Where should I put geocaches in the city?

[+TRYPSYT]

Hey I just wanted a few ideas on where to hind caches. I hid my first one but as a new person to geocaching I put it on a stop sign. Anyone have some good ideas? I live in a city.

[+L0ne.R]

Hey I just wanted a few ideas on where to hind caches. I hid my first one but as a new person to geocaching I put it on a stop sign. Anyone have some good ideas? I live in a city.

 

Are there any urban forests around. Many cities have them. Or perhaps municipal parks with some natural areas?

[+Chief301]

Try not to fall into the habit of placing a cache somewhere just because there's no cache there. A quality cache brings the seeker to some location that is noteworthy, IMHO. A scenic view, a nice hike, a historic site, a local landmark. Write up your cache description to explain what the place is and people will appreciate being brought there.

 

I think location is the most important thing, then clever containers or creative hides. Try to make your cache the kind of cache that people will remember, not just another film can under a lamp post skirt.

[+Harry Dolphin]

I've got one in the most densely populated municipality in the country! (Okay, it is small, but it is densely populated...) My cache is just off the main street, at the top of the cliffs overlooking the big city across the river. U-shaped iron railing fence. Great place for a magnetic keyholder. Yes. It's a micro, but it has a great view.

[+dprovan]

I enjoy city caches that surprise me by being hidden just like anywhere else, but such that I wasn't expecting such a place in the city. Someone already mentioned parks and fences, for example. I find it particularly fun to be walking toward a cache, turn a corner, and find a completely unexpected pocket park with a nice hide in it.

 

In SF, the standard hide is inside newpaper boxes. Naturally they always pick a free paper's box, but those boxes typically still have coin boxes that a cache can be hidden behind. The downside is that these boxes can and do disappear at any time...

 

The important thing is to work hard on your coordinates and hints. GPSrs are typically useless in cities, so check your coordinates via space view and triangulation to try to make them really right, and take pity on people by giving them some solid clues about where it is if they manage to get to the right corner. One cache in SF is a traditional written up like a letterbox hybrid, giving precise directions about where to start and where to walk to find the cache! (It's a bad example, though, because it really is a letterbox hybrid, with the final a block and a half away from the posted coordinates, but I still find the basic idea an interesting solution to the city's signal problem.)

Edited August 9, 2012 by dprovan

[+L0ne.R]

I enjoy city caches that surprise me by being hidden just like anywhere else, but such that I wasn't expecting such a place in the city. Someone already mentioned parks and fences, for example. I find it particularly fun to be walking toward a cache, turn a corner, and find a completely unexpected pocket park with a nice hide in it.

 

In SF, the standard hide is inside newpaper boxes. Naturally they always pick a free paper's box, but those boxes typically still have coin boxes that a cache can be hidden behind. The downside is that these boxes can and do disappear at any time...

 

The important thing is to work hard on your coordinates and hints. GPSrs are typically useless in cities, so check your coordinates via space view and triangulation to try to make them really right, and take pity on people by giving them some solid clues about where it is if they manage to get to the right corner. One cache in SF is a traditional written up like a letterbox hybrid, giving precise directions about where to start and where to walk to find the cache! (It's a bad example, though, because it really is a letterbox hybrid, with the final a block and a half away from the posted coordinates, but I still find the basic idea an interesting solution to the city's signal problem.)

 

One of my favorite urban cache finds was in a free newspaper/real estate box. It was not so much the type of find but the location. The box was in front this buddhist temple. In my area this is a rather rare thing. First buddhist temple I've seen.

 

 

Another recent good urban find was a regular swag size container in a parking lot. Sound rather boring right? But the cache owner created a good size container that looked like a piece of metal (but was actually plastic) with bolts and screws attached. It looked like it was part of the guardrail. Many people overlooked it at first, including me then I had a closer look. It was attached with magnets. I liked the creativity and that the CO didn't resort to a nano or micro on a guardrail.

 

And one other favourite urban cache I liked, Look Down, Look Around is an excellent all-round cache. Very original (at least to me) puzzle that's not difficult but requires the light-bulb-going-off moment then the coords took me to a good location - a spot in town many people might not know about, ideal for viewing the types of items in the puzzle theme.

 

So, for me a good urban cache is creative, takes me somewhere interesting and, ideally, is in a swag size quality container.

[+markcase]

Although this topic has had some great conversatin, it is in the wrong forum. I am moving it to the How Do I forum and it can get even more discussion.

 

Mark Case

Education Forum Moderator

[+Amorak]

I would suggest that you find caches until you no longer have to ask this question. With some experience you will know good hides from bad. I see that you have 43 hides in two weeks, so you are well on your way. Do at least 100 finds and 6 months of caches of different size/D/T before placing a cache. Also, remember this is (should be) a commitment to maintain the cache for many years.

