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The best hint have ever seen was a local cache;

 

“” You are looking for a small 4 X 4 cache container with rocks on top“”

 

It was a small 4 wheel drive SUV parked out in da woods and was the cache container with rocks piled on the roof

 

It was outstanding

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Im not sure how well this goes over, but i have added this as a hint on one of our caches.

 

"Way too easy for any hint"

 

Now, before you ask,,,, I encrypted it first so that it shows up on the cache page decrypted. It's just something to change things up a little and hopefully it shouldn't catch anyone by surprise!

 

Village Crick Hollow

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Im not sure how well this goes over, but i have added this as a hint on one of our caches.

 

"Way too easy for any hint"

 

Now, before you ask,,,, I encrypted it first so that it shows up on the cache page decrypted. It's just something to change things up a little and hopefully it shouldn't catch anyone by surprise!

 

Village Crick Hollow

 

I did a few that were similar. The hint is entered encrypted, so on the cache page it's actually readable plaintext. Mine say something like "Don't decrypt this hint or you won't be able to read it."

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Most folks hate micros, but I am beginning to enjoy them more, as I gain experience. Recently, though, I have searched for quite a few micros and had to post DNF's. The problem is the container could be a 35mm film cannister or a pea sized magnetic capsule attached to, well, just about anything... No hint means no fun if I can't find it... If you have a 3 or higher difficulty, how about helping out your fellow cachers in a pinch? You don't have to give the location away, just a gentle nudge in the right direction. :)

Edited by Jhwk
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Most folks hate micros, but I am beginning to enjoy them more, as I gain experience. Recently, though, I have searched for quite a few micros and had to post DNF's. The problem is the container could be a 35mm film cannister or a pea sized magnetic capsule attached to, well, just about anything... No hint means no fun if I can't find it... If you have a 3 or higher difficulty, how about helping out your fellow cachers in a pinch? You don't have to give the location away, just a gentle nudge in the right direction. :)

 

I agree! Some people drive a long way or put in alot of effort to find a cache. It can leave a bad taste in their mouth when they get to a location and find that there are unlimited places for a cache to be hidden with no way to narrow things down. An example: for me the challenge is too great and the fun taken out of it when someone hides a fake rock cache in a giant pile of rocks with no way of finding it except for picking up every rock on the pile. This type of cache needs some kind of hint in my opinion!

 

We never look at hints until we get stumped. When that happens then i expect the hint (if there is one) to give us a clue (not a spoiler) on what or where to try next.

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Just seen a beauty from GCGJPT

 

"I would recommend the apple cinnamon crisp or the strawberry cheesecake for dessert."

 

I just went and looked at this cache. Looks like it could be a really challenging and interesting one to do.

 

You will rarely see more appreciative logs to this guy's stuff

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Wanting to promote Jesus Christ, we hid a multi- with hints fo reach of the first 2 stages based on verses from Scripture. We indicated in the cache description that you needed a Bible, almost any version, to retrieve the hints. No negative comments on them so far. :-)

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The best hints are ones that are embedded in the description of the cache. You would pass over them when first reading it, but when on the site it begins to make sence. Check out "A little cache goes a long way" (GCW830).

 

I agree. All but four of my caches (and all but one placed in Iraq) are constructed this way. Plays on words and puns in the description, as well as a twist in names on my caches all contain sublte (and at times not so subtle, but seem to make little sense until getting close to the cache. Most of the caches with these plays on words generally somewhat more interesting logs than the "Thanks. TNLN."

 

Probably my favorite is this one, where I have received mail from folks who will not even be able to search for it comment how they like the wording.

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The best hints are ones that are embedded in the description of the cache. You would pass over them when first reading it, but when on the site it begins to make sence. Check out "A little cache goes a long way" (GCW830).

