Placing a cache

[+Camping Kris]

When you place a cache are you looking for a good place to hide it or a location for people to visit?

 

I've placed one cache and have three more scouted out. For my caches I want people go somewhere they haven't been and to see something they haven't seen. For me its more about the destination rather than the hunt. I don't mind a bit of searching for a cache (it's always rewarding to find a well hidden cache) but I'd rather go after a cache that's someplace intresting. Someplace that I may not normally visit.

[+SeventhSon]

For me, it's the puzzle I like a good challenge, and like to pass that on to the cachers. I'm sure they love me for it. Mostly it's the cache itself. I cache for the hunt, so I hide for the hunt.

[+GEO.JOE]

Location is very important to me. I feel there should be a purpose to brining a person to a spot other than just the cache find. About 90% of my caches were placed specifically to share the location with other people. A couple started off as a theme so I had to find locations to place them.

 

Here is a list of my caches and the reasons I chose the locations:

Ghosts of Whitehaven (Historical and Architectural)

A Link to the Past (Historical significance of the Chain)

Chief Paduke (Historical)

Tunnel Hill (Historical man-made feature)

The Beast of LBL (Location talked about in a story about the legendary Beast)

 

For My Sweetheart (Natural features, i.e. boulders, bluffs, creek and water fall)

Arch (Great little arch sitting in the middle of the woods)

Buffalo Rock & Above The Buffalo (One of only 60 known Native American Rock art sites in IL and a spectacular valley to explore)

Bluff Trail (Natural rock features and Wildlife)

Crow Knob & Beyond Crow Knob (Natural Rock feature and Historical connection to Underground Railroad)

Honker Hill (Nice secluded views of the lake)

Geocaching "ROCKS" & This Place "ROCKS" (To get people off the beaten path and to see a more natural view of the Garden of the Gods area.)

Sand Cave (Largest Sand Stone Cave in North America)

Sandstone & Solitude (Rock formations)

God's Garden & Camel of the Gods (Share the path to the bottom of the bluffs and To get people off the beaten path to explore below the bluffs)

 

Fore For Free (Little known, free 9 hole par 3 golf course)

Bird Trail (Little known trail)

 

Ghost Dance (I wanted to Place a Native American Themed cache with information and swag about the significance of Animal Energies to Native Americans - So I found a spectacular location to place the cache and the location is one of my favorite spots now)

 

Thank You Betsy Ross (I got a lot of patriotic swag for cheap and wanted to place a Red, White and Blue themed cache and I wanted to highlight the old Betsy Ross park but it is too small to place a full size cache so the location I chose is near a flag to fit the theme. The cache gives people to learn a bit of history and learn to project a waypoint)

 

Geocache by Imperitus (Adopted for the historical significance of being the 9th oldest active cache in KY)

 

I have enjoyed several caches that were placed just for the challenge of hunting the cache as well. I am currently working on placing two new caches. One is based on a theme/twist/creative way of locating a cache, and hopefully it will work in a location with great views of KY Lake that change as you ascend a hill.

 

The second cache is a night cache, maze, that I am placing for an event, to keep the tradition of hunting a new night cache after the event. It will either be fun, frustrating or both. If the cache is a hit I will list it, if it flops it will go away.

 

GEO.JOE

Edited July 6, 2007 by GEO.JOE

[CoyoteRed]

When you place a cache are you looking for a good place to hide it or a location for people to visit?

 

I've placed one cache and have three more scouted out. For my caches I want people go somewhere they haven't been and to see something they haven't seen. For me its more about the destination rather than the hunt. I don't mind a bit of searching for a cache (it's always rewarding to find a well hidden cache) but I'd rather go after a cache that's someplace intresting. Someplace that I may not normally visit.

If you hide caches in nothing but interesting places few will complain about it.

 

It's refreshing to know that some folks are interested in placing cache where the intrinsic value is in the hunt--whether it's the journey or the destination--and not just interested in simply getting a cache out there that satisfies nothing but the guidelines and provides a smilie.

[+CrkrJim]

Good - a good hide in an uninteresting place.

 

Better - an easy hide in an interesting place.

 

Best - a good hide in an interesting place.

 

Container size to match situation.

 

Good hunting,

 

Jim

[+briansnat]

When you place a cache are you looking for a good place to hide it or a location for people to visit?

 

I've placed one cache and have three more scouted out. For my caches I want people go somewhere they haven't been and to see something they haven't seen. For me its more about the destination rather than the hunt. I don't mind a bit of searching for a cache (it's always rewarding to find a well hidden cache) but I'd rather go after a cache that's someplace intresting. Someplace that I may not normally visit.

 

I'm with you. My hides and my favorite finds highlight an interesting or scenic location

[+Isonzo Karst]

I've had three urban ugly hides on my favorites list - one of them is now archived and has been removed.

 

These are hides where it's all about the hide, though one of them has a pleasant enough view too. If the cache owner can do something original and extraordinary in an ordinary place, that can be fun. But frankly, it's pretty darn rare. The level of creativity and effort required just doesn't happen that often.

 

But lots of folks can place a nice cache in some spot they know about that's special. Overwhelmingly, those are going to be the good ones.

[+tozainamboku]

When you place a cache are you looking for a good place to hide it or a location for people to visit?

 

I've placed one cache and have three more scouted out. For my caches I want people go somewhere they haven't been and to see something they haven't seen. For me its more about the destination rather than the hunt. I don't mind a bit of searching for a cache (it's always rewarding to find a well hidden cache) but I'd rather go after a cache that's someplace intresting. Someplace that I may not normally visit.

