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How do you go about deciding which cache is a good one for placing a trackable in?


Cindyj2

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A friend gave me a travel bug and I'm trying to find a good geocache to place it in and was wondering what you look for in a cache when you are wanting to place trackables?

 

Obviously size of the cache and ya don't want to pick a cache that isn't frequented much and tak into consideration the goal of the trackable but how do I find a good cache that is visited frequently? I'm still not well versed in all the search capabilities of being a premium member.

 

Just wanting to make sure this travel bug gets a good start.

 

Thanks guys!

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A friend gave me a travel bug and I'm trying to find a good geocache to place it in and was wondering what you look for in a cache when you are wanting to place trackables?

If the container's clean & dry inside, well-maintained, is hidden so that passers-by likely will never notice it, and still has some nice stuff in it (particularly if it has a TB or two), that would be a good candidate.

 

Look at the cache description, to see if Trackables are listed in the cache inventory. If people have made logs about the items being missing, or if when you arrive, there aren't any trackables, that may be a sign of a problem.

 

Some caches degrade after being found by local non-cachers, and are full of candy wrappers, cigarette butts, or "joke" nasty log entries. I wouldn't put someone else's Travel Bug there.

Edited by kunarion
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Thank you Kunarion, you are most helpful! We have only 11 finds so far and just wanting to learn and do things right and be respectful and all.

For my own Travel Bugs, if I had a choice, I would rather have it placed in any cache anywhere, than to have someone hang onto it for a long time looking for just the perfect "non-muggle" (or perfectly safe), or frequently-visited cache. :P

 

And an accurate, nicely done TB log would be icing on the cake.

Edited by kunarion
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Thankfully I just got it yesterday and will be in town tomorrow so today i'm trying to look through caches for the area i'll be in and didn't know if I should be looking for a newer cache and will be possibly be getting alot of visits for a while or just look for a cache that is popular and I didn't know if there was a way to search for any of that with the search options from being a premium member. lol

 

I'll be sure and do a good log as well!

 

Thanks so much again!

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I try to place in trackables in containers in good repair not necessarily too far off the beaten path (unless the trackable has a specific goal that means going off the beaten path).

 

I have a couple caches I drop things into when I can't get out to new caches in a timely fashion that are easy to access by cachers who are also tourists.

 

I will also sometimes drop them into local caches that haven't been found by all the local cachers yet knowing that one of them will move the bug along as well.

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I have a couple caches I drop things into when I can't get out to new caches in a timely fashion that are easy to access by cachers who are also tourists.

Yes, so do I. There are 2 or 3 that I found to be decent to place TBs into, pretty safe, and regularly visited, which I use to keep TBs moving.

 

I will also sometimes drop them into local caches that haven't been found by all the local cachers yet

That's a good idea.

Edited by kunarion
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You don't need any premium member tricks to see if a cache has been visited regularly. Just click the link at the bottom of the page to see all logs. If the cache has regular visitation, the number of finds will be higher, and closer together. If it only has a few visits a year, it may a great cache to find, but not necessarily one for a TB that wants to keep moving.

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Wimsey guy I was hoping there was a way to do a search for that as I have well over 400 within 25 miles of where I live and was hoping to not have to look into each and every one of their logs. lol

 

Chokecherry, love the tourist idea! Maybe I can look through the Lincoln sites ones and find a good one there as well! Thank you thank you!

Edited by Cindyj2
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Make sure to read ALL the previous logs, not just the last 5 posted. A cache can be a black hole for travellers.

 

Look at the inventory of trackables in the cache. Do there seem to be a lot listed, that haven't seemed to have officially moved in quite a while? Bad sign.

 

Do the previous logs mention the cache being constantly found out in the open?

 

Is the cache owner "active"? Has the cache owner logged in recently?

 

Read all the logs for this "travel bug hotel" and you will see that has all the hallmarks of a very bad place to leave travellers:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=5ee71ad0-9e0a-4c4d-8150-23af2bea1e41&log=y&decrypt=

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Wow lots of unknowns in that trackable history.

 

What makes these caches "Hotels"? How are they different from a normal cache? I would so love to have a cache that gets lots of trackables! I think my cub scouts would think that was really neat.

