They are ALWAYS in the lamp post.

[+Coldgears]

The amount of Caches hidden in lamp post are ridiculous. The first one was creative, the second one was meh. I keep seeing more and more. I found 4 caches today and HALF were hidden in lamp post. I personally think the whole fun is finding the Cache, if it's going to be in a lamp post every time you aren't really "finding" it. It's more like walking up to it. I could understand one or two in my area, but why can't people be more creative?

 

Oh, and the worst part is I seen an ingenious mystery cache, and after solving the puzzle it was hidden in a lamp post...

[+Chrysalides]

I've heard that there are very few lamp posts or guard rails in the forest.

[+bittsen]

The amount of Caches hidden in lamp post are ridiculous. The first one was creative, the second one was meh. I keep seeing more and more. I found 4 caches today and HALF were hidden in lamp post. I personally think the whole fun is finding the Cache, if it's going to be in a lamp post every time you aren't really "finding" it. It's more like walking up to it. I could understand one or two in my area, but why can't people be more creative?

 

Oh, and the worst part is I seen an ingenious mystery cache, and after solving the puzzle it was hidden in a lamp post...

If you hate LPC's then get out of the city for caching.

 

You take what you can get wen caching urban.

 

BTW, half of 4 isn't a huge number.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Do you think there could be a possibility that where you are looking/caching might have an influence on what types of caches you are finding?

 

Hmmmmm...?

[+Coldgears]

Do you think there could be a possibility that where you are looking/caching might have an influence on what types of caches you are finding?

 

Hmmmmm...?

 

Most cache's that are in the woods aren't in lamp post. But, when they are in parking lots they usually are. I'll generally just go for the closest cache without bothering about where they are hidden. I've seen a few well hidden ones in parking lots and I won't give them up just because most are in lamp post. My real question is: why not pick another spot, there are plenty of creative spots in a parking lot. For example one of the four I found was in a parking lot and it was really creative. It was hidden on a piece of art made from old tubing. It was actually in an industrial company building parking lot, but there was no way to tell from the GPS. I wish there was a way to filter Lamp Post cache's without filtering the more creative micros...

[+The Leprechauns]

Perhaps the OP looked at each cache's online maps and aerial photos, became excited over the prospect of hunting an exciting variety of guardrail caches, sewer grate caches and traffic sign caches, and was instead bitterly disappointed to discover 50% lamp post caches. You never know until you get there.

[+Coldgears]

Perhaps the OP looked at each cache's online maps and aerial photos, became excited over the prospect of hunting an exciting variety of guardrail caches, sewer grate caches and traffic sign caches, and was instead bitterly disappointed to discover 50% lamp post caches. You never know until you get there.

 

UUGH, they are not all predicable. Easy for you to say all the cache's near you are creative you live all the way in Pittsburgh. I'm stuck here in Philly.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Kind of funny really...

 

We have a hard time finding any LPC's around here. When we came up with one, I knew what/where it was, but let Gummee look and look and look some more. Finally, I suggested she lift the skirt and I got a dirty look, so... I had to show her. Hahahahahahahahaah!

 

I know... Bad dog, no bone.

[+tozainamboku]

The OP started caching 10 days ago and has 14 finds. I'm not sure how anyone with 14 finds can complain that there are too many of one type of cache.

 

Some days I've gone urban caching and found a lot of LPCs and another time I might not find any. Occasionally, someone who likes LPCs (because they are easy find and, IMO, they are less likely to be muggled than other hides) will hide a bunch and if you happen to hit a string of these you might decide you have seen too many. The actual ratio of LPC to other types of hides goes up and down all the time. When there are too many of one type of cache, hiders will usually begin to hide different kinds of hides.

