thought about that, too. The larger sizes tend to have a strange shape, from what I can tell, and I wanted something fairly large. What I got is resin molded to already look like wood. The only problem is that it's light tan, so we're going to darken and weather it, then throw some acrylic clear coat over it. I'll post a photo after the camp kids are done decorating it (should be hilarious).

I did look for some of those, but couldn't find one with a hinge type lid...unless I just didn't try the right search terms. I looked for a long time. Ended up ordering a deck box with several reviews claiming it stayed bone dry through thunderstorms. I'll just double box the log and trackables. The starting swag will just be plastic coins and fake gems, so that stuff can get wet if things get wet. That was my next guess. We have one by Suncast that CJ picked up for pool toys (they can get wet, but the Sun kills 'em...) and everything inside stays dry, even with no seal. Suncast is exactly what I ended up getting! I was afraid that with no seal it wouldn't stay dry, but every review said they were excellent. I'm putting in a smaller container for the log and trackables regardless, but the plastic coins and things can stay in the bottom. The outside will be painted and have acrylic clear coat over that, plus it will be in the shade. Should be fine.

Just took a quick look...not bad, but sadly above my budget. I'm doing this one out of pocket, but if I set up a geotrail for work, I'll get some nicer containers...and things that can be bolted down or locked will possibly be a bonus.

I did consider that! The only issue I thought of would be the hinges...with all of the coolers I've had or used for camp (they get rough use probably equivalent to what cachers would throw at one), those have cracked or given out in some way that makes the lid close poorly. That, and the rubber seal always ends up moldy or musty after one season. Maybe there's a brand that would work, but I haven't come across one I'd trust yet.

Make sure the sinkhole does not lead any zealous types to think the box is "buried." In fact, i'd keep a photo of the original condition so you can prove your point to a reviewer after the first cache cop emails a NA report. Secondly, the toolboxes are expensive. Your modification will probably discourage theft. However, if you can chain it to a tree, that would help. $40 for the deck box I ordered, and anyone who wants to steal it will have to hike it out of our preserve. It's off trail and out of sight enough that muggles won't end up anywhere near it. Ended up being 22 gallon storage (so it says, but that seems an overestimate from the dimensions given). Either way, it's not small. None of the things I looked at were 100% watertight until about the $150 large camping drybox range, so I went with the best of the less expensive options, and the one with the best "treasure chest" look. As for the sinkhole, think shallow bowl...it's about 30' in diameter and maybe 5' deep at the center. (This is much smaller and shallower than some of the ones we have around here.) It's not obvious; the tree cover hides the whole thing until you're actually in it, and it's surrounded by prairie. No fear of anyone thinking I dug that hole. I've been wanting to put a cache out there for a long time, but the farmer that used to own the land used it as a dump. Now I have enough help to clean it out, so I'm going for it. We're decorating with semi-cheap skulls and sabers and a few wooden signs with "keep out" and such. It certainly won't be a difficult find, but I'm going for a fun family cache rather than a challenge (our summer camp kids are making all of the decorations). Now I just have to convince them that all of the shinies need to go in the box and not their pockets.... I might still try an Action Packer for a future cache. Guess I'll see how this one works out.

I did look for some of those, but couldn't find one with a hinge type lid...unless I just didn't try the right search terms. I looked for a long time. Ended up ordering a deck box with several reviews claiming it stayed bone dry through thunderstorms. I'll just double box the log and trackables. The starting swag will just be plastic coins and fake gems, so that stuff can get wet if things get wet.

It will be painted to look like wood with several coats of acrylic clearcoat over that. Otherwise, it will be sitting in a shallow sinkhole under some trees (no standing water). I'm mostly worried about the seal...one review claims they've been watertight in a truckbed for 13+ years, but we all know that normal use somehow doesn't apply to geocaches. To add, now that I've been looking for even longer: I love the look of some of the Plano shooter's cases, but they don't seem to be intended to be waterproof. Surely there's something out there...

I'm looking to create a large cache that looks like a pirate chest. The Rubbermaid Action Packers have great reviews on Amazon, yet the description itself just says "weather resistant" which doesn't inspire confidence. Has anyone used something like this for a cache? I'd like it to open like a chest rather than having locking tabs, if at all possible. The one I'm considering is 8 gallons, to give you an idea of size (but has the tabs, unfortunately). I'm running out of search terms to try, as well. Boat boxes, dry boxes, waterproof storage, and watertight boxes all bring up the same few items, or else a slew of things much smaller than I'd like. I always have a separate smaller watertight container inside for the log and trackables, but I'd like the swag to stay decent, as well. I don't have an army surplus store anywhere nearby, or I'd try there first. Thoughts and suggestions appreciated!

Sometimes, there is a bookmark list on the right side of a cache page containing all the caches in a series. If not, then the easiest thing would be to click on the name of the cache owner at the top of one of the cache pages. In their profile, click on "geocaches" and take a look at their hides. The rest should be there.

I think Groundspeak is at least trying to make things less confusing--the new Travelbug tags have a QR code to scan instead of having to enter a code. The first one I found was in a baggie with a huge laminated page of instructions, which was great. But yeah...it's not really obvious what all of the choices mean.

It would be nice to have some time limit...I logged a few from my phone a while back and didn't realize for over a week that one log had been posted twice due to phone/connection issues. I've seen the same situation on some of my caches recently, as well--two identical logs within minutes. Not sure how hard that would be to write into the app/website.

I realized the day before leaving to visit my parents in Michigan that Sault Ste Marie (Ontario, Canada) was but a couple hours of travel time from their house. I asked if they had any interest in driving me there (they don't really geocache, but my dad likes finding them with me). They not only agreed, but suggested we go the next day since we'd have the best weather. Turned out to be a great trip. The town wasn't exactly touristy despite the Soo Locks and waterfront, but I read reviews of places to eat and we had the BEST "fusion" barbecue for lunch! I had the poutine with brisket and it was awesome. So...yep. I made my parents drive five hours round trip so I could get the Ontario souvenir. I will say that because I did a virtual and an Earthcache that we learned a lot along the way--the write-ups were great.

Mmmhm, I was thinking about doing that--having maybe 10-12 caches but requiring a couple less to qualify for the coin. I'm still in the process, btw--just working with the director to get it put into the budget.

I will never ever clear all of the caches close to my home and work because one is on a guardrail. I drive by it ten times a week...doing the math, I've driven by it over 3,000 times. And now I have to laugh, because I went to look up the placement date, and see that someone recently dropped off a geocoin in it. Maybe I will go find it after all!

One of my caches is a bucket with a Gamma Seal lid, and I've never once had water in it. Of course, it's upside-down unless someone is opening it because of how it's hidden. Well, and under a fake plastic boulder, but no condensation or moisture has ever gotten inside. I bought a large pet food container with a similar lid system to use for an upcoming cache, and seeing this, maybe I'll set it outside and do the same kind of test with it first. It's got a smaller opening, though, which might help. It is supposedly impenetrable to moisture, but then, the Gamma Seal says the same, doesn't it? That was a good experiment, and good to know not to trust it.