 

I agree. All but four of my caches (and all but one placed in Iraq) are constructed this way. Plays on words and puns in the description, as well as a twist in names on my caches all contain sublte (and at times not so subtle, but seem to make little sense until getting close to the cache. Most of the caches with these plays on words generally somewhat more interesting logs than the "Thanks. TNLN."

 

Probably my favorite is this one, where I have received mail from folks who will not even be able to search for it comment how they like the wording.

 

Nice, Maybe a well, spring or fountain??

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On one cache when I entered the hint I used the encrypted version on every other letter so when it was decrypted it would still and always be HALF ENCYPTED, but I changed it to regular encryption after too many people could not figure it out! Has anyone else used this tactic?

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I think there are a lot of cache owners who just don't "get it" when it comes to hints. They think their hide is either too easy, or that giving a hint is cheating, or that the fun thing to do is just be cutesy ("no hint needed" types). The way I see it, the hint does more than give a cacher another clue as to where to look.

 

1. If the area is full of muggles, a hint prevents seekers from looking too obvious and giving away the fact that there's a cache hidden there (this is about the only time when I will look at a hint without searching).

 

2. If the cache is gone, a hint enables other cachers to confirm that for you and might save you a trip to check on it.

 

3. If the cache is found lying on the ground the hint can provide finders with the information they need to replace it correctly. This would have been a great help to me a couple weeks ago, but when the hint was decoded I discovered it was in French. Thanks.

 

That's just three. There have got to be more reasons to actually use the hint feature. Anyone? Anyone?

 

Bret

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More reasons to use the hint... hmmm, may have to think about that. I think you nailed the big ones.

 

Personally, I don't usually use the hint until I'm ready to give up. Heck, lately, I haven't even been reading the cache pages on traditional caches before searching. But when I do finally break down and decrypt the hint, manually, in the field, I get irritated when it is completely useless. Especially if it is a lengthy, completely useless hint.

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I think there are a lot of cache owners who just don't "get it" when it comes to hints. They think their hide is either too easy, or that giving a hint is cheating, or that the fun thing to do is just be cutesy ("no hint needed" types). The way I see it, the hint does more than give a cacher another clue as to where to look.

 

1. If the area is full of muggles, a hint prevents seekers from looking too obvious and giving away the fact that there's a cache hidden there (this is about the only time when I will look at a hint without searching).

 

2. If the cache is gone, a hint enables other cachers to confirm that for you and might save you a trip to check on it.

 

3. If the cache is found lying on the ground the hint can provide finders with the information they need to replace it correctly. This would have been a great help to me a couple weeks ago, but when the hint was decoded I discovered it was in French. Thanks.

 

That's just three. There have got to be more reasons to actually use the hint feature. Anyone? Anyone?

 

Bret

 

Because I want my cache to be found. I'm not playing stump the finder.

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On a few of my hides I have included hints that are meaningless unless you are at the cache site.

They either describe the container your looking for or the location of the cache once at the site.

Once there, you know what it means.

 

But they are still cryptic and make you think.

 

I don't like hints that are flat out spoilers.

Especially since my daughter loves word puzzles and she solves them before we get to the site.

She doesn't go with me as much as she used to (she's 14 :) ) but there for a while she could ROT13 without a key!! :sad:

Now how much fun is that! :(

 

This is one that many have told me they really enjoyed. Since it's an older cache that most in the area have found, I'll share it. The hint describes the cache container which you are looking for.

 

In the cache description there is:

Snack Sized 35mm Film Canister

 

The hint is:

RED DELICIOUS or ROME BEAUTY or McINTOSH

(ROME BEAUTY is a kinda twist to confuse people since it is in ROME, GA :) )

 

The name of the cache is:

Eve's Revenge

 

Any guesses as to the cache container? :)

 

:(:)

 

D-man :)

 

edit:spelling

Edited by gridlox
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I was looking at one the other day. Guy set it up as an orienteering exercise. The hint was almost longer than the description and included detailed directions and the co-ords. Why would I go through the trouble of projecting waypoints and risk a DNF if i can just plug the final numbers in and go right to it.

