Are they supposed to be obvious?

[EmiHeart]

Hi, me and my friend are new to this, and we were having trouble finding the closest cach to our location. I was just wondering how obvious are these things supposed to be, and what do they generally look like? This cach is on the side of the road, so there's a lot of litter. I did find another one earlier today that was pretty easy to figure out when I went to the location. The one my friend and I are trying to find together is not obvious when we go to the location.

[+briansnat]

Sometimes they are obvious, sometimes they are very difficult to find. The difficulty rating should give you an idea.

 

Also if you are looking for micros, they can be frustrating for even long time cachers. Stick with small, regular and large sized caches at first, with a difficulty level of 2 or less.

[+StarBrand]

Some are easy, some can take hours and hours to find. Don't expect to find them right where your GPS is pointing. Slowly expand your search up to 40 or more feet away.

 

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!!

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

The difficulty rating is important.

 

Intentionally, there are caches out there that you cannot see (rather notice) even though they are 3 ft. away from your eyeball. Sometimes it is due to a very good hide, other times, and excellent camouflage.

 

EDIT: typo

Edited March 24, 2011 by Gitchee-Gummee

[+NeecesandNephews]

Good advice given to you from the previous posters. I would add... starting out, if you can, always read the cache description thoroughly, and check the logs from previous finders. Many have "clues" in their posts also known as 'spoilers". Also, several DNF logs in a row might indicate the cache has gone missing, It's hard to find what isn't there!! Good luck, and once you have found several you will develop a sense for where they are.

[+popokiiti]

Sometimes thinking "where would I hide it" helps. We were given this advice - even so, some caches others find easy we have a hard time with. Try not to overthink the issue like us!!

[+CachinStrattons]

Many times, when I was going after my first caches... I would follow the GPSr to Ground Zero... then just stand there for a few minutes. Maybe just pace around over a 10 ft. area or so. As you become familiar with your surroundings, you will notice opportunistic hiding places or something that seems to be out of place.

 

After a few finds, you'll approach GZ and say to yourself "I'll bet $20 it's in that little crack in that stump right over there" - and many times you will be right.

 

But then again, some hiders are very clever... said stump could be a trick!

[Pup Patrol]

Reading the previous finders' logs can be helpful. Look for clues in the logs that mention how long it took them to find it, or phrases like "evil hide".

 

The "difficulty" rating for a cache will hopefully be accurate. But even a "1" difficulty won't be sitting out in the open (hopefully).

[+Chief301]

No, they're usually not obvious....that's why they call 'em "hides"...

 

It takes a little while to learn what to look for. Be prepared to search with your hands as well as your eyes. Check under, inside, behind, and on top of things where you cannot see.

 

If you haven't found it after 10 or 15 minutes of searching, you may want to give that one a miss for a while, you can always come back later and try again. I've often found that later on you'll find a different cache, similarly hidden, and suddenly realize where that first cache must be ...then go back and find it right away like you knew where it was all along.

 

One other little thing...if you can't find one, please DO log that you didn't find it. A lot of people don't like to admit that they couldn't find a a cache. It's nothing to be ashamed of, you're not being graded on this Logging DNF's is useful because it lets other cachers know that the hide may be very tricky. Several DNF's in a row might indicate that the cache may in fact be missing, which is useful information for other cachers and the cache owner who should come out and check on his cache. Although I did DNF one a few weeks ago that had 6 or 8 DNF's in a row, and when the owner (assuming it had been muggled) came out to replace it, he found that it was right where it was supposed to be. Just a very tricky hide, apparently!

Edited March 24, 2011 by Chief301

[+kunarion]

I was just wondering how obvious are these things supposed to be, and what do they generally look like?

For many caches, you'll see at least part of the container. Or you'll see its hiding spot. But even a large container may be creatively camouflaged. And Micros could and will be practically anything, and even very tiny.

 

Two of my hides are in the open, in full view, one of which people see or even touch on arrival, and they continue searching (and one of those is a 30mm ammo can). Two others are lightly covered in pine straw and grass, but the info and hint is designed so you don't have to dig around in acres of pine straw. At one of my Micro caches, you only see a part of the container, but it doesn't look like something.

Edited March 24, 2011 by kunarion

[+CachinStrattons]

Yes... could be VERY small.

 

[EmiHeart]

Thanks so much everyone for all the advice! I feel more confident now on how to approach finding this one.