Jump to content

Things you wish you knew for your first cache


BethDaddyKaty

Recommended Posts

I was wondering now more people are coming into Geocaching "cold" having downloading the app (myself included), what do you wish you'd known for your first cache.

 

Mine would be that logs are really rewarding for COs, and it makes a big difference if you say a bit about how you found the cache, what you thought about it. It also helps the CO improve for further caches.

 

I think this was perhaps more obvious when most were ammo boxes with larger log books but most paper logs around here only have space for a date and name. I wish for my first log it came up with a prompt saying "We'll send a copy of your log to the cache owner, so please let them know a bit about what you liked about the cache."

 

I appreciate that the logs aren't transactional and a CO doesn't have the right to dictate what logs they get, but I wish I'd have known that better logs = better caches, because COs get to know what is and isn't working.

 

At the start I thought a log was just a matter of recording the find, and a simple "QEF here, TTFC" was enough.

Edited by daddybeth
  • Upvote 3
  • Helpful 3
  • Love 2
Link to comment

That the difference between where the GPSr says the cache is, and where the cache really is, can be quite different.  (And also that urban micros may not be the optimal first cache experience for a n00b.)

 

This cache was our first attempt.  It was listed on the north side of the street.  It was located on the south side of the street.  We eventually found it (as our 127th find, not our first), but it made for a pretty disappointing first experience.  Thankfully we stuck with it.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
5 hours ago, daddybeth said:

I was wondering now more people are coming into Geocaching "cold" having downloading the app (myself included), what do you wish you'd known for your first cache.

 

Mine would be that logs are really rewarding for COs, and it makes a big difference if you say a bit about how you found the cache, what you thought about it. It also helps the CO improve for further caches.

We were so excited when finding our very first cache, I made sure to log our excitement and the surroundings. It was hidden in the woods and nearby was a natural bubbling spring. The CO was appreciative and friended us after the log. So I guessed we did it right the first time. lol I think cache owners love to hear how you found and enjoyed their cache, I know I do, so make sure to write a few things about the adventure, cache, etc. 

Link to comment
12 hours ago, daddybeth said:

I was wondering now more people are coming into Geocaching "cold" having downloading the app (myself included), what do you wish you'd known for your first cache.

 

I wish for my first log it came up with a prompt saying "We'll send a copy of your log to the cache owner, so please let them know a bit about what you liked about the cache."

 

You would have loved it when the "Intro" app had  "That's one more find for me !" as the default.    And that's all on most.   :)

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
13 hours ago, daddybeth said:

I was wondering now more people are coming into Geocaching "cold" having downloading the app (myself included), what do you wish you'd known for your first cache.

 

From the subject line, I thought you meant "things you wish you knew for your first hide", but from your post, it looks like you meant "things you wish you knew for your first find".

 

For my first find, I can't think of anything I wish I knew. But I was introduced to geocaching by a friend who taught several of us the basics of geocaching, and then took us on a hike to find a few nearby geocaches. Smartphones didn't exist at the time.

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment

Similar to Harry Dolphin and niraD maybe, I don't feel we needed that much.     :)

Maybe it was because in order to start this hobby, we had to buy two handheld GPSrs .  Upgraded with two more a year later. 

 - It wasn't a simple "load a free app n go" on the phone you already have...   

Now invested in the hobby,  we wanted to gain as much information as we could to warrant the costs. 

When we started, we already knew we didn't have to sign an event's log. I started bringing copies for the folks who still argue about that today:D

 

We've noticed that some are asking the most basic questions these days.  Have an idea why, but definitely another topic...

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
1 hour ago, cerberus1 said:

Similar to Harry Dolphin and niraD maybe, I don't feel we needed that much.     :)

Maybe it was because in order to start this hobby, we had to buy two handheld GPSrs .  Upgraded with two more a year later. 

 - It wasn't a simple "load a free app n go" on the phone you already have...   

Now invested in the hobby,  we wanted to gain as much information as we could to warrant the costs. 

When we started, we already knew we didn't have to sign an event's log. I started bringing copies for the folks who still argue about that today:D

 

We've noticed that some are asking the most basic questions these days.  Have an idea why, but definitely another topic...

I started geocaching without a hand held GPS, and no phone then. My car GPS got me to the area, but was unsuitable for looking for the cache. I was selective in the caches I would find, and also printed many of them out on (waste) paper. Some the hints were good enough to use to find the cache, while others, when I got to the place I would search suitable hides, or sometimes basically track previous finders to the hide. Footprints were the best, but mostly there weren't any of them, so grass leaning over showing the direction someone had walked, or a moved pebble; that sort of thing. Unfortunately though, I often couldn't tell the difference between where a kangaroo travelled or a human travelled. (Except for different footprints naturally :lol:). I found 180 caches before I bought a GPS.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment

I started with an iPhone 3GS, and haven't used anything BUT iPhone, upgrading generally on a 2 year cycle.  I haven't had any experience that would convince me to tell myself when starting out that I'd need a handheld GPS. But I'd say what I still say now anyway - use what works best for you.  I would say, don't compete - just enjoy the hobby!

