Whats the trick?

[driftingrz]

alright ive cached on and off for a few years now.. really geting back into it as i actually have a descent GPS... and have attempted to hide 4 caches this week.. involving driving lots of hiking to get to these remote spots... and every single one has been denied.. for example..

 

1st. hide this week nothing in area for atleast a few miles on the geocache maps.. and i get a note that theres one 200ft from it thats part of a multi stage.. with its coordinates showing it 50+ miles away....

 

2nd. rehide it in another good area. and a puzzle cache whos coordinates show it 4-5 miles away turns up less than 100ft away from my new hide

 

3rd. ammocan that required a few mile hike around a lake in a secluded area... once again a hidden/puzzle/multi cache was within .41 miles or something.. so its deined

 

4th.. same story some multi cache that shows up on the other side of the city is in the same area...

 

after all the driving and hiking i have done this week to hide these caches i dont know if im gonna bother hiding any more. eventually ill get out to recollect my caches. but this is becoming a pain in the arse. if i do hide more there gonne be some diabolical puzzles or nano containers camod and off the side ofa cliff 10 miles away from anything else... so there is no risk of intruding on someone elses cache area....

 

how do you guys go about finding where you want to hide yours... maybe its just bad luck but its really discouraging. might stick to finding them for a while

[+mpilchfamily]

1) Your problem lies in your lack of a premium membership. There are a large number of caches that are PM only caches. So you will not see them on the map and can't look up the cords to them.

 

2) The start of the puzzle, which are possibly dumby cord, are about 4 miles away but the final for that cache sits less then 100ft from your cache.

 

3)Could be for the same reasons as i mentioned for 1 and 2.

 

4)Same as the answer fro number 2

 

A premium membership is a big help. It allows you to see all caches. Sure you have no idea if the final for a multi or puzzle is in the area but the review will let you know as they have done already. You can ask the reviewer fro more details. For instance you can ask them in which direction does the cache need to be moved to be able to be posted. Now it isn't too often that stages of multis or puzzles are so far from the start/dumby cords but it does happen.

 

This week i'll be scoping out an area that is oddly void of caching despite the continent parking and recreation in the area. I've emailed the state park about the area making sure there are no geocaching restrictions and to get permission to place some caches. While i wait to here back i'll be doing to foot work to find some good locations. There are a couple of near by multies i need to take a look at and solve so i can be sure i place my caches away from them. I know one of them is a 5 stage multi so it could easily cover the area i'm looking at and prevent me from placing a cache. But i will email the COs first to see if any parts of the caches fall in the area i'm looking at.

[+StarBrand]

Bad string of luck. Sorry.

 

Best advice I can give is to write and ask the reviewer if you need to worry about any proximity issues before you head out to hide one.

[+niraD]

Either the area is very saturated already, or you've had a string of very bad luck.

 

In addition to what others have written, see the knowledge books article Checking for Cache Saturation.

[+Ike 13]

Porbably a combination of bad luck and having only 33 finds. Before I hide a cache I make sure I've solved nearby puzzles and multis and try to get a good idea of what areas are open. If I have any complex hide that involves specific camo or anything that requires a little more work I clear the area with my reviewer first. Make up a very basic page for your cache with basic coords (this can be done from Google Earth) add a note to the reviewer saying hey I want to hide a cache here but just wanted to make sure there's nothing nearby. This will save some frustration.

 

When I hid my first puzlle cache it turns out there was a Wherigo 200 feet away. I had to fin a new place and then rework the puzzle. It was a little furstrating, but you live and learn.

 

I just looked at some finds of yours to see where you're located. There's plenty of open space you just have to be patient and find a spot that is not taken.

[the3gmen]

...

3rd. ammocan that required a few mile hike around a lake in a secluded area... once again a hidden/puzzle/multi cache was within .41 miles or something.. so its deined

 

 

I don't know about the others, but if the nearest cache is .41 miles from your chosen spot, proximity can't be the issue. The magic number is .1 mile for how close caches/waypoints can be.

 

You should contact the reviewer and find out exactly what the issue is for that one.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

...

3rd. ammocan that required a few mile hike around a lake in a secluded area... once again a hidden/puzzle/multi cache was within .41 miles or something.. so its deined

 

 

I don't know about the others, but if the nearest cache is .41 miles from your chosen spot, proximity can't be the issue. The magic number is .1 mile for how close caches/waypoints can be.

 

You should contact the reviewer and find out exactly what the issue is for that one.

Yupper, if the original quote is correct, it is some other problem because .41 miles ISN'T the problem. There must be more to the story.

[+kunarion]

how do you guys go about finding where you want to hide yours...

I've sometimes contacted a well-travelled local caching friend, to let them know my plans. And sometimes I get a reply like "sounds cool, and on a completely unrelated note, you need to go hunt 'Joe's Lake Multi' first".

 

There are a few other things I do. I've set up a new cache page, then sent that link to the local reviewer and asked if it's OK for cache separation -- but I've only done that once (so I don't make lots of extra work for the reviewers). Also I've hunted an area as much as I could, to see what's left. A 528-foot-wide "void" in a saturated park probably means I've missed a cache. As I'm scoping a good spot, I do a GPS check of nearest caches, both found and not found. That helps greatly.