 

But I wanna get more geocaches under our belt before owning a geocache and learn lots more as well.

 

Thanks for the example!

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Hotels aren't different than any other cache other than the cache owner calls it one and encourages bug placement there. Some have a lot of bugs and some hardly any. Some are muffled a lot too.

 

Yeah, those dang mufflers. :mad:

 

I don't think that adding the word "hotel" to a cache name does a cache any favours.

 

Placing a "hotel" in a location where finders are extremely visible to the public just compounds the problem.

 

:(

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Thank you Kunarion, you are most helpful! We have only 11 finds so far and just wanting to learn and do things right and be respectful and all.

For my own Travel Bugs, if I had a choice, I would rather have it placed in any cache anywhere, than to have someone hang onto it for a long time looking for just the perfect "non-muggle" (or perfectly safe), or frequently-visited cache. :P

 

And an accurate, nicely done TB log would be icing on the cake.

 

I'd rather my TB be put in a nice, well maintained cache. Even if it thakes six months to find a good cache. And even if it's liable to be there for six months. Just my preference. Come to think of t, I like having mine in tough caches! It's less likely to disappear quickly. :ph34r:

Always sad to see "Cache was full of water. Left TB."

It is tough to find a good spot with all the micros out there. Especially when you've found a lot of the local caches.

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I see your point there too! OMG so much info to take in today!

 

While i'm not really wanting to make a geocache yet I almost wonder if I might be better off to make my own geocache and put it up at the park somewhere where I already have permission.

 

lol

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Sadly I literally have just one premium member geocache with in 25 miles of my house and i've been to that one already and actually out of the 11 that we've been to so far that Calvary Saints geocache is my fav! And it was our first ammo box cache as well!

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Sadly I literally have just one premium member geocache with in 25 miles of my house and i've been to that one already and actually out of the 11 that we've been to so far that Calvary Saints geocache is my fav! And it was our first ammo box cache as well!

Soooo...... why not take it to that cache? It IS a good habit to develop when you find a safe/secure place to put a traveler. You can return as often as you like. Simply log a "note" as opposed to a "find" on subsequent visits. You can do drops and retrievals with a "note" log just as easily, and it won't inflate your smiley counts. That is one reason the "note" log exists.

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I like putting TB's in lesser traveled caches or caches with a higher terrain rating as it isn't as easily muggled.

 

Then again, I popped a couple TBs and coins into some high-traffic caches over the weekend just to get the darn things moving somewhere.

 

It all depends. I don't like to hold onto them too long but if I know I have a good place to put them, even if it takes 1-2 months, I'll get them there!

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I find the best way to find the "Right" cache is to go caching! :) There is nothing like a first hand inspection of a cache to decide if it's a good place for the TB. If it isn't, then just log the TB as a visit and continue on.

 

The TB gets to be moved around, and you get to go caching! :D

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Well after staying up till almost 1:30 am this morning looking for a suitable cache and couldn't find any that were big enough without a long walk :( UGH!

 

There are tons more micros and nanos around here. Think my mission will be to only hide regular size geocaches. I do like nanos and micros but it's rough when you can't find a cache that's big enough to put a tb in! All the ones that were big enough and already had a tb in them actually had no TB in them and they'd been stolen so there went all those big caches to choose from and that was probably about 8 caches or so.

 

So I ended up going back to the only premium member cache with in 25 miles and put the tb in there!

 

Only had a couple hours ro run some errands for dad while he was at his doc appt. And found two micros as well.

Edited by Cindyj2
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Dang, that is a long way to go for a cache.

I personally have no qualms with going back to a cache I found previously to drop bugs there, if that cache seems the best spot. Don't know of thats frowned on or not.

 

You can re-visit a cache as often as you like. You can log your visits as "write a note" if you have already posted a "found it" log for the cache:

 

Sadly I literally have just one premium member geocache with in 25 miles of my house and i've been to that one already and actually out of the 11 that we've been to so far that Calvary Saints geocache is my fav! And it was our first ammo box cache as well!

Soooo...... why not take it to that cache? It IS a good habit to develop when you find a safe/secure place to put a traveler. You can return as often as you like. Simply log a "note" as opposed to a "find" on subsequent visits. You can do drops and retrievals with a "note" log just as easily, and it won't inflate your smiley counts. That is one reason the "note" log exists.

