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The List Of How NOT to Hide a Geocache


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Okay there is nothing like asking the experts so I am.. I am making a GeoSnippits tutorial to show a bunch of examples of how NOT to hide a geocache and I would love your ideas and experiences with this.

 

From publishing the cache page BEFORE you actually hide it to hiding a .45c no name brand piece of plastic containers. What examples of bad placements by noobs and not so noob would you like to see in the video.

 

The intent of this thread is not to point fingers but to help new geocachers become better informed and overall save the rest of us unneeded greif.

 

Get your popcorn out and lets get this list started:

 

:blink::drama::blink:

 

- Publishing a geocache and not actually hiding the cache first!

- Cheap inexpensive (non waterproof) plastic containers in environments with a lot of rain/snow.

- Hiding cammied geocaches next to bridges, goverment buildings, historical sites.

 

. . .

 

Thanks in advance,

 

-HHH :blink:

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In a narrow residential alley with houses on both sides and chainlink fences. Coords zero out in middle of alley with hundereds of hiding spots within 30 feet - mostly in the yards.

 

Nano or micro inside of an active (hot) electrical box.

 

Some container inside a black plastic trashbag - bad camo - just turns wet and moldy in the bag.

 

Placed on private property with no permission from the rotweiller owning home owner.

Edited by StarBrand
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Don't hide caches in "full view" of homes, and businesses without the knowledge of those who can see the strange activity occurring in front or behind them. This is my biggest gripe with cachers who don't think things through before they hide caches.

 

Don't hide caches you can't maintain.

 

Don't hide caches where you supply additional waypoints for access, that deliberately force you to skirt no-trespassing signs.

 

Don't hide caches on power transfers, or under lamppost covers. :blink:

 

Do hide caches in scenic locations, and or places that afford a history lesson to the finders.

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In a narrow residential alley with houses on both sides and chainlink fences. Coords zero out in middle of alley with hundereds of hiding spots within 30 feet - mostly in the yards.

 

Nano or micro inside of an active (hot) electrical box.

 

Some container inside a black plastic trashbag - bad camo - just turns wet and moldy in the bag.

 

 

I can't stress enough (so I'll do it) what a horrible idea wrapping caches in plastic trashbags is. They attract, rather than repel condensation. I once saw in a military survival book that hanging plastic sheets in the woods is a good way to collect emergency drinking water. This seems to be a regional practice. I used to regularly visit (but no longer do) a metropolitan area where most of the regulars were wrapped in plastic garbage bags on a monkey-see, monkey-do basis. I won't mention any names, but this is the most prominent metropolitan area in Northeast Pa. :blink:

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Don't forget to post parking coords if doing so will help others avoid thinking your cache is in a restricted area or private property or whatever.

 

Don't ignore needs maintenance logs on your cache listing page - even a 'thanks for the heads up, i'll get to it in (insert timeframe here)' note will be appreciated by an eager cacher.

 

Don't provide encrypted clues if they are only going to repeat something stated in the description of the cache verbatim. Not helpful.

 

Don't hide another magnetic key box 600 ft from another identical urban cache 'just because you can'. Try to make hides interesting in their genius or their location as much as possible. Cache density in an area is nice, but creativity is well appreciated! (GS Forum Community: Please don't kill me! :blink: )

 

As a relative newbie that's all I got.

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You could go a few ways with this