 

While some people actually enjoy finding caches that are thoroughly predictable and easy to find, if you feel you are finding too many like this the best way to avoid them is to vary where you geocache. As pointed out there are no lamp post in the forest. Premium members can filter by size as well as difficulty. While eliminating all 1/1 micro will eliminate more that LPCs (and some LPCs may not get eliminated) this is one way to decrease the ratio of LPCs among the caches you find. Another hint is that if your GPS is pointed to a lamp post in a parking lot, just abort the search and move on to the next cache. It's not Pokemon, you don't need to find them all. Finally, accept that not everyone has the same idea for fun as you do. Many people actually look forward to an easy find. I try to make if fun by seeing what people do to make their LPC hide stand out. I've seen hand decorated containers, I've seen decoys, I've seen caches velcro'd to the inside of the skirt, I've seen a piece of velcro on the inside of the skirt with note in the cache description saying the cache is not attached with velcro and have put the cache on my watchlist to see how many people post "I found where the cache was attached so I'm claiming a find". There is quite a lot of variety in LPC hides if you pay attention to it.

Edited March 16, 2010 by tozainamboku

[knowschad]

The OP started caching 10 days ago and has 14 finds. I'm not sure how anyone with 14 finds can complain that there are too many of one type of cache.

 

Some of the OP's finds...

 

Plenty of Light 1/1 (lamp post)

Office Plex 1/1 (Office Depot?)

Howe Easy 1.5/1.5 (Howes?)

Can't Have It Your Way 2 1/1 (Burger Kind?)

Park Un Ride 1.5/1.5 (Bus Stop?)

 

Need I continue? Coldgears, look at the difficulty & terrain and think about the name of the cache. I just listed roughly 1/3 of your finds and each has an easy double entendre that would alert anyone with some experience with lamp post type hides. And that is without actually reading the cache pages, much less looking at the Street View or aerial photos.

[+kunarion]

They are ALWAYS in the lamp post.

Way to spoil my urban cache hunts forevermore!

 

I should confess to a "clever" cache hide idea I came up with on my own, even before I had found my first one: Placing a small container under a lamp skirt.

[+cx1]

What is worse then it always being in the lamp post is thinking its in the lamp post or one of the twenty other lamp posts in the parking lot and 30 minutes later you determine that it is not.

[+HeliDood]

Anyone who enjoys hiding LPC's, please take a trip up to Wisconsin. There is a severe shortage of LPCs up this way.

 

I believe the future of geocaching involves "drive through" caches where you simply need to pull alongside ground zero, roll down your window, stick your arm out and retrieve the cache (not unlike an LPC)

[Clan Riffster]

The amount of Caches hidden in lamp post are ridiculous.

If you edit your PQ to exclude micros, size not chosen and other, you'll likely not find very many lamp post caches.

[+HeliDood]

The amount of Caches hidden in lamp post are ridiculous.

If you edit your PQ to exclude micros, size not chosen and other, you'll likely not find very many lamp post caches.

 

Excluding Micros might only help to elminate SOME lamp post caches. But not all.

[+narcissa]

Anyone who enjoys hiding LPC's, please take a trip up to Wisconsin. There is a severe shortage of LPCs up this way.

 

I believe the future of geocaching involves "drive through" caches where you simply need to pull alongside ground zero, roll down your window, stick your arm out and retrieve the cache (not unlike an LPC)

 

If you manoeuvre the car properly, many LPCs are drive-through caches.

[GermanSailor]

I could understand one or two in my area, but why can't people be more creative?

Avoid hunting for micros, and this disappointment will be history. Additionally it was said that you might consider geocaching outside towns or parking lots.

 

GermanSailor

[+Vater_Araignee]

Coldgears,

 

You want numbers fast then you do urban caches and deal with all the up skirts.

You want to avoid most of the up skirts, then you filter micros out.

You can even choose to find them and refuse to log them.

So many choices, way more than I'm willing to list.

 

You noticed I said "avoid most of", I have seen smalls in them. Around here I have seen a few smalls listed as regulars, if that becomes the local norm, I suspect I'll be seeing a regular in one at some point.

[+buttaskotch]

Perhaps, expanding your searches to dense woods would limit your interactions with lamp posts?

[+NYPaddleCacher]

What is worse then it always being in the lamp post is thinking its in the lamp post or one of the twenty other lamp posts in the parking lot and 30 minutes later you determine that it is not.

