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Creative Geocache Ideas?


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I'm current working on an underwater Multi-Cache of sorts.

 

Without giving too much away, it involves a 15 inch rubber fish, some weights and a net.

 

It's the first time I've tried to do something like this but i'm hoping it works really well and gives cachers in my area something a bit different.

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I have always wanted to make a multi that's 2 stages and the coordinate to find the second stage is carved into the bark of a birch tree so you can read it easily.

 

That would be a guideline violation and even if you neglected to mention in the description how the first stage was done and the reviewer published it, it wouldn't be long before a finder reported it to a reviewer and the cache was archived, leaving a permanently damaged tree.

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Click on this link for the entire series of containers and relating material:

various containers and making caches

 

I get my stuff from the Dollar store and Joanne's Hobby store.

 

Making Camo for containers, I find three colors are good: (For Arizona where we are)

 

synhbc.jpg

 

I can get 8 small notebooks out of one large pad, just cut with H.D. shears.

 

2hrd075.jpg

 

The pencils, I either cut once or three times, depends on the size I need. I use a fine tooth saw for this.

 

29fs4d2.jpg

 

Finished contaners, small ones. I like to put smalls in them for SWAG, my wife has made jewelery we put in them now.

 

72c9b9.jpg

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Hi folks,

 

I'm looking to hide my first geocache, but it just so happend that a plastic axel in my son's radio control car just broke, so I have a small toy motor, RC receiver and transmitter to my disposal.

 

Only problem is ... I cannot think of how to apply these bits to a cool creative geocache due to my lack of creativity. If you have any ideas, sure to post them here. Once I have the killer idea, I'm sure I can pull off building it.

 

Hope to hear from some creative folks out there. :)

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Hi folks,

 

I'm looking to hide my first geocache, but it just so happend that a plastic axel in my son's radio control car just broke, so I have a small toy motor, RC receiver and transmitter to my disposal.

 

Only problem is ... I cannot think of how to apply these bits to a cool creative geocache due to my lack of creativity. If you have any ideas, sure to post them here. Once I have the killer idea, I'm sure I can pull off building it.

 

Hope to hear from some creative folks out there. :)

 

The first thing that comes to mind when i hear small motor is one of those little propellers that come with snap curcuit sets. The motor spins and revs it up until the thing is spinning too fast and then it flies into the air. Attach nano log to the spinner? Lead the cacher to the rc controller so that they have to use the controller to send the prop flying? I know its crazy but just a thought have fun good luck!

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I'm current working on an underwater Multi-Cache of sorts.

 

Without giving too much away, it involves a 15 inch rubber fish, some weights and a net.

 

It's the first time I've tried to do something like this but i'm hoping it works really well and gives cachers in my area something a bit different.

 

Love it! I've been wondering how to do something like this.

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I've heard of caches that were hidden inside a vertical hole/pipe of some kind, where a motor was used to raise/lower the container so it could be retrieved.

 

I've also heard of caches where the seeker needed to provide batteries. Rather than leaving batteries in place (exposed to heat/cold and damaging equipment when they leak), seekers touch their own batteries to the contacts.

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I've heard of caches that were hidden inside a vertical hole/pipe of some kind, where a motor was used to raise/lower the container so it could be retrieved.

 

I've also heard of caches where the seeker needed to provide batteries. Rather than leaving batteries in place (exposed to heat/cold and damaging equipment when they leak), seekers touch their own batteries to the contacts.

 

There was one that was featured on PBS here in NC. You have to figure out the clues to get the cache to come out. I am trying to find the show so I can find the information.

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I'm trying to think of a new Geocache and I want to do something that cachers will remember. Do you guys have any ideas as to what kind of creative caches I could make? We are talking about challenging/fun/crazy caches. Give us your ideas!

Make a 25-step, very, very long multi with at least one T5 leg. Leave the coordinates for the next hop as morse code in one of the stages. Write the coordinates in roman numerals. Write the padlock code for stage 11 on the logbook at stage 2. Or, alternatively, leave a number on each of the stages and make the very last leg a mystery. Force the finders to use several geocaching days to complete it, and they will probably never forget it.

 

Make sure that the final is something to remember; a splendid view, a helluva hide or stuffed with swag (or perhaps an unactivated, nice geocoin).

 

Or something like that.