 

I also think all those "You don't need a hint" hints can be removed. :)

 

Wulf

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Here is the worst hint I ever saw. Imagine trying to decrypt this sucker at the cache site!

 

When you get to N42 58.000 W074 51.723 ..look for a dead tree on the right side of the trail,Its kmow more then 20 feet tall.ITs still standing but its top is cutoff. The cache is in the tree.Please cover it up well when you find it,From the tree,you can see a yellow exit sign oN the parkway......MORE INFO...sinse I put this cache out,,,things have changed,,,here is a note from GEOCACHERX...WHO FOUND THIS CACHE,,,Hey Bill, Your PIP cache was found by me and another cacher today. But in a fallen 20 foot tree. You might want to amend the description a bit. We placed it back in the stump that is left of the same tree. Had to poke around for a while to find it. Was quite funny, cuz we knew our GPS's were guiding us to that spot but there was no standing 20 dead tree. ...ok SEEMS MY TREE CAME DOWN...TY GEOCACHERX

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This is not a hint perse, but the actual directions to the cache. I spent 4 hours last night trying to figure this one out. It's a geocache called "Stumper" in Wisconsin, and it's driving me nuts trying to solve it. Have fun.

 

jzvwy bulrw zxfei snfds ilzdl czbjo xjbky bmulc psfwy kyruk

jcuns kasku jmsfs iuicu vazjz vurul pulkk yczzk pujmu lmzis

jiurs ukzly rlzdd sfsks alues pujmj ujbyw yysii czbby cubkz

dlbyh ujlsj kybzq lxasf czbjy pzfjs nlbfs bdues punyl kykhi

pzfjk ujmsf sqiye swycz ulbzc zbjiz bjyks sfksw ixnku jqiye

sdubk ykslj hexyls bzflj zliwy pzzik czulk sfjzv kslwy czbjs

ucbbf sky by culpa nzmbz lulky bjyiz psahy erdkj bypzz iwy

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The best hints are ones that are embedded in the description of the cache. You would pass over them when first reading it, but when on the site it begins to make sence. Check out "A little cache goes a long way" (GCW830).

 

I agree. All but four of my caches (and all but one placed in Iraq) are constructed this way. Plays on words and puns in the description, as well as a twist in names on my caches all contain sublte (and at times not so subtle, but seem to make little sense until getting close to the cache. Most of the caches with these plays on words generally somewhat more interesting logs than the "Thanks. TNLN."

 

Probably my favorite is this one, where I have received mail from folks who will not even be able to search for it comment how they like the wording.

I like those, too. I did it on this one. It was on top of a building where the bottom floor was open (sort of H-shaped), meaning you could be at the coordinates on the ground, which is where most people started searching. The title itself is a clue, though only a few people mentioned realizing that before they found it.

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The best hint have ever seen was a local cache;

 

“” You are looking for a small 4 X 4 cache container with rocks on top“”

 

It was a small 4 wheel drive SUV parked out in da woods and was the cache container with rocks piled on the roof

 

It was outstanding

That was a great one.

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The only type of hint that I don't care for is one that is a complete spoiler and gives the hide away. " In the stump of the tree next to the big rock", when there is only one big rock. I came to look for something, not just to retrieve an item from a stated location. :laughing:

I don't mind hints like that because I don't look at the hint unless I have already not been able to find the cache.

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Here is the worst hint I ever saw. Imagine trying to decrypt this sucker at the cache site!

