The Good Little Ones

July 17, 2007

One of the things that I've been seeing as of late is the assumption that any kind of micro is going to just be some park bench slap-on or, worse, an LPC placed during a lunch break. But I know from experience, and my own placements, that a micro can present a whole new dynamic to a hide.

Some areas just won't support a regular cache -- anything in a city, for example, generally has to be a micro, unless the container is hidden incredibly well or imitates or hides under a large part of the environment. Some micros can take advantage of the environment -- for example, I've hidden a nice matchstick container in a large root system, and it has been so challenging, I even fail to find it for maintenance checks if someone replaces it at a different spot. Hell, some micros are there just because it's just a minimalist way to cache and the owner isn't a big fan of trading (I know I've gotten burnt out on the whole "collectable" aspect of Geocaching -- coins and such -- and I feel that micros are the answer to this).

I know I can't be the only one who has an appreciation for the micro. A good, solid micro is pleasing to hide and even to hold. So let's hear it:

What are some of your favorite caches that, coincidently, just so happen to be micros?

2.7k · July 17, 2007

Since I usually save micros for last when I'm deciding on which caches to find I haven't found many. But of the ones I have found this one, originally called, Blocked Passage still stands out in my memory. Since it is archived I can share that the cache location is just before a pedestrian tunnel going under a road. The wall leading up to the tunnel has a brick facade with a lot of missing mortar between the bricks. Something artsy I guess. Anyhoo, the cache container is a small jewelry box painted to look like a brick and stuck in one of the large gaps in the wall.

July 17, 2007

We don't hunt micros all that often because the majority do seem to be rather dull. Lift a skirt lately? We have found some really creative ones attached to fake flowers and such.

I do understand that sometimes you just can't get that creative with a container so I thought that making the hunt more entertaining would be preferable. GC1454P and GC13YZJ

1.4k · July 17, 2007

One of the things that I've been seeing as of late is the assumption that any kind of micro is going to just be some park bench slap-on or, worse, an LPC placed during a lunch break. But I know from experience, and my own placements, that a micro can present a whole new dynamic to a hide.

Some areas just won't support a regular cache -- anything in a city, for example, generally has to be a micro, unless the container is hidden incredibly well or imitates or hides under a large part of the environment. Some micros can take advantage of the environment -- for example, I've hidden a nice matchstick container in a large root system, and it has been so challenging, I even fail to find it for maintenance checks if someone replaces it at a different spot. Hell, some micros are there just because it's just a minimalist way to cache and the owner isn't a big fan of trading (I know I've gotten burnt out on the whole "collectable" aspect of Geocaching -- coins and such -- and I feel that micros are the answer to this).

I know I can't be the only one who has an appreciation for the micro. A good, solid micro is pleasing to hide and even to hold. So let's hear it:

What are some of your favorite caches that, coincidently, just so happen to be micros?

Great post!

Picture public art piece constructed of textured concrete statues and in a hole underneath one of the characters hats, someone painted the end of a finger of a textured rubber glove to match it. Glued inside the finger was a nano-cache.

or...

On a large sign with raised letters, there was a period at the end of the Inc. after the companies name. Yep, the period was the cache.

or...

Inside a Kypronite bike lock (which is hollow) locked to a bike rack at the end of a multi-cache. You found a key in the first stage and needed to find what it went to. This was particularly challenging because the rack was busy and always had bikes on it... so lot's of locks to ponder.

or...

Inside a road reflector that was hollowed out and screwed into the concrete of a road that was closed to cars. You had to twist it off, any other way would not budge it.

or...

Inside a shell of a Nature Hawaiian Snail. This is a particularly large shell and they glued magnets to the shell and stuck it to a metal sign post.

Edited July 17, 2007 by Team GeoBlast

2k · July 17, 2007

anything in a city, for example, generally has to be a micro

False. It does not have to be. Generally city caches are micros because people dont put much though in to their hides at least here in the East PHX area.

Regular size caches can be hidden in the city.

But anyway, I guess my favorite micro would be a micro that I found in the AZ desert (surrounded by city). Here's the link: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...50-3b13df038ca0

3.7k · July 17, 2007

Good thread!

I've found many amusing micros, not all in city situations.

For instance, this disguised film container is hidden in a wood (!) but has a good hint (so you don't need to search excessively as long as you're observant). As this cache is meant to be all about the challenge, it doesn't really matter that there is little room for swaps or coins.

