Making A Cache

[MouseFart]

OK, I'm hooked now!!!

 

Went during my lunch hour today and located my very first cache site. Because of having to wear dress clothes at work, I did not fight my way through the cactus and brush the last 5 feet to where the ammo box was located, but I did see it and how it was covered to blend in with the area. I will go back this weekend and "officially" find the box and sign the log, then record it as a find.

 

Now comes my question: Without looking at what was inside, what do your cache boxes normally contain to start out with?

 

On the way home from work, I stopped at a everything under a dollar store and obtained antenna balls, a sack of glass diamonds, mini cans of WD-40, little flashlights, fishing lures, matchbox cars, little rubber bounce balls, and some trinket key chains. This all came to a whopping $9 dollar purchase for a sack full of this stuff.

 

I've got a couple of tupperware containers to start my own cache sites this weekend. I also made up some computer generated log sheets to put inside with a pen.

 

Anything else I should include or know before I start my sites would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Rick

 

MODERATORS- Please feel free to remove this post.

 

If I had read down a few posts, I would have seen what answers my question in a post made by "inhope".

Thanks

Edited May 17, 2006 by MouseFart

[+StarBrand]

OK, I'm hooked now!!!

 

Went during my lunch hour today and located my very first cache site. Because of having to wear dress clothes at work, I did not fight my way through the cactus and brush the last 5 feet to where the ammo box was located, but I did see it and how it was covered to blend in with the area. I will go back this weekend and "officially" find the box and sign the log, then record it as a find.

 

Now comes my question: Without looking at what was inside, what do your cache boxes normally contain to start out with?

 

On the way home from work, I stopped at a everything under a dollar store and obtained antenna balls, a sack of glass diamonds, mini cans of WD-40, little flashlights, fishing lures, matchbox cars, little rubber bounce balls, and some trinket key chains. This all came to a whopping $9 dollar purchase for a sack full of this stuff.

 

I've got a couple of tupperware containers to start my own cache sites this weekend. I also made up some computer generated log sheets to put inside with a pen.

 

Anything else I should include or know before I start my sites would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Rick

 

MODERATORS- Please feel free to remove this post.

 

If I had read down a few posts, I would have seen what answers my question in a post made by "inhope".

Thanks

 

A few notes:

• use pencils - pens tend to freeze in winter weather
  
• include a logbook
  
• put the logbook in a freezer type ziploc - just in case the box gets wet inside
  
• Make sure your cache container is as waterproof as possible - most tupperware is not even close
  
• Sealed boxes and aresol cans like wd40 - sometimes don't get along well with temperature/pressure changes over time.
  
• Have Fun with your hide!!
  

[+niraD]

On the way home from work, I stopped at a everything under a dollar store and obtained antenna balls, a sack of glass diamonds, mini cans of WD-40, little flashlights, fishing lures, matchbox cars, little rubber bounce balls, and some trinket key chains.

Whatever you leave, make sure it's kid-safe. Fishing lures with hooks still attached are not kid-safe. Fishing lures with the hooks removed can be kid-safe. (I picked up a beautiful spinner with the hook removed at a cache near my office.)

 

My first (and so far, only) hide is themed, so I started it off with little tokens that fit the theme. I bought painted wood tokens about 1/8" thick and roughly the size of a quarter from a craft store and wrote the cache name and GCxxxx ID on the back with a sharpie. When I replaced the cache (after it was muggled), I bought a bag of (identical) trinkets that fit the theme, and started it off with a few of them. I'll use more of them the next time I have to replace it. But mine is a small camouflaged cache, not a regular ammo-can or tupperware sized cache.

 

My main recommendation is to wait to hide your first cache until you've found several others. The more you've found, the better. See what's possible, see what's interesting, see what's not so interesting, and figure out how/where to hide a cache that others will enjoy finding.

[+JohnnyVegas]

I agree with NiraD, go find a bunch before you hide one.

Also read the Guidlines before you hide a cache, you might want to read them more than once. I know two of the cache reviewers in my area, They have told me the biggest problem with caches that are place by new cachers could be avoided if people would just read the guidelines first.

[+briansnat]

A few of my recent caches:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 18, 2006 by briansnat

[+TheConaways]

A few of my recent caches:

 

 

 

Wow...the can blends well with your carpet. You gonna hide it there?

 

Aaron

[+briansnat]

Wow...the can blends well with your carpet. You gonna hide it there?

 

Hmmmm, that's why I haven't been able to find it.

[+Lord Stirling]

Anything else I should include or know before I start my sites would be appreciated.

 

Above all read the guidelines and I mean really read them. You would be surprised how many submissions we get where its plain that the hider never glanced at them. 90 percent of the time it's a newbie. When you get submissions that say things like "A nice walk along the train tracks, watch out for trains", or "Its in the schoolyard. Please don't search for this during school hours"

you really have to shake your head.

[+Team JSAM]

Each cache is diff so I put different stuff in each time with the exception: Log book and geocache letter in a ziploc baggy, 2 pencils and a pen (dont put the writing sticks in the bag it will poke holes in the bag) and last but not least a few of our GeoNickels, the only thing I hate seeing is when caches are stocked with used, broken stuff that looks like they got the swag from under the truck seat.

Edited May 22, 2006 by Team Jsam