How do I find higher difficulty caches?

[+crazypig88]

So, I'm almost a year in to caching. I love it, but it's very unlikely for me to find anything rated higher than a 2.5 or 3 on the Difficulty scale. Are there any tricks? I know they are meant to be hard, But I guess I'm not very good at finding something that isn't in plain sight.

[+Dame Deco]

I would go to local events and meet local cachers--talk to them about the hard finds, maybe find some folks to go hunting for the harder ones with.

[knowschad]

One of the things that makes them so difficult is often that they are different, and because they are different, it makes it tough to really help you out. Of course, another thing that often makes them difficult is simply that they are tiny nanos, but still likely hidden in a way that isn't common in your area.

[+New Market Mallers]

I find that on some of the harder ones around here it helps to read the logs of the previous finders. Sometimes people will put subtle hints in their logs that might give you a little nudge.

 

Also, you can try going on YouTube and looking up clever hides that other people have done around the world. You might not see the exact same hides you are running up against locally, but it might help you get ideas about different ways that people hide caches.

 

Most importantly, have fun. I always have more difficulty finding a cache when I am getting stressed about it. It's a game. If you are getting frustrated, take a deep breath and step back, and then start looking again. Has worked for me on more than one occasion...good luck!

[+narcissa]

Touch everything. Be prepared for multiple visits. Read previous logs. Don't be intimidated by the rating.

[+L0ne.R]

With experience some of the harder ones get to be pretty easy since most of them are copycats. LPCs were head-scratching tough the first time round. I could write a fairly long list of 'hard' caches that are run-of-the-mill once you get a couple of hundred non-PT (especially micro ) caches under your belt.

[+niraD]

I enjoy higher difficulty caches. The comment from narcissa about being prepared for multiple visits is good. In particular, the description of a D4 rating includes the sentence, "May require multiple days / trips to complete." My record so far is 6 DNFs before finally finding the cache on the 7th visit. So search for a while, then stop when it isn't fun any more and log your DNF. Come back later for another try when you think it will be fun again, perhaps when you have some new ideas about where to search.

 

Sometimes there's an obvious place to search, but the cache isn't there. More than once, I've spent a lot of time searching the obvious place(s), only to discover the actual cache hidden a few feet away in a completely different manner than what I was expecting.

 

After spending some time searching, reread the cache description. You may find it easier to notice some wordplay used to convey subtle hints. But don't put too much emphasis on that, because sometimes the "subtle hints" are red herrings, intended to misdirect seekers.

 

Also, some of the general beginners tips that I've posted before are especially applicable to higher difficulty caches:

 

Where would you hide something? Do you notice anything unusual? Is anything too new, too old, too organized (e.g., UPS: an Unnatural Pile of Sticks/Stones), too symmetrical, not quite the right color or shape, etc.? Don’t look only on the ground; the cache may be knee-level, waist-level, eye-level, or overhead. How might the container be secured in place? With magnets? With a hook? With string? With fishing line? With something else? Does anything move when you touch it? (Be careful when touching things though.)

 

Go ahead and read the cache's additional hints (if provided), and read the past logs and look at any photos in the cache's image gallery. They may help you understand what you're looking for, and how/where it may be hidden. It may also help to look at some of the cache containers available online. For example, check out the cache containers sold by Groundspeak. Also, take a look at the Pictures - Cool Cache Containers (CCC's) thread in the forums, and check out some geocaching videos on YouTube.

[+jellis]

Run a PQ with only caches with 3 and above difficulty and go find them, some are easier then listed.

Edited April 8, 2015 by jellis

[+Crow-T-Robot]

 

Also, you can try going on YouTube and looking up clever hides that other people have done around the world. You might not see the exact same hides you are running up against locally, but it might help you get ideas about different ways that people hide caches.

 

 

As someone who has had a devious cache spoiled by a video (not my cache but a cache I had in a bookmark and have since found), I wouldn't recommend this. The video turned what would've been a great AHA find moment into just another cache. It's still a terrific cache but the video took all the deviousness out of it.

 

Of course, sometimes you stumble on some secrets without realizing it and those can be eye opening. There is another cache local to me that I haven't found, but I know where the cache is. I have DNF'd it I think three times and was completely stumped on where it could be hidden. Then I was geocaching while traveling away from home and found a cache that was hidden in a very unique way. As soon as I saw how that particular cache was hidden, I had an AHA moment that this other cache at home might be hidden in the same manner. An email with the CO confirmed that my hunch is correct. So, in a way, that cache was also "spoiled" but not in a bad way (and it's made me wonder about some of the most notoriously difficult caches like this one, that they made be hidden in the same manner).

 

I think it's neat when you have those moments of learning out in the field about how difficult caches are hidden...having that taken away from you by a video or Facebook post, well, that would take a lot of the fun out of things.