How long should you be geocaching before you hide your first cache

[+jasondulac]

Lately In my area we been having a lot of new geocachers and some of them have been hiding new geocach's. I all for new geocaches but this one was just posted about a hour ago and it sort of got me thinking. The thing is in the description it says to get to the cache you have to go through a hole in a fence. Sounds alittle sucpicioces to me by reading that it makes me think the cache is on private propertiy. Another thing Is does the person have excperience to hide 2 caches after only joining geocaching 4 day ago

just my 2 cents what do others think

[+bittsen]

Lately In my area we been having a lot of new geocachers and some of them have been hiding new geocach's. I all for new geocaches but this one was just posted about a hour ago and it sort of got me thinking. The thing is in the description it says to get to the cache you have to go through a hole in a fence. Sounds alittle sucpicioces to me by reading that it makes me think the cache is on private propertiy. Another thing Is does the person have excperience to hide 2 caches after only joining geocaching 4 day ago

just my 2 cents what do others think

 

Go through a hole in a fence?

 

No frakken way!!

[+jasondulac]

Lately In my area we been having a lot of new geocachers and some of them have been hiding new geocach's. I all for new geocaches but this one was just posted about a hour ago and it sort of got me thinking. The thing is in the description it says to get to the cache you have to go through a hole in a fence. Sounds alittle sucpicioces to me by reading that it makes me think the cache is on private propertiy. Another thing Is does the person have excperience to hide 2 caches after only joining geocaching 4 day ago

just my 2 cents what do others think

 

Go through a hole in a fence?

 

No frakken way!!

Thats what I'm think'n

Edited August 11, 2009 by jasondulac

[+TheMadScotsman]

I joined four days ago. I'll be hiding my first couple of caches as soon as my geocoin and caching supplies come in the mail. I'm 35 and I'm plenty smart enough to understand the guidelines for hiding, noobie or not. Peace.

[+jasondulac]

I joined four days ago. I'll be hiding my first couple of caches as soon as my geocoin and caching supplies come in the mail. I'm 35 and I'm plenty smart enough to understand the guidelines for hiding, noobie or not. Peace.

Just to be clear I 'm not saying I'm aginst new cachers hiding caches actually I hid my first cache after a month of joining all I'm saying is you should learn the guide lines and find afew a few caches just to get the feel of good hiding spots. Also I would recomend for your first hide It's good to hide it in a place you know well

JD

Edited August 11, 2009 by jasondulac

[+Taoiseach]

Also I would recomend for your first hide It's god to hide it in a place you know well

 

That's good advice! Follow that.

 

As for how soon, I like an idea that someone (I think it was briansnat) suggested - Have a test on the guidelines that you have to pass before you can even get to the listing page for the first time.

[+BlueMoth]

Lately In my area we been having a lot of new geocachers and some of them have been hiding new geocach's. I all for new geocaches but this one was just posted about a hour ago and it sort of got me thinking. The thing is in the description it says to get to the cache you have to go through a hole in a fence. Sounds alittle sucpicioces to me by reading that it makes me think the cache is on private propertiy. Another thing Is does the person have excperience to hide 2 caches after only joining geocaching 4 day ago

just my 2 cents what do others think

 

Well, I hope that margarine container doesn't float away during the spring thaw.

 

As to the fence thing, it surely is there to keep people from doing exactly what the CO wants them to do, which is duck under and go into the ravine. From the map it looks to be on public property.

 

It would have to be a pretty good margarine container to get me to do that.

 

I tried something similar in Nevada, the cache was wedged down under a rock in the water of a natural spring. You had to climb down a steep ravine to access it. No other way around to it. Usually I am a mountain goat, but this time I slipped and went bouncing down onto the rocks. Only got scraped up some, thank god I didn't break my neck. Never did find the cache. Next time I'm in Nevada, I'll bring better boots.

 

As to the OP's query; maybe after two caches the CO was sick of doing LPCs and decided to create something a bit more challenging. If it were illegal wouldn't the reviewer have caught it? I see no real harm here, except the worry about the margarine tub.

[+briansnat]

Another thing Is does the person have excperience to hide 2 caches after only joining geocaching 4 day ago

 

There are people who judging from their hides, don't have enough experience to hide a cache after 1,000 finds.

