Noob, tried 4 caches, found none

[annelena]

My hubby and I took the 4 kids out on our first Geocaching adventure yesterday. We picked 4 "easy" ones, all within 1/2 mile of each other. We searched for over 3 hours and found NOTHING. The kids were so disappointed, hubby thinks it's just a scam and I'm really discouraged. We used a Garmin GPS AND an iPhone with the Groundspeak software and stood on the EXACT coordinates each time and scoured high and low and yet nothing, zip, zero, nada. Sigh!

 

What are the chances that we hit 4 caches that are no longer there?

 

TIA

AnneLena

[+jbar]

You cannot always count on GPS to be 100% accurate. A typical consumer GPS will have an error of 20-30 feet. The guy who placed the cache also had an error. So when the GPS said you are at GZ you are probibly within 40 feet of the cache. When you start out you should pick larger cache sizes and easy difficulty untill you get used to how people hide the caches. Micro caches can be very difficult to find at first. When you get to GZ put the gps away and start looking, ask yourself where would I hide the cache? Look in a wider circle. Read the hint, can help some times. Also read the past logs, sometimes people give clues. Stop looking when it stops being fun and move on to the next. Some difficult caches itmay take more than on trip to locate. Have fun and welcome.

[+HawkLawless1]

The map icon for Archived/Unavailable Caches will be greyed out (available caches have white background) and the Title typically has been struck through. Also, read the description...if it's unavailable then there will be a note on the cache description page identifying it as "temporarily unavailable" or "archived". Recent logs might also indicate a missing cache. If nothing else, log a DNF. This lets the CO (Cache Owner) know that something might be amiss.

 

BTW...Welcome to the Fun!

Edited March 29, 2010 by HawkLawless1

[+The Cache Checkers]

I ditto the above.

 

Don't get discouraged! I made a big newbie mistake by looking for a micro my first time because it was the first one listed as closest to my home coords. But even regular and large sized ones can be tough if they are well hidden.

 

Also, when you've searched around the area your GPSr says to be and can't find it, move away and come at it from a different direction. I find that my handheld was off a bit and is now pointint me toward a different tree or whatever. Once you get used to looking for caches, you'll recognize where they probably are and you'll find yourself traveling by places and saying, I bet there's a cache in there, or, this spot is perfect for a cache. You'll even dream about the game! LOL

 

Good luck!

[+The Blorenges]

Many geocachers find that the first cache is one of the hardest, so don't worry...

 

If you could give us the GC # for the caches you searched then others here can have a look at those cache pages and see what suggestions they can offer.

 

(The GC number is the one in bold, top right corner of the cache page)

 

MrsB

[annelena]

Thanks Mrs B, and everyone else for the encouragements.

 

Here's the GCs

 

GC17EVV

GC22HD6

GCGC24R29

GCKC8T

 

We circled around in increasingly bigger circles and went over everything more than once within at least 120ft of GZ (we both have military training so we're not unfamiliar with GPS use and searches etc.).

[+StarBrand]

Don't get discouraged. We Geocachers can be a crafty bunch with some very hard to spot hide techniques.

 

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!!

[+StarBrand]

Thanks Mrs B, and everyone else for the encouragements.

 

Here's the GCs

 

GC17EVV

GC22HD6

GCGC24R29

GCKC8T

 

We circled around in increasingly bigger circles and went over everything more than once within at least 120ft of GZ (we both have military training so we're not unfamiliar with GPS use and searches etc.).

 

GC17EVV - has bad history of going missing - may well be gone again.

GC22HD6 - Bushes can be difficult if the cache is camo'd just right - doesn't sound too hard - should be rated a small I think

GC24R29 - this is about the size of a pencil eraser - I tend to skip these - no fun - but likely magnetic and somewhat disguised as a bolt or nut or rivet or similar.

GCKC8T - somewhat a bad maintenance history on this one - sounds like way too many folks can overlook the spot. No good for a long life cache. Hard to say but missing would not surprise me.

[+wolfslady]

I reccomend large size containers (Ammo Cans are usually the easiest) and reading hints and logs right off the bat until you have a few under your belt. Take a stick so you can poke around and tap on things. One I found was under the pine straw. Yes easy once I knew that, but I didn't read the logs the first 3 times I tried it and and with it saying it was an easy find I wasn't expecting to have that much trouble. When you read the logs look for hints. Covered up, GPS showing 60+ feet off. A lot of DNF's. Look for caches that are recently and frequently found.