 

One of my favorite caches takes you to a parking lot for a large retail chain store. There are lots of lamp posts around but the cache isn't in one. It's in a large culvert that runs under the parking lot. There are lots of logs on it similar to "I searched the obvious spots but couldn't find it. The owner should check on the cache to see if it's missing."

[oakenwood]

I have a similar problem. Most of the caches I find are in a hollow tree or log. If not there, then under a pile of rocks or sticks. It's terrible. I should start a thread to whine about it.

 

I must admit that woods cache I placed was in a hollow log. My micro, though, is under a park bench. That's not giving away much info, because it's really easy to find anyways. It's supposed to be easy. Easy to reach, too, for anyone in a wheelchair.

 

Which brings me to the topic of disabled cachers. Some folks are going to have a hard time going after caches that are hard to reach, but will be glad there are so many lamp post caches. One man's meat is another man's poison.

[knowschad]

The amount of Caches hidden in lamp post are ridiculous. The first one was creative, the second one was meh. I keep seeing more and more. I found 4 caches today and HALF were hidden in lamp post. I personally think the whole fun is finding the Cache, if it's going to be in a lamp post every time you aren't really "finding" it. It's more like walking up to it. I could understand one or two in my area, but why can't people be more creative?

 

Oh, and the worst part is I seen an ingenious mystery cache, and after solving the puzzle it was hidden in a lamp post...

Try GC11Y9X. Edited March 16, 2010 by knowschad

[Clan Riffster]

Which brings me to the topic of disabled cachers. Some folks are going to have a hard time going after caches that are hard to reach, but will be glad there are so many lamp post caches. One man's meat is another man's poison.

Because cripples like uninspired hides? As an ole fat cripple myself, I resent the implication that lame hides should be appreciated by the mobility impaired. A cache can be both wheelchair accessible and creative. Shoving a film can under a lamp post kilt is an utter void of creativity. I know there are some who claim that they thought the first lamp post hide they found was clever, but even if that's true, the second one they find would surely lack even that little bit of luster. A whole series? Tedium.

 

Don't hide lame caches, then claim that you are doing cripples a favor.

 

Us cripples appreciate creativity as much as anybody.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Which brings me to the topic of disabled cachers. Some folks are going to have a hard time going after caches that are hard to reach, but will be glad there are so many lamp post caches. One man's meat is another man's poison.

Because cripples like uninspired hides? As an ole fat cripple myself, I resent the implication that lame hides should be appreciated by the mobility impaired. A cache can be both wheelchair accessible and creative. Shoving a film can under a lamp post kilt is an utter void of creativity. I know there are some who claim that they thought the first lamp post hide they found was clever, but even if that's true, the second one they find would surely lack even that little bit of luster. A whole series? Tedium.

 

Don't hide lame caches, then claim that you are doing cripples a favor.

 

Us cripples appreciate creativity as much as anybody.

Ditto!

 

As an old fat one-legged lazy geocaching cripple I too dispute the implication that we need LPCs!

 

I like all caches, and don't much care what they are, and I hate to spoil my reputation as a Staunch Defender of Everything Lame, but I have to say that LPCs are with very few exceptions the silliest and most useless caches out there!

 

Yes, I have found some interesting ones, but mostly they are the work of a cacher with absolutely no interest in anything but hiding a cache for the sake of hiding a cache.

 

Even my buddy Ric, a C-5 quadriplegic who cached in a mouth-stick-operated motorized electric wheelchair and often could only watch from his van as we found it and brought it to him to make his mark didn't care for LPCs! He loved creativity and the search. He would guide us where to look with voice commands and "Duh, it's in the lamp skirt" wasn't any fun for him or us.

 

Please do consider us gimps in your terrain considerations if you wish, we appreciate that, but we're no different in our difficulty considerations than any other cacher.

Edited March 16, 2010 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+kunarion]

Alright, fess up. Who ran the Pocket Query?!