Others hide great caches with few , or no finds.

 

It has little to do with experience. It has to do with imagination (and reading the guidelines).

[+snowcrustracer]

Maybe it was just a poor choice of words.

[Clan Riffster]

How long should you be geocaching before you hide your first cache

In accordance with Prophecy, The Book of Angst, Chapters 12 through 16, dictates that the answer is 4 months, 11 days, 7 hours, 1 minute and 35 seconds... exactly.

[+Stargazer22]

Another thing Is does the person have excperience to hide 2 caches after only joining geocaching 4 day ago

 

There are people who judging from their hides, don't have enough experience to hide a cache after 1,000 finds.

Others hide great caches with few , or no finds.

 

It has little to do with experience. It has to do with imagination (and reading the guidelines).

 

I'm with Brian on this one. Some people couldn't place a good hide no matter how many finds they have or how long they have been caching.

 

Others could place a perfect cache having never found one. It all depends on how well they read, understand, and follow the guidelines and apply them to an imaginative hide.

 

About the reference on the cache you refer to - I don't think encouraging others to climb through a hole in a fence is a good idea on any level. Aren't fences supposed to keep folks from crossing from one side to the other? And even though cachers may not have made the hole in the fence, that fence belongs to someone. If they see cachers going through the hole, and they didn't know the hole was pre-existing.....it would be easy for someone to come to the conclusion that cachers damaged the fence and might not be good for our reputation. At the very least, cachers would be seen as worsening the hole in the fence. I give that a big thumbs down.

[+chrisrayn]

Another thing Is does the person have excperience to hide 2 caches after only joining geocaching 4 day ago

 

There are people who judging from their hides, don't have enough experience to hide a cache after 1,000 finds.

Others hide great caches with few , or no finds.

 

It has little to do with experience. It has to do with imagination (and reading the guidelines).

 

I don't know...I'm sure that's a great philosophical idea in Theory...but I just don't see how someone can completely gather the feel of caching after finding 4 caches.

 

They are judging difficulty and terrain based on the experience of finding 4 caches. I didn't do a 4.0 terr until I was in the 20s of caches, and it changed the way I looked at terr ratings. I've come to discover that short walks on concrete and quick PNGs are 1.0, walking through grass is 1.5, tall grass and long walks are 2.0, 2.5 is tall grass with thorns and burrs or lightly wooded areas, 3.0 is thorny-vined, thickly-wooded areas and so on. I don't see how someone could get a grasp on these subtleties unless they'd walked each terrain rating.

 

I also don't think the vast number of cache types can be experienced in 4 caches. I didn't even SEE what a bison tube was until my 6th cache. I mean, I don't see how it's possible to find magnetized altoids cans, magnetic keyboxes, waterproof match containers, bison tubes, those weird tubes with the soda bottle cap, stuff hung on fishing lines, stuff suspended from craft wire in pipes, magnetic nanos stuck to the bottom of a fence post cap, lock n locks covered in camo duct tape, mini shoepolish cans with magnets, ammo boxes, medicine bottles, folgers cans, pine-cone-covered pill fobs, micros rolled in glue and covered in leaves, AND fake rocks with secret compartments all in just 4 caches.

 

I've wanted to hide a cache for awhile, since like my 10th, but I just feel like it's not respectful of other cachers to hide one without feeling I have a thorough knowledge of most (if not all) cache types, difficulty and terrain ratings, and ESPECIALLY acceptable locations. I also wanted to buy a more reliable GPSr so that I didn't turn what should be a 1.5 diff rating into a 3.0 through the cache being more than 50 feet from its supposed coordinates. So now, when I go out and place my first cache, I'll be averaging a waypoint on my Garmin 60csx as God intended (once I figure out how to do that, that is).

 

I don't know...I just disagree that people should be placing after only finding 4. Now, if that person has two accounts and has really found like 2 or 3 hundred on another count, that's fine. :-)

[+Team GPSaxophone]

There are some people who grasp the concept of geocaching right away and could hide caches like someone who has been around for years.

