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Newbies placing caches


kennelbarb

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I've seen some absolutely HORRIBLE hides by newbies. Caches placed on posted private property, caches placed in front yards of residential neighborhoods, caches placed in idiotically horrible containers, caches placed with coordinates that were incredibly far off of the actual location of the cache.

 

Of course I've see ALL of those things done by cachers with more than 1,000 finds as well........

 

When I first heard about geocaching from a neighbor, I went home and made an account so I could check out the forums and see what it was all about. At that time, the "conventional wisdom" seemed to be that one should find 100 caches before placing any so they could see examples of different types of hides, different types of containers, get an idea of how to properly rate terrain and difficulty, etc. I took it to heart and used it as a guideline. At that time it worked well as an education in geocache placement.

 

That was in 2005. There were enough caches available in my area for me to find 100 in a 2 month period and there was a fair amount of diversity regarding containers, types of hides, etc. If I was starting out today, the first 100 finds would end up being micro caches placed in town. It wouldn't give me the same type of education at all. I still think it's a good idea to get some finds under your belt before placing a cache but, given the proliferation of LPC caches and other micro caches, it doesn't surprise me much that even folks who do go out and find a bunch first, STILL place LPC caches, micros where a regular would work well, caches placed in inappropriate spots, etc. New cachers simply don't encounter the types of hides that used to be the norm.

 

I REALLY miss the types of caches that I used to find when I started and the loss of the "is this somewhere I'd like to be taken" factor. Yes, I've placed a few guardrail caches but they were simply part of a series where you would gather information that took you to the final two locations that are WELL worth going to. Anymore, it seems that caches are placed because there's a spot without a cache rather than because it's a place.that is interesting or beautiful or something of that sort.

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I think it would help new hiders a lot to have a experienced, responsible mentor to guide them when hiding for the first time.

 

I agree!! This is where I think the problem lies, is that some folks, both new or experienced may need help to hide caches. We didn't hide good caches until we moved to Oregon and met some other cachers and got advice and teaching, and we had been caching for almost three years with over 400 finds at that point.

 

I've seen bad hides from noobs, and GREAT hides from noobs; one of my personal favorites was hidden by someone with seven finds. I've also seen bad hides and great hides from experienced cachers.

 

One thing that I do now is I recommend that people watch HeadHardHat's Geosnippits, because he has some great advice for new hiders / finders and is entertaining as well.

 

I also have been thinking of putting together an event, Cache Hiding 101. There's events for cache finding, and puzzle solving, why not one for cache hiding? Rather than complaining, I personally would love to help; but that's who I am, I'd rather be pro-active than re-active.

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I'll go with the #20 as that is what it states in the guidelines. Maybe offer a good FTF prize...

Neat. I never saw that before. Well, I probably did, but do what so many do... read over it w/o recognizing it.

 

From the guidelines:

The more geocaches that you have found, the better you will understand the various elements that make up a great geocaching experience. This knowledge will be invaluable when you place a hide, and likely make your geocache more enjoyable for the community. We encourage you to find at least twenty geocaches before you choose to hide one.

 

Thank you... for making me check into it. B)

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I had not heard of geocaching until one of my coworkers mentioned it. After she described the activity a bit, we decided to go caching the next day. When I got home, I created an account. I read the Getting started and other similar topics on the site. Then I read the hiding guidelines not because I wanted to hide a cache but because I thought if I knew what the guidelines are for hiding caches, it would help me find them. (And it did.)

 

I didn't hide my first cache until several months and several hundred finds later because I wanted to get a feel for hide styles and locations, learn about different containers and make sure I was going to stick with caching. (But that is how I do things.)

 

More on topic, I have seen some very good hides by cachers with very few finds. When I checked their finds, I noticed most were caches owned by some of the more creative hiders in the area.

 

Then again, I have found some hides by cachers with varied experience levels which made me think they threw a cache out of the window of the car and marked the coordinates as they were riding by. :yikes:

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