  1. Perhaps a video on caches that violate the guidelines for placing a cache. Place the cache where you know the agency or property owner doesn't allow caches. Don't get permission where you need to get permission. Use shovels, trowels, or other pointy objects to provide a hiding spot for your cache. Deface private or public property to provide a hiding place, a clue, or a logging method. Place a caches in areas sensitive to increased traffic such as archaeological or historic sites. Place the cache near active railroad tracks. Hide cache near or on military bases or near, on, or under structures that could be considered potential targets for terrorist attack such as highway bridges, dams, government buildings, elementary and secondary schools, and airports. Hide caches you don't plan to maintain or that are so far away from where you live that you can't maintain. Place caches less than .1 miles from existing caches. Use the cache page as an agenda or hide a cache for commercial reason without first getting approval from Groundspeak.
  2. A video on ways to make sure your cache will get muggled or need a lot of maintenance. (Actually many of these are covered in the guidelines as well) Don't think carefully about how your container and the actions of geocachers will be perceived by the public. Use an ammo box with the original military markings or a PVC pipe where it may cause alarm if discovered. Select a container that can't withstand the environment where it is placed, especially one that will get wet inside leaving logs that you can't write on.
  3. A video on what kind of caches someone doesn't enjoy finding. I hope you don't go this way.

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Okay there is nothing like asking the experts so I am.. I am making a GeoSnippits tutorial to show a bunch of examples of how NOT to hide a geocache and I would love your ideas and experiences with this.

 

From publishing the cache page BEFORE you actually hide it to hiding a .45c no name brand piece of plastic containers. What examples of bad placements by noobs and not so noob would you like to see in the video.

 

The intent of this thread is not to point fingers but to help new geocachers become better informed and overall save the rest of us unneeded greif.

 

Get your popcorn out and lets get this list started:

 

:blink::drama::blink:

 

- Publishing a geocache and not actually hiding the cache first!

- Cheap inexpensive (non waterproof) plastic containers in environments with a lot of rain/snow.

- Hiding cammied geocaches next to bridges, goverment buildings, historical sites.

 

. . .

 

Thanks in advance,

 

-HHH :huh:

That is true, unless you have something like a lot of bad weather coming on soon. Or you are ordering something over the internet, and you are just waiting for it to come in the mail. However, there are two simple alternatives. A. You can tell the reviewer not o publish it yet, or B. You can just disable it untyil it gets in place, which is hopefully very soon. However A is usually preferred. Thanks for reading this and have a great day. gwf :blink:

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Do not inclued useless clues. (plenty of threads about that.)

 

Think long and hard about hiding caches on playground equipment. not everyone has a small child to take caching. adult males look really odd at playgrounds.

 

DO think about those seeking the cache. Just because you could hide it quickly and go unnoticed, all of the seekers are going to be there longer.

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:blink::blink: Now here is a question. If you don't bury it, is it okay? Like putting a container, especailly a larger one that could still be picked up and carried away, just a couple inches into the ground or in cement in a hole in the ground so it cannot be stolen, or at least so it causes great difficulty in doing so. Or putting a stump or the bottom of a rock just barely into the ground so it still looks like it is there, so as to not attract so much attention. Now that, I would assume, would be okay. ANyway, I have said my part, now I will let other people comment. Thank you and have a great day. gwf
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don't take an old plastic cigar tube, stuff a scrap of paper in it and drop it just about anywhere you feel like just to run up your number of owned caches. Also, Don't place a magnetic nano with such a small piece of paper in it that only 3 people can sign it before it's full.

 

I've seen way too many of these to make them fun any more.

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Make sure you read the guidelines and really read them. Don't skim them or rotely check the box that said you did as if you were agreeing to installing a software package.

 

As far as don'ts, if you want your cache to last long, don't place them where searchers will easily be observed.

Don't place them where residents might be annoyed by a sudden influx of strangers. Don't place them where

everybody's dogs start barking everytime someone searches for the cache.

 

Above all, don't place a cache for the sake of placing a cache. Make sure there is a reason you are bringing people to that spot. If the only reason for bringing people to that location is for the cache, choose another location.

Edited by briansnat
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Above all, don't place a cache for the sake of placing a cache. Make sure there is a reason you are bringing people to that spot. If the only reason for bringing people to that location is for the cache, choose another location.

 

DITTO! If you are planting caches just to ramp up smilies... you're just polluting, not geocaching.:laughing::o:rolleyes:

Quality. Not Quantity!

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Above all, don't place a cache for the sake of placing a cache. Make sure there is a reason you are bringing people to that spot. If the only reason for bringing people to that location is for the cache, choose another location.