[+TRYPSYT]

I like the idea of the newspaper dispenser, I have never heard of that. I think I have hit about 20 or so Light Post Covers. They are getting pretty boring and predictable. I placed a cache near my house next to a bunch of independently owned artist spaces that I love. I thought that would be meaningful. I like the advice of not just sticking them anywhere, I hadn’t really thought of having a story behind it, but now I think I will put a little bit of meaning into it!! Thanks everyone!!

[+Glenn]

I've been mostly disappointed whenever I've cached in a city. However the city caches that I liked the best were the ones that brought me someplace unique. Take a look at some of these for inspiration.

 

• 
   
  
• A cache where you learn someone about the area like at History 101: We the People... in Virginia Beach, VA.
  
• Almost any EarthCache like Chesapeake Bay Watershed in Norfolk, VA.
  
• An antique coin operated machine museum like at Laughing Sal's in San Francisco, CA.
  
• A sculpture under a bridge like at Trolls Lair in Seattle, WA.
  
• A scenic park located near a beautiful Mission like at Binary Tree Puzzle Cache in San Diego, CA.
  
• A simple stroll by a river like at River Walk in San Diego, CA.
  
• A walk across a scenic canyon like at Suspenseful Cache in San Diego, CA.
  
• A short swim out to a small tropical island like at Menehune Island in Honolulu, HI.
  
• A cache with a unique container like at A Cryptex Trading Cache in Norfolk, VA.
  
• A unique wall decoration like at Double Bubble Toil & Trouble in Seattle, WA.
   
  

[+J the Goat]

If you're in the city, you should put the geocache into your car/backpack/fanniepack/pocket/mule saddle bag and head for the nearest nature park/state park/hiking trail/lake/anywhere outside of the city

[+popokiiti]

There is a cache that is bigger than an ammo can in a city that is 1 1/2 hrs away by ferry from us. It is on a river walk, across from the airport - location is great. The cache is in plain sight and although placed on private property, has the permission of the property owner - who even helped install it! It contains the usual trades and also has some cache kits (lock and locks with log books) to encourage further hiding. Folks clamber on the rocks thinking "fake rock" (that was us) and look in other spots before the penny drops. It is a 1* difficulty I believe, which I overlooked....same with the terrain.

Urban caches at some place neat/historic/pretty can be great. Especially with some devious thinking!

Edited August 12, 2012 by popokiiti

[+kunarion]

I like the idea of the newspaper dispenser, I have never heard of that. I think I have hit about 20 or so Light Post Covers. They are getting pretty boring and predictable. I placed a cache near my house next to a bunch of independently owned artist spaces that I love. I thought that would be meaningful. I like the advice of not just sticking them anywhere, I hadnt really thought of having a story behind it, but now I think I will put a little bit of meaning into it!! Thanks everyone!!

If you live in the city, you may be know of really cool places most people will never find. That's where to put a cache. I've lived in one city for over 15 years, and just last month, discovered a little park I'd never noticed before. There might be a cache there soon.

 

I've thought about a newspaper machine. That would be cool if there's a lot of space, I own the business where the cache would be, or if the owner is very accommodating. And it would require a decent newspaper box. But I'd have it set up with some out of date ad paper in view, charge $2, and have it set to refund the $2 when the door's opened. So that might be a cache needing “Special Equipment” (eight quarters).

Edited August 12, 2012 by kunarion

[+Harry Dolphin]

I've thought about a newspaper machine. That would be cool if there's a lot of space, I own the business where the cache would be, or if the owner is very accommodating. And it would require a decent newspaper box. But I'd have it set up with some out of date ad paper in view, charge $2, and have it set to refund the $2 when the door's opened. So that might be a cache needing “Special Equipment” (eight quarters).

 

The last time I saw a cache in a newspaper vending machine it was archived for being commercial.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

I've thought about a newspaper machine. That would be cool if there's a lot of space, I own the business where the cache would be, or if the owner is very accommodating. And it would require a decent newspaper box. But I'd have it set up with some out of date ad paper in view, charge $2, and have it set to refund the $2 when the door's opened. So that might be a cache needing “Special Equipment” (eight quarters).

 

The last time I saw a cache in a newspaper vending machine it was archived for being commercial.

 

We've done a bunch or free boxes that had local news, real estate info., etc inside. There are clever ways to hide caches on the inside as well as the outside. For some reason these usually work out pretty good, muggle wise , although some we wouldn't get out the truck there were so many people about.

[+dprovan]

The last time I saw a cache in a newspaper vending machine it was archived for being commercial.

Perhaps it was in a box you had to pay to open?

 

We've done a bunch or free boxes that had local news, real estate info., etc inside. There are clever ways to hide caches on the inside as well as the outside. For some reason these usually work out pretty good, muggle wise , although some we wouldn't get out the truck there were so many people about.

One interesting thing about such hides is that you have a perfect excuse to open the box and reach into it to get the free paper, then another good excuse to open the box and reach in to put that free paper back. I wasn't even remotely worried about muggles when I grabbed one on a street with thousands of people milling around and, in fact, one of them was sitting on top of the box! (Although I admit that I did wait for the parade to end first...)