Hiding larger caches in urban areas

[+J Grouchy]

I live in Atlanta and the only places I ever find "regular" sized caches are in wooded area - parks, leftover area near commercial or residential developments, etc. Generally these are in hollows of trees, secreted away below or inside tree trunks or hollowed-out stumps, or under a large bush. I love finding these larger caches - and I'd love to hide some - but I haven't seen any truly devious 'urban' hides involving larger sized caches.

 

Do any of you have any good examples of ammo boxes or good-sized lock-and-locks that you've found which did not involve a tree, bush or stump? Only example I can think of is GCHRVX, which is the metal box attached to the pole in the picture here. Other than that, everything I've found that isn't in a wooded area is a micro or, at best, a small l-n-l or magnetic key hide.

[Hosscatt]

Ive found some under bridges that were camouflaged well.

[+Themundies]

Sometimes a business will let you stash one behind the front desk or on the premises and you can hide bigger in those situations. Like the one on the roof of the skyscraper in NOLA. That was a fun one.

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

Sometimes a business will let you stash one behind the front desk or on the premises and you can hide bigger in those situations. Like the one on the roof of the skyscraper in NOLA. That was a fun one.

 

Not sure one in a business would fly anymore.

[+The A-Team]

Sometimes a business will let you stash one behind the front desk or on the premises and you can hide bigger in those situations.

Note that such a cache has been explicitly prohibited since Feb 21, 2007.

If the finder is required to go inside the business, interact with employees, and/or purchase a product or service, then the cache is presumed to be commercial.

[+Ringrat]

Dude's Bodacious Cache

 

I can stand up in it, and the CO built it next to his garage.

There are quite a few around here in people's front yards that are a decent size.

[+Chief301]

Sometimes a business will let you stash one behind the front desk or on the premises and you can hide bigger in those situations. Like the one on the roof of the skyscraper in NOLA. That was a fun one.

 

Not sure one in a business would fly anymore.

 

That cache, View Carre' (GCE02C) is a special case and probably grandfathered. However, the skyscraper in question is home to many different offices. You do have to go in the main lobby and interact with the building receptionist and some of the maintenance staff, but not with any of the individual businesses in occupancy there. So you're really not entering any business, just the property the businesses are located in, if you follow me.

 

And it IS an awesome cache . And BIG! The container is one of those great big tool boxes like you might see on a construction site.

Edited June 14, 2013 by Chief301

[+dprovan]

I've run into a few examples of large urban caches, but I don't recall any that could be described as "devious". Indeed, just the opposite: people that find a place to put a large urban cache are usually extra careful to make sure anyone that looks for it will find it with little or no searching.

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

Sometimes a business will let you stash one behind the front desk or on the premises and you can hide bigger in those situations. Like the one on the roof of the skyscraper in NOLA. That was a fun one.

 

Not sure one in a business would fly anymore.

 

That cache, View Carre' (GCE02C) is a special case and probably grandfathered. However, the skyscraper in question is home to many different offices. You do have to go in the main lobby and interact with the building receptionist and some of the maintenance staff, but not with any of the individual businesses in occupancy there. So you're really not entering any business, just the property the businesses are located in, if you follow me.

 

And it IS an awesome cache . And BIG! The container is one of those great big tool boxes like you might see on a construction site.

 

Been there! And I doubt it would get published today.

[+ByronForestPreserve]

I found a large lock-n-lock on the grounds of the Field Museum in Chicago. It was obvious if you were looking for the cache, but hidden in enough of an out-of-the-way place to avoid being spotted by muggles. The cache is: Mercury. Otherwise Chicago seemed to be full of micros. I think there might have been a larger one at one of those "permanent" construction sites, but I didn't try for it. Oh, hm, and I think there is one or two down storm sewer drains.

 

I had our woodshop volunteers make me a park bench with a false bottom. I imagine something like that would work so long as a business let you place it outside their shop...

[+niraD]

Keep in mind that merely hiding a larger urban cache isn't enough. A container can be hidden where no one would ever accidentally find it, and still not be a good cache.

 

A cache also needs to remain hidden to non-geocachers while geocachers search for, find, and replace it. I think that's why larger urban caches tend to go missing, because geocachers inevitably draw attention to them (or to the location), and then the caches get muggled.

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

Keep in mind that merely hiding a larger urban cache isn't enough. A container can be hidden where no one would ever accidentally find it, and still not be a good cache.

 

A cache also needs to remain hidden to non-geocachers while geocachers search for, find, and replace it. I think that's why larger urban caches tend to go missing, because geocachers inevitably draw attention to them (or to the location), and then the caches get muggled.

 

Plus, they shouldn't look dangerous (although now a pressure cooker will look dangerous to most people).

[eyeluvmikyds]

We found a couple today in Urban areas (Although I think "Urban" to me is probably different from an actual large city). But they were fun, one was under the base of a large pine tree at a huge store that people come from all over the world to visit, it's a popular destination for travel bugs and because it is so common to see tourists all over the area checking out the scenery, a group of people under a tree was nothing new and didn't draw attention. Another was in the base of a bush, behind the library, they dug a hole to set it in but did not bury it. Our favorite of the day was a log near the side of a dead end street, someone had hollowed out the bottom so it looked plain until you flipped it over. I haven't went to any yet, but there are quite a few on people's property around here, and one small behind a guard rail at the an orchard (the owner brought my kids mini bottles of water and cookies when she saw them searching!)

[+niraD]

Another was in the base of a bush, behind the library, they dug a hole to set it in but did not bury it.

For the record, the "never buried" guideline might be better understood as a "no digging" guideline. It doesn't prohibit covering the cache with something (what most people think of when they hear the word "buried"). It prohibits caches where "one has to dig or create a hole in the ground when placing or finding" the geocache.

 

But I digress. I now return you to the regularly scheduled topic, "Hiding larger caches in urban areas".

[+redants]

40% of the caches in the urban parts of my area are larger than 100ml. All of the ones in the many parks are larger.

[+terratin]

I found an ammobox in Calgary behind a bush next to the wall belonging to a library. It was full with books

[+kunarion]

Do any of you have any good examples of ammo boxes or good-sized lock-and-locks that you've found which did not involve a tree, bush or stump?

 

These regional ones more or less match your requirements:

http://coord.info/GC449DW

http://coord.info/GC43Y2R

http://coord.info/GCHQ7P

http://coord.info/GC38EY8

 

Further from Atlanta:

http://coord.info/GC1DEW0

 

But none of the above are the standard Large cache in the open on a crowded sidewalk. Sorry.

Edited June 17, 2013 by kunarion

[+va griz]

The most excellent Ghost Train comes to mind. The size isn't specified but since there is an ammo can in the gallery I am hopefully not revealing any state secrets.

[+RoadAndTheSky]

I once built a container out of concrete with a removable lid big enough for a ammo can . It weighed 60 pounds. It looked like a big block

[+JKMonkey]

you could fit decent sized caches in subway stations i suppose, dunno if that would be against the rules but it could work...

[+wmpastor]

Ive found some under bridges that were camouflaged well.

Yes, and I found one in the side of a walking-bridge across a creek where there was a loose stone that lifted out.