I'm new but I have learned.......

[+JustJackMN]

I'm new but in the past month I have learned the following in hiding a cache:

1) Be honest about the size....nano, micro, small, regular or large, especially if you class the difficulty as a 1 or 1 1/2. If you want to put the difficulty at 3 or higher then it won't matter, I guess it's part of the difficulty.

 

2) Be realistic about the terrain difficulty. Remember people bring small children with them. Don't give it a 2 when there are a lot of rocks to climb around, or water hazards, or steep ravines, no matter how shallow.

 

and most important: Be honest about the difficulty of hide. Don't give a micro hidden deep in some crevice a 1. That's at least a 2 or maybe 3. I realize that one person's 2 is another person's one or vice versa but there has to be some kind of guideline. Thanks for letting me sound off. I'm ready to find a hobby that is more healthful and not such a time waster.........something like sitting in a bar all day and drinking.

[+StarBrand]

Terchnically no such thingh as a nano. Anything filmcan sized (or thereabouts) and smaller is a micro.

 

If the cache isn't fun - I walk away - nothing syays I have to find it.

 

Here are some general hints:

 

Look for caches with a difficulty of 2 or less for your fist few caches. Stick with regular sized caches for your first few. Micros can be quite hard to find sometimes. Stick to areas you are familiar with. Look for anything out of place or unusual. Look for unusual piles of sticks, grass, leaves, rocks, sand, etc. Feel where you cannot look. Think vertical, not all caches are on the ground. Look up or at eye level. Look for traces of previous searches to zero in on the spot. Think like the hider - where would you put a container in this location? Look for things too new, too old, too perfect, not like the others, too many, too few. Change your perspective - a shift in lighting can sometimes reveal a cache. Keep in mind that many micros are magnetic or attached to something (via string, wire etc). Slowly expand your search area to about 40 feet from where your GPS says ground zero is. Bring garden gloves and a flashlight - they help! Be prepared to not find the cache more often then you think.

 

Most of all - have fun!!

[+popokiiti]

And a trusty walking stick...ours have a pointy metal end...great for poking about gently, and the sound of the cache container being touched is music to our ears. Stick to the regular type of caches at first and work your way up (or down) to micros.

Good luck and happy caching!

[bluerubicon08]

I'm new but in the past month I have learned the following in hiding a cache:

1) Be honest about the size....nano, micro, small, regular or large, especially if you class the difficulty as a 1 or 1 1/2. If you want to put the difficulty at 3 or higher then it won't matter, I guess it's part of the difficulty.

 

2) Be realistic about the terrain difficulty. Remember people bring small children with them. Don't give it a 2 when there are a lot of rocks to climb around, or water hazards, or steep ravines, no matter how shallow.

 

and most important: Be honest about the difficulty of hide. Don't give a micro hidden deep in some crevice a 1. That's at least a 2 or maybe 3. I realize that one person's 2 is another person's one or vice versa but there has to be some kind of guideline. Thanks for letting me sound off. I'm ready to find a hobby that is more healthful and not such a time waster.........something like sitting in a bar all day and drinking.

 

Don't feel so bad.....I'm new also and yeaterday we spent 4 hours on a maze of trails only to never find the cache! It also was listed as easy to find. On a more positive note, we did find one cache earlier in the day that was GREAT! Although I am ALWAYS up for sitting in a bar drinking, I don't think I'll give up on this anytime soon

[+Chewy_06]

Speaking of the difficulty rating thing, I've encountered a bunch that didnt seem to fit with what we were expecting, some were terrains of 1.0 or 1.5 and what we ended up was half a km of heavy mud bog slogging - or, the opposite - terrain of 4 and a paved path, followed by 20m of hard pack gravel right to the cache.

 

On the hide difficulty front there seems to be two things that weve encountered alot that really irk us:

 

-The "quick easy" find rated a 1 or 2 and the reality of it is that it's only actually a 1 or a 2 if the GZ was anywhere near the actual cache. I can live with *maybe* double the circle of probability i'm getting on my GPSr, but caches that are >30m away in an area where we're seeing 3-4m accuracy - really get under our skin.

 

-The misrepresented size cache. How someone could confuse a "regular" with a "micro" is beyond me but it seems to happen.

 

Where i'm going with this is that I'm wondering if there's been any discussion on a feedback rating system or anything like that? I think the people who've actually found the caches should be able to provide a rating on "enjoyment factor", "difficulty" and "terrain" that could be rolled up on the cache page & ideally be searchable. This would be valuable for me - especially the enjoyment factor - we're looking to plan a road trip and we'd rather go a little further out of our way and spend more time doing a few "good" caches along the way than doing some more mundane ones.

 

I know i can suggest it directly, but, if it's already been beat to death, there's no point.

[+niraD]

-The misrepresented size cache. How someone could confuse a "regular" with a "micro" is beyond me but it seems to happen.

The micro could have been a throw-down cache: http://cacheopedia.com/wiki/Throw-Down_Cache

 

I've seen it happen. The cacher who threw down the film canister seemed to think he was doing everyone a favor.

[+Blue_Suede]

And a trusty walking stick...ours have a pointy metal end...great for poking about gently, and the sound of the cache container being touched is music to our ears. Stick to the regular type of caches at first and work your way up (or down) to micros.

Good luck and happy caching!

In my geocache bag there always is a 2 foot long metal rod with a hook at one end. Great to use as a "poker" to locate containers, a "deweeder" to get rid of nettles and such, as a safety measure when poking into crevices with unknown contents (snakes, spiders, broken glass etc) and as a bonus it functions as a grappling hook to get hold of containers and strings where you can't reach them without tools. All made in stainless stell by my friendly washing machine factory

[+Tina T]

I'm new to this too and I've been out three times looking for caches around my area. Yesterday we found three out of four, not bad eh? Today we went looking for three and found one but I did have a really enjoyable long walk. I must say I'm thoroughly enjoying this Geocaching. I must hide some myself one day.

[+Renegade Knight]

...and most important: Be honest about the difficulty of hide. Don't give a micro hidden deep in some crevice a 1. That's at least a 2 or maybe 3. I realize that one person's 2 is another person's one or vice versa...

 

Most of my no finds, are 1's. Just because they know where they hid it doesn't mean I can find it.

[+tennisgirl42]

I have to say I understand the frustration of a DNF especially when the last log or two, from the day before, says how easy the find was! I had this situation today. I searched and searched and finally had to give up b/c of an appointment I had to go to, and just yesterday someone found it "easily"! Arggh! Then after my appointment, I went for 3 more, and found them within minutes.

 

Go figure!

[+picona]

We have just done a series of caches with a bonus cache at the end. We found all but one the coordinates were at least 50ft out. The owner emailed us and we had the right coordinates and gps still said 50ft away, so we went back and searched for over half an hour. Just as we leaving i found. I wish owners would check to see if there coordinates were right or that a cacher had not moved it.