Idea for new attribute

[+DENelson83]

The last time I looked for a cache, I ended up assuming that it was on the ground, not knowing that it was actually at eye level. So can you add an attribute that tells cachers it is not on the ground, but instead suspended from a tree or affixed to a structure?

[+NeverWalkAlone]

The last time I looked for a cache, I ended up assuming that it was on the ground, not knowing that it was actually at eye level. So can you add an attribute that tells cachers it is not on the ground, but instead suspended from a tree or affixed to a structure?

 

And please add attributes for precise height, color, exact size, cammuflage and ...

 

NO! STOP! The search for the cache is as a part of the "game" ... Attributes tells something about the place and the overall experience ... nothing about how the cache is hidden - and let it stay that way. Otherwise there's no challenge left.

 

NWA

[+dakboy]

The last time I looked for a cache, I ended up assuming that it was on the ground, not knowing that it was actually at eye level. So can you add an attribute that tells cachers it is not on the ground, but instead suspended from a tree or affixed to a structure?

Why? The exact method of placement would ruin the search altogether. The whole point is to hide these things sometimes "in plain sight" - the challenge often is getting inside the CO's head and figuring out where it's hidden. If the CO wants to be that obvious about giving hints, he can put it in the cache description.

 

A while back I found a cache in my area suspended from a tree. I was the 5th to find, 7 months after the cache was placed - and it's less than 100 feet from available parking, so it's not like it was a 2 mile hike to GZ. After logging the find, the CO emailed me to let me know that I was the first person to find it without him being there to nudge people along. Cachers far more accomplished than I have posted DNFs or needed assistance. An attribute like you suggest would ruin the "a-ha!" moment for many.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Must agree with the other posters here. You are the hunter, you gotta look up, down, around and over. It is still a hunt.

[+Avernar]

The last time I looked for a cache, I ended up assuming that it was on the ground, not knowing that it was actually at eye level. So can you add an attribute that tells cachers it is not on the ground, but instead suspended from a tree or affixed to a structure?

What's wrong with putting that info in the hint? That's what it's for.

[+dakboy]

Must agree with the other posters here. You are the hunter, you gotta look up, down, around and over. It is still a hunt.

Just keep telling yourself "this is a 3-D game."

[+Cache O'Plenty]

+1. Attributes are relative to the cache area and reflect conditions that might impact the hunt (like significant hike, climbing, etc.). They also give info on facilities that might be available for your "comfort" (restrooms, drinking water, public transportation). They are NOT to be used to describe the cache itself - that's what the description and hint areas are for.

[knowschad]

Actually, I think its a great idea! While they're adding that one, they can also add a "Cache is in a stump", "Cache is under a pile of rocks", "Cache is in fencepost", and a whole host of other attributes! That way, when I build my pocket query, I can easily load only those caches that are hanging from trees, etc.

 

"assuming that it was on the ground, not knowing that it was actually at eye level"

(Psst...By the way... sometimes... just sometimes... they are even above eye level!!)

[+StarBrand]

I remember once early on when a set of coordinates led me to the edge of a parking structure. I looked and looked and looked. Spent a good 45 minutes. I even remember looking over at my wife and telling her that I swore the actual coords would take me a good 15 feet into the structure. 20 minutes later as I walked back to the Jeep - it hit me that the cache might be at the TOP of the parking structure - 3 floors up.

 

Sure enough.

 

Lesson learned. I've never forgotten it.

[+Avernar]

Actually, I think its a great idea! While they're adding that one, they can also add a "Cache is in a stump", "Cache is under a pile of rocks", "Cache is in fencepost", and a whole host of other attributes! That way, when I build my pocket query, I can easily load only those caches that are hanging from trees, etc.

Sometimes it's hard for me to tell if you're being sarcastic. Must be the glasses. Makes it hard for me to read your facial expressions.

[knowschad]

Along similar lines, I remember when coordinates put me right smack in the middle of a road... nothing there but a manhole cover. Another time, similar cache, when they put me right in a wide open, flat, grassy area. In both cases, I was standing over the cache, hidden in culverts below me.

[+ngrrfan]

The last time I looked for a cache, I ended up assuming that it was on the ground, not knowing that it was actually at eye level. So can you add an attribute that tells cachers it is not on the ground, but instead suspended from a tree or affixed to a structure?

AHhhhhhhhhhh............. you suffer from the Kahn syndrome. I don't think an attribute is needed at all, you need to learn to quit thinking like Kahn.

 

I've learned to think 3 dimensional once I find GZ, regardless of the cache size.

[+Avernar]

I remember once early on when a set of coordinates led me to the edge of a parking structure. I looked and looked and looked. Spent a good 45 minutes. I even remember looking over at my wife and telling her that I swore the actual coords would take me a good 15 feet into the structure. 20 minutes later as I walked back to the Jeep - it hit me that the cache might be at the TOP of the parking structure - 3 floors up.