 

Then there are those who think they fit into that category. Do us all a favor and find a few dozen caches before hiding your first one. I'd rather wait a few weeks or months for your first cache than to have one hastily placed just so you can have your own hide because you think you know what you're doing.

[GOF and Bacall]

Those new cachers who are creative and would hide great caches are not going to be any less creative after they have found a couple of dozen or so caches. Those who aren't may actually discover something worth replicating.

 

I would prefer that beginners find a bunch of caches before they hide any. It would be best if they found an assortment of hide types and styles. This would give them an idea of the possibilities that can be brought to the game.

 

The problem is how do you determine when any given cacher is ready to make the leap from hunting to hiding? The closest I have heard is the idea of a test of the understanding of the guidelines and even that has its problems. Not even all the reviewers interpret those the same.

[Dinoprophet]

Another thing Is does the person have excperience to hide 2 caches after only joining geocaching 4 day ago

 

There are people who judging from their hides, don't have enough experience to hide a cache after 1,000 finds.

Others hide great caches with few , or no finds.

 

It has little to do with experience. It has to do with imagination (and reading the guidelines).

 

I don't know...I'm sure that's a great philosophical idea in Theory...but I just don't see how someone can completely gather the feel of caching after finding 4 caches.

 

They are judging difficulty and terrain based on the experience of finding 4 caches. I didn't do a 4.0 terr until I was in the 20s of caches, and it changed the way I looked at terr ratings. I've come to discover that short walks on concrete and quick PNGs are 1.0, walking through grass is 1.5, tall grass and long walks are 2.0, 2.5 is tall grass with thorns and burrs or lightly wooded areas, 3.0 is thorny-vined, thickly-wooded areas and so on. I don't see how someone could get a grasp on these subtleties unless they'd walked each terrain rating.

 

I also don't think the vast number of cache types can be experienced in 4 caches. I didn't even SEE what a bison tube was until my 6th cache. I mean, I don't see how it's possible to find magnetized altoids cans, magnetic keyboxes, waterproof match containers, bison tubes, those weird tubes with the soda bottle cap, stuff hung on fishing lines, stuff suspended from craft wire in pipes, magnetic nanos stuck to the bottom of a fence post cap, lock n locks covered in camo duct tape, mini shoepolish cans with magnets, ammo boxes, medicine bottles, folgers cans, pine-cone-covered pill fobs, micros rolled in glue and covered in leaves, AND fake rocks with secret compartments all in just 4 caches.

You don't need to see all those before getting a good idea for a cache. Frankly, I'd prefer a new participant not see most of those. Finding a lot of caches is just as likely to provide poor ideas as good ones.

 

As for ratings, I don't put a whole lot of stock in those anyway, but hopefully everyone uses the Clayjar system that's linked on the listing page.

Edited August 11, 2009 by Dinoprophet

[+9Key]

I joined four days ago. I'll be hiding my first couple of caches as soon as my geocoin and caching supplies come in the mail. I'm 35 and I'm plenty smart enough to understand the guidelines for hiding, noobie or not. Peace.

Wow - ok. Being 35 certainly cinches the deal. :

[+Jeep4two]

I'm with most responders here - seems that creativity and knowledge of guidelines will go a long way, versus actual caching experience. Of course who's to say this person hasn't been caching with a friend for some time without an account - but that is just speculative.

 

My real concern is the use of a food container for the cache. I doubt that the survivability of this cache container in the wild will be very long. Not only is it flimsy and not water tight (water will wick around the lid seal) the residual odor will surely draw some random critter that has some dry toast in need of some margarine - and he's gonna be pissed when he finds swag instead of margarine.

[+J-Way]

Dave Ulmer didn't have any finds when he hid his first cache.

 

Of course, it violated at least two of the most sacred guidelines (no food in cache, and no burying), but it somehow got listed anyway.

[+Renegade Knight]

How long should you be geocaching before you hide your first cache

Exactly long enough to be inspired to hide your first cache.

[+Renegade Knight]

... The thing is in the description it says to get to the cache you have to go through a hole in a fence. Sounds alittle sucpicioces to me by reading that it makes me think the cache is on private propertiy. ...

