5 gallon containers

October 13, 2006

I'm getting ready to place my a cache. I have a bunch of large plastic buckets with sealing lids. I am picturing burying the bucket in the ground about 6 inches, and then covering the lid with sticks or other natural cover. This would hold the container in place.

However, I read the following in the guidelines:

Cache sizes for all caches that have a physical container.
Micro (35 mm film canister or smaller, typically containing only a logbook)

Small (Decon container, sandwich-sized Tupperware-style container or similar, holds trade items as well as a logbook)

Regular (Tupperware-style container or ammo can)

Large (5 gallon bucket or larger)

Just above that, the guidelines list the following under reasons for a cache to be archived:

Caches that are buried. If a shovel, trowel or other “pointy” object is used to dig, whether in order to hide or to find the cache, then it is not appropriate.

Why would a cache be denied if it was buried? I can understand not wanting to have to dig it up to find it, but once it's in place, all you would have to do it pull off the lid.

If you can't bury the 5 gallon bucket, how else have people hid them?

1k · October 13, 2006

In our area there are three 5 gallon buckets burried with about 6 inches left showing. Even seen this on the way to Las Vegas at a travel bug motel. Each one of these hides ans a clever camouflage covering the lids, however the cache is technically exposed.

October 13, 2006

you could hang it in a tree

October 13, 2006

Cover it with a pile of sticks, behind a BIG downed tree, or in a pile of rocks. You could also possibly use a natural depression and then cover it with sticks or rocks. Plus, if you hide it far enough out in the boonies, there is little chance that people will find it accidentally, even if it is as large as (or larger) than the 5 gallon bucket.

I think the concern is that if people are using something sharp to disturb the ground to bury it, even partially, that sends a poor impression to the land managers. That is an impression we don't want to get started with!

1.5k · October 13, 2006

Per the guidelines you cannot bury something, so does that mean in whole or part?

October 13, 2006

So if I find an existing hole, drop a bucket in it and push debris around it to anchor it and hide it, would that be ok? Is the sticking point using a shovel to make a new hole?

1.1k · October 13, 2006

I found a 5 gallon bucket cache once that was VERY well disguised as a tree stump, until you picked it up and turned it over you couldn't tell it wasn't a stump. The give away was that there was nowhere else there to hide a cache, so it had to be in the "stump".

1.1k · October 13, 2006

I found a 5 gallon bucket cache once that was VERY well disguised as a tree stump, until you picked it up and turned it over you couldn't tell it wasn't a stump. The give away was that there was nowhere else there to hide a cache, so it had to be in the "stump".

October 13, 2006

Yes , you are not surpossed to dig. A natural depression is ok.

5k · October 13, 2006

It's been a while, but I've found a handful of 5-gallon buckets that were basically sitting right out in the open. If you go back in the woods far enough, nobody is going to bother it.

Jamie

38.2k · October 13, 2006

If you can't bury the 5 gallon bucket, how else have people hid them?

I can't say. After 500 plus finds, I've yet to encounter one in a 5 gallon bucket. They are rarely used precisely because they are so hard to hide.

So if I find an existing hole, drop a bucket in it and push debris around it to anchor it and hide it, would that be ok? Is the sticking point using a shovel to make a new hole?

The sticking point is digging, either to hide or find the cache. Land managers do not want us digging up the parks. Whenever we talk to land managers about allowing geocaching in parks, the idea that caches are buried is usually the first myth we have to dispell.

9.3k · October 13, 2006

T&G, there's one like that near me, where the hider found a natural depression, placed the cache, (in this case a foot locker), then adjusted the ground clutter till the container was hidden, and the ground was level. To avoid a rash of SBA's, he included a paragraph on the cache page noting that no digging was done to hide this cache. It was approved when it was hidden, but since the guidelines specify that no cache can set a presedence, it might not fly today. As I understand it, the concerns are not that your cache might damage the environment, per se, but that the next person to find it might copy your idea. Land managers for the most part are absolutely against folks digging around on their properties, either for hiding or for seaking, so Groundspeak takes a firm stand against buried caches to protect the game for future players.

Off topic: Are you dead set on using a 5 gallon bucket? The reason I ask, is that every single 5 gallon bucket cache I've found has had moisture issues. Some were just damp inside, whilst others were soaked. (of course, my finds were in Florida, where humidity skyrockets on a regular basis) For $15 or $20 you can buy an extra large ammo can with around 5 gallons capacity, which would hold up to the elements much better than a bucket, and would have a stronger seal.

Either way, thanx for the hide!

Sean

3.5k · October 13, 2006

I have one hidden in a huge hollow tree. Trees that size just don't grow on trees. Errr....