HH

9.3k · July 17, 2007

I cache to increase my personal pleasure. (pretty selfish, I know) The percentage of inspired micros around here is fairly low, as compared to my rather biased preferences, so to maintain my FQ, (fun quotient), I removed micros from my weekly pocket query. As the new cache notifications come in, I check them out, and if one seems interesting, I'll go hunt for it. Otherwise, it falls into the great black hole of Riffster obscurity. This area is growing in smalls, regulars and larges faster than I can keep up with them, so I never find myself feeling compelled to search for things that won't increase my FQ.

3.7k · July 17, 2007

I cache to increase my personal pleasure...

After all that, you forgot to mention your favourite micro! :blink:

July 17, 2007

I actually enjoy Micros (if they're creative & well thought out). One of my favorites was a chapstic tube with a piece of wood glued to the bottom of it. It was placed in a hole in a telephone pole just above eye level.

To me, a will thought out Micro is a rewarding find.

18.9k · July 17, 2007

Most micros do not amuse me much but I have found a few really great ones.

Best one I saw was a fake bolt placed in a metal post a few feet from a Historic Marker. The state placed Marker was in the corner of someone's yard. Obvious to many cachers yet totally hidden in plain site to muggles. No room or hide spot for virtually anything else.

BTW - with a little creativity and imagination it is quite possible to hide even a large cache in most cityscapes. I have found quite a few.

3.9k · July 17, 2007

I cache to increase my personal pleasure...

After all that, you forgot to mention your favourite micro!

Some people won't pass an opportunity to bash micros, even in threads asking about good ones. :blink:

3.2k · July 17, 2007

I cache to increase my personal pleasure...

After all that, you forgot to mention your favourite micro!

Some people won't pass an opportunity to bash micros, even in threads asking about good ones.

To be fair, Riffster wasn't really bashing micros in that post. He was merely expressing his caching preference, and describing his method for avoiding what he doesn't like. Very reasonable, I thought.

He actually set a good example, one that perhaps others will follow.

Take his post, replace "micros" with "underwater caches," and you've got a reasonably accurate picture of my own caching preference.

3.9k · July 17, 2007

I cache to increase my personal pleasure...

After all that, you forgot to mention your favourite micro!

Some people won't pass an opportunity to bash micros, even in threads asking about good ones.

To be fair, Riffster wasn't really bashing micros in that post. He was merely expressing his caching preference, and describing his method for avoiding what he doesn't like. Very reasonable, I thought.

He actually set a good example, one that perhaps others will follow.

Take his post, replace "micros" with "underwater caches," and you've got a reasonably accurate picture of my own caching preference.

To be accurate, he was discussing how he's removed micros because of a dislike of them - in a thread asking for examples of good micros.

Those kinds of comments would be expected in the thread asking what makes a good cache. In this one it comes across as micro bashing.

3.2k · July 17, 2007

To be accurate, he was discussing how he's removed micros because of a dislike of them - in a thread asking for examples of good micros.

Those kinds of comments would be expected in the thread asking what makes a good cache. In this one it comes across as micro bashing.

You've got a point about the topic relevance thing, but you've got to admit: CR has come a long way in adjusting his expression of his dislike for micros. If one is going to chide others for poorly reasoned opinions as I have been known to do, one must also be equally willing to praise positive change wherever one finds it.

I have nothing against those who dislike easy micros. My beef is with those who boorishly criticize others for enjoying them. Riffster did none of that in his latest post. I saw good progress, and I simply wanted to recognize it.

1.1k · July 17, 2007

This cache of mine has been entertaining.

3.2k · July 17, 2007

Sometimes even a relatively plain and easy micro can provide a memorable adventure. You never really know WHAT you're going to get into.

Here's a recent log from a micro along an elevated riverwalk that I found under my other account, CaptRussell:

"While it's still happening it's called 'trouble.' When you're telling the story later it's called 'adventure.'" - (author unknown)

This was a fun and challenging hide. Just enough muggle-stress and needle-in-a-haystackedness to make it fun, without being too much of either.

As soon as I spotted the cache container, however, I immediately recognized what a precarious position it occupied, and wondered how long it would be before a certain very likely and very bad thing happened to it.

I got my answer about three minutes later.

I signed the log and, with a nice gap in pedestrian traffic and no one looking, proceeded to return it to its hiding place. I was moving as slowly and carefully as I could manage, being fully aware what Mean Old Mr. Gravity might do if I were to clumsily ...

*bump*

*plunk*

"[non-wholesome four-letter interjection]!!!!!!!!!"

... and there it was.