Edited by fotimyr
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Hi folks,

 

I'm looking to hide my first geocache, but it just so happend that a plastic axel in my son's radio control car just broke, so I have a small toy motor, RC receiver and transmitter to my disposal.

 

Only problem is ... I cannot think of how to apply these bits to a cool creative geocache due to my lack of creativity. If you have any ideas, sure to post them here. Once I have the killer idea, I'm sure I can pull off building it.

 

Hope to hear from some creative folks out there. :)

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Get a PC tube connect a wire that would activate the motor once you connect it to batteries it turns the motor drops down the cache sign log reverse the batteries for polarity and then it winds up the cache back in the PC pipe. Make sure you list as bring batteries but most people have them with their GPS anyway.

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Intersecting Coordinates Cache.

 

A variation on "Multi Caches" --

 

I'm thinking about this, and have a flat desert area with little ground cover. Think about intersecting lines in your Intro Geometry classes. This is the way surveyors find a "corner."

 

Let's call the coordinates "waypoints" because this is how you'd navigate on the GPS. First cache location specifies a second coordinate. "A" to "B" forms a straight line.

 

"B" specifies a waypoint "C."

 

"C" specifies "D." The line formed by "C" and "D" is perpendicular to "A" and "B."

 

The intersection of A, B, with C, D is the location of the cache stash.

 

The motive in this comes from the experience I come up with when I'm "close" but can't quite hit the numbers for the coordinates on the GPS. If you track an X across the area, the intersection becomes easier to find than a single point.

 

Also, if you intersect several lines, three, four, five . . . This will help compensate for GPS error in coordinates. Laying out one of these might require some surveyor's line and stakes. But that's not hard to come by.

 

More work for the search, but a creative variation in open terrain where it's possible to walk or sight in straight lines.

 

I did one similar to the above but on a larger scale. Check out my "Great Circles" cache. I still want to modify the cache itself so that its a bit harder to find.

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I have always wanted to make a multi that's 2 stages and the coordinate to find the second stage is carved into the bark of a birch tree so you can read it easily.

 

I hope you are kidding!!! :unsure:

 

Please tell me you are.

 

 

 

[Edit: Eeek! I've been eaten by a zombie!]

Edited by knowschad
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well last xmas i was given a word lock, simaler to a normal number lock it has letters round it.

now you could set up a multi cache that allows you accecss to the cache container by solving the lock combonation.

 

i am think of doing this for my first cache but i need to find the right container and plant some other caches.

 

if you have any way to make this better email me.

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There's actually a company that i can't think of off the top of my head but they sell QR code stickers to put on your container.

Go to cache advance (website) they have everything from fake sprinkler caches to QR codes. Best cache equipment site.

 

Sadly sprinkler caches are illegal hides. They require a hole be created. A violation of the rules.. Sure some might exist, I've even logged a couple, but by Groundspeak rules they are illegal and should be removed...

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Sadly sprinkler caches are illegal hides. They require a hole be created. A violation of the rules.. Sure some might exist, I've even logged a couple, but by Groundspeak rules they are illegal and should be removed...
FWIW, sprinkler caches may or may not require anyone to "dig or create a hole in the ground", as the current guidelines phrase it. Only one of the sprinkler caches I've seen has violated that part of the guidelines. The others have been placed in ways that didn't require digging or creating a hole in the ground, such as piling loose landscape bark, mulch, etc. around them; or attaching them to a board covered with dirt, bark, mulch, etc.

 

Not that sprinkler caches are a particularly good idea, but that's a separate issue from violations of the "no digging" guideline.

Edited by niraD
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I've been wrapping my mind around an artificial hornet nest. Probably have to be fiberglass or stronger to keep it from being a "muggle pinata". The bottom would twist off and cache would fall out, mounted on a branch near a creek.

Another idea is a ammo box with sprind loaded "tail" I'm thinking black and white fur camoflage, and in a pile of logs so that when exposed, tail flips up.

 

Maybe part of a heart stopper series. The wife says I'm too evil. Am I crossing a line?

 

I am also thinking of the hornet nest idea. I was thinking o doing a suspended type cache for this. Any ideas on how to make it better?

Edited by TheOxbowGang
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A personal favorite of mine was finding a cache that turned out to be a lead pipe as part of a series based on the game Clue (the pipe was the "murder" weapon). I had to locate several caches first in order to determine the final location of the murder weapon. Very clever, and it might give you an idea or two for something similar.

