+JG2011 Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 (edited) Hi All, I have been doing some pretty heavy-duty geocaching recently (found over 100 caches in the past month), but I gotta tell ya, I can do without small caches in pine trees! I simply don't understand why so many people place their caches in these trees. I must have been to about 50 caches in the past month in Toronto that are hidden in pine/fir trees, and I think I may have found five of them! Why? Because I quickly decided that I'm not going to spend more than 30 seconds looking for them in the tree. I used to search & search for the cache, but would just end up skewered by a hundred or so pine needles and would have sap on my hands and in my hair. Not pleasant! So, for any of you cachers that are thinking of placing a new cache, all I ask is that if you are about to place a small one in a fir/pine tree, please think about it before you do. By moving it to any of the many other locations that are usually nearby you could save me and your fellow cachers a lot of pain in the future. Sorry for the rant, but it's been weighing on my mind for some time (usually as I pull pine needles out of my skin)! Happy caching! -- John Edited August 31, 2011 by ShJgNhAh11 Quote Link to comment
+Panther&Pine Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I've got one in a juniper tree, no MISTs or MIPTs for me. Thanks, I'll skip them. By the way, the font you are using is difficult to read. Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Needles in haystacks are by their very nature hard to find. It doesn't take any cleverness or skill to make a cache hard by hiding it like that. Spruce trees, IMO, are the worst type of evergreen for a hide like that. Not only is it hard to spot, but the needles are like, well... needles. Quote Link to comment
+Panther&Pine Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Needles in haystacks are by their very nature hard to find. It doesn't take any cleverness or skill to make a cache hard by hiding it like that. Spruce trees, IMO, are the worst type of evergreen for a hide like that. Not only is it hard to spot, but the needles are like, well... needles. I'm also not a fan of digging around in holly bushes. Quote Link to comment
+The Flying Ks Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I have a pinecone I constructed out of a makeup container that looks real. It is in a pine tree and people seem to like it. Oh well - to each their own. Some people don't like urban caches. Glad their are a lot of different caches for everyone to find SOMETHING they love! Good luck! Quote Link to comment
+PokerLuck Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I don't particularly like them, but I understand why people put them there. They don't drop their leaves in the winter. Finding a cache in a deciduous tree is trivial in winter due to the lack of leaves. Here's a tip that makes them easier to find, somewhat. Try to get close to the trunk of the tree and look out from there. Or, get on the side of the tree opposite the sun and look through the tree. This highlights anything solid. These techniques work best on conifers that aren't really thick, like cedars. On a very thick white pine, not so good. Quote Link to comment
+Sharks-N-Beans Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Not a favorite and definately ignore tree climbs in pines. Quote Link to comment
+CanadianRockies Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Tip: Put a pair of leather gloves in your geo-kit. Quote Link to comment
+uxorious Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 The worst ones for me are spruce trees.(especially the sitka spruce) Those things hurt. I think caches hidden in trees are harder than rockwalls. However, that doesn't stop me from looking for either of them. I just make sure I have some antiseptic, and band aids in the car. Quote Link to comment
+Chokecherry Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 We have lots of caches in a variety of sizes in a variety of coniferous trees here. Some are more interesting than others. I don't universally hate them. I like the creative ones. I think the ones where someone tosses a bison tube or film canister in a tree and thinks it's clever are silly and I usually give those caches all of 3 minutes of looking. I also don't like when the hide is not appropriate to the environment. If it's going to do damage to a tree in a landscaped area don't put a tiny thing in there. If you're out in the woods in an area that can hold a bigger container safely use a bigger container. Quote Link to comment
Mr.Yuck Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I don't particularly like them, but I understand why people put them there. They don't drop their leaves in the winter. Finding a cache in a deciduous tree is trivial in winter due to the lack of leaves. Here's a tip that makes them easier to find, somewhat. Try to get close to the trunk of the tree and look out from there. Or, get on the side of the tree opposite the sun and look through the tree. This highlights anything solid. These techniques work best on conifers that aren't really thick, like cedars. On a very thick white pine, not so good. This is a really good explanation of why people hide them there (and yes, I have done it, but not much), and some really good tips on finding them. And to think after reading the OP, I figured everyone was going to jump all over him. Well, maybe for using that font, at least. Quote Link to comment
+TL&MinBHIL Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I have a pinecone I constructed out of a makeup container that looks real. It is in a pine tree and people seem to like it. Oh well - to each their own. Some people don't like urban caches. Glad their are a lot of different caches for everyone to find SOMETHING they love! Good luck! I agree, nicely said. I was just getting ready to mention that there are several great pinecone camo jobs in the cool cache container thread and people don't seem to be against them. I also agree with the person who said hiders use evergreens because they keep their foliage year round Quote Link to comment
