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"Urban" Night Cache Ideas ?


gridlox

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Recently I did my very first "true" night cache and it was a blast. :huh: Now I'd like to plan one, but with a twist from the norm. I'd like to do one that is an "Urban Night Cache".

 

I did a search and found lots of good stuff on hiding a night cache "in the woods", but not that much concerning a night cache in an urban area. <_<

 

Any good ones that you guys can show me or ideas to try? :ph34r:

 

Thanks,

D-man B)

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I think the chief problem with the idea of urban night caches, is that people poking around at night with flashlights will certainly draw attention.

 

I can see people searching for reflectors on telephone poles and such inadvertently shining their lights through the widows of residences and businesses.

 

Looking for one is likely a quick way to a comfy seat in the back of a police car and shiny new bracelets.

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I did a search and found lots of good stuff on hiding a night cache "in the woods", but not that much concerning a night cache in an urban area. <_<

 

Any good ones that you guys can show me or ideas to try? :ph34r:

 

Been thinking the same here...have an idea but not sure how it would go over.

Laser pointers are so cheap I thought it might OK to require a laser pointer for a night cache multi

At least some of the stages could require you to place the laser pointer in a very specific location/direction,

and the pointer would reveal specific numbers to fill out coords for the next ...similar to a ouija board

someone without a laser pointer "might" be able to tell we are pointed towards a sign, but not know what specific letters or number required. Bonus fun, laser pointers even bounce off mirrors.

Whadyathink?

Different laser pointers of different sizes make me question if this would work the way I'd like it to.

(Would be really neat if I could the pointer at stages where it is required and hope it would still be found there by others but I fear it would be muggled and or batteryless too soon)

More chance of getting questioned by police if they see lasers pointing around in urban areas?

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My Night In The City is an urban (as urban as Newport Rhode Island gets) night cache.

 

I used black 3M Scotchlite tape, cut into small arrows. These are placed at the bottom of lamp posts (all black) pointing the way to the final. The final is a micro on some black fencing around a statue in a pretty cool park (that couldn't support a regular).

 

Email me if you want more details.

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A few years back we hunted an urban night cache in a fairly small, open little park with a spectacular view of the downtown area just across the river. Hard to tell what the little park was used for in the daytime, but it had several large paved, unfenced "courts" with bleachers, a parking area, a number of benches with shrubs and small trees, a helicopter landing pad, and a walking/running trail: enough hiding places that a micro cache could be ANYWHERE. The coordinates took you to the center of one of the paved courts, and you were supposed to use your light to find the cache. Although we had successfully hunted many caches at night, we were inexperienced at hunting night caches. We had very feeble lights, and no luck.

 

So a month later we returned with a dozen friends and millions of watts of flashlights and headlamps. In just a few seconds, we all burst out laughing because one of the small shrubs about 100 feet away was completely decorated with about 50 reflective tacks. It lit up like a Christmas tree with everyone's lights shining on it. Without good lights though, and during the day, the tacks and the micro cache were invisible.

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More chance of getting questioned by police if they see lasers pointing around in urban areas?

 

I believe I would think it over for a while before incorporating laser pointers in a night cache.

 

I use a double laser (green, with a very long bright beam) for astronomy programs to point out constellations and planets. However, airports and police helicopters take a dim view (sorry!) of lasers flashing around the sky. Apparently there have been some incidents of some idiots using lasers maliciously to blind airplane pilots.

 

It could happen accidently, too.

 

Picture the situation: a family out night caching. One of the kids finally gets his or her hands on the laser pointer. What targets are there to try it out on, while hunting a night cache? First of all- a sibling or a pet or a parent (laser hits to the eyes at close range are not too good.) It could even be an older child or a teen who thinks it's cool to see if the light will reach the small plane overhead. What if the plane is low and coming in for a landing, and the beam does shine in the plane's windows?