 

People who have the cache or the trackable on their watchlist will receive notice of a note being posted.

Edited by Pup Patrol
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Check the trackable's goal/mission.

 

It's great to be able to take a TB to a specific destination after it has traveled thousands of miles to get close to that destination. Many travelers have general goals that we've tried to accommodate by dropping them in caches near baseball stadiums, sushi restaurants, scenic views, etc. Others want to get to a distant place, so dropping them near an airport helps. When we went to Scotland, we let people know and, when we attended the local monthly event, received lots of TBs/GCs that wanted to travel overseas.

 

Even without a specified goal, some trackables have a theme that one can use to select an appropriate cache. We took a TB that honored a fallen U.S. soldier to several war memorials, dipped it in nearby caches, and dropped it in the last one.

Edited by CanadianRockies
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I have a couple trackables I picked up up north on my last road trip. I just hold on to them until I find a suitable cache. In my local area, it means a lot of unsuitable unmaintained caches before I find a good one. So what I wind up doing is "dipping" or having the bug "visit" the cache when it's an unsuitable one. That way, the trackable owner knows that the bug has not been forgotten and it's still traveling. I haven't cached in a little while unfortunately because I've been busy at work, and most traveler owners seem to understand that everybody goes through spurts like that.

 

But a bug can "visit" Earthcaches, virtuals, micros, nanos, and all of those even though they aren't big enough to drop them or have a container in the first place. As a bug owner, I would much rather the bug stay in a cacher's hands "visiting" for months than doing nothing while they do who-knows-what with it, or sit in a cache until the cache gets bulldozed (both things have happened to my bugs).

 

When I look for a place to put a trackable, I first look for container size. Then I check for a history of trackables as others do. In my area, I also have to check the caches nearby because the Forest Service does a LOT of controlled burning. The most popular caching area in the woods gets burned OFTEN and I've tried searching for many caches that have been burned. I won't put bugs out there anymore because there's a good chance they'll meet an untimely end. The caches are often great to find since they're not found often. But that also means a bug could sit in them for a year before being picked up, and the cache could be burned over by then.

 

I am working on placing a TB "hotel" cache that will be a camo'd 5gal bucket made to fit large trackable items. I'm going to stock it with a lot of trackables to get the ball rolling and so people hopefully get the idea. Bugs have a hard time in my area, so I'm placing it in my front gardens to give it some "security" and hopefully reduce the chances of the bugs being raided by muggles or being stolen by folks. I will probably periodically be starting new bugs in it so I can keep it well stocked. Nothing worse than showing up to a cache claiming to be a TB motel on vacation and finding it empty of bugs.

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For me, it depends. I've not done a huge amount of caching, still a newbie, but I love to move those TBs around. :) First thing it depends on is if I know I'm going to be doing any unique caches in the near future. If I'm going to one far away, or otherwise very unique, I'll move the TB to that one (assuming its within the TB's travel goals, of course). Oftentimes, if I have a full day of hunting planned, I'll hit the TB-carrying caches FIRST, and then somewhere along the way, put it into a TB-less cache later in the day.

 

If I stumble across a TB and it insists on following me home (unplanned, kinda like a puppy), I'll put it in the next available cache as quickly as possible. Of course, that backfired on me once... I got a TB from a cache, dropped it off at my next cache, and when entering the details that night discovered that it had been at that second cache just one geocacher ago.. in essence, i'd dropped it right back from where it recently came from. :::facepalm:::

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I don't place them in multis, puzzles, wherigos, or hard-to-access caches (high difficulty, high terrain, or long hike). A TBs goal is usually to move around and such caches will often cause it to not move for a long period of time.

 

I also avoid caches that aren't watertight, are damaged, I know have a history of being muggled, or give me some reason to think they have an above average chance of leaking/damage/muggling in the future.

 

I will generally drop a TB in any cache that has room for it AND doesn't set of one of the "bad place for TB" flags I have mentioned. I will hold on to a bug for a few weeks if I expect to visit a cache or area that will help the TB toward its goal.

