Cache Hints

[Amos Moses]

Since I am fairly new, I thought this would be the best place for my question. Whenever I go caching I look at the hint that has been given before I start hunting. However, on the last 10 or so caches I have found where there was a hint, the caches seemed to be a bit easy. So here's my question: when are you supposed to look at the hints? Are you supposed to look as a last resort when you can't find the cache using the GPS coordinates alone? Or are the hints supposed to be used from the beginning? Any help on this would be appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Amos Moses

[+AKStafford]

We leave the hint encrypted, and only look at if we are stumped. Some times even the descriptions give away too much. We've talked about only getting the coordinates, and going after with just that info, to make it more challenging.

So, feel free to go after it without the hint. The fun of this thing is the challenge of the hunt.

[+briansnat]

I consider the hint to be something to be used as a last resort if I can't find the cache otherwise. If I'm going over about the half hour mark in my search, I'll decrypt the hint.

 

As a cache owner I assume those looking for my cache have a similar view of the hint, so I try to make my hint a dead giveaway. I can see why someone who looked at the hint ahead of time would find the cache to be easy.

[+AuntieWeasel]

I look at the hint before I leave the house. If there's no hint, or a worthless one, it's slightly less likely I will put it on my list, unless it's right in my path.

 

And check out the Useless Hints thread for examples of hints that aren't. I've seen hints that were actually parking directions (nice if you discover that at the cache site), or instructions for finding the site that really should have been in the description, like "cache is 150' NW from the listed coordinates."

 

I'm in it for the walk in the woods. I suppose I don't mind the cache putting up a bit of a fight, but nothing harshes my buzz like a DNF.

[+Wild Thing 73]

Since I am fairly new, I thought this would be the best place for my question. Whenever I go caching I look at the hint that has been given before I start hunting. However, on the last 10 or so caches I have found where there was a hint, the caches seemed to be a bit easy. So here's my question: when are you supposed to look at the hints? Are you supposed to look as a last resort when you can't find the cache using the GPS coordinates alone? Or are the hints supposed to be used from the beginning? Any help on this would be appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Amos Moses

Here is my 5c: If a Cacher is driving 5 miles or 500 miles to search and find a cache that I have hidden, I want that Cacher to find the “treasure", to view and admire the cache location that I have provided for them. However, I don’t want any “Muggles” to find the cache that is why my caches are very well hidden and are hard for the Muggles to accidentally see or stumble on. With hints and pictures a P/M can have a challenge, and will normally find the cache. (I hate “DNFs” mine or yours) Cache hunting and finding is all in the preparation :-)

[+HaLiJuSaPa]

I think it really is up to the person. Because I have small kids who while they enjoy the woods and the find tend to get restless, I tend to use the hint to shorten the find, but we have also done caches with no hints. Also, hints aren't always "spot on" or obvious. There is a cache out there that has had no DNF's except for TWO of mine and the hint didn't help me at all (a 2nd somewhat more obvious hint from the cache owner after DNF #2 did though, although 25 minutes of looking was still required).

 

So don't worry about what others think, do what works best for you and enjoy!

[+Night Stalker]

I have found a direct correlation between the cache dificulty and the vagueness of a hint. If the cache is so obvious that I don't need a hint then the hint will give exact directions for finding the cache. If I have looked fruitlessly for the last half hours in the forest, then the hint will say something like it's in the forest. Never fails.

 

Back on subject: I always leave the hint as the last resort. Sometimes I look for the cache so spontaniously that I forget to look at the hint at all.

[+briansnat]

I think the fact that hint is encrypted means that its supposed to be a last resort. Otherwise the owner would just put the info in the main body of the text.

 

That said, if I see a hint of more than a sentence or two, I will decrypt ahead of time and fold the sheet over so I don't see it until I need it.

 

As AW mentioned there are a lot of worthless hints, so I don't want to spend 5 minutes decrypting parking instructions or directions about which trails to take while I'm sitting at the cache site.

 

If its only a sentence or two, I will decrypt at the cache site. But it really galls me when that one sentence reads something like "This one is too easy for a hint". If it was so easy, I wouldn't be decrypting it you numbnutz!

[+Prime Suspect]

Yup. It's a last resort measure. I hate spending time decoding, but don't want to spoil a cache hunt by seeing the hint before I really need it. So I have it printed decoded, but upside down.

 

 

That's the nice thing about writing your own GPX processor .

(The not-so-nice thing is when people "appropriate" your ideas, without giving credit, and incorporate them into software they charge money for. )

[+Team Cotati]

The Team always decrypts and uses the hint. This is because we do not like to spend very much time looking for a cache container after we have taken the time and sometimes the effort to get to the location. The Team does not like it very much when the cache owner has grossly understated the difficulty rating. We typically limit our search time to 30mins...sometimes much less depending upon the location. Locations that are overrun with muggles usually get no more than 15mins, if that. The Team has an extreme dislike of muggles. I mean, we wouldn't harm one but to be honest we have considered it. I won't mention the things that we have considered doing to the owner who hid such a cache. And caches that are hidden in landscape plantings, public works of art, jammed behind memorial or dedication palques.......don't even get me started.

Edited May 14, 2006 by Team Cotati

[+Team_Talisman]

Most of the time I dont use the hints....maybe when I have already DNFed it will I get hint...

 

Sometimes they leave a good hint in description then the hint they leave is meaningless like

 

T507

 

Not too many things on top of something does not get sunshine hehehehe

 

This cache has been setting 2 years waiting for someone to find it ...I am going to try in August when snow is gone...