 

Maybe (with lots of cautions about laser pointer safety) you could designate some kind of structure that seekers lay their laser pointers on, like the top of a wall or the top of a picnic table, so that the beam is cast only in two dimensions, and not up into the sky... Maybe it could be a slot that only a laser pointer will fit into...

 

Anyway, that's my three cents.

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My Night In The City is an urban (as urban as Newport Rhode Island gets) night cache.

 

I used black 3M Scotchlite tape, cut into small arrows. These are placed at the bottom of lamp posts (all black) pointing the way to the final. The final is a micro on some black fencing around a statue in a pretty cool park (that couldn't support a regular).

 

Email me if you want more details.

 

I haven't been to (or cached in) Newport since a couple months before you joined geocaching.com, but that sounds awesome! Good enough reason to go back even. :) Beats the heck out of a Safeway parking lot. I see there are tons and tons of new caches on the Island as well.

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Do you have any details on how these work? Maybe you can share how the archived one was set up.

It was a trail of Firetacks starting in the front parking log, passed thru a breezeway to the back lot, around the side to small hidden in the crotch of a tree across the street next to the sidewalk. The other was similar, but said more at the edges of the parking lot.

 

As to the attention of the police, in an area like that you'd have car headlights flashing into any and all windows. A short flash of a flashlight probably wouldn't even be noticed, unless you were close and held it for a time. Both caches I did were done with a group, and we didn't have any special attention paid to us - by the police or others.

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My Night In The City is an urban (as urban as Newport Rhode Island gets) night cache.

I was just going to mention this. We had a most enjoyable time finding it. What could be more fun than walking through downtown Newport at night while doing a night cache?

 

The cache was setup very well. A lot of time in the woods, the reflectors are all over the place and you have to search for them. With this one, the reflectors could only be see by holding your light at a certain height, so you weren't waving it all over the place and attracting attention to yourselves. As you approached, if your light was held right, you would see them. If anything, it looked like you were just using the light to see where you were going.

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Another option is invisible UV paint. A blacklight would be needed to find the glowing spots.

Or maybe glow-in-the-dark paint.

 

Glow in the dark paint sticks out like a sore thumb, even in daylight. I used the invisible paint for my Letterbox Hybrid, and it lights up nicely at night. The downside to this paint is that is only UV reactive to around 5 feet. You would have to factor this in when designing the cache.

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I haven't been to (or cached in) Newport since a couple months before you joined geocaching.com, but that sounds awesome! Good enough reason to go back even. :) Beats the heck out of a Safeway parking lot. I see there are tons and tons of new caches on the Island as well.

 

I guess you will have to come back to Little Rhody for the 4th annual Pig Roast this summer (18 July 09)!

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Another option is invisible UV paint. A blacklight would be needed to find the glowing spots.

Or maybe glow-in-the-dark paint.

 

Remember that painting objects would be a guideline violation.

 

What about stickers??

I avoid blackberries and other sticker bushes at night caches if I can...

 

Oh! You mean those kind stickers. Sorry. If they can be removed without damage, I say no problem.

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Don't worry. He doesn't roast any of the 3 pigs. :)

 

Oh good, I was worried about that. <_< Pig roasts are quite excellent. OK, I'll make a serious attempt, as long as I can get one of those $15 rooms at the Naval Station. ;)

 

The summer event is shaping up to be a two-fer. A pot luck breakfast in the AM, and then BBQ in the PM. It will be at the same location as PR #3. You'll be on your own in between, unless you feel like teaming up with some of the locals for a day of caching (which can be an adventure all by itself!).

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Oh that would be cool if TWU could make it to the pig roast. If you're around this winter, BBW usually has a winter time event in Newport that's really fun. I'd cache with you if you are ever in town.

 

Aquidneck Island Beer & Wing Night - Four Play is 10 Jan 2009. I can almost guarantee it will be warmer than Buffalo! <_<

 

And if you do show up, I'll personally escort you on the night cache...it starts just a block away from the event.

Edited by BBWolf+3Pigs
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