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Useless Hints


Jamie Z

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I never "give away" the actual location in my hints unless it's too obvious. Most of my hints are riddles that may or may not lead you in the right direction. Verifying coords is another way of telling you where it is. If you're not sure then get out there and check or sit at home and twiddle your thumbs.

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I wouldn't like to be stumped at the cache site and then decrypt this hint by hand:

 

If you have the time and inclination follow the ATV trail on for another .43 miles and if you cache us home, perhaps we can share a cup of coffee or something. We think it is a plesant walk.

Oh, that's not so bad... You would at least know where to go to kick their a** for a lame hint! :unsure::ph34r:

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I wouldn't like to be stumped at the cache site and then decrypt this hint by hand:

 

If you have the time and inclination follow the ATV trail on for another .43 miles and if you cache us home, perhaps we can share a cup of coffee or something. We think it is a plesant walk.

LOL.. I'd walk up that trail and get a real hint.

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How's is this for a hint? "If you really want to cheat, the monument says : No, on second thought, that'd be way too easy. You should take time to visit it."

 

Do you really think I would have spent the time to go to the first Two legs of you cache and spent ten minuets to decode this just to "Cheat" :lol: .

That hint made me so mad that I will not go for any fo that cache owners caches.

Edited by BAF
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I had one the other day that said "clip,clop, clip, clop"

 

It was hidden under a wooden bridge. I have no idea what it means. The best I could come up with was the side trail was sort of horseshoe shaped.

Most likey the sound it make as you walk over the bridge.

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I had one the other day that said "clip,clop, clip, clop"

 

It was hidden under a wooden bridge.  I have no idea what it means.  The best I could come up with was the side trail was sort of horseshoe shaped.

Most likey the sound it make as you walk over the bridge.

Most likely the sound a horse makes walking across a wooden bridge.

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"Cache is located in a wooded area between the Amphi-Theater and the Soccer Field."

 

Guess what? That's where my GPS led me, too. I didn't need a hint on where to start, but where to find the cache itself. There were several trails running in various directions and the tree cover was causing problems with reception, and knowing where to begin looking would 've helped tremendously.

 

When I got back home, I read some of the older logs and found this entry:

... the clue does not help at all. Below is a clue (decrypt it before you pull out your hair)

Inside or under a fallen tree, about 40' from the "hump" of dirt.

 

Now, that's the kind of information I was hoping to find in the hint, not something that would totally give it away, but something that would get me close enough to give me the confidence that I was looking in the right place.

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i decoded this hint after spending about 30 min. looking for a micro hidden in the woods: " a natural object lying on the ground". within a 360 degree radius of the coords every object, save my jeep, was a "natural object". doh! -harry

Edited by shawhh
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We did one this last weekend that simply said "your target is behind a tree". We're in a bottom in a hardwoods forest. Everything in sight was a tree!

 

I was so freaking mad, until I realized that the bad clue was actually telling me EXACTLY where to look. I just had to notice the right thing. Sometimes clues that seem really bad just look that way until you start noticing the right things.

 

Still, the blood pressure didn't like to decode the hint and read that in the middle of a forest.

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I had one the other day that said "clip,clop, clip, clop"

 

It was hidden under a wooden bridge.  I have no idea what it means.  The best I could come up with was the side trail was sort of horseshoe shaped.

Most likey the sound it make as you walk over the bridge.

Most likely the sound a horse makes walking across a wooden bridge.

My first thought was the reference to the fairy tale,

The Three Billy Goats Gruff... ;)

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In the main body of the cache page there is this:

 

'ARBUTUS MENSIESII', A SMOOTH-BARKED TREE

 

that you are told to look for. The real cache is about 50 feet away.

 

Now the hint is:

 

THE MADRONE TREE OR SHRUB HAS SHINY LEAVES AND EDIBLE RED BERRIES. THE BIRDS LIKE THEM. HAVE FUN!

 

The madrone tree must be arbutus mensiesii, I assume. What that has to do with a tube hidden in a fir tree, I don't know.

 

Sorry about the shouting, but this guy nevers turns off his caps lock key. I even saw a log of his yesterday and it was all caps as well.