 

Two comments on this. Going through a hole is easier than climbing. Around here fences are for livestock and not so much people. Some fences are just because. Quite a few fences here say "Close the freaking gate behind you so I don't have to go chase my cows!" but they let you use the gate anyway.

 

So you see a fence and while you may suspect something is up, until you go check it out, you don't know enough details to go from 'suspect' to "Houston, we have a problem".

[+Team GPSaxophone]

Dave Ulmer didn't have any finds when he hid his first cache.

 

Of course, it violated at least two of the most sacred guidelines (no food in cache, and no burying), but it somehow got listed anyway.

Wasn't it also on private property and not waterproof?

[GOF and Bacall]

Dave Ulmer didn't have any finds when he hid his first cache.

 

Of course, it violated at least two of the most sacred guidelines (no food in cache, and no burying), but it somehow got listed anyway.

 

He had found every geocache in existence before he hid his first.

[+J-Way]

Dave Ulmer didn't have any finds when he hid his first cache.

Of course, it violated at least two of the most sacred guidelines (no food in cache, and no burying), but it somehow got listed anyway.

Wasn't it also on private property and not waterproof?

Yeah, I was just about to go back and edit to add that he also forgot to ask permission, but you beat me too it.

 

Anyway, the point was to agree with what the majority of responders have already said: it depends on the person and the circumstances. There is no way to set any kind of experience limit.

[Tahosa and Sons]

 

There are people who judging from their hides, don't have enough experience to hide a cache after 1,000 finds.

Others hide great caches with few , or no finds.

 

It has little to do with experience. It has to do with imagination (and reading the guidelines).

Very well said Brian. I sure have seen a lot of caches ove the years that just go into the Dumb#uck file, just because they wanted to hide one. I hid my first one one a long time ago and it was before I even found one.

Just follow the guidelines and ask some local cachers for assistance.

[+L0ne.R]

I'm putting a watch on that page just to see how it plays out. Glad to see the post questioning the possible private property issue.

[+bflentje]

Lately In my area we been having a lot of new geocachers and some of them have been hiding new geocach's. I all for new geocaches but this one was just posted about a hour ago and it sort of got me thinking. The thing is in the description it says to get to the cache you have to go through a hole in a fence. Sounds alittle sucpicioces to me by reading that it makes me think the cache is on private propertiy. Another thing Is does the person have excperience to hide 2 caches after only joining geocaching 4 day ago

just my 2 cents what do others think

 

I think a 1000 finds is a good start.

[+bflentje]

Dave Ulmer didn't have any finds when he hid his first cache.

 

Of course, it violated at least two of the most sacred guidelines (no food in cache, and no burying), but it somehow got listed anyway.

 

lamo (not you, but your statement)..

[+Team GPSaxophone]

If you look at Google Maps you can see that this cache appears to be placed in a park. There's a rectangular drainage area (the "ravine" mentioned earlier) that may be fenced off. It isn't clear if this is a no trespassing zone, but it is likely fenced off to keep kids safe (or at least absolve the city of responsibility because the fence deters kids from playing in there).

 

Either way though, the cache should be located outside of the fenced area as the fence is there for a reason.

[+hudsonfam]

Our family team has now found 25 caches and we are just now feeling like we might be qualified to hide a cache, but we're still giving it some time. The kids are very excited and have been asking us since day 1 when we get to hide something.

 

But to me it's about gaining experience and also paying your dues - proving that you're dedicated because hiding a cache requires a certain level of commitment and responsibility. The CO has to maintain the cache and if they decide after 10, 25, or even 100 finds that they don't really want to do this anymore, do they abandon the cache at the detriment of the environment? Because once a cache has been abandoned, it becomes just another piece of litter. Not to mention the fact that an abandoned cache will also become a source of frustration to fellow geocachers if it disappears or is damaged.

 

A newbie determined to hide a cache with little experience under his/her belt seems to be motivated by reasons of entitlement (no one can tell me what I can and can't do), competition (my cache/hiding spot is better than everyone else's) or a need for instant gratification. Personally, I don't see any reason why some kind of experience requirement shouldn't be mandated in order to place a cache. Too many people think they should start at the top of everything and not have to work their way up to it.

 

Sorry, I guess that was a bit of a soapbox rant but I have issues with entitlement.