Edited March 16, 2010 by kunarion

[+Triskeles]

That photo TOTALLY made my morning!!! Thank you!!!

 

The amount of Caches hidden in lamp post are ridiculous.

If you edit your PQ to exclude micros, size not chosen and other, you'll likely not find very many lamp post caches.

 

Excluding Micros might only help to elminate SOME lamp post caches. But not all.

[+StarBrand]

Depends on where you go caching I suppose. In the nearby large-ish town there are around 170 caches and only 3 under lamppost skirts (knocking on wood).

[+tozainamboku]

Alright, fess up. Who ran the Pocket Query?!

Lamp post hides - the Thomas Kinkade of geocache hides.

Edited March 16, 2010 by tozainamboku

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Depends on where you go caching I suppose. In the nearby large-ish town there are around 170 caches and only 3 under lamppost skirts (knocking on wood).

There's a shopping mall a half-mile from me that has, I think, 8 LPCs spread around it.

 

I like all caches so yes I have found them all, but they are certainly at the bottom of my list UNLESS I am out on a numbers run with friends... then I prefer them!

[+FancoverFive]

Come on over to the UK, where we don't have LPCs. Sometimes I think about you Americans and your poorly designed lampposts and I just laugh.

 

I'd quite like to find one though, if I ever go to America again. Just to see what all the fuss is about.

[Andronicus]

I have only ever found 1 LPC. 1 of 230ish, not bad. And because I had never seen one, it was kind of cool. My 4 year old son loved it!

[+bittsen]

I have a question for the masses that is on topic.

 

Would a LPC that's NOT under the skirt be cool with the skirt haters?

I've thought of a standard type hide placed on the POLE of the lamp post so you actually have to stand on the cement base of the pole just to retrieve it.

Presumably people would roll on up to the lamp post, sigh, lift the skirt, see no cache and ... then what?

[+NeecesandNephews]

I have a question for the masses that is on topic.

 

Would a LPC that's NOT under the skirt be cool with the skirt haters?

I've thought of a standard type hide placed on the POLE of the lamp post so you actually have to stand on the cement base of the pole just to retrieve it.

Presumably people would roll on up to the lamp post, sigh, lift the skirt, see no cache and ... then what?

 

 

Throwdown!!!! Or a SBA because its obviously missing!! Sorry, couldn't help myself!

 

edit to add- Or!! Find it and replace it under the skirt "where I thought it should be"!

 

none of these would surprise me.

Edited March 16, 2010 by NeecesandNephews

[+Castle Mischief]

I have a question for the masses that is on topic.

 

Would a LPC that's NOT under the skirt be cool with the skirt haters?

I've thought of a standard type hide placed on the POLE of the lamp post so you actually have to stand on the cement base of the pole just to retrieve it.

Presumably people would roll on up to the lamp post, sigh, lift the skirt, see no cache and ... then what?

 

Post a DNF.

 

I've heard about cachers doing this. I think it's one of the Four Standard Deviations of the LPC©:

 

1- It's on the pole.

2- It's bigger than a hide-a-key, but still under the skirt

3- It's bigger than the skirt and is in the bushes nearby

4- It's a rat/snake/spider/wombat under the skirt.

[+Vater_Araignee]

I have a question for the masses that is on topic.

 

Would a LPC that's NOT under the skirt be cool with the skirt haters?

I've thought of a standard type hide placed on the POLE of the lamp post so you actually have to stand on the cement base of the pole just to retrieve it.

Presumably people would roll on up to the lamp post, sigh, lift the skirt, see no cache and ... then what?

Pull an altoids tin from under their seat, sign their name to a receipt and claim a found it.

[+StarBrand]

Depends on where you go caching I suppose. In the nearby large-ish town there are around 170 caches and only 3 under lamppost skirts (knocking on wood).

Oh sure - I go and brag about this and then - over lunch hour - I go find 3 new caches along the local pathway and 2 of them are - yup you guessed it.