+Harry Dolphin Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I put it there because I was in a grumpy mood. And it's a spruce, not a pine. And I thought it was a very interesting spot. And there wasn't anywhere else to hide the cache. And, if you don't like it: Oh, well! Quote Link to comment
sabrefan7 Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I like a Bison Tube in a Pine Tree my self. Better than lifting a skirt and getting stung by wasps. I have found a nicely hidden pine cone wrapped cache in a spruce tree too. I do have a bison tube hide but it not in a pine tree. Quote Link to comment
+JG2011 Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 I've got one in a juniper tree, no MISTs or MIPTs for me. Thanks, I'll skip them. By the way, the font you are using is difficult to read. Hi! I changed the font of the original post. Is that better? Regards, John Quote Link to comment
+DanOCan Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 WHY PUT SMALL CACHES IN PINE TREES?! Because it sure beats putting micros in trees. Quote Link to comment
+Panther&Pine Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 I've got one in a juniper tree, no MISTs or MIPTs for me. Thanks, I'll skip them. By the way, the font you are using is difficult to read. Hi! I changed the font of the original post. Is that better? Regards, John Decidedly better. Thanks. Quote Link to comment
+ngrrfan Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 WHY PUT SMALL CACHES IN PINE TREES?! Because it sure beats putting micros in trees. And because in the parks around here only micros are allowed, so you put them in the trees. Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 And whatever you do, PLEASE do NOT make bush hides a FAVORITE! Quote Link to comment
+JG2011 Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 And whatever you do, PLEASE do NOT make bush hides a FAVORITE! Agreed! Quote Link to comment
+5g Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 I simply don't understand why so many people place their caches in these trees. My kids love it. We do this once a year. We call it Christmas! Quote Link to comment
AZcachemeister Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 OK, 'Don't put small caches in pine trees.' Is there a better place for them? Quote Link to comment
+rjb43nh Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 There are lots of pine and other evergreen trees in NH and ME and I've found probably a few hundred caches from bison, film, and up to full size Lock-n-Locks hidden in them. As long as you know what to expect I don't see any problem with them. I will say our trees in New England are mild after doing some in joshua trees in CA. No one is forcing you to look for these caches are they? Quote Link to comment
+The Flying Ks Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 (edited) Actually, Sitka I don't mind! There is a path in the town I grew up in. On the path is this type of evergreen tree... don't know what it is but MAN it hurts. It kind of looks like a cedar, but I'm not sure. The stuff hurts even worse dried on the ground. I no longer wear shorts and flip flops caching because of this! But there are caches near PO, caches in blackberry bushes, and caches in bad neighborhoods. Whattayagonndo? (on a side note, I am mortified that I used the incorrect tense of "there" in my previous post). Have a good one! Edited September 1, 2011 by Hilltop Homeschooler Quote Link to comment
Night_Hiker Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Cedar trees are my favorite to find caches in. There just fun to search through and the trunks are usually pretty unique. Quote Link to comment
+Flintstone5611 Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 I gotta admit that for as much as I love running after caches, this is a real huge amount of caches that you are talking about. I have a few caches in cedars and although they are just as tough to find as any pine/spruce tree cache it doesn't hurt like one. Quote Link to comment
Mr.Yuck Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 I gotta admit that for as much as I love running after caches, this is a real huge amount of caches that you are talking about. I have a few caches in cedars and although they are just as tough to find as any pine/spruce tree cache it doesn't hurt like one. Like I can tell the difference between a Spruce, Pine, and Cedar. I get around this by merely referring to them as Conifers. Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 I gotta admit that for as much as I love running after caches, this is a real huge amount of caches that you are talking about. I have a few caches in cedars and although they are just as tough to find as any pine/spruce tree cache it doesn't hurt like one. Like I can tell the difference between a Spruce, Pine, and Cedar. I get around this by merely referring to them as Conifers. Spruce needles Pine needles: Cedar "needles" Quote Link to comment
+uxorious Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 I gotta admit that for as much as I love running after caches, this is a real huge amount of caches that you are talking about. I have a few caches in cedars and although they are just as tough to find as any pine/spruce tree cache it doesn't hurt like one. Like I can tell the difference between a Spruce, Pine, and Cedar. I get around this by merely referring to them as Conifers. I wish COs that can't tell the difference would use Conifer (or deciduous). The cache page, or hint says pine, and it's in a cedar in a group of pines and cedars. Or the hint says at the base of the alder, and it's at the base of the maple. Makes it a bit harder. I have seen both. :) Quote Link to comment