 

[+badlands]

One cache description said to read the hint if you wanted to get out of this park in a hurry. Knowing the part of town it was in, I did and I did.

 

I usually read through the descriptions and hints before putting my route together. It's not that I want the hints at that stage, it's more that I don't like surprises like the one about "cache is 150' feet from the posted coordinates". Usually I've forgotten the hints by the time I get there and have to look them up again if really needed.

[+SoCalToolGuy]

My question is how do you folks look at the hint after going afield? Do you have a hand held computer or what? Do you print out the information page for the cache? My wife and I just got started doing this hobby and went out looking for one today that has us stumped. We came back to the house and looked again at the info and the hint but still can't find it. How do you transport the info to the field? My gps only tells me the coordinates and whether we are going in the right direction. I am impressed at the accuracy of my cheap little Magellan 315. It seems to work great but I just don't know how to digest the info it is telling me. We are having fun though and look forward to becoming knowledgeable and adept at finding caches that are more difficult.

[+briansnat]

My question is how do you folks look at the hint after going afield? Do you have a hand held computer or what? Do you print out the information page for the cache? My wife and I just got started doing this hobby and went out looking for one today that has us stumped. We came back to the house and looked again at the info and the hint but still can't find it. How do you transport the info to the field? My gps only tells me the coordinates and whether we are going in the right direction. I am impressed at the accuracy of my cheap little Magellan 315. It seems to work great but I just don't know how to digest the info it is telling me. We are having fun though and look forward to becoming knowledgeable and adept at finding caches that are more difficult.

 

For the first few years I would print out the page. There is a "printer friendly" version that leaves out all the logs. I'm still finding stacks of cache pages I had printed and set aside.

 

Now I have a PDA running Cachemate and as long as I remember to bring it, all the pages and hints are there. I still take paper sometimes. Usually if I'm running out after a specific cache or two and don't have time to re-load my Cachemate I"ll just print out the page.

[+badlands]

I'll take paper if I'm doing a multi or puzzle that requires a place to write, other than that it's PDA. Cachemate, Pocket Queries and GSAK. It may be cheaper to purchase this setup than to buy ink

[+SoCalToolGuy]

When you say pda what exactly do you mean? Are you talking about something like the Garmin ique? I know that they can be had on ebay pretty cheap. I would like to have an excuse to buy one and have a second gps.

[+frelancr]

When you say pda what exactly do you mean? Are you talking about something like the Garmin ique? I know that they can be had on ebay pretty cheap. I would like to have an excuse to buy one and have a second gps.

 

nothing so fancy...almost any Palm-powered device and even some (shudder) Windows CC/PocketPC thingys can run software databases akin to GSAK so you can have a whole pocket query in yer, um, pocket

 

I run it on my Palm Treo, which, since it's also my phone, is always with me....great resource...

 

pick up a older Palm on eBay for <$20, download cachemate & have at it!

 

search teh forums for threads on 'paperless caching' for more info...there's also a great tutorial at geocachingu.com

[+Kewaneh & Shark]

Since I am fairly new, I thought this would be the best place for my question. Whenever I go caching I look at the hint that has been given before I start hunting. However, on the last 10 or so caches I have found where there was a hint, the caches seemed to be a bit easy. So here's my question: when are you supposed to look at the hints? Are you supposed to look as a last resort when you can't find the cache using the GPS coordinates alone? Or are the hints supposed to be used from the beginning? Any help on this would be appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Amos Moses

 

As a general rule, we try not to look at the hint until we've looked for it for a few minutes, but whether or not we'll decrypt it before we leave home sometimes depends on who hid the cache (See rant below). Because we cache with with kids with short attention spans, we may look a bit sooner than most. If we're caching paperless, we won't decrypt it until we're at the cache site and out of options. If we've got a printed cache page, usually we'll decrypt it before we leave the house and try not to look at the hint until we need it.

 

I have found a direct correlation between the cache dificulty and the vagueness of a hint. If the cache is so obvious that I don't need a hint then the hint will give exact directions for finding the cache. If I have looked fruitlessly for the last half hours in the forest, then the hint will say something like it's in the forest. Never fails. ...

 

<RANT>

I've noticed this correlation too. Thoughtless 'hint = thoughtless 'hide'. There are exceptions to this, but they are seemingly few. I've also noticed that certain cachers are more prone to give a useless hint that others, consequently, we tend to avoid caches hidden by those cachers. I subscribe to the school of thought that I WANT people to find my caches (muggles notwithstanding). A hint is to help them do that. I've found that if the decrypted hint is something like 'too easy for a hint' or 'It's a 1/1, you don't need one', or some other type of non-hint, the cache is probably a spur of the moment film canister hide in a bush or rock pile with coordinates that are less than spot-on. I don't have the patience to look for 90 minutes for one smiley at a thoughtless cache site. (A 90 minute hike to a nice view is well worth it, smiley or not!) I've got to a point in my caching career where I don't need to log every hide and the given 'hint' helps filter the good hides from the trash.

</RANT>

 

- Kewaneh

[+Night Stalker]

I have an Ipaq 3955. I am using GPX View which is an older application, but works fine for me. It displays the cache page and the last 5 logs. It also has a hint button which will display the hint when I click on it. This keeps me from ACCIDENTALLY peaking.

 

[+RayDar_]

My question is how do you folks look at the hint after going afield? Do you have a hand held computer or what? ... How do you transport the info to the field?

 

I use GeoNiche, for Palm. It automatically downloads the cache information and has built-in hint decoding. It can also communicate with a GPS receiver to show you the way to the caches. It's a paperless solution.

Edited May 19, 2006 by RayDar_