[+Team GPSaxophone]

A newbie determined to hide a cache with little experience under his/her belt seems to be motivated by reasons of entitlement (no one can tell me what I can and can't do), competition (my cache/hiding spot is better than everyone else's) or a need for instant gratification. Personally, I don't see any reason why some kind of experience requirement shouldn't be mandated in order to place a cache. Too many people think they should start at the top of everything and not have to work their way up to it.

Excellent insights from a newbie. Seriously, I think you hit the nail on the head. There's no reason to rush into placing a cache. If your idea is really that good, it can wait until you're sure you want to geocache long enough to maintain it.

[+DragonsWest]

I was caching for about a month before I hid my first cache (the next followed about 5 years later.)

 

I thought GeoCaching was the greatest thing since pitted kalamata olives and was quite eager to get my first game piece out there. I looked around and it seemed the surrounding areas were well accounted for (now they're almost saturated) so I looked up one of my favourite mountain biking destinations, the top of The Chalks in Big Basin State Park. There are established trails and fire roads to this point and a short walk through some chaparral yielded some building scraps from the nearby outhouse to use for cover. It appeared an ideal hide because the ground between the plants is rocky so not much damage is likely to be done and there's quite enough space to walk without attacking the chaparral.

 

24 visits so far and it's still my favourite.

[knowschad]

Dave Ulmer didn't have any finds when he hid his first cache.

 

Of course, it violated at least two of the most sacred guidelines (no food in cache, and no burying), but it somehow got listed anyway.

 

He was VERY tight with his reviewer

Edited August 11, 2009 by knowschad

[knowschad]

One of the most favorite cache hiders in our area joined Nov 20, 2005 and hid his first cache on Nov 24, 2005. That cache is still going strong. When people from out of the area ask a local for recommended caches, this hider's caches are almost always recommended.

[+TheMadScotsman]

I joined four days ago. I'll be hiding my first couple of caches as soon as my geocoin and caching supplies come in the mail. I'm 35 and I'm plenty smart enough to understand the guidelines for hiding, noobie or not. Peace.

Wow - ok. Being 35 certainly cinches the deal. :

 

I guess that what I meant was that it's not hard to figure out how to hide a box. Thanks for rolling your eyes at me though.

Edited August 12, 2009 by mtn-man

[+9Key]

I joined four days ago. I'll be hiding my first couple of caches as soon as my geocoin and caching supplies come in the mail. I'm 35 and I'm plenty smart enough to understand the guidelines for hiding, noobie or not. Peace.

Wow - ok. Being 35 certainly cinches the deal. :

 

I guess that what I meant was that it's not hard to figure out how to hide a box. Thanks for rolling your eyes at me though.

Well good luck to you and your box that is easy to hide. And thank you for the profanity.

Edited August 12, 2009 by mtn-man

[+Renegade Knight]

...A newbie determined to hide a cache with little experience under his/her belt seems to be motivated by reasons of entitlement (no one can tell me what I can and can't do), competition (my cache/hiding spot is better than everyone else's) or a need for instant gratification. Personally, I don't see any reason why some kind of experience requirement shouldn't be mandated in order to place a cache. Too many people think they should start at the top of everything and not have to work their way up to it.

 

Sorry, I guess that was a bit of a soapbox rant but I have issues with entitlement.

 

So after finding one cache without a GPS, and about 2 minutes after getting my GPS I hid my first cache. Why? I knew this great spot and couldn't wait to hide a cache there. It's still a great spot and it still has a cache. Oh and the spot actually is better than most I see even now.

 

I really wouldn't want to confuse enthusiasm for entitlement.

[+zurichuk]

OK I am a newbie, only found 24 caches at probably a rate of only 1 or 2 a week, find it difficult even to grab the local ones 1km away currently because of a newborn, a 2 yr old and a 3 year old, but that's another story. I've already found caches that I didn't like, cache areas that I took a quick look, thought I'd don't even want to look here, went home and pressed the ignore button and ones that were great, well thought out or amusing, finding more will widen this and give me more ideas.

 

I want to wait until I've found about 100 of different varieties before I hide, to gain some experience, read these forums and feel the experience.

