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What is in the making of a great cache?


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I have found just a handfull of caches and already I am hooked! I have had fun finding caches in my area and recently have as much fun hiding a few. I have read through some of the logs in the forum and I get kind of a mixed emotion about what makes a good cache. So what I am asking for is your ideas, opinions and even stories of great caches.

 

Thanks

NelsonOne

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I, too, enjoy nice hikes in scenic areas. Anything unusual about the terrain is interesting. Not many waterfalls here in FL, but there are sink holes. Unusual shaped or very old trees are good.

Try not to place the cache exactly at the area of interest. Anything interesting typically also tends to draw muggles to the area as well as cachers, so place the cache a few feet over in an out-of-the-way kind of a spot behind something or well camoed so it won't be stumbled upon by non-cachers.

Interesting hides are good, but don't make something so difficult to find that it becomes too frustrating for fun. Needle in a haystack type hides are not so good, even though they are common in some areas.

For instance, a fake pine cone cache is fun and OK if put in a area where it can actually be found, like hanging on an oak tree. But a fake pine cone in a pile of 300 real pine cones is too tedious.

After you've found a good number of caches, you'll have a better feel for the 'flavor' of what makes a hide a good one.

Caching is like real estate for me. It's all about location, location, location!

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...Needle in a haystack type hides are not so good, even though they are common in some areas.

For instance, a fake pine cone cache is fun and OK if put in a area where it can actually be found, like hanging on an oak tree. But a fake pine cone in a pile of 300 real pine cones is too tedious.

Well said!

 

I always appreciate a well crafted cache container -- in the right environment. If you're going place a regular, generic-type container, go ahead and spend a few bucks and put out something that will stand up to the elements. An ammo can or lock-n-lock, or for micros, a preform tube or waterproof matchstick container, for example. Nothing diminishes the experience of finding a well placed cache than to open the old peanut butter jar or film canister and find it full of water with a soggy mass for a log. :)

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I have found just a handfull of caches and already I am hooked! I have had fun finding caches in my area and recently have as much fun hiding a few. I have read through some of the logs in the forum and I get kind of a mixed emotion about what makes a good cache. So what I am asking for is your ideas, opinions and even stories of great caches.

 

Thanks

NelsonOne

 

I haven't seen a common thread for the great caches. They don't always involve long walks on the beach, or romantic locations like a brook. They can involve that or urban decay or anything else. They do stand out. Why one cache in a culvert is crap and one is the legendary cache it is, I can't say. But there you go. Some caches are destined to greatness while most are going to blend into the environment they are a part of.

 

If you follow your muse & inspiration you have much better odds of placing great caches, or maybe merely good caches, than if you try to follow a checklist. The checklist can help you avoid "crap" but it will prevent you from greatness.

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You will never make everybody happy so I'm going to give you the cliche advice and say that you should hide caches that you would enjoy finding yourself.

 

Ask yourself: What type of log would I write for this cache? Would I enjoy the area, the hide and search?

 

If "yes" it's likely a good cache.

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Take me somewhere [scenic, historic, little known, out-of-the way, interesting or just plain special to you]. Then tell me why you have taken me there. A cache is nearly a bonus after that.

 

However - I perfer small size or larger and a watertight container with a dry logbook is always welcome.

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Any cache that I can use my GPS to find is good. I enjoy using this technology to find hidden containers, and I enjoy being in on the secret that even still most people don't know about.

 

If there's a "scenic location" at the cache, great. If not, great.

 

If the cache container has room for trade items, great. If not, great.

 

If the cache is difficult to get to (i.e. a long hike), great. If I can drive up and grab it, great.

 

If the container is so well cammo'd that it takes 3 trips to find it, great. If it's so obvious that many non-cachers find it and mess it up before I get to it, not at all great.

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Before you hide your first cache, ask yourself this question, "If a film crew was making a documentary about geocaching, would you want them to see your cache, if the answer is no, pick another spot.

 

(Personal opinion not shared by all)

 

There are few geocachers that would complain about finding a geocache in a scenic location, or a geocache that provides them with a great history lesson. My favorite type of geocache combines scenery, history, and a nice hike. Those that like this type of geocache will reward you with a nice found it log, they will post pictures to the caches gallery, and might even put your cache in a favorites bookmark.

 

Those that are into geocaching for the maximum number of smilies per day, might skip your cache, because it reduces their maximum smiles per hour ratio. If you place a geocache that requires extra effort to find, you'll get less finds. Those geocachers who do find your cache will be greatful that you took the time to share a special spot with them.

 

 

When I say special spots, i'm not referring to Walmart Parking lots, homeless encampments, trash dumps, or pickle parks.

 

You might even take a trip to your local library and search for local history, that you can incorporate into your cache.