 

DITTO! If you are planting caches just to ramp up smilies... you're just polluting, not geocaching.:anibad::o;)

Quality. Not Quantity!

 

HUGE :laughing::rolleyes: My gawd, why on earth would the OP ask such a ridiculous question in the national forums? By the time everyone weighs in, you might as well give up caching because not a darn thing is allowed if these people had their way.

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Above all, don't place a cache for the sake of placing a cache. Make sure there is a reason you are bringing people to that spot. If the only reason for bringing people to that location is for the cache, choose another location.

 

DITTO! If you are planting caches just to ramp up smilies... you're just polluting, not geocaching.;):laughing::D

Quality. Not Quantity!

 

HUGE :rolleyes::anibad: My gawd, why on earth would the OP ask such a ridiculous question in the national forums? By the time everyone weighs in, you might as well give up caching because not a darn thing is allowed if these people had their way.

 

You seem rather pessimistic today. Everything OK? :o

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Above all, don't place a cache for the sake of placing a cache. Make sure there is a reason you are bringing people to that spot. If the only reason for bringing people to that location is for the cache, choose another location.

 

DITTO! If you are planting caches just to ramp up smilies... you're just polluting, not geocaching.;):laughing::D

Quality. Not Quantity!

 

HUGE :rolleyes::anibad: My gawd, why on earth would the OP ask such a ridiculous question in the national forums? By the time everyone weighs in, you might as well give up caching because not a darn thing is allowed if these people had their way.

 

You seem rather pessimistic today. Everything OK? :o

 

Had a bad night last night. Also not sure why I torture myself by reading some of these silly threads, over and over again.

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When you place a cache, double check your coords. When you write up the cache page, double check your entry of the coords. When your cache is published, look at it on the "Geocaching.com Google Map" uusing the satellite view and really zoom in on it to see that your coords are good. DO NOT ASSUME THAT YOUR ERROR AND THE SEARCHER'S ERROR WILL CANCEL OUT AND TAKE HIM OR HER TO THE EXACT RIGHT SPOT.

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I think there should be an unwritten rule or a rule of thumb that a person should find at least 50 caches before they start hiding caches, most caches that are way over rated in difficulty are from folks that have few finds themselves. now I know there are exceptions, but in general good caches come from folks who have found 100 or more. I wish I would have read the one about double check your coords!

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There are lots and lots of don'ts, but I'll try not to repeat what's already been written.

 

Don't place huge rocks on top of the cache to hide it. These are difficult/dangerous for people to remove (especially children) and tend to crack plastic cache boxes. Remember, your idea of manageable rocks might be different to a smaller person's idea of manageable rocks...

 

Don't feel you have to hide a sandwich-sized klip-lock lunchbox just because that's what everyone else does. Variety is the spice of life. One of the coolest caches I found recently was a home-made metal nano smaller than my fingernail, with a little pattern on it. I'm on the hunt for some more interesting waterproof containers too - there are quite a few available online if you really look!

 

Do remember to check your cache after the winter if you can. I've visited lots of soggy caches recently after a very cold, wet winter here in Scotland.

 

May your day be filled with sunshine!

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You could go a few ways with this

  1. caches that violate the guidelines for placing a cache.
  2. ways to make sure your cache will get muggled or need a lot of maintenance.
  3. caches someone doesn't enjoy finding

 

Make sure you read the guidelines and really read them. Don't skim them or rotely check the box that said you did as if you were agreeing to installing a software package.

 

As far as don'ts, if you want your cache to last long, don't place them where searchers will easily be observed.

Don't place them where residents might be annoyed by a sudden influx of strangers. Don't place them where

everybody's dogs start barking everytime someone searches for the cache.

 

Above all, don't place a cache for the sake of placing a cache. Make sure there is a reason you are bringing people to that spot. If the only reason for bringing people to that location is for the cache, choose another location.

