Blog Post: Hints on geocache hints

[+Harry Dolphin]

2 hours ago, The Jester said:

One of the funniest I remember was a hint about the type of tree it was hidden by - and they got the tree wrong!  Hidden before the leaves came out and they said Alder but it was a Big Leaf Maple.  They were somewhat embarrassed as their occupation was forest related...

 

And how many COs think that every evergreen is a pine?  "Hanging in the pine tree."  Nope.  That's a spruce. 

[+barefootjeff]

28 minutes ago, Harry Dolphin said:

2 hours ago, The Jester said:

One of the funniest I remember was a hint about the type of tree it was hidden by - and they got the tree wrong!  Hidden before the leaves came out and they said Alder but it was a Big Leaf Maple.  They were somewhat embarrassed as their occupation was forest related...

 

And how many COs think that every evergreen is a pine?  "Hanging in the pine tree."  Nope.  That's a spruce. 

 

Certainly not here where all the native trees are evergreen (and most are eucalypts). I've used the common name for a couple of tree types in my hints (red gum and blackbutt) which I hope I got right (no-one's complained yet), but there's a local CO who delights in using the botanical name for plants in his hints so it pays to check beforehand on those, especially if there's unlikely to be mobile data access anywhere near GZ.

[+thebruce0]

33 minutes ago, Harry Dolphin said:

And how many COs think that every evergreen is a pine?  "Hanging in the pine tree."  Nope.  That's a spruce. 

Yep. I try to remember to just leave it as coniferous

 

[+Goldenwattle]

9 hours ago, on4bam said:

 

Pretty common here and a hint like that is a giveaway.  Hints shouldn't be to simple anyway, where's the fun in that?

Depends on the situation. If I had a cache hidden where lots of muggles could see someone hunting for a cache, I would make the hint simple, precise and accurate to allow the finder to find the cache quickly and not draw too much attention to themselves and therefore the cache. The cache might stay safer then. A CO gives a vague hint, if any, and might think it's funny that a searcher spends ages embarrassingly searching in front of witnesses, but have they considered this puts their cache more at risk?

I had one well hidden cache that due to building work has become muggle central. It was marked 3D. I didn't want the builders to see people hanging around and then later go to see what they were looking for, so I added exact, precise instructions in the hint to make the find quick and the finders don't need to delay their time there. Safer for the cache. I left it 3D because of the muggle factor. When the building is finished I will reconsider the hint.

[+niraD]

5 hours ago, The Jester said:

6 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

We've found that most here read the hint before they head out.  I feel it's simply human nature. 

There are a lot of us around here, like me, that don't read hints until we "need" them.

 

Yeah, this difference can be as significant as the difference between groups that play "huckle buckle beanstalk" style to let everyone have a chance to spot the hide, and groups that play "three musketeers" style to declare a group victory as soon as anyone spots the hide.

 

I've been in groups where some people were reading the hint for the next cache while we were still on the way, and others wanted to reserve the hint for after they had searched unsuccessfully. It got tense a few times, especially when the hint was a spoiler.

[+Goldenwattle]

8 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

most not even a thought that someone from another country would stop by

Foreign geocachers are not uncommon here,  so I think it's better not to use hints that are only understood by locals.

[+CAVinoGal]

5 hours ago, niraD said:

I've been in groups where some people were reading the hint for the next cache while we were still on the way, and others wanted to reserve the hint for after they had searched unsuccessfully. It got tense a few times, especially when the hint was a spoiler.

 

It varies day to day with me.  Sometimes (probably more often than not, to be honest) I'll read the description, the hint, and a few recent logs as we are driving or walking to the cache.  By WE, I mean my husband and I, we often cache together.  By myself, I'll look at the recent logs before getting to GZ, but usually forget to look at the hint.  Sometimes I need it, sometimes I don't.  And with a group, I'll usually peek at the hint, others are reading previous logs, and some are just looking for the cache!  It's a toss up who is more likely to come up with it first!

[+The Jester]

8 hours ago, Harry Dolphin said:

 

And how many COs think that every evergreen is a pine?  "Hanging in the pine tree."  Nope.  That's a spruce. 

And then there's the Douglas Fir, which is really a pine...

[+hal-an-tow]

21 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

 

Most hints we've ever seen were meant for people who'd understand it,  if they'd only give it some thought.

Similar to on4bam, I don't feel a "hint" means I should hold your hand and direct you there.  It's a hint...

I don't think anyone here would find "Yo, Adriaaan" tough to decipher. 

We've yet to see a hint that is meant for an international audience, most not even a thought that someone from another country would stop by.