[+Coldgears]

A lot of negative animosity towards me. Sure I haven't found over 1,000 cache's but I don't need to find 100 lamp post caches to know they are getting tiring. Although, I like micro's. I've seen a few cleverly hidden micro's that brought me to great destinations. I found one to a forgotten cemetery in my area I never knew about it. I found a small waterfall in my area, along with a great fishing spot there. I've found a beautiful beach like view, hidden in a park that I've been to so many times without realizing (To be fair I didn't find that one). I don't want to filter all those amazing caches because people want to hide them in lamp post. A simple solution is to find somewhere else to hide the,. It's understandable to want to hide one in a parking lot, but there are plenty more areas in the parking lots to hide them. That being said, I'm not going to go out now just for micros. I'm going to go for a larger one, and pick up micros along the route.

 

Out of curiosity, how do you guys find so many? Do you travel a lot? I can't imagine ever getting much past 1,000. 1,000 is basically my limit, after the closest 1,000 near me then the drive time will be over 1 hour. Still, 1,000 is quite a few to find!

 

BTW, I may have not been geocaching for years, but I have been letter boxing for a while. I found everyone in my area and whenever I traveled anywhere I made sure to search for letterboxes in that area I.E. going to the beach or going to New York. My friend introduced me to letterboxing, and I read something about geocaching online and I always wanted to do geocaching. The only problem is I just recently got a GPS, my first move was to start geocaching and to fall in love much the same way as letterboxing, I love this sport even more! There are very FEW letterboxes compared to geocaching.

[+sbell111]

Which brings me to the topic of disabled cachers. Some folks are going to have a hard time going after caches that are hard to reach, but will be glad there are so many lamp post caches. One man's meat is another man's poison.

Because cripples like uninspired hides? As an ole fat cripple myself, I resent the implication that lame hides should be appreciated by the mobility impaired. A cache can be both wheelchair accessible and creative. Shoving a film can under a lamp post kilt is an utter void of creativity. I know there are some who claim that they thought the first lamp post hide they found was clever, but even if that's true, the second one they find would surely lack even that little bit of luster. A whole series? Tedium.

 

Don't hide lame caches, then claim that you are doing cripples a favor.

 

Us cripples appreciate creativity as much as anybody.

On the other hand, I sure did learn to appreciate LPC's after my back surgery. They were just the ticket.

 

Hide what you like to find.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I have a question for the masses that is on topic.

 

Would a LPC that's NOT under the skirt be cool with the skirt haters?

I've thought of a standard type hide placed on the POLE of the lamp post so you actually have to stand on the cement base of the pole just to retrieve it.

Presumably people would roll on up to the lamp post, sigh, lift the skirt, see no cache and ... then what?

 

Post a DNF.

 

I've heard about cachers doing this. I think it's one of the Four Standard Deviations of the LPC©:

 

1- It's on the pole.

2- It's bigger than a hide-a-key, but still under the skirt

3- It's bigger than the skirt and is in the bushes nearby

4- It's a rat/snake/spider/wombat under the skirt.

 

Or as in the case of a cache I described earlier, it's under the parking lot. It that one the coordinates led you to a pole that was about 150' from one end of the parking lot. The parking lot was built over a seasonal creek, so directly below the light pole was a large culvert (about 20 feet and 8' high) where a magnetic container was attached to the corrugated metal roof of the culvert.

 

Of course, for this and all of the other standard deviations, the placement of a decoy cache under the skirt is always going to produce more interesting logs.

[+supertbone]

The amount of Caches hidden in lamp post are ridiculous. The first one was creative, the second one was meh. I keep seeing more and more. I found 4 caches today and HALF were hidden in lamp post. I personally think the whole fun is finding the Cache, if it's going to be in a lamp post every time you aren't really "finding" it. It's more like walking up to it. I could understand one or two in my area, but why can't people be more creative?

 

Oh, and the worst part is I seen an ingenious mystery cache, and after solving the puzzle it was hidden in a lamp post...

 

I love LPCs, keep them coming.