Fortunately it didn’t actually fall into the river. I could still SEE it, in fact, but it was just a few inches above the water level, in a place that I couldn’t possibly reach without a boat. It was sitting right there in a puddle of wet mud, twelve feet below, laughing at me ......

...... and with the most recent log now showing my incriminating signature, as proof, under forensic analysis, exactly who the clueless butterfinger was.

With no other apparent choice I continued along the riverwalk toward the next cache, dejectedly writing the upcoming apology email in my mind, when suddenly a little cartoon-style light bulb appeared over my head.

A short time later I was in the Rite-Aid store near my hotel, and, for less than the cost of a Hallmark "I’m Sorry I Dropped Your Geocache into the River" card, I acquired a box of dental floss and a cheap magnetic hide-a-key.

Back to the scene of the fumble. The river was up, and the nano was now under enough water that I could barely see it. Within moments, however, I had MacGyvered that sucker right back into my hands! YES!!! The cache was soon back home in its proper place.

Thanks for a very entertaining "adventure."

(Never did smell anything.)

1.8k · July 17, 2007

Some locations call for micros, high muggle traffic, shortage of hiding spots for larger caches, to remain unobtrusive.

We have several near me that have so far eluded. Yes, micros, but in the locations a larger cache would be muggled.

Micros have their place, but unfortunately, too many just take me to exciting, exotic parking lots and dumpsters that I would have never seen but for them. Gee, thanks for showing me these wonderful stripes on asphalt in front of Wal-Mart.

Edited July 17, 2007 by Trucker Lee

July 17, 2007

I recently did a day of caching down highway 1 from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. There are lots of caches along the way. I noticed that there really was something for everyone... micros close to the road at many highway "pull-outs" and larger caches hidden within a reasonable walk of the highway. The cool thing was, even the roadside micros surrounded you with beautiful scenery and amazing views. You can't really say that by definition all micros are bad hides. I've also found plenty of regulars that were tossed in a bush next to a barbed-wire fence on some lonely farm road. Nothing very inspiring about those either. So I would say that the lame hide is not exclusively the domain of the micro.

Driver Carries Cache

Edited July 17, 2007 by Driver Carries Cache

14.3k · July 17, 2007

I have found a bunch of really fun micros. If you are ever in San Diego area try the micros in this list or this list for starters. These guys aren't around anymore, but when they were they made micros very fun! :blink:

July 17, 2007

I used to dislike micros. Now, I think they have their place, and even can be fun if creative. Hence, I don't take them off my PQs, since every so often I am quite pleasantly surprised. Some micros that I have placed generate numerous positive comments - then again, some thought went into the caches, the places were unique, and I love giving a good camo job to a container (it makes my day when someone logs "wow, I was looking right at it and didn't see it").

At any rate, I've come across some super micros:

1) (GCTWA3) Arc This. This one's terrain should be at least .5 stars higher, since as the description states, it can be on the dangerous side.

2) (GCJDK7) Lucy In the Sky . A little bird told me this was a fun and creative one.

July 17, 2007

As an occasional hider of the dreaded micros, I've got to say that I like them because they offer the opprtunity to do something creative in a suburban setting.

Let's face it, hiding a macro in the bushes or under a pile of twigs is not all that much better in terms of creativity than a LPC.

Size does not matter, its what you do with your caches!

14.3k · July 17, 2007

As an occasional hider of the dreaded micros, I've got to say that I like them because they offer the opprtunity to do something creative in a suburban setting.

Let's face it, hiding a macro in the bushes or under a pile of twigs is not all that much better in terms of creativity than a LPC.

Size does not matter, its what you do with your caches!

July 18, 2007

Seems to me, 95% of all multi-caches have micros for each stop, except the final, unless thats a micro also.

So how many of you who dont like micros bother searching for multis?

I dont let the container type really deter me from a cache. What turns me off is lousy implementation of ANY cache container.

We only have a few LPC's around my area. Most micros are decently implemented around here.

I find I end up doing MANY traditional hides that involve tupperware or ammo cans hidden at the base of a tree, covered with three or four parrallel sticks, and can be seen from 30ft away. :rolleyes:

I would rather see a creative micro in the woods, than this type of hide.

Although we are starting to see a cacher place more and more lame 35mm micros hidden on the "Welcome To" signs at each small town around here.

I cant really think of any one single, well-done micro right now, as there ARE quite a few around. Not to mention the excellent ones used in most of the multis around here.

Edited July 18, 2007 by Blue_stone

11.3k · July 18, 2007

This cache takes a cacher to a truly-incredible area, even if I do say so myself. :rolleyes:

This is another clever cache placed by a creative hider.

