Having problems... have questions...

[dali555]

My family and I went out today and looked for two caches by our house.... didn't find either....

 

What exactly do you look for?

How hidden are these things usually?

There is some snow on the ground.... would you have to dig for them? or are they just stuck somewhere usually?

 

I am a BIG newbie... any help would be greatly appreciated, we are going out tomorrow again to find the same two

[+StarBrand]

Every cache is different. Literally hundreds of different containers and thousands of hide styles. But there are some general things you can do (see below). After a while you sort of develop a "geosense" - sort of the ability to look at an area and quickly discern where the most likely hiding spots are. Sometimes you are just lucky. Sometimes persistence pays off. Winter conditions always make hides a bit more of a challenge.

 

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!!

[+Night Stalker]

Find cachers in your area and cache with them a few times to get more familiar with what to look for. Remember that your GPS will only get you close, and sometimes not that close. You can figure on being within 20 feet of the cache most of the time, but if there is tree cover, or if the cache hider is using an older GPS, or if the hider makes an error and reverses a couple of number it can be a lot further away. You should read the cache page and read the last few logs. This can help you a lot in finding a cache. Stay away from micro caches until you have some more experience.

[+NanCycle]

would you have to dig for them?

You might well have to dig in the snow, but caches are not permitted to be buried so that you'd have to dig in the ground. Always be sure to put the cache back as close as you can to the way you found it, even covering it with snow again.

[+briansnat]

What exactly do you look for?

 

That is a hard question to answer because there are many things to look for. A cache could be a simple tupperware container or a container that is smaller than the nail on your pinky, a hollowed out pine cone, a fake rock, lawn sprinkler, you name it. The key is to check the difficulty level. If it is a low difficulty cache (2 or under) the container is likely to be something fairly easy to spot.

 

Start with regular sized caches with a 1 or 1.5 star difficulty, then look for something that might be bit out of place. A pile of sticks, or bark could be the give away. Also look for the kinds of places you would hide something if you were going to hide something in that area

 

How hidden are these things usually?

 

It varies. They are sometimes in plain sight. Usually they are hidden well enough that someone passing by won't find it by accident, but someone who is looking for it can easily spot it. Sometimes they are so well hidden that veteran geocachers may spend many hours searching for them. Again this is tied into the difficulty level.

 

There is some snow on the ground.... would you have to dig for them? or are they just stuck somewhere usually?

 

Maybe. Snow can make it a lot harder to find them, or if there are footprints leading there, a lot easier.

 

One key point is that the cache won't always be right where your GPS says it is. GPS units are accurate from about 10 - 30 feet. When you combine the inaccuracy of your GPS with that of the hider the cache can be 30, 40, 50 or more feet from where your GPS says it is. So pay less attention to your GPS and more attention to the kinds of places you would hide something if you were doing that.

[+BrrrMo]

Go to YouTube and do a search for geocaching. Lots of help there. Hang in there, as with everthing the more you do it the easier it gets.

[+cynstv]

As a relative newbie myself, I can relate... mostly, just look for things out of place... for example one of our first finds was a small log... a cedar log, at the base of a tree... don't remember what kind, but it wasn't a cedar! Today we found one in a pinecone hanging in a cedar... just enjoy the hunt.

[+Hildy Boys]

Every hide is different, here are a few newbie tips (Some of them have already been mentioned)

 

1. Make sure you pick one that is 2 stars or less in difficulty

 

2. Make sure you look for sizes regular and up for your first few.

 

3. You mentioned snow, so I would pick some that are winter friendly

 

4. Check the logs and make sure that you look for ones that have been found recently.

 

5. Once your GPS gets you to inside 20 feet, stop looking at the GPS and start your search

 

6. Look for anything out of place (pile of sticks, pile of rocks).

 

7. If you don't see anything mentioned above, look under or in downed trees, tree crowns, under ledges, or any place it looks like an animal would hide. If you are looking for a regular it should be pretty obvious.

 

8. Use the hints if there are any.

 

9. Have fun!

 

Trust me, once you find a couple you will start to develop the geo-sense. When my kids and I first started I almost always found it first and then let them continue to look while I gave them hints. Now I rarely get to make the find becuase the find it first. It just takes some time.

[dali555]

Thx everyone.... thx to your help my family and I have just found our first cache... and not our last either

 

It was fun even though it was 19 degrees outside!

[namiboy]

Thx everyone.... thx to your help my family and I have just found our first cache... and not our last either

 

It was fun even though it was 19 degrees outside!

 

well there you go! it only gets funner from here.