Looks like briansnat went all three ways. I probably would not have mentioned this but for the enthusiastic response to his third point. I wonder how all those people seem to know exactly who is hiding caches just for the sake of placing a cache. I can agree that hiding a cache that also takes me to a unique place - one with a view or where I can learn about a historical event that took place there is a bonus. But I can't figure out why a cache needs to do this. A cache only needs to give me something to find using a GPS. Anything extra beyond this may or may not add to my enjoyment. The lack of this should not detract from my enjoyment, although I will admit that if I'm urban caching and start to find the locations to be uninteresting or, even more so, unpleasant; I will decide I'm not having fun and stop an either stop caching for the day or be a little more selective in which caches I stop at.

 

I've been to a couple of what some people call lame caches where it seems the hider had a "reason" for placing the cache there. One was a lamppost hide in a pharmacy parking lot. It turns out that at one time this corner was the site of James Jefferies barn. Another was a guardrail hide near a tunnel on a canyon road. On the cache page the hider had a picture showing that tunnel in a scene from the movie "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". Another was a nano near a gas station on a busy suburban street corner. Here the local historical society had places not one but three historic markers - I believe they were that the site was once the local farmers market, the site where the circus would put up their tent when they came to town, and the site of some revival meeting that took place in the 1920's. I DNF'd a cache this weekend in a parking lot that had a small kiosk that sold cigarettes. The cache owner took the time on the cache page to talk about how in the days before digital photography, kiosk where you dropped off your film for developing were in many parking lots like this one, and that's what this originally was. In each of these case I didn't particular find the caches any different experience than the many caches in similar locations where the cache owner simple put on the page "This is a quick park and grab for those who want to increase there numbers". This is particularly true when caching paperless.

 

Caches that have something extra beyond the cache hunt and the cache itself are often memorable and for many people these extras enhance their enjoyment. The definition of this extra and what is "Wow" enough to qualify is subjective. Rather than telling people, "Don't hide caches unless you have a reason for bringing me to this place besides the cache" we should accept that hider has their reason for picking that spot and they may not have much they care to share on the cache page. If someone hides a cache in a location you especially enjoyed, feel free to thank them for that experience and write about it your log. If the site was not especially interesting for you then perhaps a short log is in order. There are many cachers whose expectation is only that there is a cache to find at the location, and they don't go demanding that hiders cater to their requirements for "Wow-ness" in location choices.

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By far the best cache hiding advice I've gotten (this was probably when I had 1 or 2 hides) was "hide caches in places you don't mind going back to"

 

Not just great advice because it means maintenance isn't a chore, but great advice because it means you're taking people to a places you love :o hopefully they'll feel the same.

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Rather than telling people, "Don't hide caches unless you have a reason for bringing me to this place besides the cache" we should accept that hider has their reason for picking that spot and they may not have much they care to share on the cache page. If someone hides a cache in a location you especially enjoyed, feel free to thank them for that experience and write about it your log. If the site was not especially interesting for you then perhaps a short log is in order. There are many cachers whose expectation is only that there is a cache to find at the location, and they don't go demanding that hiders cater to their requirements for "Wow-ness" in location choices.

 

in my opinion, good caches are a combination of interesting location and challenge of the find. I don't mind picking up a lamp post hide or a key box on a fence or something that doesn't fit those descriptions, because I do like to find hidden things, but I appreciate it more when it is clear the CO put a little thought into the hide. Historic sites like you've mentioned are good. I learn something about the location that way. But I've also found a very difficult hide in a parking lot of an abandoned building recently. The site was nothing to the hide really, but the container/hide was extremely clever and the camo tied in with a bit of history. It was a challenge. Finding the magnetic mint tin on the bottom of the newspaper dispenser, not so much.

 

Again, not saying these hides are worthless. Just I find them to be less satisfying than other types of hides.

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Rather than telling people, "Don't hide caches unless you have a reason for bringing me to this place besides the cache" we should accept that hider has their reason for picking that spot and they may not have much they care to share on the cache page. If someone hides a cache in a location you especially enjoyed, feel free to thank them for that experience and write about it your log. If the site was not especially interesting for you then perhaps a short log is in order. There are many cachers whose expectation is only that there is a cache to find at the location, and they don't go demanding that hiders cater to their requirements for "Wow-ness" in location choices.