A friend of mine did that as well. We had a good laugh in the office Monday morning when he told me the story.

[+Avernar]

Along similar lines, I remember when coordinates put me right smack in the middle of a road... nothing there but a manhole cover. Another time, similar cache, when they put me right in a wide open, flat, grassy area. In both cases, I was standing over the cache, hidden in culverts below me.

That happened to me. There was nothing around to hide a cache in and I'm sitting there going "Huh?" when it suddenly hit me. Culvert!

[knowschad]

A friend of mine did that as well. We had a good laugh in the office Monday morning when he told me the story.

A colleague of mine decided to try geocaching for the first time. After failing, he came and talked with me. He said, "all there was at the coordinates was this light pole in the middle of the parking lot!"

[+mcwomble]

An attribute to indicate

"this cache is next to a children's play area - gentleman cachers beware"

would definitely save frustration or at the very least give an indication when to visit ie. early before the kids arrive or late after they've gone home.

[+mndvs737]

On a group hunt of a multi, one cacher was looking for the pill fob in a tree (some type of spruce or cedar, I think) - he has wormed up into the branches and is crouched down, and we are looking over his shoulders. After 3 or 4 minutes, he says "I give up - someone else come in and look" - as he backs out, the pill fob drops down right in front of his face - turns out as he went in, when he raised his head it had gotten on the bill of his cap, and had somehow stayed there as he looked around. So, sometimes even knowing that it is above ground level is not any help, depending on your approach.

[+DadOf6Furrballs]

A friend of mine did that as well. We had a good laugh in the office Monday morning when he told me the story.

A colleague of mine decided to try geocaching for the first time. After failing, he came and talked with me. He said, "all there was at the coordinates was this light pole in the middle of the parking lot!"

 

Our first cache find was like that. All we had was a Garmin Nuvi 255w at the time. We went back twice, thinking the GPS was off. Looked in every shrub, and overturned every landscaping rock within a 50 foot radius. Then I went back home and Googled "geocache" "parking lot".

 

Bingo.

[+tzipora]

In my area, the "available in winter" attribute tends to serve that purpose.

[knowschad]

In my area, the "available in winter" attribute tends to serve that purpose.

It generally does here, as well, but many forum threads have debated the meaning of that attribute. It seems that some see it as meaning simply that it is OK to hunt it in the winter, or that you can get there in the winter. It seems to be a regional thing (besides, available in the winter means something totally different as you near the equator.) Edited June 10, 2010 by knowschad

[+power69]

The last time I looked for a cache, I ended up assuming that it was on the ground, not knowing that it was actually at eye level. So can you add an attribute that tells cachers it is not on the ground, but instead suspended from a tree or affixed to a structure?

What's wrong with putting that info in the hint? That's what it's for.

Because the hint spot is already taken with "so easy it doesn't need one"

[+power69]

A friend of mine did that as well. We had a good laugh in the office Monday morning when he told me the story.

A colleague of mine decided to try geocaching for the first time. After failing, he came and talked with me. He said, "all there was at the coordinates was this light pole in the middle of the parking lot!"

 

Our first cache find was like that. All we had was a Garmin Nuvi 255w at the time. We went back twice, thinking the GPS was off. Looked in every shrub, and overturned every landscaping rock within a 50 foot radius. Then I went back home and Googled "geocache" "parking lot".

 

Bingo.

I didn't know those bases lifted until i saw someone write about this thing called "LPC" in the forums.

[+N7MFT]

A friend of mine did that as well. We had a good laugh in the office Monday morning when he told me the story.

A colleague of mine decided to try geocaching for the first time. After failing, he came and talked with me. He said, "all there was at the coordinates was this light pole in the middle of the parking lot!"

 

Our first cache find was like that. All we had was a Garmin Nuvi 255w at the time. We went back twice, thinking the GPS was off. Looked in every shrub, and overturned every landscaping rock within a 50 foot radius. Then I went back home and Googled "geocache" "parking lot".

 

Bingo.

I didn't know those bases lifted until i saw someone write about this thing called "LPC" in the forums.

 

This is where going with a group can help.

[+N7MFT]

I found one on the second floor of a multi story parking structure. I had to go to the top of the structure and find the approximate position and then check every floor on the way down. I did find it though.

[+Pinehurst]

Must agree with the other posters here. You are the hunter, you gotta look up, down, around and over. It is still a hunt.

 

 

yaa

[+BlueDeuce]

The last time I looked for a cache, I ended up assuming that it was on the ground, not knowing that it was actually at eye level. So can you add an attribute that tells cachers it is not on the ground, but instead suspended from a tree or affixed to a structure?

 

Amen! I wouldn't mind a 'Poor/degraded gps reception area' as well. (or something like that)

[GOF and Bacall]

Sounds like hide and seek only the seeker gets to watch where the hiders go and the hiders have to stay in sight at all times.