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For me, a great cache would be a multi-stage cache with stage sitings pretty much as follows:

  • a signage stage located 200 feet deep, and in an obscure place on the ceiling of a small side pipe, in a storm drain with filthy stagnant water on the floor and littered with shards of rusted metal and broken glass from past floodings, and infested with cave crickets, spiders, mice, rats and rabid bats. And the storm drain is one which drains an EPA-listed unremediated abandoned industrial toxic waste site dating back to the 1960s.
  • a signage stage located in a hide-a-key container on the rusted ironwork under an abandoned bridge located 140 feet above a raging river in a wilderness gorge.
  • a signage and code-word stage located 600 feet deep in a tiny cold narrow muddy cave, where the twisting tunnels are barely larger than a drinking straw; the opening to the cave is located halfway down the face of a sheer vertical cliff 100 feet in height.
  • a signage stage located in the middle of a homeless encampment frequented by recently-released patients from a local residential behavioral healthcare facility for persons with severe psychotic disorders.
  • an ammo can containing stage signage information located at the bottom of an 8 foot deep by 10 foot diameter pit filled with toxic orange sludge at the site of an abandoned chemical plant near the intersection of Chemical Road and Quarantine Road.
  • a signage and code-word stage located in a waterproof Otter box hidden in the ceiling of an obscure tunnel in a labyrinth of smelly and garbage-infested abandoned tunnels located at the site of an abandoned military fort in an abandoned city park inhabited primarily by gay sex cruisers, hookers, pimps, hustlers, feral cats, Goth teenagers high on drugs, taggers (graffiti artists) high on drugs, and drug dealers. The tunnels are infested with rats, bats, spiders and cave crickets, and strewn with litter, including broken liquor bottles, empty syringes with blood glistening on the stained needles, used condoms (aka whitefish), puddles of diarrhea and puddles of human blood and semen.
  • a signage and code-word stage located in a small Otter box atop a 100 foot tall abandoned vertical stone pier located in the middle of a raging river.
  • a signage and code-word stage located in a small Pelican case hidden under Sioneva's front porch. She has a handgun, and her nerves are twitchy.
  • a signage and code-word stage located in a small Pelican case hidden in a rattlesnake den on a mountaintop near my home in the mountains of western Maryland. Seekers would not be allowed to harm the snakes in any way, and, in any case, rattlesnakes are protected by state law and by applicable federal laws as well.
  • a signage and code-word stage located in a small Otter box located in a tree outside flask's kitchen window. Oh, and she has a shotgun.
  • a signage stage located in a small Otter box attached, at a depth of 20 feet, to the hull of a sunken barge in Baltimore Harbor, in water laden with sewage (due to massive leaks in the city sewer system) and with an average visibility/visual range of 1.2 feet in the water.
  • a signage and code-word stage in a magnetic keyholder located 32 feet up a 40 foot tall lamppost located at a very busy city intersection.
  • final stage located in the abandoned containment vessel at an abandoned 1960s-era nuclear reactor site heavily contaminated with toxic chemical and radioactive waste, in a rural valley where the rodent population is heavily infested with hantavirus, Bubonic plague and where rabies, Babesios, Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever are endemic.

That's about it...

 

.

Edited by Vinny & Sue Team
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For me, a great cache would be a multi-stage cache with stage sitings pretty much as follows:

  • a signage stage located 200 feet deep, and in an obscure place on the ceiling of a small side pipe, in a storm drain with filthy stagnant water on the floor and littered with shards of rusted metal and broken glass from past floodings, and infested with cave crickets, spiders, mice, rats and rabid bats. And the storm drain is one which drains an EPA-listed unremediated abandoned industrial toxic waste site dating back to the 1960s.
  • a signage stage located in a hide-a-key container on the rusted ironwork under an abandoned bridge located 140 feet above a raging river in a wilderness gorge.
  • a signage and code-word stage located 600 feet deep in a tiny cold narrow muddy cave, where the twisting tunnels are barely larger than a drinking straw; the opening to the cave is located halfway down the face of a sheer vertical cliff 100 feet in height.
  • a signage stage located in the middle of a homeless encampment frequented by recently-released patients from a local residential behavioral healthcare facility for persons with severe psychotic disorders.
  • an ammo can containing stage signage information located at the bottom of an 8 foot deep by 10 foot diameter pit filled with toxic orange sludge at the site of an abandoned chemical plant near the intersection of Chemical Road and Quarantine Road.
  • a signage and code-word stage located in a waterproof Otter box hidden in the ceiling of an obscure tunnel in a labyrinth of smelly and garbage-infested abandoned tunnels located at the site of an abandoned military fort in an abandoned city park inhabited primarily by gay sex cruisers, hookers, pimps, hustlers, feral cats, Goth teenagers high on drugs, taggers (graffiti artists) high on drugs, and drug dealers. The tunnels are infested with rats, bats, spiders and cave crickets, and strewn with litter, including broken liquor bottles, empty syringes with blood glistening on the stained needles, used condoms (aka whitefish), puddles of diarrhea and puddles of human blood and semen.
  • a signage and code-word stage located in a small Otter box atop a 100 foot tall abandoned vertical stone pier located in the middle of a raging river.
  • a signage and code-word stage located in a small Pelican case hidden under Sioneva's front porch. She has a handgun, and her nerves are twitchy.
  • a signage and code-word stage located in a small Pelican case hidden in a rattlesnake den on a mountaintop near my home in the mountains of western Maryland. Seekers would not be allowed to harm the snakes in any way, and, in any case, rattlesnakes are protected by state law and by applicable federal laws as well.
  • a signage and code-word stage located in a small Otter box located in a tree outside flask's kitchen window. Oh, and she has a shotgun.
  • a signage stage located in a small Otter box attached, at a depth of 20 feet, to the hull of a sunken barge in Baltimore Harbor, in water laden with sewage (due to massive leaks in the city sewer system) and with an average visibility/visual range of 1.2 feet in the water.
  • a signage and code-word stage in a magnetic keyholder located 32 feet up a 40 foot tall lamppost located at a very busy city intersection.
  • final stage located in the abandoned containment vessel at an abandoned 1960s-era nuclear reactor site heavily contaminated with toxic chemical and radioactive waste, in a rural valley where the rodent population is heavily infested with hantavirus, Bubonic plague and where rabies, Babesios, Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever are endemic.