[+Castle Mischief]

Or as in the case of a cache I described earlier, it's under the parking lot. It that one the coordinates led you to a pole that was about 150' from one end of the parking lot. The parking lot was built over a seasonal creek, so directly below the light pole was a large culvert (about 20 feet and 8' high) where a magnetic container was attached to the corrugated metal roof of the culvert.

 

Of course, for this and all of the other standard deviations, the placement of a decoy cache under the skirt is always going to produce more interesting logs.

 

How could I forget? I actually had a cache like this. It was in the bottom level of a double-deck parking garage and you had to reach up to get to it. Little did I know that a micro had been hidden almost directly above my cache on the upper level and never retrieved. I found out later that some of the logs to my cache were actually the result of logs to the older archived micro above it.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

A lot of negative animosity towards me. Sure I haven't found over 1,000 cache's but I don't need to find 100 lamp post caches to know they are getting tiring.

 

Huh? I haven't seen any animosity directed at you. Don't confuse a failure to agree with your post 100% an attack on your character.

 

 

Out of curiosity, how do you guys find so many? Do you travel a lot? I can't imagine ever getting much past 1,000. 1,000 is basically my limit, after the closest 1,000 near me then the drive time will be over 1 hour. Still, 1,000 is quite a few to find!

 

I'm still 48 caches shy of 1000 but when you consider that there are now over 1 million active listings, that the game has been around for almost 10 years (only a month and a half to go), and that there are some very cache rich areas, geocachers with over 1000 finds are not that rare. If I recall, you mentioned geocaching in the Philadelphia area. I suspect that you have considerably more geocaches in your area that many. Last week we had two new caches placed within 10 miles of where I live. The last time that happened was in September.

 

I very rarely spend less than an hours drive time when I go caching.

 

Since I've found most of the caches in my town and surrounding areas I find the I'm doing a *lot* more geocaching when I travel on business or vacation. Sometimes that takes me to places with a lot more caches that have been placed in my area, sometimes, as is the case for while I'll be this time next week (Morogoro, Tanzania) there are far fewer caches.

 

Others have suggested heading to the woods to look for caches if you're getting tired of LPCs. You might try just reading through caches pages in your area, paying attention to caches with higher difficulty and/or terrain ratings and create a bookmark for them. Even if they're not far off the beaten path you can still target them as "destination caches" that you'll seek when you want to spend the day going after just a couple of special caches. You can still hit all the easy parking grabs if you want to increase your numbers and experience and it'll just make the ones you've identified as "special" something more to look forward to.

[+Coldgears]

 

Huh? I haven't seen any animosity directed at you. Don't confuse a failure to agree with your post 100% an attack on your character.

 

That's good! I couldn't help but think you guys were mad at me for some reason.

 

I'm still 48 caches shy of 1000 but when you consider that there are now over 1 million active listings, that the game has been around for almost 10 years (only a month and a half to go), and that there are some very cache rich areas, geocachers with over 1000 finds are not that rare. If I recall, you mentioned geocaching in the Philadelphia area. I suspect that you have considerably more geocaches in your area that many. Last week we had two new caches placed within 10 miles of where I live. The last time that happened was in September.

 

 

I'm actually in the suburbs of Philly. I live about a 5 - 10 minute drive away from officially being Philadelphia depending on traffic. So geocaches in my area aren't an issue. They are everywhere. that being said you are lucky you can go on business trips; vacations are my only option.

[+Chrysalides]

Out of curiosity, how do you guys find so many?

We lift a lot of lamp skirts

 

Seriously, there aren't that many LPCs around here. Every once in a while someone hides one, but most of the local cachers got tired of hiding them.

 

If you like urban micro caches, but dislike LPCs, there's not much I can do to help you there. You can try to guess if an urban micro is a LPC from the description and log, but you'll never be able to weed all of them out. Select your caches by location. Hunt only if you're in the area for something else, or if the location has some other attraction. If you suspect a LPC, you can either peek, but don't retrieve the cache, or look elsewhere to see if the cache is hidden there, but don't peek under the lamp skirt.

