Jump to content

WHY PUT SMALL CACHES IN PINE TREES?!


JG2011

Recommended Posts

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! :mad:

 

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! :D

-- John

Edited by ShJgNhAh11
Link to comment

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.

Link to comment

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.

Link to comment

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.

Link to comment

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. :D I just make sure I have some antiseptic, and band aids in the car.

Link to comment

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.

Link to comment

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. :lol:

Link to comment

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

Link to comment

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?

Link to comment

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 by Hilltop Homeschooler
Link to comment

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. :blink:

Link to comment

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. :blink:

 

Spruce needles

spruceneedles.jpg

 

Pine needles:

96480415.4k5yGxA8.PineNeedles_87877.jpg

 

Cedar "needles"

old%20cedar%20leaves.JPG

Link to comment

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. :blink:

 

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. :) :)

Link to comment

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. :blink:

 

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. :P

 

KnowsChad, as of the time I'm posting this, I only see your Pine image, the Spruce and Cedar aren't showing up.

Link to comment

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.

Link to comment

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. :P

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? B)

 

(seriously... are you at work? Probably blocked by the firewall. All three are showing up for me)

Edited by knowschad
Link to comment

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.

Link to comment

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.

Link to comment

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. :P

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? B)

 

(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.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...