This is a famous cache many people save for a "milestone" find. Oooops . . . Did I just give away the size of the final container?

This is another creative hide by a famous local cacher.

9.3k · July 18, 2007

After all that, you forgot to mention your favourite micro!

Some people won't pass an opportunity to bash micros, even in threads asking about good ones.

Sorry Brother!

Some of my favorites:

And last, but not least,

Under The Overpass

Although I do like to sling the occasional micro jest around, I've expressed my honest thoughts on them often enough that I didn't feel a repeat was necessary. Apparently I was mistaken, so I'll post it again. I love cleverly hidden micros. I don't love easy to find micros. They may be a blast for others, but they are not fun for me. Since I cache for my own selfish pleasures, I find ways to keep the game fun, for me. Eliminating micros from my PQ has accomplished that very nicely, and by reading the pages of the new caches as they get published, I get the opportunity to hunt some incredibly devious micros as well.

19k · July 18, 2007

I've cached in enough other areas to know how fortunate we are here in the Twin Cities in regards to clever micros (and clever other caches). We have some truely great ones around here, but since most of them are still alive, I hesitate to give any detail (I can provide some links if anyone is interested).

But one of mine that is now archived was Lost Dog. It was a two stage, where the first stage was a small brass dog collar barrel glued to the head of a well-rusted nail and inserted in an existing nailhole in a telephone pole on a corner. There were literally hundreds of other nails in the pole!

3.2k · July 18, 2007

I recently did a cache in Mountain Home, ID called Knight's Quest (GCXFR4). It was a micro and I liked it a lot. I'll be looking for a spot locally to place a similar cache.

July 18, 2007

This one is not a micro, but it is fairly small-

Ivy League anti-micro

Now, check out some verbiage from the cache description -

"Our first urban cache. This is an ammo can in a place that would normally have a small/micro.

The ammo can came up missing so I have placed a smaller container with some trinkets and a temporary log to see if it will last. Please do not leave travel bugs until I can verify stability."

DOH! :unsure:

Oh, the irony! :lol:

10.1k · July 19, 2007

Most creative micro cache? (Bear in mind that I do a lot of caching in NYC...) One of the best hides that I've seen is The Whole Micro by Concrete Rat. Ingenious, devious, and yet easy to find!

Not to beat a dead horse, but I do have a few micros out there, one of which leads you to this view:

Worth hunting a micro for?

July 19, 2007

Worth hunting a micro for?

Probably is certainly worth hunting, and taking in that view. What a shame, though, that they leave that perfectly fine cruise ship moored in the same spot.

19k · July 19, 2007

By far, the coolest micro that I've seen is the one at the top of page 40 in the Cool Cache Container's thread: Crafty Cocoon

Much more evil even than my fake nail, I think!!

1.5k · July 19, 2007

I actually prefer micros, being lucky enough to live in a city where there are some very clever cache hiders. And even for those that are more of a standard nature, the vast majority have led me either to parks that I might have driven by in a car but never went into (which I did while caching on my bike), or a historic site that I may not have even known about. Those placing the caches include the story behind the location, for which I thank them. Could I have found these spots myself? Certainly. Would I have done so? Probably not. I've seen and learned a lot from my fellow cachers who place micros.

July 20, 2007

Some of my favorite caches that happen to be micros...

Riverside Ruins II - Finding it isn't the problem. Getting to it is a real physical challenge. Baby Goat Cache and fig3784 are by the same cacher as RRII and were clever hides and a challenge to find. Not LPC's, that is for sure.

I'm not a micro-hater, but won't generally go out of my way to do them unless they seem to be special in some way. Either like the ones above or part of a series of caches, such as The Solar System Tour: The Sun or MD Cluedo 10 of 10 or promise to be in a special location like This Old House or Freedmen's Resting Place. I'll also be more likely look for one if I either know the owner or have some connection. The same day my first cache was published, another cacher had her first one published and she was FTF on my cache. I couldn't try until after work, but thought it would be hoot if I could be FTF on hers.

I was recently trying to extend my consecutive days with a find streak to 9 and only had time for one cache. I chose not to run down the road to where I knew there was a recently published LPC, but to return to try to find an offset cache that I'd recently found was missing, but that the owner had since relocated. I knew it would be much more of a challenge, but I wanted the streak to mean something. I didn't find the cache, but was still glad I hadn't simply gone for the easy LPC.

Not all micros are equal and not all are LPC's.

The Good Little Ones

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