 

Ŵe have a series with a puzzle at the end like that. I have half of the caches so far and know that certain rooms and weapons and characters didn't do it. :/ still there's lots left to do.

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There's actually a company that i can't think of off the top of my head but they sell QR code stickers to put on your container.

Go to cache advance (website) they have everything from fake sprinkler caches to QR codes. Best cache equipment site.

 

Sadly sprinkler caches are illegal hides. They require a hole be created. A violation of the rules.. Sure some might exist, I've even logged a couple, but by Groundspeak rules they are illegal and should be removed...

If you create a whole to place your regular sprinkler and later decide to replace it with a cache, it doesn't violate the rules as no hole would have to be created for the cache. Still, I believe this rule should be more lenient when it concerns your own property.
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There is a multicache here with 2 stages. The first stage takes you to a LP hide where you find a contact lens container. When you open the side labeled "open here" it congratulates you on finding stage 1 and instructs you to stage 2 which is located exactly 1 inch to the left laugh.gif

Wow I think I have some old contact containers this is a cool idea!

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I've been wrapping my mind around an artificial hornet nest. Probably have to be fiberglass or stronger to keep it from being a "muggle pinata". The bottom would twist off and cache would fall out, mounted on a branch near a creek.

Another idea is a ammo box with sprind loaded "tail" I'm thinking black and white fur camoflage, and in a pile of logs so that when exposed, tail flips up.

 

Maybe part of a heart stopper series. The wife says I'm too evil. Am I crossing a line?

 

I am also thinking of the hornet nest idea. I was thinking o doing a suspended type cache for this. Any ideas on how to make it better?

 

Aside from the fact that I personally have a phobia and would go nowhere near your cache...you can purchase medical tape for making casts (for broken bones) and use that around a chicken-wire or similar support. Obviously the end result is as hard as a cast and would hold up just fine, but would be relatively light. I haven't tried to make it look like a paper wasp nest before, but I'd think that attaching some loose-ended pieces before it dries might give it the right look. Then paint with some swirls of gray and white, and you're done.

 

I just recently realized that many of the techniques I use to make museum exhibits can be applied to interesting containers...plans, plans, plans...

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Hey Guys,

 

I'm trying to think of a new Geocache and I want to do something that cachers will remember. Do you guys have any ideas as to what kind of creative caches I could make? We are talking about challenging/fun/crazy caches. Give us your ideas!

 

-GeoShif :o

YouTube

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An old thread, but never too late for creative ideas.

 

First of all check out 'geocachespoilers' on youtube. He's got great videos, inspired me for several caches of my own.

 

Then some of my own caches that have gotten great responses.

 

1) cache series tend to work well. I have one "island hopping" series that requires people to visit six outlying islands, and the final is on a tiny uninhabited islet that's nigh inaccessible. Getting there is one, getting from the shore to the cache is even harder. Final is out there for over a year, been attempted twice so far, but not found yet. All the other caches involved are traditional caches, with a number written in the log book.

 

2) night caches. The only one in Hong Kong. Following a reflector trail. Part of a series "the four elements", representing the element "earth".

 

3) another night cache, for the element "fire", requires people to start pumping a modified dyno torch, after which a box hung up in a tree will start flashing red (like fire), making the coordinates readable.

 

4) The element "air" requires people to blow in a pipe, making something pop up with final coordinates written on it.

 

5) Element "water" uses a tube with floater in it. Have to add water, then get to the final which is further up the river.

 

6) A tidal cache. Like a normal water floater tube, but this one has many holes in it. It's in the intertidal zone, so when the tide is right you can unscrew the top (bring your own spanner) and get the coordinates of the final out of it. Very tricky, should be implemented in a place with more active cachers than here. I don't know of this having been done anywhere else in the world.

 

7) I used to have a fake electrical conduit box magnetically attached to a piece of street furniture on a very busy town square. Super-muggly. Lasted only about three months... still working on the replacement :)

 

8) Underground cache: I got one in an abandoned WWII bunker/command centre. Full of bats now.

 

9) Underwater cache: a box-in-box to keep it dry, attached to a big rock to keep the whole contraption on the bottom. For that I just took a local rock, and with some fast-setting cement attached the cover of the outer box to it. Came back the next week to put it in the water.

 

If anyone interested, I'm happy to provide more details and photos - just send me personal message. Many of these ideas I got straight from other caches, or adapted stuff (the "four elements" is inspired by a German YouTube video, for example).

