Frustration...need To Vent

[+CamoCacher]

Okay I am extremely frustrated. But I AM having issues finding a place I CAN hide something. This is a thermos sized conatiner so its not small and needs a fairly large place for it which is hard to find in local city parks that won't get muggeled. Plus I want it to be a good hide for the seekers. I absolutly (on most days) hate where you can walk up and instantly KNOW where the cache is. The larger parks seem to be NPS so they are off limits. The few ones around seem to have a high contect of caches, which now I know why. On top of it now I understand why micros seem so abundent - easier to place.

 

On top of that I had a crappy day seeking.

Edited January 3, 2006 by CamoCacher

[+carleenp]

Park bans can be annoying, but surely there are some OK areas? It really just takes scouting. I once took 4-6 hours trying to find a legal spot near the city for a very large cache. It took a ton of time because I kept looking and looking and looking and nothing would work because the cache was so darn large and had to be for its purpose/theme . But then I finally found a spot. Go figure that it was exactly .1 from another cache! I put it there and worried that it would violate proximity and posted a plea to the reviewer in a note just in case. It turned out to be OK.

 

Anyway, it can be harder to hide larger caches, but it certainly can be done, it just might take more looking for a spot. I figure consider it this way: Make looking for the spot fun! You can visit various parks and get to know them. In the process you might find spots that won't work for your current cache, but might work for others etc. (that happened to me). At some point you will find the perfect spot and suddenly all that time looking will be worth the effort!

Edited January 3, 2006 by carleenp

[+CamoCacher]

Thanks for the encouragment. Got a note from my local reviewer on a spot I wanted and it is good to go. I am so happy!

 

I guess I let my bad day of caching get the better of me instead of looking for the positive.

Edited January 3, 2006 by CamoCacher

[+Kai Team]

Nicely put, Carleen.

 

Think creatively about the hide. A thermos size container is not that large. Most city parks have some wooded areas. Look for a tree stump or large hole in a tree that the container will fit in. Or cover the container with camo tape to match the surroundings so it blends in. Find an old stone fence and slip it between the stones. Find a rock pile and hide it under a rock (on second thought, don't do that - I hate those rock pile caches! )

 

As long as the cache is off the beaten path and well camouflaged or hidden, it shouldn't be too prone to muggles.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Some of us do not approve of caches hiden in rock walls either. The rock walls tend to get dismantled.

Gilbert and Sullivan wrote "Let the punishment fit the crime" (The Mikado). You often will not succeed setting out to place a certain container. Sometimes you have to let the situation dictate the size of the container. I set out to put some caches in small parks on the Hudson County (NJ) Palisades. The views are fantastic! The opportunity for large containers non-existant. The largest of the three is a prescription pill container. Oh, well. Best that could be done in that situation. I have ammo boxes in the forests. Decide what is the largest container that will fit the area, and work with that.

[+Bill & Tammy]

Tubular shaped caches work well hidden in the branches of evergreen trees. Just camo it up with some hunter's tape, make a coat hanger hook and place it up in a pine tree. Most cachers have a habit of looking on the ground and this will throw them off.

Edited January 3, 2006 by Bill & Tammy

[+Torry]

Some spray insulation foam and a variety of paint creates instant rock.

[+hndlbr]

had the same problem so I got permission from the parks commision to place a bird house then put a lock and bolt on same and hid the keys. it has been a hoot.

[+Moe the Sleaze]

We can all appreciate your enthusiasm for hiding your first cache, we've all been there. However, I'd like to suggest a different approach to planning your hides. Rather than starting with a container and looking for a place to hide it, why not wait until you find an interesting location that doesn't already have a cache and then figure out a way to hide one there?

[+CamoCacher]

Moe I totally agree with you. In this case it was a cache that I sought that part of it was to take a container and hide it.

[+whatevah.com]

whenever my brother or I get into a cache-placing mood, we'll open Google Earth and turn on the option to show parks. look for one that looks big enough, and has an area with a substantial number of trees, and hop in the car. of course, where I am, Google Earth has some pretty clear imagery.

 

it's a really handy way of finding parks, it'll show city and county parks, plus state parks and forests. there might be more parks around your area than you know about. I had no idea that there were this many parks in my area.

[+CamoCacher]

whenever my brother or I get into a cache-placing mood, we'll open Google Earth and turn on the option to show parks. look for one that looks big enough, and has an area with a substantial number of trees, and hop in the car. of course, where I am, Google Earth has some pretty clear imagery.

 

it's a really handy way of finding parks, it'll show city and county parks, plus state parks and forests. there might be more parks around your area than you know about. I had no idea that there were this many parks in my area.

Thanks for the info!

[+Isonzo Karst]

In addition to google earth, there's google! MyCounty Parks and Rec MyCity Parks and Rec My State Parks and Rec.... there's a lot out there, and exporing it is half the fun of cache placement.

[Lowsky]

I just got my first placement ( yeah me!!!) but i used to hide stuff in the woods long b4 i knew what GC was. Then friends would try to find it, when i started, like all beginners, we tend to look at the woods and surrounding area as "flat" ex: if you are walking down a trail looking for a hide you are only seeing 1/2 of the tree. "ahhh grasshopper now you know that ALL things as well as stories have two sides,investigate throughly b4 you give up."

Edited January 7, 2006 by Lowsky