 

When you get to N42 58.000 W074 51.723 ..look for a dead tree on the right side of the trail,Its kmow more then 20 feet tall.ITs still standing but its top is cutoff. The cache is in the tree.Please cover it up well when you find it,From the tree,you can see a yellow exit sign oN the parkway......MORE INFO...sinse I put this cache out,,,things have changed,,,here is a note from GEOCACHERX...WHO FOUND THIS CACHE,,,Hey Bill, Your PIP cache was found by me and another cacher today. But in a fallen 20 foot tree. You might want to amend the description a bit. We placed it back in the stump that is left of the same tree. Had to poke around for a while to find it. Was quite funny, cuz we knew our GPS's were guiding us to that spot but there was no standing 20 dead tree. ...ok SEEMS MY TREE CAME DOWN...TY GEOCACHERX

 

Oh, that's embarassing.

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Personally, I don't usually use the hint until I'm ready to give up. ......... But when I do finally break down and decrypt the hint, manually, in the field, I get irritated when it is completely useless. Especially if it is a lengthy, completely useless hint.

Like you, we usually only decrypt the hint as a last resort. However we have some local cache hiders who think it's cute to use hints like "Quit looking for help and go find the cache!". We learned the hard way on a couple of their caches. Very annoying! As a result, we now see one of their caches and decrypt the clue immediately so we know whether it's going to be helpful or just another one of their sarcastic comments. While I certainly don't want a clue that gives the whole thing away, I do expect a little something useful when I finally give in and need to decrypt the hint.

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I suspect the wording of the hint, or its absence, has a lot to do with the owner's intent.

 

If the cache is placed to bring you to an interesting place it will likely have a clear helpful clue.

 

If it's designed to make the cacher hunt, it probably won't have much of a useful clue if it has one at all.

 

At least that's how I do it. I have one that's designed to be hard. Easy terrain but a bugger to find. Most folks have to phone-a-friend for a clue (my number is on the listing). It has no hint, but a great reputation.

 

On the other hand most of my others have a give-away hint... I don't like DNFs and don't want anyone to leave a search for my cache empty-handed. Wasting cacher's time does nothing for me... I put it out to be found.

 

I travel quite a bit, so cache out-of-town as much if not more than in, and a DNF on the road is a total waste of time. I appreciate a good clue.

 

As with so many of the control issues rampant in this game, it doesn't hurt you a bit if I have to use the hint to find your cache! :rolleyes:

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I did a cache several months back that had a useless hint. The provided parking coordinates had a sign stating "no parking November-March" or something to that effect. I couldn't find any other parking, so I parked illegally and ran the 1000 feet to the cache hoping to score the find quickly before my car got towed. When I got to the site, I searched for about 5 minutes and ended up translating the hint which read "SoAndSo's log from 2/5/06 is a great hint". Having only the coordinates...this did zero good. I hightailed it back to the car and pulled up GSAK...but the last 5 logs didn't go back anywhere near that far. What a great hint!

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I suspect the wording of the hint, or its absence, has a lot to do with the owner's intent.

 

If the cache is placed to bring you to an interesting place it will likely have a clear helpful clue.

 

If it's designed to make the cacher hunt, it probably won't have much of a useful clue if it has one at all.

 

At least that's how I do it. I have one that's designed to be hard. Easy terrain but a bugger to find. Most folks have to phone-a-friend for a clue (my number is on the listing). It has no hint, but a great reputation.

 

On the other hand most of my others have a give-away hint... I don't like DNFs and don't want anyone to leave a search for my cache empty-handed. Wasting cacher's time does nothing for me... I put it out to be found.

That's how it should be, I think. If someone doesn't want to give a hint, that's fine, but there should be nothing to suggest there is a hint, i.e. something useless ("no hint here lol") or even false. That's just wasting the person's time.

 

I did see one once that said it wasn't a clue but actually was. Something like, "No clue here, you can't turn back now" -- and it was a tiny magnet on a "No U-Turn" sign. I guess I'm not sure what I think of that one. It was a good cache, and I did catch on that it was in fact a hint.

 

I've also seen clues that were written backwards on otherwise encoded beyond the ROT-13 code. That I generally don't mind -- it makes well-known words like "gerr" less obvious before decrypting, and it makes the finder work a little for the clue.