Edited by Joshism
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I like premium memberr only caches, that helps get cachers who know how to log them properly, and keeps them out of the hands of a kid with a cell phone.

 

Question....

Are the premium member caches better to place trackables in and/or are less likely to get stolen/muggled from them? And is it 'wrong' to put a TB (owner is NOT a preimium member) into a cache that is a premium cache? They can still see its travels just not the coordinates - right?

 

I enjoy picking up trackables and moving them along but I find myself perhaps being slightly picky about putting them in certain caches. As someone else already mentioned - the upkeep of the cache, the area its located, and the history of 'missing' TB's in the logs. The last thing I want to do is pick up a TB and put it inside a cache that's susceptible to get the TB muggled.

 

I'm still new, but I'm assuming the premium member caches would be better to drop TB's? And, some of the nature hiking caches that require a good distance (1/2 mile, etc) to walk into - also seem better to put them in. ???

<Jandy>

Edited by Lieblweb
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Well I only have one premium cache within 25 miles of where I live and the majorit of caches around here are all nano's micros, and smalls.

 

I did a couple queries and only 117 size regular and up and 383 of the small, micro and nano. Drivest me nuts seeing these new caches come out and they are all micros and nanos.

 

Out of about 60 new caches since december ony 10 have been regular sized.

Edited by Cindyj2
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I like to put TBs in multis or puzzle caches. I think the more serious cachers go after these types and the TBs don't disappear as much.

 

I would strongly disagree with that. The purpose of Travelers is to travel. By putting it in a cache that will get less traffic than a traditional (particularly after a few months and the local puzzle people have finished doing it) you are thwarting the will of the TB owner.

 

I tend to keep it simple. If the container is big enough to hold it I put it in.

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I don't place them in multis, puzzles, wherigos, or hard-to-access caches (high difficulty, high terrain, or long hike). A TBs goal is usually to move around and such caches will often cause it to not move for a long period of time.

 

If you ever pick up one of my geocoins, I hope you will read the page thoroughly because I specifically request the coin be placed in Premium, puzzle, or multicaches, preferably with a terrain rating of 2 or higher.

 

I agree with the poster who said they'd make a would-be thief work hard to steal someone else's property. I so appreciate that sentiment having had numerous coins stolen over the years.

 

[edit to add] A bonus is that many of my coins have been to some incredible caches - many 5/5 caches - some of which require rock-climbing skills to get to...or extremely long hikes to remote (and often times beautiful) locations. I love reading about those caches and the logs of people who take this hobby/sport/game to the extreme.

Edited by ThePetersTrio
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Having seen the prices of some trackables and geocoins, I won't put any in a roadside cache-n-trash. I would rather someone hold on to it for a bit and see it put in a better location than to put it in a highly visited cache that gets filled with garbage.

 

Yeah, I'm a cache snob, but at least you can be assured if I get one of your travelers, it won't be carelessly tossed into the first cache that it fits in.

If people put a little effort into locating a cache, they tend to have a little more respect for the sport and the travelers. The roadside ones (except the clever hides) tend to accumulate gum wrappers and lose coins.

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I'm in the camp of those who avoid dropping trackables in puzzle caches. In general, these get fewer visits than regulars, so a bug or coin may end up sitting there for quite a while.

 

I also will not place a trackable in a State Park cache. Many that are dropped in those locations go missing in action - too many finders new to geocaching, who have no clue what to do with the item and think it is free for the taking. Seems like they have become the Bermuda Triangle of travelers. (not the tourist kind)

Edited by jicknarson
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I like regular caches which have been around for a while indicating it should be safe from muggles. I don't like my coins and TB's to be placed in TB Hotels - esp. those that ask, "take one, leave one". Tb's are not to be traded. Finally, I hate Tb's at events. They go missing more often than not.

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A leaking and un-camouflaged container that is either halfway up a mountain and gets 3 visits a year or is visible under a bench in a park full of muggles always seem to be the best locations for my trackables to be dropped off and never heard from again. Or events.

Avoid those three locations for dropping trackables and you're doing good.

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Just wanted to say thank you serving our country!

 

Also I just finally bought our first 4 trackables and at this point i'm in no rush to send them out into the wild! And the Eat sleap cache coin i'll not let go of and just dip that one. It's very nice!

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