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5 star geocaches


cordcole

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How about deep underwater. Better still, deep in an underwater cave. If you used a cache the size of a refrigerator, it would be a 5/5, and if it was a nano, it would be even harder.

 

Or, how about an Altoids tin sitting on someone's desk at ... say ... Homeland Security. How about getting the President to put an Altoids tin on his desk in the Oval Office. It would be visible in every news conference from the Oval Office, but just try to get it! (If you elect me, I promise I'll put an Altoids tin on my desk.)

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I have been trying to think of a 5 star geocache that would be truly evil. any suggestions??? :P

 

Most 5 star caches obtain their difficulty through puzzles but there are a couple of others factors that when added up could produce a 5 star traditional.

 

1. Add a vertical component. Even if the lat/long coordinates are very accurate searching for a cache in a nine story parking garage may take a lot of time (I'm not suggesting placing one in a parking garage...take me someplace interesting).

 

2. Find a place where the satellite reception is not so good. If satellite signals are blocked by tall buildings or a dense forest it can be a lot more difficult to find a cache. This is *not* the same as intentionally posting soft coordinates to make it more difficult.

 

3. Find a place with lots of potential hiding spots. Some people don't like needle in a haystack hides but if done right it can still be interesting.

 

4. Camo. Camo. Camo.

 

5. Hide the container in such a way that it can't be found by sight. One of the most difficult finds I ever found was a nano cache on a train. At least when I found it, the only way to locate the container was by feel. There was no way to actually see the container from anyplace near or under the train.

 

6. Use a high terrain rating to increase the difficulty. For example, if you have to climb 30' up a 50' tree to get to the cache that not only add a vertical component and but until you're at the right level you're not going to be able to see the hiding spot.

 

7. Make it unique. If you can come up with something that nobody has seen before they can't use that experience to help find yours. The first time I found a fake electrical plate cache it took quite awhile. I've found several since that I had in hand within a few seconds of reaching GZ.

 

Don't just try to make it hard. Make it interesting as well. Place in a spot people are going want to visit even a cache isn't located in that spot.

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Oh I have few but you know the old story If I told you I would have to you know :rolleyes:

 

In a place with little or no muggle traffic you could place a container close by that sticks out a bit .

 

They will go to it first thing shaking the heads on such a poor hide.

When opened they will find a note saying Hi I am a red herring good luck with the hunt now put me back.

With maybe a clue added to the note. :rolleyes:

Edited by Scooter Rider
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ok, i have found that type before, how about something not herd of that often. feel free to give away your evil hides

 

A nono in a big plastic cow placed among a herd of other cows...

An ammo box in a whale placed with a herd of other whales...

A 35mm film can tied to an antler of an antelope running with a herd of other antelope...

 

Ok. sorry. herd, gaggle, grim.

 

:rolleyes:

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I have been trying to think of a 5 star geocache that would be truly evil. any suggestions??? :rolleyes:

 

5. Hide the container in such a way that it can't be found by sight. One of the most difficult finds I ever found was a nano cache on a train. At least when I found it, the only way to locate the container was by feel. There was no way to actually see the container from anyplace near or under the train.

 

 

Are you talking about this one?

GC1AXMF

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Five-star terrain is relatively straight-forward: Just put the cache somewhere that requires special equipment/skills to reach. Good examples include scuba caches, rock-climbing caches, and boating caches.

 

Note that just because you can use special equipment to reach a cache doesn't mean you must use special equipment to reach a cache. For example, even if most seekers will use an off-road vehicle (4x4, ATV, whatever) or a boat, if it's only a 2-star hike from the nearest trailhead, then it doesn't make sense to rate the cache as 5-star terrain.

 

Five-star difficulty isn't so straight-forward: You need a cache that requires special equipment/skills to find. As others have suggested, a puzzle can produce 5-star difficulty, if you follow the conventional practice of incorporating the puzzle difficulty into the cache's difficulty rating. A variation on this would be a multi-cache where special equipment (e.g., a UV flashlight, an electronic guitar tuner, an ohmmeter) is required to obtain the coordinates of the final location. Another variation would be a multi-cache where special knowledge is required to interpret the coordinates of the final location correctly, but often this would just turn into a puzzle (possibly a GIYF puzzle).

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Five-star terrain is relatively straight-forward: Just put the cache somewhere that requires special equipment/skills to reach. Good examples include scuba caches, rock-climbing caches, and boating caches.

 

Note that just because you can use special equipment to reach a cache doesn't mean you must use special equipment to reach a cache. For example, even if most seekers will use an off-road vehicle (4x4, ATV, whatever) or a boat, if it's only a 2-star hike from the nearest trailhead, then it doesn't make sense to rate the cache as 5-star terrain.