 

Important info, like hours and parking, also shouldn't be in the clue, unless the description clearly tells you so (but why put it in the clue anyway then?)

Edited by Dinoprophet
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There's a hider in Pennsylvania who placed a very nice collection of 8 or 10 caches, all of which were great hikes. But I always got a kick out of the wordy cache descriptions and hints. Here is a sample of an encrypted hint. (NOT the long description, this is really the hint. Honest.)

 

If you decide to head toward the cache from the bridge at the north end of the trail system, (just south of Bernville on Route 183), you can park anywhere along the bridge's shoulder...before or after the bridge...you'll see when you get there...the shoulders are plenty wide. People park there all the time for fishing, hiking and biking.From the bridge, head west on foot toward the west side of the bridge, crossing over to the south side of the bridge, so you can see where the trail picks up. The trail picks up just as the bridge ends, even before the guard rail ends. If you walk past the ski area's entrance, you went way too far. You could get to the target summit by hiking up and over the ski area's summit, but this is really lots of extra climbing. Once on the trail, you'll notice that you pass the ski area's base on your right. You may even see snow guns or whatever, depending on the season. Head south on the trail. Whenever you have to make a trail choice pick the eastern-most way and then keep going. Eventually you'll wind around the first mountain and end up at the foot of the climb toward the summit of the second mountain. So...climb! (All of your hiking is on single-track trail.) Go, go, go to the summit...then let the search begin! From the bridge to the cache is about .73 miles one way. Walking at a normal pace, (about 1.5 to 2.5 miles per hour), it will take you about 20 to 25 minutes to reach the area of the summit and the cache. The altitude at the cache is about 580' +/-. The GPS accuracy there when the cache was placed was about 28' and on the ascent your readings will no doubt be erratic due to the fact that, while on the lower trail, the mountain blocks out some of the satellite signals until you get higher up. Once in the cache zone, you will do a slight bit of bushwhacking off of the trail...not much. In fact, if you are at the cache and others pass by, they will no doubt see you, so a little stealth is advised. The cache is a hand-painted ammo box; light purple exterior with mountain scene on one side and GEO sticker on the other. Pay attention to this final clue: You'll find the cache where three come from one place!

 

Kind of makes Vinny & Sue Team look like ee cummings.

Edited by The Leprechauns
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Given my choice I would take useful hints or no hints. If I can't have that I wish we could at least do away with hints that the hider possibly thought were useful but in-fact are no good what-so-ever. I usually make a point to politely post that I didn't understand the hint or that it was too cryptic to help when that situation occurs.

 

Having a cutesy 'no help here' is preferred over a hint that references that the cache is near a tennis court ... a court thats 60 ft away from the wooded area that holds the cache.

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Wanting to promote Jesus Christ, we hid a multi- with hints fo reach of the first 2 stages based on verses from Scripture. We indicated in the cache description that you needed a Bible, almost any version, to retrieve the hints. No negative comments on them so far. :-)

 

Sort of off topic, but isn't "promote Jesus Christ" kind of an agenda which isn't supposed to be allowed?? :laughing: (Even though I've seen a few of this type cache in my area)

 

ivylibra224

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So far (I only have 43 finds) my favorite hint has been "Tachophobia". I had to Google this and found it to be "fear of speed". We looked all around the "Slow - Children at play" & "10mph Speed Limit" signs only to find this micro magneted under an empty turtle shell!! Absolutely Fabulous!! :laughing:

 

ivylibra224

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I too don't resort to a clue unless I have spent a good deal of time in an area but, I'll say I appreciate ones with thought and avoid using decrypted words that are all too common (i.e. Tree, Rock) because I manually type in the hints and you get used to seeing encryped versions of the words. Some mildly clever deviations that still got the point across:

 

1. Yo! Adrian!

2. Cleveland's Hall of Fame

 

Granted, they may not be the best hints EVAR, but I liked the thought behind them.

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