Best experiences with stages

[+dr_jani]

Hi, this is my first post on the forum. I wasn't able to find anything similar in already posted topics, so...

 

I'm planning on hiding a geocache on a very special location. In a circle of just 200 meters there are six different army bunkers - not something big, just a few square meters. It's not possible to hide something physical in each bunker - they are too small, so the final stage would have to be somewhere outside in the woods.

 

So the idea is to use bunker walls to write some clues in each bunker. So here's the dilemma: I don't want to write just different numbers - too boring. On one of my similar caches I used UV paint. It's cool, but I want to try something new. The bunkers are too close to each other to write coordinates; you can easily find all entrances. So there would have to be some kind of written field puzzles that are easy enough to solve.

 

Do you have any experiences with caches like that? What else could be done to get some clues on the field that can save a puzzle and give final coordinates?

 

Thank you for all the answers and ideas!

[+lee737]

Writing coords on a pre-existing structure is not considered good form.... and (without reading them) I suspect against the rules.....

[+narcissa]

A piece of fishing line with knots tied into it.

[+J Grouchy]

Yeah...that'd be defacing someone else's property. No better than graffiti or tagging. Without knowing the materials involved or the construction, it's difficult to offer up any alternative suggestions. If there is some sort of steel structure, perhaps a you can use magnetic sheet and write on those. Or if it's all concrete, are there any sort of crevices or cracks or gaps? Or maybe there is some sort of pre-existing markings you could take advantage of to create a field puzzle?

[+dr_jani]

The bunkers are made of concrete. As far as I remember, there weren't any crevices or cracks, and definitely not pre-existing markings.

I wasn't thinking about grafitti - need something more subtle and harder to notice.

[+niraD]

I've seen geocaching game pieces made from concrete. The CO built a mold, used the mold to make the concrete piece, and then placed the finished piece on site. Sometimes the concrete piece is used as camouflage, completely covering and enclosing the actual cache container. Sometimes the concrete piece is used as part of a field puzzle of some sort. But it sounds like concrete pieces would blend in at the location you have in mind.

[+wmpastor]

Often such things have letters and/or numbers already on them. Do something creative with those. This eliminates writing on the items (not allowed) and creates a "virtual stage" that eliminates some future maintenance for you.

Edited November 16, 2016 by wmpastor

[+vw_k]

Is there anything that can be counted? For example the number of bunkers, total number of windows, number of bars on a gate near the trailhead. You could make cachers count almost anything and turn it into a field puzzle without having to paint numbers on walls. I have even seen puzzles involving numbers on nearby signs and the phone number on a food van that parks at the trailhead on certain evenings!

 

Or if there are bunkers in a circle, how about making cachers visit all of them in a certain order with their tracklog turned on so they draw a star!

 

Another idea would be firetacks in the trees making it a night cache and leading searchers to the final location.

Edited November 16, 2016 by vw_k

[+barefootjeff]

Something I've done a few times in situations like this where the waypoints have to be virtual is to provide a series of photos which have to be matched to the corresponding waypoints to determine the coordinates, for example GC61HCN.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

A piece of fishing line with knots tied into it.

 

I created a multi that used a piece of rope with beads tied into it to provide the coordinates to the second stage. The final was near a ropes course, and even though it wasn't on that property someone that manages the course complained that people finding the cache were going onto private property. Since I didn't really have a way to stop people from crossing that property (it wasn't marked) I ended up archiving the cache.