 

Luckily when I do decide, I'm regularly in this area (wifes parents)

 

http://maps.google.ch/maps?hl=en&rlz=1...sa=N&tab=wl

 

which I feel is lacking in quantity, but it will have to be quality

 

Point of the post apart from waffling on? I think there should be a criteria for hiding, ca 50 or 100 finds, but I guess with armchair cachers around, it is unenforcable anyway.

Edited August 11, 2009 by zurichuk

[+Renegade Knight]

...I want to wait until I've found about 100 of different varieties before I hide, to gain some experience, read these forums and feel the experience....

 

One thing I find is that different regions have styles. Styles come from the locals copying each other. So when someone is inspired to hide a cache and they wait until they see "what everone else is doing" that's what they hide.

 

Creativity in hiding a cache comes from within, it doesn't come from copying the other 100 hides you found.

 

What I'm saying is when your muse whispers in your ear about a great cache idea, and you haven't hit your magic 100, listen to your muse and not the 100.

[sdarken]

I like to see people waiting a while before they place their first cache so they can decide whether this is really a game that they will enjoy in the long term. I see a lot of people join, find 10 or 20 caches, place 1 and then drop out altogether. Their contribution often then dies a slow painful death. Most new cachers don't have an ammo can or top quality container for their first hide. That's one of those things you learn about when you visit enough caches and see the affects of moisture and wear-and-tear.

[+TheMadScotsman]

I was introduced to this game last Friday and I am absolutely loving it. The problem is there aren't all that many caches in the area where I live. I will have found all the caches in my immediate area in the next couple of days, so for now the best way for me to contribute is to play on the hiding side of the game.

 

I don't see how an intelligent person needs caching experience to know that your container must be watertight if it's going to be exposed to rain.

 

I love this game because it motivates me to get exercise. Soon I will run out of caches in my immediate area and I run the risk of losing interest. If I get into hiding caches though, I will be out checking on them every week and that will keep my interest up until I have time to travel.

 

I don't think that lack of experience is the problem when it comes to hiding caches. It's more likely a lack of imagination and common sense.

 

I would be more concerned with those who have 600 odd hidden caches. I can't imagine how one could maintain that many.

 

Just my two cents.

[+DragonsWest]

...I want to wait until I've found about 100 of different varieties before I hide, to gain some experience, read these forums and feel the experience....

 

One thing I find is that different regions have styles. Styles come from the locals copying each other. So when someone is inspired to hide a cache and they wait until they see "what everone else is doing" that's what they hide.

 

Creativity in hiding a cache comes from within, it doesn't come from copying the other 100 hides you found.

 

What I'm saying is when your muse whispers in your ear about a great cache idea, and you haven't hit your magic 100, listen to your muse and not the 100.

 

I must be a rebel.

 

I'm put off by so many magnetic key holders and 35 mm film canisters and lock & locks. I recently placed one which took a wide departure and I had FUN making it. Perhaps this is what's spurring me, over in the Hollow out a Rock thread, to make better and more interesting fake rocks. One exercise has taken a turn to appear as an old mileage marker, which will get coats of plaster whitewash before going out. Another is a fake sprinkler (which I've seen done a few times) but with a larger container inside. I bought these parts a year ago and will finally do something with them) I'm also waiting on papier mache to dry (assuming the rotten old balloon I'm using doesn't pop) to form a fake rock. Also a little camo painted 10 round paintball tube is drying.

 

I still like to walk through stores, particularly hardware and home & garden for inspiration. I don't want my finders to be looking for the ordinary, I want them to be seeking the extraordinary.

[+Renegade Knight]

...

What I'm saying is when your muse whispers in your ear about a great cache idea,...listen to your muse ....

 

I must be a rebel.

 

...

 

I still like to walk through stores, particularly hardware and home & garden for inspiration. I don't want my finders to be looking for the ordinary, I want them to be seeking the extraordinary.

 

I think you know how to listen to your muse. Perfect.

[+J-Way]

I guess that what I meant was that it's not hard to figure out how to hide a box. Thanks for rolling your eyes at me though.

Well good luck to you and your box that is easy to hide. And thank you for the profanity.