 

in my opinion, good caches are a combination of interesting location and challenge of the find. I don't mind picking up a lamp post hide or a key box on a fence or something that doesn't fit those descriptions, because I do like to find hidden things, but I appreciate it more when it is clear the CO put a little thought into the hide. Historic sites like you've mentioned are good. I learn something about the location that way. But I've also found a very difficult hide in a parking lot of an abandoned building recently. The site was nothing to the hide really, but the container/hide was extremely clever and the camo tied in with a bit of history. It was a challenge. Finding the magnetic mint tin on the bottom of the newspaper dispenser, not so much.

 

Again, not saying these hides are worthless. Just I find them to be less satisfying than other types of hides.

 

A little over a week ago a friend and I were so pleased to find more than 70 caches in one day WITHOUT bumping into 1 single LPH.

I wonder if that's some sort of obscure record?

 

Anyway, lot's of great replies in this thread.

Edited by trailpuppy
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My contributions...

 

Don't hide a cache just because you have a container (see threads about seed caches). Find a good location first then use a container which is most appropriate for that environment.

 

Don't leave the "Yes, this cache is active" box on the submission form when initially entering information into the submission form. Fill out as much as necessary then work on the page listing until it looks good visually, has been spell checked, and all the information in it is accurate.

 

Don't submit a cache listing without the appropriate attributes listed.

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Several years ago I drafted up a cache page entitled "The Pocket Knife, Ammunition & Fireworks Exchange" but, knowing Groundspeak would probably frown on the idea, I never dared submit it.

 

Looking for a place to trade your sharp objects and incendiary devices? Here ya go!

 

In addition to being stocked with the above items, there is a delectable selection of food items, expired pharmaceuticals, and political/religious pamphlets.

 

To access the cache, park by the railroad tracks. The cache is about 50 feet from the police station, just past the "No Trespassing" signs. It's hidden under a pile of rocks in the middle of the railroad tracks. We recommend early mornings and mid-afternoons, as there is a lot of traffic from the elementary school right next door to the cache.

Edited by Team Perks
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Don't leave the "Yes, this cache is active" box on the submission form when initially entering information into the submission form. Fill out as much as necessary then work on the page listing until it looks good visually, has been spell checked, and all the information in it is accurate.

 

 

I'm going to jump on this bandwagon and add nothing says "I don't care about my hide" like a cache page that looks like an AOL chat room log or a series of Twitter tweets. CHECK YOUR SPELLING, use punctuation and correct capitalization. If it looks like you didn't take the time to write out an intelligent description then most people will interpret that as you didn't take the time to place the actual cache well either.

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I think that some people use 'they hid a cache just for the numbers' interchangeably with 'they hid a cache that didnt amuse me'. For some reason those people never understand the difference between the two.

 

Not true in my posting above. I know the difference and I stand by what I said.

 

I think the (my opinion) spirit of geocaching is being slaughtered by some cheap/quick hides that are as disposable as a bic lighter or an empty water bottle.

They take little effort to hide/find and the place they take you to is as mundane as can be.

And the purpose behind those hides (admitted) is to increase the numbers of smileys to the nth degree.

 

There was a forum topic years ago regarding the "shotgunning" of micros out the window of a vehicle going down the road and marking the coordinates as you passed by. (Of course this is not quite the case but the implications are there) It seems that this has come to fruition in a lot of situations.

What's more is that the people who hide caches in that manor are revered as "forward thinking" and "great cache hiders" and that just breeds new cachers to copy that style. The dumbing down of geocaching.

 

 

<back to the topic by OP>

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I think that some people use 'they hid a cache just for the numbers' interchangeably with 'they hid a cache that didnt amuse me'. For some reason those people never understand the difference between the two.

I for one both clearly understand the difference --- and the similarity.

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