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I actually give a useless clue on one of my caches. The cache description says that the hint is a dead giveaway, and I really thought is was. The hint is the kind of tree that the cache is hidden in--and that is the only tree of its kind for at least 200 feet. Unfortunately, I had one cacher say "Now we know what that kind of tree looks like!" (In my defense, it IS the state tree of the state I live in and several others as well, and one that I remember learning about way back in the stone age when I was in school, so I just figured that everyone knew what that kind of tree looked like!)

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Most of those clues are lame or insulting, but how about an "extra" clue that you actually NEED to find the cache? Virtuous person that I am, I set out in an Egyptian canyon (or wadi, as we call them) to find a cache, without the additional hint. I got within a few feet of the cache, and my GPS was pointing straight down a steep cliff. Not having the time to redo my hike, I just went home and logged a DNF. Examing the GPS data later, I discovered that when I was within a few feet of the cache I was at a height of 800 feet. The additional clue said that the find was at 200 feet. Since I had spent the last 3 hours choosing which way to go through the canyon based on whether the incline was too steep to be safe or not, I was not pleased to realize I should have also been factoring in my altitude when making my choices. (I had falsely assumed that the cache was in a plateau where, if you got near it, by definition you'd be at the right altitude, so all I had to do was pick the safest route to the right coordinates.) Seems to me this "additional hint" should have been part of the unencryped info.

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How about if you're in the field and you hand decrypt this clue:

 

A band that Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds formed in the late 1970s.

Why, I'd look in a Rockpile. ;)

Yes, I looked it up before I went. Had I decrypted it in the field, I would have been pissed since I never heard of them!

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After experiencing the "name of cache" cache, take a walk down the main trail ( be Careful) to view Rattle Snake Creek passing under a massive granite cliff and out the other side through the "name of cache". If the weather is nice and warm you might have a picnic lunch with you and you might want to take a dip.Just checked if the cache is still there. YES it is! Weeds have grown up a bit, try a little harder.

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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Warm Fuzzies - Fuzzy:<BR><BR>"You can find it."<BR><BR>Where the cache is hidden, there's a very unassuming rusty old can. Guess where the goodies are.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Fuzzy, that's clever. But that falls under the heading of "It's only useful once you know where the cache is." Having read that hint in the woods, I would have been irritated, and probably not have looked for a can, but after finding the cache and noticing the can, I would have put it together. Not sure how many folks would use this clue to its potential.<BR><BR>Jamie

I don't know about others, but I like it! IMO, that's how hints should be. It's a HINT, that's why they call it that not a "give away". :lol:

 

What can I say? I'm a weirdo. :huh:

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That's the entire cache description. No hint. It's in western Alaska near Nome. The only guy who attempted it had to abandon his quest as a Tundra fire blocked his path. <BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=4697" TARGET=_blank>Kougarok</A><BR><BR>Ok who's ready to go??<BR><BR>Alan

OK, I'm intrigued. Sounds like my kinda cache. I'll keep it in mind if I ever make it up there.

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One of Team Cotati's fave hints:

"You have a GPS and coordinates. What more do you need?"

 

Yeah, this hint is from a cache in my area (NM) that I did this week, and let me tell you, it was not an interesting, challenging, picturesque, or fun search, it was in a nasty trash-strewn, sticker-infested field next to a highway, next to a business---the cache contained icky plastic baby toys; there was absolutely no redeeming qualities to this cache, it was JUST THERE. And I was ANNOYED!!! :lol: There are so many great caches around here. Hint should've been: Don't bother!

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My all time favorite hint is a 2 paragraph long story on how the person who left the cache got lost on his way to the cache the second time. This cache is in the middle of a lake on an island. Not only did it waste time translating the hit, he also managed to freak out the people in my group.

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Forgot to include that the hunt area was at an four way intersection of two trail. With all several different ways to enter the hunt area!!

Been there. Done that.

"There is actually more than one way to this cache. Parking for this park is located .2 miles down the road from park entrance. However, it can also be accessed via Bear Mountain Museum. The gate that leads to the trail from the museum is not always open, though.

 

Additional Hints (Encrypt)

 

to left of the trail under a rock; steep spot so don't slide back down when done, keep going up towards trail"

 

Depends which entrance/trail we use, doesn't it? We couldn't figure out how to get in from the parking area .2 mile down from the park entrance. So, we went in from the museum. Then, it's on the right!

 

Great cache though! One for our continuing series of caches in/near or under major bridges.

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