 

Five-star difficulty isn't so straight-forward: You need a cache that requires special equipment/skills to find. As others have suggested, a puzzle can produce 5-star difficulty, if you follow the conventional practice of incorporating the puzzle difficulty into the cache's difficulty rating. A variation on this would be a multi-cache where special equipment (e.g., a UV flashlight, an electronic guitar tuner, an ohmmeter) is required to obtain the coordinates of the final location. Another variation would be a multi-cache where special knowledge is required to interpret the coordinates of the final location correctly, but often this would just turn into a puzzle (possibly a GIYF puzzle).

 

A well done night cache might be able to get to a 5 difficulty. Thought of that after your UV light suggestion here.

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I have been trying to think of a 5 star geocache that would be truly evil. any suggestions??? :rolleyes:

 

5. Hide the container in such a way that it can't be found by sight. One of the most difficult finds I ever found was a nano cache on a train. At least when I found it, the only way to locate the container was by feel. There was no way to actually see the container from anyplace near or under the train.

 

 

Are you talking about this one?

GC1AXMF

 

No. One of the things that made it a bit more difficult was that the CO profile indicated that they had never hidden a cache before and had only one other find...in 2004. I did not discount the possibility that the coordinates may not have been real accurate or that the guidelines were not strictly followed (possibly buried).

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I have been trying to think of a 5 star geocache that would be truly evil. any suggestions??? <_<

 

By evil do you mean in terms of locating the cache itself, or in the solving of a puzzle after which the cache can easily be located.

 

I have one of the latter and nearly everyone who has found it has asked for help at one point or another. What makes this one special is that folks get to experience the "a-ha" moment when they finally solve the puzzle. Then they are rewarded with an ammo can at the end of their journey.

 

A nice evil traditional could have a good cache name in the title that will mislead folks into thinking they know what they are looking for and when they find it, wait... it's actually a decoy. The real cache would be within a metre of the decoy but very well camo'd and hidden.

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A nice evil traditional could have a good cache name in the title that will mislead folks into thinking they know what they are looking for and when they find it, wait... it's actually a decoy. The real cache would be within a metre of the decoy but very well camo'd and hidden.
Those can be a lot of fun, and are a great way to create a "good evil" hide. (A needle-in-a-haystack cache is a classic "bad evil" hide.) But I think there would need to be something else going on ("specialized knowledge, skills, or equipment") before it really reaches 5-star difficulty.

 

Be careful with the decoy though. I've seen decoy caches with laminated "keep looking" notes acquire "replacement logs". Those "replacement logs" then acquired many signatures before the cache owner figured out what was going on. I think the best decoy is one that is clearly not a container, or is a container that has been doctored so that it can no longer contain a "replacement log".

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A nice evil traditional could have a good cache name in the title that will mislead folks into thinking they know what they are looking for and when they find it, wait... it's actually a decoy. The real cache would be within a metre of the decoy but very well camo'd and hidden.
Those can be a lot of fun, and are a great way to create a "good evil" hide. (A needle-in-a-haystack cache is a classic "bad evil" hide.) But I think there would need to be something else going on ("specialized knowledge, skills, or equipment") before it really reaches 5-star difficulty.

 

Be careful with the decoy though. I've seen decoy caches with laminated "keep looking" notes acquire "replacement logs". Those "replacement logs" then acquired many signatures before the cache owner figured out what was going on. I think the best decoy is one that is clearly not a container, or is a container that has been doctored so that it can no longer contain a "replacement log".

 

So rubber chickens and green painted duck decoy are fair game :)

Edited by Scooter Rider
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I'm not a big fan of the idea of hiding a 5-star cache just to have hidden a 5-star cache. I think it's better to hide great caches, and if you have an idea that makes for a 5-star, well, then, that's great.

 

I also think it's good idea to have done a few 5-star caches to get a feel for what they are like.

 

I have hidden 2 5-star terrain caches. One of them is the only 4.5/5 d/t around, and it is old enough to qualify for the local Fizzy challenge. Believe me, the rating is correct. Ask anyone who has gotten it. But I didn't place it just to put something difficult out there; I spent a lot of time and effort preparing that one.

 

So that's my advice: make the best caches you can, with real adventures to retrieve them, and after you've done a few the ideas for a 5-star will come to you.

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A nano inside of a bison tube that's inside a film canister. The film canister is in a small lock-n-lock. The lock-n-lock is stuffed in a rubber chicken that is stuffed into a rubber duck which is stuffed into a rubber turkey.

 

A turduckenlocksterbisonano.

 

This is the best thing I've EVER read. I love it. I truly love it. I can just see all the possibilities. Here's my take on it.

 

An ammo can, with a lock and lock in it, with a dollar store tupperware in that, with a decon in that, with an even smaller something in that, and finally the log in one of those little miniature ammo cans.

 

It's like nesting boxes!

 

Not sure if I'd ever do it, but that's funny. :huh:

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