Profanity?? Oh... I thought he meant that the easy to hide box of his was going to be a 2-star... Edited August 12, 2009 by mtn-man

[+nelson crew]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet (though may have missed it as my eyes started glossing over all the OT posts) is that it takes experience to determine which kinds of hides you ultimately prefer (and thus want to hide). Obviously, your mileage will vary and some people just have a "knack" for the perfect hide right off the bat. I'll eat some crow and admit that I had a few hides relatively early on that I've been archiving as I'm somewhat ashamed to have my name attached to them. For me (again, mileage will vary) it was about 350 finds or so and 5 months when I really formed my opinions of what I *really* liked and what I wanted to hide.

[+L0ne.R]

Lately In my area we been having a lot of new geocachers and some of them have been hiding new geocach's. I all for new geocaches but this one was just posted about a hour ago and it sort of got me thinking. The thing is in the description it says to get to the cache you have to go through a hole in a fence. Sounds alittle sucpicioces to me by reading that it makes me think the cache is on private propertiy. Another thing Is does the person have excperience to hide 2 caches after only joining geocaching 4 day ago

just my 2 cents what do others think

 

Well, it's nice to see that the CO is so responsive. He went out to check after a few DNFs and has reported that he believes the area is not private, that the fence is there for safety reasons. He also realized that his coords were off. He had to rely on google maps since he doesn't have a GPS unit.

[+briansnat]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet (though may have missed it as my eyes started glossing over all the OT posts) is that it takes experience to determine which kinds of hides you ultimately prefer (and thus want to hide).

 

In many areas there isn't a lot of variety. Why spoil someone with grand ideas for a cache by making him find 50 guardrail micros first.

 

I hid my first cache in the kind of place that I preferred. I had a whopping two finds under my belt at the time. I didn't need to see a few dozen LPCs first before I decided whether or not I liked them.

 

One thing I find is that different regions have styles. Styles come from the locals copying each other. So when someone is inspired to hide a cache and they wait until they see "what everone else is doing" that's what they hide.

 

Creativity in hiding a cache comes from within, it doesn't come from copying the other 100 hides you found.

 

Exactly!

[knowschad]

He had to rely on google maps since he doesn't have a GPS unit.

 

Oh oh! Not neccessary for finding, but neccessary for hiding, I'm afraid!!!

[+nelson crew]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet (though may have missed it as my eyes started glossing over all the OT posts) is that it takes experience to determine which kinds of hides you ultimately prefer (and thus want to hide).

 

In many areas there isn't a lot of variety. Why spoil someone with grand ideas for a cache by making him find 50 guardrail micros first.

 

I wouldn't call finding 50 of the same type of hide "experience."

 

In fact, that's kind of what I was getting at - by finding different types of hides one sees that there is more out there.

 

I keep hearing this rumor that someone once said something along the lines of "you're not a real cacher until you've hit 1000 finds." When I was newer I took umbrage to that, but now that I've got some experience (i.e. a lot of different types of caches) under my belt, I (think I) understand and pretty much agree. That's where I was coming from.

 

Of course, if you've got 2 finds and have a good hide, go fer it. I rock the fiftieth percentile - I can't be the only one who needed some "aging" before I had the bigger picture.

[+briansnat]

In fact, that's kind of what I was getting at - by finding different types of hides one sees that there is more out there.

 

That would work in some areas, but not in others. In some areas that I've cached you'd swear that it was in the guidelines that it was mandatory to hide caches only in strip malls, in either a lamp post or guard rail.

 

Do these areas exist because every geocacher who lives there just happens to like strip malls, or because that is what they've seen everyone else doing? I think it's the latter. Take away that exposure and you have fresh ideas.

[+Harry Dolphin]

I don't see how an intelligent person needs caching experience to know that your container must be watertight if it's going to be exposed to rain.

 

Definitely a major part of it. Intelligence! That's a good start.

 

As to comments from others: For every great hide by a newby, there are dozens of hides by three-day wonders. Found five caches in a year. Hid three take-out food containers. Hasn't been heard from in four years. Citing great hides by newbies is the exception. They exist, but they are rare.

My first hide went out after two months of caching and sixty finds. But, I had good teachers! It has had 33 finds in five years. It's a good hide in a great spot. And I'm still proud of it.