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7) I used to have a fake electrical conduit box magnetically attached to a piece of street furniture on a very busy town square. Super-muggly. Lasted only about three months... still working on the replacement :)

 

The first cache I found was this exact thing, but attached to the inside of a steel framing member of a stair landing. Painted black to match the surrounding steel, even if one looks there it almost looks like it might belong because there is some other electrical conduit running along the outside of the stringer. I actually looked at it a couple times in my search before I even thought about grabbing it. It probably would STILL fool me even after several months of looking because folks are naturally inclined to not mess with something that looks part of the infrastructure of the area.

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A personal favorite of mine was finding a cache that turned out to be a lead pipe as part of a series based on the game Clue (the pipe was the "murder" weapon). I had to locate several caches first in order to determine the final location of the murder weapon. Very clever, and it might give you an idea or two for something similar.

 

That sounds awesome! I wish I could do that one but no doubt it's thousands of miles from my home (the ones I really want to do always are, it seems). I don't suppose you have the starting GC# on hand?

 

I have a series in my area that i hid. Nothing special about the caches. But you have to find 5 traditional caches to get the suspects and coordinates for the final.

 

Here is my bookmark list.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=b977a0fa-5a8d-4a13-ac28-a33fa009482a

 

I handle gotten several favorite points so far.

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I was walking around a decommissioned mini-golf course today. As far as I can tell, all of the parts are going to sit there forever. I plan on asking if I can take anything that can be made into a container or cammo, and make a mini-golf themed multi or series out of it all. I feel like I hit the jackpot; there are some amazing and very strong (resin? Fiberglass?) bits and bobs in all shapes and sizes--rocks, stumps, half-logs, skulls...cacher's paradise. Now I'll just have to set pen to paper and figure out a "course" with "tees"...or something.

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Is there a cache with "raw" GPS signal, e.g. page1 to page3 binary navigation data with transition times and then user have to calculate the position ?

 

http://lea.hamradio.si/~s53mv/navsats/theory.html

One of Venona's puzzle caches for last year's 2012 ACTIVITIES was like this. The file contained a lot of floating point numbers. To solve for coordinates, you had to filter the floating point numbers to get a few distinct digital signals, then decode the digital signals to get the "satellite" locations and other info, then determine the final location based on the "satellite" locations, time offsets, etc.
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Get a PC tube connect a wire that would activate the motor once you connect it to batteries it turns the motor drops down the cache sign log reverse the batteries for polarity and then it winds up the cache back in the PC pipe. Make sure you list as bring batteries but most people have them with their GPS anyway.

 

What if a cacher is smartphone based and does not have a battery to use?

 

I do not use a GPSr and the sounds of this cache, it sounds like a micro and I would probably just pass it up.

 

I have a cache built on this idea that is a small, only it is fully standalone except for the input from the cacher that finds it, requiring them to activate a switch. 12 volt system, Small size cache container, 18+ geocoins on launch, you know... something worth getting out of the car and finding :D

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As awesome as those super creative hides are that take hours to brain storm and put together... If you're not much of a thinker.... You can always do a cache that the seeker must bring something to add to the collection...

 

For example, I am currently working on hiding a cache that the seeker must use a post card that they bring and sign to use as the log. Leave a plastic bag in the cache and everyone adds one. For this cache personally I found a red mailbox that ill be using as the container but for examples sake, that's not necessary.

 

There's a cache in the city next to me that everyone must bring "a pretty scenery picture" to add. It's one of the oldest caches in the area and there has to be at least 150 pictures in that collection! It's an easy hide in which you don't have to put too much effort in, but will still get you favorite points and compliments.

 

That being said, I do highly suggest you do spend time and thought on your hides! I could find 50 micros in a day and not be as satisfied as I would if I were to find one really unique cache in a day with 49 dnfs on every other one I sought after.

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As awesome as those super creative hides are that take hours to brain storm and put together... If you're not much of a thinker.... You can always do a cache that the seeker must bring something to add to the collection...
You can still request that people bring items (postcards, scenic photos, foreign coins, whatever), or that people do some other (hopefully) interesting task. But you can no longer require it. Per the Logging of All Physical Geocaches section of the guidelines:

 

"For physical caches all logging requirements beyond finding the cache and signing the log are considered additional logging requirements (ALRs) and must be optional. Cache finders can choose whether or not to attempt or accomplish such tasks."

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