 

One thing I noticed is that usually the same cacher hides several caches close to each other, and as a result, if you're selecting your caches by area, you're likely to encounter a few of their hides. Sometimes they turn out to be the same style of hides. I've encountered days when the majority of my finds are one style or one type of container.

[+tozainamboku]

 

Huh? I haven't seen any animosity directed at you. Don't confuse a failure to agree with your post 100% an attack on your character.

 

That's good! I couldn't help but think you guys were mad at me for some reason.

In a way some of us are. Of course since the search function is broken on the forum you couldn't have known that lamp post caches (abbreviated LPC) are pretty much the whipping boy of cache hides. You are not the first person who has wondered why they are always hidden in the lamp post. This topic has been debated ad naseum, so when a newbie brings it up, they are likely to feel they are subject to some animosity.

 

The reason why any cache is hidden is because it is either a cache that the hider would enjoy or that hider thinks other people might enjoy. There are clearly people who enjoy finding caches in lamp post, not just because there are so many hidden this way (in some areas) but also because many people who find them actually post that they enjoyed finding the cache.

 

As you pointed out, the first time you find one you think it's clever. And it is in a way. This is a way to hide a cache in an urban high muggle area right under the noses of the non geocachers and for the most part the cache is safe from muggle finding it. Sure someone will talk about the rare exception where a muggle sees a geocacher hanging around a lamp post and decides to check it out. Maybe even one or two cases where the bomb squad was called in. But thousands of these caches get found every day and, in my experience are far less likely to go missing that other types of urban hides.

 

I posted above that LPCs are the Thomas Kinkade painting of geocaching hide. Like Thomas Kinkade paintings these are very popular. (Thomas Kinkade has sold more paintings than any other artist). On the other hand, Thomas Kinkade has many detractors who question the quality and originality of artwork or the fact that it is mass produced to sell for less than a "real" painting. So too do LPCs have their detractors. The little icon of Signal eating ice cream is meant to remind us that different people like different flavors of ice cream. Part of geocaching is to recognize this and use whatever methods you find work best for you to deal with it. Some people skip urban hides altogether, some skip 1/1 rated micros. Others find caches they don't enjoy and either don't log them or log "TNLNSL" and then go to look for another cache in hopes that they will enjoy it more.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I have a question for the masses that is on topic.

 

Would a LPC that's NOT under the skirt be cool with the skirt haters?

I've thought of a standard type hide placed on the POLE of the lamp post so you actually have to stand on the cement base of the pole just to retrieve it.

Presumably people would roll on up to the lamp post, sigh, lift the skirt, see no cache and ... then what?

Actually I don't think that there are all that many LPC-haters. I suspect it's more that a few forum regulars jumped onto the 'I hate LPCs' bandwagon and are just riding it for all it's worth. Perhaps looking down at other people's ways of playing the game gives them a smug feeling of superiority or whatever. It is permissible in the forums to say 'I hate micros' but not okay to say 'Cachers who like LPCs are scum and I don't like them'. The meaning however is often clear. Folks develop phobias and fixations for all kind of reasons. You will see the same folks making the same comments every time the subject raises its tired old head. Public forums are a wonderful place to study abnormal psychology!

 

Yes, you can in fact make an LPC creative. I had a blast in TN one night with a group of friends looking for an LPC. It took maybe 20 minutes for someone to think to look up; there was a magnetic key holder about fifteen feet off the ground. We had to back my Suburban up to the pole, have a cacher climb on top and slide it down using one of my crutches. Had we read the cache listing before we got there we would have known to bring a long reachy thing.

 

One of my favorite LPCs around here has about 25 film cans in it. Trying to find the one with the log and get all those film cans balanced so that you can lower the skirt without attracting muggle attention is a real challenge, especially if the wind is blowing!

 

I have found, and there has been a long thread in this forum with pictures from, LPCs placed in great locations... light poles at scenic views, etc. Those are great even if it's just a typical film can under the skirt.

 

Just because they are in a lamp post skirt does not make them lame. Being just another film can under the skirt in a shopping center parking lot generally does.