Mr.Yuck Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 I gotta admit that for as much as I love running after caches, this is a real huge amount of caches that you are talking about. I have a few caches in cedars and although they are just as tough to find as any pine/spruce tree cache it doesn't hurt like one. Like I can tell the difference between a Spruce, Pine, and Cedar. I get around this by merely referring to them as Conifers. I wish COs that can't tell the difference would use Conifer (or deciduous). The cache page, or hint says pine, and it's in a cedar in a group of pines and cedars. Or the hint says at the base of the alder, and it's at the base of the maple. Makes it a bit harder. I have seen both. :) I once talked about a neatly planted in rows pine forest near my cache on one of my cache pages. After about 100 logs and a few years, I was corrected by a finder that it was actually a Spruce Forest. But he was Canadian, and they know all that stuff. KnowsChad, as of the time I'm posting this, I only see your Pine image, the Spruce and Cedar aren't showing up. Quote Link to comment
+A & J Tooling Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Get as close as possible to the trunk of tree and shine a high powered flashlight about. Plastic and metal will reflect the light. Quote Link to comment
+Ecylram Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 As a veteran of this topic... Blue Spruce are the worst of the tree hides in our area. As for WHY people place these? Because it is easy and it wouldn't be an issue if there were only a few of these but in some areas that is the predominate hide. I know of one cacher in our area who has at least 200 of these spruce/fir/pine hides within a few square miles. It's an area of town that many cachers tell me they avoid for that reason. Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 (edited) I once talked about a neatly planted in rows pine forest near my cache on one of my cache pages. After about 100 logs and a few years, I was corrected by a finder that it was actually a Spruce Forest. But he was Canadian, and they know all that stuff. Got Google? You, too, can be a Canadian! KnowsChad, as of the time I'm posting this, I only see your Pine image, the Spruce and Cedar aren't showing up. Got Google? (seriously... are you at work? Probably blocked by the firewall. All three are showing up for me) Edited September 1, 2011 by knowschad Quote Link to comment
+geocat_ Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Here's a micro in a pine tree... Quote Link to comment
+power69 Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 OK, 'Don't put small caches in pine trees.' Is there a better place for them? in ammocans. Quote Link to comment
+toil&trouble Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Generally I hate those type of caches also, the only exception being when the container is interesting. Like when the cache container is a pine cone, and it's hidden in a fir tree. A muggle would never notice it, but if you are looking for something "out of place" you can actually find it. I once found an "apple" in a ficus, it actually hard to spot, but not impossible. Quote Link to comment
+Mosaic55 Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Here's a micro in a pine tree... That's not a micro. It's a m... oh... nevermind. (LOL!) As to the original topic, WHY PUT SMALL CACHES IN PINE TREES?! I don't mind smalls in pine trees. But I hate micros in spruces. That's like a needle in a haystack to me, an itchy haystack at that, since I seem to be allergic to blue spruce sap. Quote Link to comment
+Postholedigger Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 WHY PUT SMALL CACHES IN PINE TREES?! I'm going to quote Sir Edmund Hillary when I say, "BECAUSE IT'S THERE". Don't worry. I too dislike getting my eyeballs skewered while hunting for a micro in pine tree. Quote Link to comment
+Vater_Araignee Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Not a problem, got plenty of thick raspberry patches nearby to put them in. Quote Link to comment
+DonB Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 I don't particularly like them, but I understand why people put them there. They don't drop their leaves in the winter. Finding a cache in a deciduous tree is trivial in winter due to the lack of leaves. Here's a tip that makes them easier to find, somewhat. Try to get close to the trunk of the tree and look out from there. Or, get on the side of the tree opposite the sun and look through the tree. This highlights anything solid. These techniques work best on conifers that aren't really thick, like cedars. On a very thick white pine, not so good. I've had good luck using a three watt led light, even in daylight the bright light seems to make them standout. Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Here's a micro in a pine tree... Is that the one that was mentioned here as having been blown up by the bomb squad a couple of years ago? Quote Link to comment
Mr.Yuck Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 I once talked about a neatly planted in rows pine forest near my cache on one of my cache pages. After about 100 logs and a few years, I was corrected by a finder that it was actually a Spruce Forest. But he was Canadian, and they know all that stuff. Got Google? You, too, can be a Canadian! KnowsChad, as of the time I'm posting this, I only see your Pine image, the Spruce and Cedar aren't showing up. Got Google? (seriously... are you at work? Probably blocked by the firewall. All three are showing up for me) No, I'm beginning to think it's a Firefox thing. I've looked at this thread on 5 different computers. Best I've seen is 2 out of your 3 images. Quote Link to comment
+geocat_ Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 Here's a micro in a pine tree... Is that the one that was mentioned here as having been blown up by the bomb squad a couple of years ago? Nope! Found it this summer. One of my favorites! Quote Link to comment
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