October 13, 2006

I have used a five gallon bucket, a rectangular one, as a cache container "It's a Biggie". It was flame burnished and painted in a sort of brownish camo than hidden in the middle of a small thick grove of trees in a willow bed. The bucket was filled with 35mm film containers, a dozen had swag and one held the log. Instructions told the finder this on the inside of the cover. Some finders had to open hundreds to get to the log. There is a way to hide the log so you can retrive it easily. I have another ready to go in an old unused bear den which of course is well hidden. Also found one hidden in a clump of small evergreen trees inside a camo painted wooden box. Another I found was in a small natural but well hidden cave. I once painted one dark green, pulled it up 30 feet in a tree in the woods with heavy duty dark nylon line tied to a low branch as a private cache. Took some work to toss a nut tied to mono filiament over a sturdy top branch to pull up the nylon cord but I guess one could use a long aluminum extension ladder. Suprising how little most people look up that far when in the woods.

October 13, 2006

paint it to look like a leaf, and then hang it in a tree. definately would get points for originality

October 13, 2006

T&G, there's one like that near me, where the hider found a natural depression, placed the cache, (in this case a foot locker), then adjusted the ground clutter till the container was hidden, and the ground was level. To avoid a rash of SBA's, he included a paragraph on the cache page noting that no digging was done to hide this cache. It was approved when it was hidden, but since the guidelines specify that no cache can set a presedence, it might not fly today. As I understand it, the concerns are not that your cache might damage the environment, per se, but that the next person to find it might copy your idea. Land managers for the most part are absolutely against folks digging around on their properties, either for hiding or for seaking, so Groundspeak takes a firm stand against buried caches to protect the game for future players.

Off topic: Are you dead set on using a 5 gallon bucket? The reason I ask, is that every single 5 gallon bucket cache I've found has had moisture issues. Some were just damp inside, whilst others were soaked. (of course, my finds were in Florida, where humidity skyrockets on a regular basis) For $15 or $20 you can buy an extra large ammo can with around 5 gallons capacity, which would hold up to the elements much better than a bucket, and would have a stronger seal.

Either way, thanx for the hide!

Sean

Those are valid points. I definately don't want to ruin the game for others.

I happen to have about 20 of these containers stacked in my garage, and figured they would be great hides. I didn't think it would be so difficult to actually hide one!

October 13, 2006

I guess I need to be more creative in choosing a site that doesn't require me to dig (which would make it easier to hide in the first place!) Or, I could give in and steal a smaller container from my kitchen...

Maybe a spot in a pile of rocks or something.... I do like the "hanging in the trees", but that may be a little hard to camoflauge when all the leaves are gone up here!

24.7k · October 13, 2006

Rock piles that you could lose a truck in can hide a 5 gallon bucker handily enough.

1.5k · October 13, 2006

Oh sure, use a national monument for your example!

2.7k · October 13, 2006

There is a bucket Geocache in my area. The bucket is a few feet off of a very active trail. It isn't camouflaged or burried in any way yet it has survived for over six years now.

9.2k · October 13, 2006

Try hiding a bucket under the low-hanging boughs of a pine tree in a dense forest. I've found a few that way, and had to hunt for them a good bit longer than many a tupperware whose spot was given away by a "telltale pile of sticks" visible from 50 feet away.

Even better, use a black bucket or a green bucket.

38.2k · October 13, 2006

I think the alternatives are:

-Very deep in the woods where nobody would venture without a good reason (but you will be surprised where people do venture. I've seen human footprints in the middle of nowhere)

-A very good camo job. Try glueing bark to the container to make it look like a stump. Or as The Leprechauns suggested, in a pine tree. You can camo that by getting some pine boughs and spray painting a pine needle camo pattern on the container. You will need a special spraypaint for plastics though.

7.3k · October 13, 2006

I've found a number of 5 gallon bucket hides. The best hide was suspended ........waaaaaay up in a huge oak with the rope going over 100 feet away to another another huge oak wayy up before coming to ground. The cache placer did everything right, including using heavy straps over the limbs and pulleys, and a dark braided nylon rope. He had tree climbing gear. A relatively expensive set up with the amount of rope, two pulleys, the heavy straps. Only the 5 gallon bucket was free.

But most of the 5 gallon bucket hides I've found were just sitting there. Totally exposed. One of them is the oldest cache in its county in a suburban park - just a few feet off the trail. Though this is Florida, and we have lots of shrubs that don't lose their leaves (saw palmetto). Tucked under a low limb on a pine works especially if you paint it dark.

20.7k · October 13, 2006

The five-gallon bucket caches I've found had two things in common. 1) The tops were hard to remove and replace. 2) They had water in them.

October 13, 2006

Yes , you are not surpossed to dig. A natural depression is ok.

You could set it behind a fast food restaurant with all the others <_<

1.1k · October 14, 2006

There is a dead tree in my parents woods that lost sheets of bark. I took a whole big pile of them.

I plan on using wood hardener on the bark to make it permanant and durable, then gorilla glue and fence wire to keep it on the container. then put a log ring on the top to complete the camo. perfect stump.

I'm too lazy to put it all together though.

1.4k · October 14, 2006

Hiding a large cache really is not that hard to do, spend some time scouting the area. I have several large caches out in the wild. I have two 5-gallon buckets, one is painted to resemble a film can (paint is wearing off) and another is just tucked out of view.