 

One old cache spot was given to me. The original cache was archived (container washed away). I contacted the owner, and got the details, and he said he wasn't going to make a new hide there, and that I could have it. That's perfect, since permissions and distances were already worked out. All I had to do is craft the cache so it stays put.

 

And the manager at parks where I hide caches is a Geocacher. He maintains his own map, and can check cache separation, advise which spots are likely to get "muggled", etc.

 

So maybe the "trick" is to get in touch with local cachers. Maybe check out a cache event.

Edited April 4, 2011 by kunarion

[+Cheminer Will]

I have heard from other cachers about this problem. One of them had placed two different caches that looked to be in the clear. He is a premium member and nothing showed within a great distance when he was placing the cache. When the cache was submitted for review, it was denied because it was too close to a Wherigo. This seems to be a more and more common issue when placing caches.

 

I can see where it would be very frustrating. For example what if if I went on a 20 mile drive and then a 5 mile hike to place a nice ammo can cache? I get the coordinates and nothing is within a mile. I return home and submit the hide and then get it rejected because a Wherigo or multi, or puzzle is within .1 mile.

 

One suggested solution I heard was a Geocaching tool that somehow lets you check if anything other than a normal cache container is within .1 of your attempted placement. I don't see how this would work when out in the field without cell phone coverage. And even if it did I guess the tool would show coordinates, (eg part of a multi, or puzzle), that were not meant to be seen unless you had done the first parts of those caches.

 

The only way I can think of to solve this increasing problem is for the distance requirement for traditional caches to not be influenced by the proximity of an unknown like a puzzle, multi, or Wherigo. As that may not be something Groundspeak wants to change, hiding caches may just get more frustrating as the game continues to increase in popularity.

[+ngrrfan]

I have heard from other cachers about this problem. One of them had placed two different caches that looked to be in the clear. He is a premium member and nothing showed within a great distance when he was placing the cache. When the cache was submitted for review, it was denied because it was too close to a Wherigo. This seems to be a more and more common issue when placing caches.

 

I can see where it would be very frustrating. For example what if if I went on a 20 mile drive and then a 5 mile hike to place a nice ammo can cache? I get the coordinates and nothing is within a mile. I return home and submit the hide and then get it rejected because a Wherigo or multi, or puzzle is within .1 mile.

 

One suggested solution I heard was a Geocaching tool that somehow lets you check if anything other than a normal cache container is within .1 of your attempted placement. I don't see how this would work when out in the field without cell phone coverage. And even if it did I guess the tool would show coordinates, (eg part of a multi, or puzzle), that were not meant to be seen unless you had done the first parts of those caches.

 

The only way I can think of to solve this increasing problem is for the distance requirement for traditional caches to not be influenced by the proximity of an unknown like a puzzle, multi, or Wherigo. As that may not be something Groundspeak wants to change, hiding caches may just get more frustrating as the game continues to increase in popularity.

I fail to see any kind of a problem. There is a solution already in place... it is called "Your Local Reviewer".

 

You spot a likely place for a cache, you either get the coords from being at that spot or from a map, and then you contact the local reviewer and ask if you are in the clear for say .15 miles around that spot. They will either say yes or no.

 

I've placed or help place 6 caches this way and it sure saves a lot of aggravation.

 

Being a premium member does NOT mean you can see all parts of a hide, but in looking at a geo-map and seeing a big hole should tell you that something is probably there.

[+Cheminer Will]

It is not an issue in the situation you describe. It is not even an issue on an intown cache close to home. But if you do as I described, it is a problem. Often people drive out of town, go on a long hike, and come across a great place for a cache. If you place the cache and then find out you were too close to a hide you had no way of knowing about, the only option is to do the drive and hike again to retrieve the cache.

[+Kryten]

If, in a well saturated caching area, you come across an apparently ideal but empty spot and find yourself saying "I can't believe there's not already a cache here!", it's probably one of the following.

 

1. There is already a PM cache there.

2. The landowner has previously refused permission.

3. Proximity clash with nearby caches/stages.

4. Someone else has already submitted a cache which is currently awaiting approval.

[+kpanko]

1) Your problem lies in your lack of a premium membership. There are a large number of caches that are PM only caches. So you will not see them on the map and can't look up the cords to them.

From what I remember of my days being a basic member last year, that is not true. I was able to see them on the map, but I could not load the cache page to see their coordinates. So I had a rough idea of where the premium-only ones were.

[+dfx]

From what I remember of my days being a basic member last year, that is not true. I was able to see them on the map, but I could not load the cache page to see their coordinates. So I had a rough idea of where the premium-only ones were.

 

No you can't see them on the map. You can, however, see them in any "nearby caches" list, including lists going by cache owner or through a coordinate search. It will tell you direction and distance from the specified coordinates.

[+Ike 13]

The only way I can think of to solve this increasing problem is for the distance requirement for traditional caches to not be influenced by the proximity of an unknown like a puzzle, multi, or Wherigo. As that may not be something Groundspeak wants to change, hiding caches may just get more frustrating as the game continues to increase in popularity.

So someone can plop a cache 20 feet from the final of my 4.5 difficulty puzzle? I think the way everything is set up is fine. Yes I've had to remake a puzzle due to being close to a Wherigo now anytime I have to put effort into a cache placement I check with my local reviewer.