Hides in Plain Sight

[+TwistedCube]

My absolute favorite caches to find are ones that are in plain sight, what I mean by this is that the cache looks like something that should be there but it is actually a geocache. I have trouble thinking of ideas for these so your help, well.......helps!

I found one that was an ammo can wielded to a utility box on the wall of a silo. The really cool part is that the cache was painted EXACTLY like the box and silo. It even had fake rust on it which really stumped me because the silo was VERY rusty. 

[WW41]

Welded?

 

[+kunarion]

31 minutes ago, TwistedCube said:

My absolute favorite caches to find are ones that are in plain sight, what I mean by this is that the cache looks like something that should be there but it is actually a geocache. I have trouble thinking of ideas for these so your help, well.......helps!

I found one that was an ammo can wielded to a utility box on the wall of a silo. The really cool part is that the cache was painted EXACTLY like the box and silo. It even had fake rust on it which really stumped me because the silo was VERY rusty. 

 

There's a Cool Cache Containers thread around here.  Here are some "plain sight" caches I posted in that thread:

Hummingbird Feeder

Security Camera

Fake Sprinkler Head (using it in ways other than as a "sprinkler head")

 

I also have some bales of fake pine straw (red-brown "Textraw").  It can be melted together to form covers for cache boxes, usually with the pine straw sticking up like "dead plants".  A cover for the lid of a large ammo can made that container surprisingly tough for people to find!

Edited September 16, 2017 by kunarion

[+BCandMsKitty]

27 minutes ago, Auntie Quated said:

Welded?

 

Why not?

Can't be stolen!

[+cerberus1]

3 hours ago, TwistedCube said:

My absolute favorite caches to find are ones that are in plain sight, what I mean by this is that the cache looks like something that should be there but it is actually a geocache. I have trouble thinking of ideas for these so your help, well.......helps!

I found one that was an ammo can wielded to a utility box on the wall of a silo. The really cool part is that the cache was painted EXACTLY like the box and silo. It even had fake rust on it which really stumped me because the silo was VERY rusty. 

I agree with kunarion, the cool cache containers thread may give some ideas.

I'm not big on those, mostly because we've seen the damage from those looking for well-hidden hides.

One, a memorial, had all it's light panels and electrical covers removed (with most not replaced) just-in-case that was the cache.  Most of the flag pole supports were removed too.  It turned out to be under a bush.  We found that out by a call that someone emptied  flower urns looking for it and the cops were called.    That township probably won't have folks caching there a while...

The two parks we asked to place and got shooed away ...  one because someone ripped up the sprinkler heads right in front of the township building, another removing a section of a stone wall from a historical site,  didn't help our efforts with the community much...

[+niraD]

1 hour ago, cerberus1 said:

I'm not big on those, mostly because we've seen the damage from those looking for well-hidden hides.

I've seen high-difficulty camouflaged caches where the listing specified areas where the cache was NOT hidden, just to keep people from destroying those areas with repeated intense searching.

And I'm a fan of the idea that it should be possible to identify a well-camouflaged cache as a cache without doing anything that would be destructive or harmful if the object were actually the thing that it is camouflaged as.

[+L0ne.R]

Here's my example of a bad in-plain-sight cache. 

Ground zero was at a large electric unit at the base of a tennis court light. There were multiple grey utility boxes and exposed wires going in and out of the boxes. The hint was "Yank hard". Are you kidding me --- yank hard on wires and electric utility boxes. Turns out on of the well camo'd electric boxes -- the owner aged the box well to fit in with the other boxes-- needed to be yanked hard to get it to off the metal plate back. The owner used a lot of earth magnets. People loved it though, it got a lot of FPs. 

My favorite IPS cache was a foam backed piece of sandpaper painted the same red color as the bricks on the wall and the same size and shape as the other bricks. A really good match. It was placed where one of the bricks was missing. When removed there was a centrifuge tube inside. I generally do not like nano caches but this one was well crafted, in good shape, there was no damage to the wall,  the active owner did not remove a brick in order to hide the cache, and I had never found a cache like it so it was a very unique experience for me. 

Creative birdhouses where it's obvious it's the geocache are another favorite as long as the birdhouse cache is unique (I'm not a fan of cheap dollar store birdhouses that fall apart quickly and require no level of skill to create), not abandoned, is in good shape, the cache part of the container is 100ml in capacity or larger, and the birdhouse is not nailed/screwed (or too tightly ziptied) into the tree. 

[+TwistedCube]

8 hours ago, Auntie Quated said:

Welded?

 

Sorry I misspelled it. Yes it was. An ammo can was welded to a utility box. 

[+L0ne.R]

1 hour ago, TwistedCube said:

Sorry I misspelled it. Yes it was. An ammo can was welded to a utility box. 

And permission was listed in the cache description?