  - When I'm bored and look at caches in other countries, I use google a lot.  Both your examples come up right away.  

 

On my garmin, to see the size of the container I'm  hunting (something I really want to know  ) , I go to a screen which shows me that and the decoded hint as well, something I may not want to know , but  I  get to see it anyway.  Recently I went for a country walk and came to a GZ, looked at the GPS ,and saw the hint 'Neil Armstrong' . I was by a wooden stile , which for anyone not familiar with the word, is an an arrangement of , er , small steps like mini bridges allowing a walker to cross a low fence into a farmer's field and continue along the legally sanctioned footpath .

 

I reckon that's probably the closest to an internationally understandable yet indirect and witty hint you could get.  It made me laugh , and got the cache a favourite point from me .

[+VAVAPAM]

Loved this set of hints, particularly #2    & #6: 

 

[1]Look for a Chamaecyparis
[2]A Chamaecyparis is not a dinosaur, it's a plant
[3]It's hanging in a bright yellow shrub, come on!
[4]It's not in the shortest one.
[5]Try the one facing the back of the property, not the side.
[6]Seriously, stop reading hints and start looking!

 

I'm definitely of the belief that the hint should be just that:  A hint, not a give-away.  Example for my cache contained in/camoed by one of NINE identical items: 

You do NOT need to handle any plants.
Don't be upset - no need to count to ten!

 

No, that hint won't make sense until you get there, but when you're close, I do believe would make the difference between a DNF & FI.

 

As to not knowing what the hint means (for example, when I found the cache with the first set of hints mentioned above, only #s 1 & 2 where there), I have learned something from finding out what they mean ... and I enjoy it, consider it a bonus for caching.  I now know what that plant looks like, how to identify an Ironwood tree, who Adrian is (heh heh), etc. They also might serve as a clue to the CO's background or interests, personalizing it a bit.  Perhaps those hints that aren't commonly known don't bother me as much because I include hint-reading in my cache "presearch".  I guess some might think of that activity as borderline cheating, but most times I use a GPSr that doesn't connect to the internet, and I commonly search for caches in areas where I don't get cell service so can't look up a hint while in the field.

 

But I will say that there have been a couple of times when I didn't even understand the hint for a tough puzzle.  "Man, I'm screwed," is my first thought, then after finding a possible meaning, "How does that even fit?"  In the end, most of the time it did actually nudge my thoughts in the right direction or at least give me a strong feeling that I was on the right track if the hint and my solution started aligning.  "Yesss!"

 

I definitely tailor my hints to the Difficulty rating of the cache, and vice versa.  I've also altered my cache hints to take into account the behavior of The App.  Since the description is not front and center - and I often have hints couched within the description - I've finally decided that it's not too snarky for the separate hint to refer the cacher back to the description, but also include an additional one.  In the following example, only the second hint was showing previously.

Example:

A) Description contains hints and intel.
[B)] Posted

 

I am mulling over the fact that it may be no hint at all for folks from a different country or era.  It's extremely rare that we have foreign cachers in this area.  There's a German cacher that passes through from time to time; we do have a UK-based facility, but visitors associated with it aren't cachers ... so far.  I had removed an additional hint (as I decided it was superfluous) that I now realize could fall into the "Hint=Not a Hint" category unless you happened to be alive during Larry Bird's heyday, or aren't a sports fan. ("The Hick from French Lick")  The only one left of that sort (a reference to Miss Jane Hathaway) is for a cache that's so easy that only super-newbies wouldn't find it in a few minutes if not seconds.  I'm gonna leave it, so new generations can discover The Beverly Hillbillies.   

Edited November 14, 2019 by VAVAPAM
auto-emoji is a thing?; can't leave well enough alone

[+Oxford Stone]

I put out a series of caches a year ago where two long stretches of the path have no decent hiding places except a fence along one side - so I attached bisons to the wire by post with diagonal supports on each side and used the hint "CND" (as in the CND / Peace logo). A couple of people saying they didn't get it, one saying they'd seen elsewhere (it's been copied locally this year), most people like it.

 

 

 

 

 

[+thebruce0]

14 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

23 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

most not even a thought that someone from another country would stop by

Foreign geocachers are not uncommon here,  so I think it's better not to use hints that are only understood by locals.

 

And we can't expect every geocacher, especially new ones who only know their local neighbourhood, to abide by some arbitrary worldwide knowledge ethic when placing geocaches (or finding them!) and in that respect, I don't expect every hint I read to be 100% understandable by myself, whether in my own area or a foreign area.

[+thebruce0]

In a way, the hint is like a little puzzle design. It is not easy to strike a good balance of understandability for the appropriate audience, relevance, fun, and challenge.