This is a good question - and the crux of many debates on these forums.

 

My take is that geocaching is about hiding a container someplace for geocachers to find. Waymarking is about showing me interesting places. Of course, if the cache is hidden in an interesting place then I've gotten a bonus of being taken to some neat or interesting place to find the cache.

 

There is also the question about what makes it an interesting place. I'm sure someone will complain that Waymarking is not about taking you to an interesting place because there are some Waymarking categories which are mundane and not at all interesting. Different people find different places interesting. Some people like historic locations, some like natural places, some want a view, some find it cool to go places you wouldn't normally visit - like the back of the strip mall where the dumpsters and loading docks are. Is that what you meant by a place you would not normally visit?

[+Miragee]

When you place a cache are you looking for a good place to hide it or a location for people to visit?

 

I've placed one cache and have three more scouted out. For my caches I want people go somewhere they haven't been and to see something they haven't seen. For me its more about the destination rather than the hunt. I don't mind a bit of searching for a cache (it's always rewarding to find a well hidden cache) but I'd rather go after a cache that's someplace intresting. Someplace that I may not normally visit.

I'm with you. My hides and my favorite finds highlight an interesting or scenic location

Ditto!

 

I'm sort of in the hard hike, easy find category. I also like caches in a series that motivate me to keep going, and going, when I would otherwise be tempted to stop.

 

Historical and unique places, where some Virtual, and a few Traditional, caches have taken me, are some of the most memorable caches I have found.

 

Although I enjoy clever hides and unique cache containers, I prefer it if they take me to a nice, or at least "muggle-less" location, but that's just me. As for uninspired hides, in urban locations, I leave my GPSr off now when I go into town to run my errands . . . However, when I was traveling, I enjoyed all the caches I found along my route.

[+Renegade Knight]

When you place a cache are you looking for a good place to hide it or a location for people to visit?

...

I read your question differently than you explained it.

 

A technical hide is a good hide using creative methods. The Beauty of the Cache is the clever hide and not the location. You can combine this with a great location, but some areas if they are going to have a cache will only ever offer the potential for a creative hide.

 

A great location speaks for itself. You can make a simple hide, or a creative hide, but since the location is well worth the visit, you don't need to do much more than hide your cache in a way that muggles won't find.

[+Driver Carries Cache]

I'd say it could be either... or both!

 

I recently found the most clever, devilish and unique "magnetic guardrail hides" that I've ever seen. (I know... hard to believe )

 

If there's not some killer scenery, there better be a fun and interesting challenge. To me, that really makes it all work.

 

DCC

[+Harry Dolphin]

When you place a cache are you looking for a good place to hide it or a location for people to visit?

 

Yes. And don't forget a good puzzle!

I place a cache for people to have fun! A scenic location (Got some with great views!), A good hide (even have one or more of these), or A good puzzle (hee hee hee). If you're not having fun, then you're doing something wrong.

[+H2OBob]

People geocache for different reasons. Some (like me) enjoy going to a place with beautiful scenery. Some like the challenge of a difficult hide. Some love a brisk hike. Others go for as many smileys as they can get in a day. The neat thing is, they're all right! I think it's cool that so many different people can enjoy a hobby while doing their own 'thing'.

[+wavector]

Geocaches don't need to be in in special places but I try and place mine in nice places, places where I like to walk with my dog or places located in local parks. A geocache placed alongside a walkway in a city greenspace is fine with me, it may not have any historic value and it may not be highlighted in any brochures but it can be an enjoyable walk and in the right spot seekers can hunt for the cache without being seen.

I like being able to get my walking stick out, I don't care if I am going to see the Taj Mahal, any walk in a nice area is fine with me. I like to see places that I might not know about, a lot of neighborhood greenspaces have caches and that means I get introduced to areas I might have passed by.

 

When I place caches I work with what I have, I live in a small city that has very severe surrounding terrain, Rudyard Kipling said that South East Alberta has "all of hell for a basement", he also said the "only trapdoor is Medicine Hat". We have a very limited selection of "location, location, location" locations but almost any greenspace is a bonus in this country and caches highlighting any spot where you can have a pleasurable walk, in my opinion, well placed.

 

I really don't like caching from the car. If caches are placed to attract wheeled visitors I can do without. I think caches located in roadside turnouts are generally a waste of time but I stop and search usually, I am always looking for creative hides though they are becoming very rare. Most of the new caches being placed are "drive up" caches. I searched for one the other day that was a throwdown in the tall grass in a roadside turnout, I gave up quickly and said in my log I wouldn't be back, in my opinion that cache was a total waste of my time.

 

Many people cannot imagine what might happen when they place a cache. I searched for a cache the other day that was placed in a small park in a rural community. The cache was placed so that it was hidden by the leaves of a shrub, in the fall it is going to be sitting completely out in the open. The listing said it was hidden by a group of cachers, apparently the entire group lacks imagination or experience. They also specifically said that no one should say anything bad about the cache so I couldn't even point out the issue.

[+Miragee]

<snip>

 

I really don't like caching from the car. If caches are placed to attract wheeled visitors I can do without.

 

<snip>

Ditto! At least for the local caches.

 

However, when I was traveling between California and Colorado, I appreciated the caches along my driving route . . . as long as the cache placer was thoughtful enough to put the cache near a pullout along the busy highway, or provide access information to an elusive trailhead.