[+barefootjeff]

This one of mine is actually a physical waypoint in a multi rather than the cache itself. The fire pit is a fake (and somewhere that no-one in their right mind would build a fire) with the underside of the log sanded down and the coordinates of the next stage burnt into it with a soldering iron.

 

[+TwistedCube]

15 hours ago, L0ne.R said:

And permission was listed in the cache description?

Yeah, the CO knows the silo owners.

[+MysteryGuy1]

I found a cache like this just the other day.  It was on a guard rail, but instead of the typical magnetic container, this was a metallic tube with a screw on cap.  It was placed through a hole in the rail such that you had to unscrew the lid to remove it, and then the log was inside.  But it wasn't "hidden."  This was rated a 4 for difficulty, but I suspect most experienced cachers would have little trouble spotting it.

Edited September 19, 2017 by MysteryGuy1

[+kunarion]

25 minutes ago, MysteryGuy1 said:

I found a cache like this just the other day.  It was on a guard rail, but instead of the typical magnetic container, this was a metallic tube with a screw on cap.  It was placed through a hole in the rail such that you had to unscrew the lid to remove it, and then the log was inside.  But it wasn't "hidden."  This was rated a 4 for difficulty, but I suspect most experienced cachers would have little trouble spotting it.

 

I placed a similar one.  The fasteners are in only half the holes, in no particular pattern, so there were several placement possibilities.  My cache is in a hole backed by a rubber bumper.  It's a micro bison tube embedded in a resin "nut and bolt" which is magnetically held to the rail.  It was molded from the same kind of hardware that's on the guard rail and it's painted to match the others.

[+RufusClupea]

By "plain sight" in the thread topic, I thought the OP meant something different.  We once followed a trail a short way into the woods to find an ammo box sitting atop a bare 3' high knoll.  I moved it 3 feet to behind a fallen tree just out of concern that it'd be muggled.

[+noncentric]

28 minutes ago, RufusClupea said:

By "plain sight" in the thread topic, I thought the OP meant something different.  We once followed a trail a short way into the woods to find an ammo box sitting atop a bare 3' high knoll.  I moved it 3 feet to behind a fallen tree just out of concern that it'd be muggled.

I'd consider that more a case of "cache left exposed" or "cache camo not replaced".

The thread topic is a category of cache hide, sometimes abbreviated as "HIPS" (hidden in plain sight).

[+CAVinoGal]

One we found that is HIPS is GC2YDAQ - it looks like it belongs where it is, but only the hint and knowing you are near GZ lets you know it's a geocache.  This would be tough to get to the log if the outdoor part of the museum is full of people; it was empty the day we were there in March as the museum wasn't open for the season yet.  Anyone visiting the outdoor exhibit would think this is simply part of the equipment display.  It is very well done.

Another cacher in our area does gadget caches and has a series (with permission) at local Dutch Bros coffee franchises - in plain sight, and very cleverly done.

One memorable ammo can cache is placed (with permission) in a display of various ammo cans at a military museum.  It has a prominent geocaching sticker on the side of the can, and the difficulty comes in retrieving the log out of the sight of muggles.  The museum personnel are well aware of the cache!  

[+NYPaddleCacher]

6 hours ago, CAVinoGal said:

One memorable ammo can cache is placed (with permission) in a display of various ammo cans at a military museum.  It has a prominent geocaching sticker on the side of the can, and the difficulty comes in retrieving the log out of the sight of muggles.  The museum personnel are well aware of the cache!  

There's a museum in the Adirondacks that has an outdoor sports exhibit, include a small exhibit on geocaching.  There's a ammo can with a geocaching sticker on it but the opening is covered with a screwed on plastic cover.  It's not an actual geocache but there's one just outside the museum.

The fake bolt cache has become almost ubiquitous.  One of the best I've seen was on a  bridge on a rural road that went over a pretty creek (which has some decent trout fishing).  The bridge had recently been replaced and was painted a light green.  The fake bolt was painted the same color.  

[+hzoi]

You can see this large cache from your car, driving down the road.  (I'd link to street view, but Google hasn't gotten around to this particular back road yet.)  It's behind a fence, which has for the most part protected it -- it did get stolen once, but once in 10+ years isn't bad for a 5 gallon bucket on the side of the road that is in no way hidden.

[+TwistedCube]

On 9/16/2017 at 10:43 AM, TwistedCube said:

My absolute favorite caches to find are ones that are in plain sight, what I mean by this is that the cache looks like something that should be there but it is actually a geocache. I have trouble thinking of ideas for these so your help, well.......helps!

I found one that was an ammo can wielded to a utility box on the wall of a silo. The really cool part is that the cache was painted EXACTLY like the box and silo. It even had fake rust on it which really stumped me because the silo was VERY rusty. 

Just to clarify. I meant caches disguised as everyday objects hidden in plain sight, such as: Utility covers, PVC pipes, fake bricks, etc. Basically something that is a cache but LOOKS like something else. So camouflaged that you'd walk right past it without realizing.

Edited September 23, 2017 by TwistedCube