[+designlizard]

21 hours ago, IceColdUK said:

Apologies Jester, I completely misread your reply.  I thought you were suggesting I had no idea what the hint meant.

 

So, you illustrate the point nicely: even with Google you couldn’t decipher the hint.  I’m sure the CO in this case had nothing against those cachers who aren’t fans of Sylvester Stallone’s films, but clearly they would be disadvantaged!

Once I start hiding, ALL of my hints are going to be "Yo, Adriaaan, Are you feeling herassed?"

[+NYPaddleCacher]

19 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

When setting my hints, I try to visualise someone's GPSr leading them to within about five metres of the cache and then asking what in their surroundings they should be looking for to focus their search.

 

I find that kind of hint very useful.  I was searching for a cache in Paris that was on a fairly narrow street, with buildings tall enough that the coordinates might have led me to either side.  The hint was enough to tell me to focus on the side of the street where the cache was hidden.   If I recall, it might even have said something like "look north".

 

[+cerberus1]

17 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

Foreign geocachers are not uncommon here,  so I think it's better not to use hints that are only understood by locals.

 

Caches we've noticed that are meant for international  viewing, we see they also have a couple languages in it's description.  

A hint that's common enough for all to understand should be perfect for them...

 

[+cerberus1]

4 hours ago, Oxford Stone said:

I put out a series of caches a year ago where two long stretches of the path have no decent hiding places except a fence along one side - so I attached bisons to the wire by post with diagonal supports on each side and used the hint "CND" (as in the CND / Peace logo).

A couple of people saying they didn't get it, one saying they'd seen elsewhere (it's been copied locally this year), most people like it.

 

I had no clue what a "cnd" was, but I'm old enough to have had "peace symbols"  on jewelry, garb, and on the back of my '65 VW.    

If you said  "Peace",  I probably would have visualized it quickly.    Clever idea.

[+bflentje]

 

My favorite is.. "hidden joe-schmo style".. while visiting any locale foreign to me. Who the heck is joe-schmoe and how would I know how he hides.

[+The Jester]

1 hour ago, bflentje said:

 

My favorite is.. "hidden joe-schmo style".. while visiting any locale foreign to me. Who the heck is joe-schmoe and how would I know how he hides.

Or one that see around here "typical NW style hide" - most of us can think of 5 (or more) hide styles used commonly around here - which one do you mean?

[+Goldenwattle]

On 11/14/2019 at 8:12 AM, Harry Dolphin said:

 

And how many COs think that every evergreen is a pine?  "Hanging in the pine tree."  Nope.  That's a spruce. 

Quite a few. Some even call Australian native trees, such as a Casuarina a 'pine.' And we have other native trees which some people call pines too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casuarina

 

[+cerberus1]

I tagged along with the other 2/3rds on one of her FTF-crazed cache finds once.

A cemetery hide, the hint was "pining", and she found it in the middle of an arborvitae.     

 

[+humboldt flier]

How about the useless drivel ... hidden in the style of cacher "XYZ" or the Chattanooga style.  etc, etc, etc.

 

Means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to a cacher from out of the region; thus the hint is as useless as >>>>>>>>>>. 

 

[+humboldt flier]

On 11/13/2019 at 3:56 PM, Goldenwattle said:

Foreign geocachers are not uncommon here,  so I think it's better not to use hints that are only understood by locals.

 

I would extend that from foreign to anyone "extra regional".  Using hints which are / or may only be understood by locals is ... (you find your own descriptor).

[+humboldt flier]

Sooooo, here I am in the Northern California Redwoods where the forest lands have been logged over twice or thrice  leaving many, many stumps and slash piles ... invariably someone uses "near a stump" as their hint.   GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR "That is the best you can do???????

 

 

When caching in other areas someone will denote a stump or log which is dimensionally akin to a pencil or a stick when compared to monster Redwoods or Douglas Firs which abound in this area ... so I do cut them quite a bit of slack, however, chuckles and guffaws usually accompany my incredulity.

[+Goldenwattle]

11 hours ago, humboldt flier said:

a stump

 

Or use "stump" for a fallen down trunk of a tree. That's a log, not a stump.

[+barefootjeff]

3 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

 

Or use "stump" for a fallen down trunk of a tree. That's a log, not a stump.

 

 

My hint for this is "a tree past its prime", so it'll remain valid even if it lies down.

[+humboldt flier]

8 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

 

 

My hint for this is "a tree past its prime", so it'll remain valid even if it lies down.

 

I would buy into that ... and this addled old brain may even properly compute.