Edited March 16, 2010 by TheAlabamaRambler

[GOF and Bacall]

I have a question for the masses that is on topic.

 

Would a LPC that's NOT under the skirt be cool with the skirt haters?

I've thought of a standard type hide placed on the POLE of the lamp post so you actually have to stand on the cement base of the pole just to retrieve it.

Presumably people would roll on up to the lamp post, sigh, lift the skirt, see no cache and ... then what?

Actually I don't think that there are all that many LPC-haters. I suspect it's more that a few forum regulars jumped onto the 'I hate LPCs' bandwagon and are just riding it for all it's worth. Perhaps looking down at other people's ways of playing the game gives them a smug feeling of superiority or whatever. It is permissible in the forums to say 'I hate micros' but not okay to say 'Cachers who like LPCs are scum and I don't like them'. The meaning however is often clear. Folks develop phobias and fixations for all kind of reasons. You will see the same folks making the same comments every time the subject raises its tired old head. Public forums are a wonderful place to study abnormal psychology!

 

Yes, you can in fact make an LPC creative. I had a blast in TN one night with a group of friends looking for an LPC. It took maybe 20 minutes for someone to think to look up; there was a magnetic key holder about fifteen feet off the ground. We had to back my Suburban up to the pole, have a cacher climb on top and slide it down using one of my crutches. Had we read the cache listing before we got there we would have known to bring a long reachy thing.

 

One of my favorite LPCs around here has about 25 film cans in it. Trying to find the one with the log and get all those film cans balanced so that you can lower the skirt without attracting muggle attention is a real challenge, especially if the wind is blowing!

 

I have found, and there has been a long thread in this forum with pictures from, LPCs placed in great locations... light poles at scenic views, etc. Those are great even if it's just a typical film can under the skirt.

 

Just because they are in a lamp post skirt does not make them lame. Unfortunately the majority are.

 

I've seen caches like you examples. The one high up on the pole often enough to be nearly as lackluster as the normal skirt lifter. For the most part I've just given up on anything in a parking lot. It ain't gonna be any different that 750,000 others.

[+Fianccetto]

Finally I find out what you all mean by skirt lifting, what a relief!

[Clan Riffster]

Lamp post hides - the Thomas Kinkade of geocache hides.

I see them more along the lines of the velvet Elvis of cache hides.

 

I'd quite like to find one though, if I ever go to America again. Just to see what all the fuss is about.

Try and imagine the most incredibly boring thing you've ever encountered, and multiply that by 5.

Poof! Now you've got an LPC.

 

Would a LPC that's NOT under the skirt be cool with the skirt haters?

Not sure. I've never met someone who hates LPCs. If I ever do, I'll be sure to ask.

 

...It's understandable to want to hide one in a parking lot...

That's the part I can't wrap my feeble brain around. Part of my cache hiding equation is selecting a location. When someone makes it to one of my hides, I like for them to think words to the effect of, "Thanx for bringing me to this way kewl spot!". I simply cannot fathom why anyone would want to bring other people to a 500 acre, sweltering, exhaust laden parking lot bristling with SUVs driven by soccer moms. My poor ole grey matter is quite simply boggled.

 

lamp post caches (abbreviated LPC) are pretty much the whipping boy of cache hides.

Toz has a good point here. Sure, most LPCs suck, being utter voids of creativity and effort, but taken as a whole, they are possibly not the crappiest caches out there. However, those of us who prefer quality to quantity find it easier to express a brief statement of disdain toward those oh so incredibly crappy LPC hides than to wax verbose, typing several paragraphs, covering our likes and dislikes. Hence, the whipping boy label. Although they might not be the lamest hide ever, they are crappy enough.

 

Perhaps looking down at other people's ways of playing the game gives them a smug feeling of superiority or whatever.

Or, perhaps there are folks who just think they suck, and have no problems sharing that opinion, without hating them?

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Finally I find out what you all mean by skirt lifting, what a relief!

It's the only kind of skirt-lifting my wife allows me to do when I am not at home.

 

I think it's pretty short-sighted of her, but what's a fellow to do?