That's about it...

 

.

ZOMG! Hot9eleventy! Looks like I am a thread-killer! Thread died after my post above....

 

...sigh!

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<snip>

 

[*] a signage and code-word stage located in a small Pelican case hidden under Sioneva's front porch. She has a handgun, and her nerves are twitchy.

 

<snip>

 

[*] a signage and code-word stage located in a small Otter box located in a tree outside flask's kitchen window. Oh, and she has a shotgun.

 

<snip>

 

.

ZOMG! Hot9eleventy! Looks like I am a thread-killer! Thread died after my post above....

 

...sigh!

 

This would be why...

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a good cache is any reasonably durable container with a proper log in a location that has anything to recommend it.

 

a great cache has all that, but perhaps the location is very beautiful or interesting, or maybe the hide is challenging (not-needle-in-haystack) or the container is especially clever or the concept is funny or moving or interesting.

 

the container might be well-disguised, or the hunt might make you see something from an interesting angle (figuratively or actually). it might give the finder an "a-ha!" moment, or a sense of accomplishment, or a laugh.

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If you're going place a regular, generic-type container, go ahead and spend a few bucks and put out something that will stand up to the elements. An ammo can or lock-n-lock, or for micros, a preform tube or waterproof matchstick container, for example. Nothing diminishes the experience of finding a well placed cache than to open the old peanut butter jar or film canister and find it full of water with a soggy mass for a log. :ph34r:

You can say that again. I am sick of finding wet collections of mildewed garbage.

 

Take me somewhere [scenic, historic, little known, out-of-the way, interesting or just plain special to you]. Then tell me why you have taken me there. A cache is nearly a bonus after that.

 

However - I perfer small size or larger and a watertight container with a dry logbook is always welcome.

Yep.

 

So far we have had two requirements for our cache placements.

 

- an atypical hide. If its different and interesting then i am cool with it. (Its still not going to be behind a dumpster though.)

 

- A location that you would like to share with others.

 

We have always had positive feedback on our caches. Well, mostly. Right now we have a 4 star difficulty with quite a few DNFs which seems to have perturbed some. One person went as far as to say that if i wasn't going to maintain it that it should be archived.* It is by our house and my son gave away at least one hint on the FTF last October. If it wasn't for that- i think more people might be looking. (I could have strangled my boy- grrrr.)

 

*I think this is a result of so many incorrect ratings out there.

 

Personally i hate camo duct tape. I think it does a poor job of camouflaging caches. For the less money you can buy camo cloth at walmart and it isn't shiny. I have had one outside with that cloth for a year and had and i checked it a few days ago and i see no signs of trouble. Duct tape starts to break down after time.

 

It feels like the majority of people cache for the smileys. A leaky film can in a bush behind an outdoor toilet at a park get you a smiley. Give me a 2 mile hike and a regular sealed lock and lock and we will do it even if we don't get a smiley.

 

Please don't just place caches because you can.

 

We have a group of caches we are working on that will lead you on a historical tour of a forgotten village with lots of history. We are still hammering out the details but i am sure it will be a place that people will love to visit. That is what caching is about! (To us anyway...)

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<snip>

[*] a signage and code-word stage located in a small Pelican case hidden under Sioneva's front porch. She has a handgun, and her nerves are twitchy.

<snip>

[*] a signage and code-word stage located in a small Otter box located in a tree outside flask's kitchen window. Oh, and she has a shotgun.

<snip>

ZOMG! Hot9eleventy! Looks like I am a thread-killer! Thread died after my post above....

...sigh!

This would be why...

Huh? Just WHAT would be why? Which are you denying? The fact that you have the handgun, or the fact that your nerves are twitchy? Should I drag your record of multiple felony homicide convictions into this thread as well? Please do not make me do that!

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IMO

 

Good caches are ones where the cache owner has obviously spent some time thinking about the cache before placing it. (Following the suggestions in the previous posts will give you plenty of ideas for a good cache).

 

Great caches are caches that provide a unique experience.

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