October 15, 2006

I found one near the junction of US 93 and 95 south of Las Vegas. It was buried up to about six inches left exposed, that part was covered with rocks and stuff. A TB hotel (or prison to some). Very spacious

October 15, 2006

Find a large hollow tree trunk or old well. I still want to place something that size, but don't have a container.

October 15, 2006

I am imagining the SWAG that can be put in a 5 gallon bucket............................................................................

.............................................................................

.................................................

.

***Homer Simpson voice***

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....SWAAAAAAAGGGGGG!"

October 15, 2006

5 gallon =1155 cubic inches.

1 broken McToy=approx 4 cubic inches.

5 gallon bucket=288.75 broken pieces of crap in 2 weeks after filling with nice swag.

October 15, 2006

5 gallon =1155 cubic inches.

1 broken McToy=approx 4 cubic inches.

5 gallon bucket=288.75 broken pieces of crap in 2 weeks after filling with nice swag.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...BRO-KEN SWAAAAAGGG!!

October 15, 2006

Well, I think I definatley have to find a place for one of these! I like the gluing the bark to the bucket idea as camo!

October 15, 2006

One of the caches I found was a 5 gal. bucket that was sitting in the middle of a weed infested vacant lot in a suburban neighborhood. The weeds were more than 2 feet taller than the bucket. Weeds around here grow year round. If a muggle ever finds that bucket the HAZMAT team will be called since the bucket originally contained hazardous chemicals. But it had been there for over a year before I found it.

October 15, 2006

a bucket we found was cammo'd as an abandoned burn barrel by a local team who has about 25 brilliant hides. Another we found was strapped under a foot bridge, cammo'd as a rodent den. Neither of these were wet inside, but both look pretty empty with just normal swag junk. My teammate has been eyeing this big stump - trying to figure out how to get the top to flip up, and the center hollow.... maybe not big enough for a bucket.

G&G

9.3k · October 16, 2006

My teammate has been eyeing this big stump - trying to figure out how to get the top to flip up, and the center hollow.

If it's big enough, strip off and save the bark, then lop off the top inch or so with a chainsaw. This will become your lid. Use the same chainsaw to rip out the guts of the stump, till your bucket fits, or make a smaller hole for an ammo can. Drill holes in the stump and lid and insert dowel pins. Alignment will be important once you apply camo, so glue one pin to the lid, and the other to the stump. That way your lid will only fit one way. Depending on the bark, you could use Gorrilla Glue or staples to reattach it to the stump and lid. Be sure it hangs over the gap created by the chainsaw to disguise it, and you should create a decent size drain hole somewhere in the stump. Good luck!

For those folks wanting a realistic looking stump, contact anyone in the tree removal business.

October 16, 2006

If you can't bury the 5 gallon bucket, how else have people hid them?

inside of a 10 gallon bucket? :unsure:

October 16, 2006

Found a cache one time that was a bucket turned upside down. It was camoed with "great stuff" foam insulation to mock bark, painted and even had a piece of sawn wood on top, looked exactly like a stump! It was used to hide the container but was still neat. Or if you found some old trash scattered in the woods, someplace you'd think no one would clean up, that might work too.

24.7k · October 16, 2006

Oh sure, use a national monument for your example!

Good point. I wasn't having as much luck doing a google on "Rock Pile" on the right kind of pile. We have a lot of them here but nobody likes posting pictures of their rock pile vacations. Go figure :unsure: .

October 17, 2006

Or if you found some old trash scattered in the woods, someplace you'd think no one would clean up, that might work too.

But then who wants to send people caching in a pile of trash in the woods? Or did I miss the sarcasm in your post?

October 17, 2006

Great ideas here! The largest container I've found is a 55-gal drum!! Well hidden in some thick growth. It too suffered moisture problems, though. Poor teddy bears!!

Finding that right spot is part of the fun, and combined with camo, it could be a great hide. Might consider keeping the log and swag in a large Lock & Lock inside the bucket, though.

1.4k · October 17, 2006

Here is just a quick thought if you are having trouble with the "size thing". A common 5-gallon bucket is 12" across the top and 15" tall.

Now the bucket won’t necessarily fit under every lamppost skirt but it will at least give you some planning ideas.

October 17, 2006

For about 15 dollars Canadian you can get water proof lids for 5 gallon buckets. We use them to store dry goods on canoe trips. They make nifty stools around the fire at night too. Try MEC.com they have alsorts of nifty outdoor stuff either for swag or caching contianers.

October 17, 2006

Or if you found some old trash scattered in the woods, someplace you'd think no one would clean up, that might work too.
But then who wants to send people caching in a pile of trash in the woods? Or did I miss the sarcasm in your post?

Nah...no sarcasm, but the reason I mentioned the trash was I found a cool cache that was a car battery case(new of course). It was used as a cover for the container. This being placed off the road with other trash. Now I know "cache in trash out" which I practice, but this stuff was like old tires some big pieces of metal..stuff you couldn't just carry out, you'd have to get a backhoe and a dumptruck.

October 17, 2006

I know where theres a reflective plastic Trafic cone as big as a fifty gallon drum off the side of the road.

It hasn't moved in years.

I could put a thirty gallon can under it...............hmmmmmmm!

5 gallon containers

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