 

Keep in mind that sometimes well meaning people will move a cache for any number of reasons. Some will log it and others won't. Ive been to 3 in the last 2 weeks that I think might have been moved. 1 was logged as having been moved because of cleared brush, but were my GPS put me had not been cleared and fit the discription of the spot the cache was supposed to be. I didn't move it to where I thought it should be but I posted a message asking the owner if they wanted me to go back and do so, because it was a bit exposed where it was when I found it.

 

Like someone else said, walk away from where your GPS is putting you and come back from another direction. I have been ready to give up three times because I couldn't find a cache and decided to walk one last direction before leaving. I didn't spot the cache on my walk but when I turned around to walk out, in defeat, I easily spotted them hidden in a nook or a hole in a tree that I couldn't see from any other angel.

 

Search high and low. Most caches are on the ground but not all. A 1-2 star rating shouldn't be hanging high in a tree, but it may be sitting in a hole left by a broken off trunk or branch or in a natural nook between 2 or 3 trees growing close together. Look for things that look odd or too neat. Like sticks or rocks stacked.

 

There is always a slim chance that someone being a jerk decided to steal a bunch of caches in a certain area but I'd expect to quickly see some DNF's on a well used cache. An easy cache in a busy area that has no recent finds may be gone, so keep that in mind if you choose to hunt for it. Also the stars are subjective. I've seen caches that were listed as 3+ stars that I thought were easy and ones that were listed as 1-2 that I thought should have been higher. (Both for terrain and ease of find.) I would try to be sure that all the caches were not hidden by the same person, just in case their idea of easy is not stuck under a log or rock.

 

List the caches here and let other have a look. Maybe they can find something about them that you missed.

 

It's not a scam and it is fun, but sadly there are people out there who don't care about the rules and will do things like trade down or steal caches and items. Don't let that turn you off. If you can find someone who knows what they are doing to go with a few times that might be the best way to get started. Good Luck.

[+Brooklyn51]

As has already been said, don't get discouraged. It does take a couple of tries sometimes. The caches you listed all have a slightly higher degree of difficulty and looking at the stats on the finds, it would appear that you are in good company with all the other DNFs on each of the caches. (BTW, kudos for posting your DNFs as that gives good info back to the owner as well as other cachers on the status/difficulty of the hide) Try a couple with difficulties of 1 or 1.5 and see how that goes, then try these again when you feel a little more confident. We had a DNF on our list for several months when we first started out. We would come back to it every so often until we finally found it. Man, did that feel good! Keep trying, you can do it!

[Andronicus]

Also worth checking is that your GPS is using the correct Datum. You should be using NAD83 or WGS84. If you are using anything else you will be off by up to 150m. The iPhone is almost guarentied to have the correct Datum, so this is unlikely your problem, but worth checking.

[+Bear and Ragged]

As everyone says above.

 

Will also add -Avoid Micro's, Nano's, and 'Size not chosen' (usually means it's a nano!)

[+wolfslady]

As everyone says above.

 

Will also add -Avoid Micro's, Nano's, and 'Size not chosen' (usually means it's a nano!)

 

 

 

Actually I think the largest one I found was a size not chosen. It could have held several 5 gallon buckets. It was however very clear when you read the cache page that is was not a small container.

[+StarBrand]

Also worth checking is that your GPS is using the correct Datum. You should be using NAD83 or WGS84. If you are using anything else you will be off by up to 150m. The iPhone is almost guarentied to have the correct Datum, so this is unlikely your problem, but worth checking.

ummm - stick with WGS84 - that is the standard for Geocaching.

[+Bear and Ragged]

As everyone says above.

 

Will also add -Avoid Micro's, Nano's, and 'Size not chosen' (usually means it's a nano!)

 

Actually I think the largest one I found was a size not chosen. It could have held several 5 gallon buckets. It was however very clear when you read the cache page that is was not a small container.

 

Yes, there are exceptions, hence "usually" means it's a nano!

 

[+briansnat]

We used a Garmin GPS AND an iPhone with the Groundspeak software and stood on the EXACT coordinates each time and scoured high and low and yet nothing, zip, zero, nada. Sigh!

 

This is likely your problem. You will rarely find the cache at the exact coordinates. Your unit has a margin of error of about 10-30 feet as did the unit of the hider. That means that the cache could be 30, 40, 50 or more feet from where your GPS says it is (though under 30 is most common). So rely less on looking where your GPS says it is and more on where you think you would hide something in that area if you were to.

