Caches you have made

[+frex3wv]

My son and I would like to hide a cache in and around some rocks -

 

Has anyone ever made a cache container that looks like a rock etc - if so - we would love to hear how you did it.

 

Also - if you have made unique cache containers of any kind - we would love to hear about em!

 

Thanks in advance!

[+egami]

Let me direct your attention to this thread: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=62421

 

Very long, but worth the read...good examples all the way through.

[+joranda]

I have several rock hides. I have bought bigger rocks from landscape places and drilled a hole in the bottom that a bison tube can fit in then I caulke it in place. Makes for a good hide and looks natural.

[+StarBrand]

I didn't make it but saw a rock hide in Wyoming where the owner had used a commercial grade sandblaster to carve out a space under a granite rock. Looked overly natural until I went to lift it and it was less than 1/3 of the weight I expected.

[+briansnat]

I made one by inverting a screw top container and spraying that quick hardening foam over it. I then painted the foam with Fleckstone paint to make it look like a rock. Actually it looks more like a random pile of hardened cement, but I have no talent whatsoever for this kind of stuff. I'm sure someone else can do much better.

[+Confucius' Cat]

Here comes the cold water:

 

A fake rock in a pile of rocks is what is affectionately known as a "needle in a haystack."

 

These type of hides are not universally appreciated.

 

I would advise you to either be unique in some way with your fake rock, like a different colour, or a unique shape or place it where it is one of only a few rocks at the site.

 

I have found two fake rock hides that were memorable. One was a commercial key holder rock which was simply laid beside a stream. On the cache page it warned not to throw the cache into the water. Actually, I think that was probably its ultimate fate- kids skipping stones ya know.

 

The other was just an ordinary rock with a very small cylindrical jar lid glued to it and the jar was pressed down in the mud so the rock looked like it was just sitting on the ground. The rock was about 2" across and placed next to a small tree at water's edge. It was a class 4 hide and I obsessed with it for months before I finally found it (STF). It still torments cachers to this day.

 

Neither of these succeeded in keeping the log dry.

 

I have also walked away from a few "needles."

[+private bones]

Yeah! Good fake rock advice on this thread. I have a cache called Boulder Houlder (hidden in a large boulder field) and it would have been great to get a big fake boulder and hide the container in the boulder. But, all the fake boulders I found were really pricey.

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

A quick and easy way to make a container blend in with its surrounding is to just use spray paint, plenty of it all at one time! No I not crazy. I will go to where I intend to hide a cache and take the container along (usually a metal container - cookie tin type of container.). I will find a spot that has plenty of loose dirt (sand, here in AZ.) and spray a heavy coating on the top of the tin. Cover it with the local material and press slightly to embed it in the thick coat of paint. Let it dry and then do each side of the container. You end up with a coating of the local material about 1/8" thick. The nice thing is to refresh the coating you just spray and add more dirt (or dried leaves as the case may be.).

 

With this method you are not limited to micros!

 

John

[+briansnat]

A quick and easy way to make a container blend in with its surrounding is to just use spray paint, plenty of it all at one time! No I not crazy. I will go to where I intend to hide a cache and take the container along (usually a metal container - cookie tin type of container.). I will find a spot that has plenty of loose dirt (sand, here in AZ.) and spray a heavy coating on the top of the tin. Cover it with the local material and press slightly to embed it in the thick coat of paint. Let it dry and then do each side of the container. You end up with a coating of the local material about 1/8" thick. The nice thing is to refresh the coating you just spray and add more dirt (or dried leaves as the case may be.).

 

With this method you are not limited to micros!

 

John

 

You can also accomplish the same thing by coating the cache with a glue like Goop and rolling it in the material.

[CacheNCarryMA]

Try googling "hypertufa". It's a lightweight concrete made from portland cement, sand, and filler material, like screened peat moss or vermiculite. Landscapers use it to make planter containers.

 

I created a fake rock shell to cover a cache container. I used 1/2" wire mesh to make a "cage" upon which the wet hypertufa was applied. Hypertufa can be tinted to match local rocks. Luckily, most of the rocks in my area are concrete colored.

 

Painted expansion foam (like "Great Stuff") doesn't hold up well, especially if it's going to be hidden among real rocks. In the rock-paper-scissors hierachy, expansion foam is worse than scissors.

Edited January 4, 2008 by CacheNCarryMA

[+007BigD]

Ive placed 2 Rock cammoed ammocans. I used the native rock and was lucky enough to have lots of small rock crumbles and powder at each location. I used spay adhesive to adhear the rock material, I just applied the cache sticker and masked it off prior to heading out, then brought the adhesive with me, sprayed the heck outa the container and then tossed the material around the location on it pressing it in with my fingers and dousing it with more till no more would stick. I then removed the sticker and they both lokked great!

 

Just remember that you cannot open it again once it is sprayed on till cured (Without making a mess and screwin up the camo) and make sure that you dont spray the crack where the lid opens...otherwise its a bear to open!!!

 

Thats what I did and have got compliments how cool of a camo job it turned out as.

[+PhxChem]

These type of hides are not universally appreciated

 

Nothing in geocaching is.

[+Lovey Pigs]

here is a container i made with a loc & loc, using gorilla glue & small river rocks. it took some time to do each side, but turned out well and has been in use for over a year in a cache, hidden within a pile of old concrete type rocks.

Edited January 6, 2008 by mdegarmo

[+Beast101]

I recently made one of these...all i did was take a masonry bit and drilled a hole through the rock that i used and slid the film canister in.

[+JohnnyVegas]

Why hide a rock

[+Tahoein' Bunch]

Johnny that looks like somting my dog did.....

[+WeaksFamily]

here is a container i made with a loc & loc, using gorilla glue & small river rocks. it took some time to do each side, but turned out well and has been in use for over a year in a cache, hidden within a pile of old concrete type rocks.

 

That is cool. I'll be doing a creekside cache soon... might do something like that with the local rock.