[+Morganinaboat]

This is really helpful to me as well. We had about the same success rate this weekend on our first family caching attempts. You guys keep suggesting to only search for larger caches which makes lots of sense. How can I narrow my search parameters to avoid the micro and nano caches? Is there a search option that lets you select the size caches youw ant to find? Thanks!

[+Palujia]

I know how you feel ! Just started but with only car satnav and paper maps ! Was about 400 yards out - but persevered with search - and "she who must be obeyed" read the logs and decrypted clues - and eventually have now found TWO !! - (reading through the forums some people have thousands and over 500 in a day !!)

But the thrill of finding your first few is really great - keep going - you'll make it !!

cheers

Palujia

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Reiterating, once at GZ, it is a pretty good idea to put the GPSr (as well as the phone) away. If you are looking at either of those units, your eyes are not where they should be -- looking for the cache , or rather its' hiding spot!

 

Once the unit puts you in that 20 - 30 ft circle, it most nearly becomes useless at that point. It can even lead you astray! It will certainly make you wander like a "drunken bee", trying to find what it says is the exact spot.

 

Too, after looking for a bit and not finding the cache, change your method of thinking about the "hunt". Think like the hider -- 'Now, just where would (could) I hide this silly thing'?

Edited March 29, 2010 by Gitchee-Gummee

[+Borst68]

I started geocaching just a few weeks ago. First time out, we went 1-5, with the only find on the final try of the day. We also struck out with a benchmark. It was cold and rainy but my daughter and I had a lot of fun. Sometimes success is overrated. What counts is having a great time with your husband and kids. Try to remain positive. The finds will come. Look over the caches you plan on finding. If the last few log entries are DNF, the cache may be missing. Try for larger cache sizes. Searching for film canisters is often a lot harder than advertised. Widen your search area (as mentioned above). Look for things that seem out of place or unnatural like a pile of rocks or sticks. Many smaller caches have magnets taped to them and are hidden in/on metal items like guard rails and bleachers. It also helps to think like a "hider". Ask your self where would you hide something if this was your cache. Once the kids find one, they will enjoy it more and compete against each other. Sounds like you just need to find that first one! Good luck and happy caching!

[+popokiiti]

You did good to get out and try! Two were tiny little devils, a micro (film canister or smaller size) and a nano (about the size of little finger - nail length), so I'm not surprised they remained elusive. Don't give up, and reward the kids for trying. Each gets to take a turn choosing an ice cream joint after caching, for example?

You are already better than me on GPS use...watch for trodden down grass, footprints, bits of bark, sticks or stones that appear arranged. I am sure someone has already said to think "where would I hide it?" That has helped me a lot. Take a camera and get pictures of the kids doing silly things to keep them amused...

Keep at it, and don't forget to post the "Woo-Hoo, we found our first cache" message! Good Luck!

[+Happy Bubbles]

Annalena, I did a search for caches near the ones you mentioned looking for. This cache or this cache might be good searches for a family of new cachers. They are larger containers, have low difficulty ratings, and lots of "Found" logs with few "Did not find" logs.

[+owlsent]

This is really helpful to me as well. We had about the same success rate this weekend on our first family caching attempts. You guys keep suggesting to only search for larger caches which makes lots of sense. How can I narrow my search parameters to avoid the micro and nano caches? Is there a search option that lets you select the size caches youw ant to find? Thanks!

 

I've only been at this about a month. As a premium member you can create pocket queries, they let you search by size, difficulty, terrain, etc. When I started (and still usually) I would select only small, medium, large, virtual, and earthcache. Also a difficulty and terrain less then 2.5. then, particularly since it was winter with a few feet of snow on the ground, I chose Found within the last 7 days. As a beginner this can be handy, you can be pretty much assured that the cache is still there. Also, it might make it easier to spot broken twigs, matted grass etc that could give you additional hints (snow is great for this).

[hoosier guy]

Don't be discouraged. Sounds like everyone has given some good advice so I'll just re-enforce that by saying get out & give it another shot you'll enjoy yourself.

[+GITIT]

14 of 14 finds with no GPS only until I get one. I use satellite maps and thoroughly read the descriptions and hints before I go out.

[+Worstseeker]

Another helpful hint to make sure they are not missing is to read the logs. I make a habit of trying to search for caches that have been logged as found in the past week. If they haven't been logged for a while, there is a much better chance that they are missing. Keep trying, it is well worth it