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment

It was after my first cache that I found out the difference (around here upwards of 400 feet) between NAD27 (GPSr setting) & WSG84 (website setting).  I'm surprised I found the cache but back home I realized I'd put it back in the wrong (but very similar) spot.  It meant another 5 mile hike (with about 1200 foot rise) to put it right - this was in 2001 so there were no other visitors between my trips.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment

First I was shown geocaching, must have been around 2004/5, by a guy at work . He showed some caches at the computer screen and told he's going to get one on the way home. On hindsight, I wish he had told me more so I might have picked up the hobby, but at the time I was more annoyed he was doing this on work time. I was abroad at the time so by the time I got home, I had forgotten all about it.

 

I found my first cache around 2007. It was a third stage of a multi/mystery under rock.Obviously, I thought it was an old grenade stolen from nearby garrison and didn't touch it. I copied the word CACHE written on the "shell" and googled it at home. Then I went back and opened it. Now, if this had been the final with the cache note and log book I might have started then and there, but instead there was just obscure instructions to the final that were useless unless you had found the previous stages.

 

So it took ten years until I was shown properly how caching works. I made my first finds with a bona fide cacher with a gps unit and all the works. I had nothing except the map memorized in my head. I got a good lesson, though. The only thing I can complain is that I was specifically told to use as many acronyms as possible in my logs and preferably just KK (finnish equivalent of TFTC) to make it as compact as possible. That's a pity, because those first finds were most memorable, while now it's not that exciting anymore that I would have the enthusiasm to write proper logs for each cache.

  • Upvote 1
  • Surprised 1
Link to comment
On ‎12‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 7:49 PM, cerberus1 said:

We've noticed that some are asking the most basic questions these days.  Have an idea why, but definitely another topic...

1 hour ago, HunterandSamuel said:

Maybe because there are new members here asking basic questions about geocaching? The wheel keeps turning. Like a moderator said ...you don't have to answer all questions asked. 

 

You missed the point.   :)

Some are asking the most basic questions that are already in Geocaching 101, an introduction of basics to the hobby.

 - Questions that can be answered easily by simply reading it...

  • Upvote 2
  • Helpful 1
  • Love 1
Link to comment
4 hours ago, HunterandSamuel said:

Maybe because there are new members here asking basic questions about geocaching? The wheel keeps turning. Like a moderator said ...you don't have to answer all questions asked. 

However, the problem as I said in my OP is that with the app more and more people will do what I did and download the app as a one off afternoon activity.

 

As a business model that works great - hook 100 in, convert 1 to a premium member, job done.

 

However, with geocaching where there is a huge reliance on volunteers... I don't know. Seems having some basic barrier to entry like having to read a tutorial would make sense. Found a cache today where - clearly with the best of intentions - someone had written "Thanks for the cache - we really enjoyed finding it" across two pages of the log, enough for 40-odd actual logs.

 

Go to think how different 2020 is to 2010. Hopefully Groundspeak have better cards than they've shown to date. Imagine if Google pay a few £ to display all geocaches on every Google Map. Everything would be ruined overnight.

Link to comment

I hid my first cache after 800 finds. I thought the nano (a lump of pink chewing gum) was special. Which just goes to show how inexperienced I was still after 800 finds. Nano plus thinking that lump of chewing gum cache (I have seen many since) was special. That cache is archived now, and I have never placed another nano cache. I can't say I should have thought I was inexperienced still with only 800 finds, because I was and I knew that, but going back to the original question ("Things you wish you knew about for your first cache"), I guess one thing would have to be, just because I hadn't seen something before (eg. the chewing gum nano), didn't mean that others hadn't and therefore wouldn't have been necessarily impressed with it.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
54 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

I hid my first cache after 800 finds. I thought the nano (a lump of pink chewing gum) was special. Which just goes to show how inexperienced I was still after 800 finds. Nano plus thinking that lump of chewing gum cache (I have seen many since) was special. That cache is archived now, and I have never placed another nano cache. I can't say I should have thought I was inexperienced still with only 800 finds, because I was and I knew that, but going back to the original question ("Things you wish you knew about for your first cache"), I guess one thing would have to be, just because I hadn't seen something before (eg. the chewing gum nano), didn't mean that others hadn't and therefore wouldn't have been necessarily impressed with it.

 

My first cache (GC4CAXV) was a 400ml Sistema hidden in a bushland reserve alongside a creek near home. The significance of the location was that it copped the full force of an east coast low in 2007, with many of the trees felled and power lines brought down in one extreme wind gust, hence the cache name One Windy Night. I think it was a reasonable cache, with accurate coordinates and a good container that stayed dry for its whole life, and while it didn't receive any FPs from its 53 finds, it didn't get any critical logs or even any DNFs. Unfortunately the reserve deteriorated when people started dumping rubbish there, and then finally we had another windy night and a tree came down right on top of GZ, so I archived it.

 

I created that cache after I'd made 21 finds, but they covered a reasonable spread of caches, with 7 micros, 11 smalls, 2 regulars and a large. My D/T grid from those 21 finds looked like this:

image.png.763df0e71e61b00a8c499af771a8942b.png

 

That first hide was a valuable learning experience, particularly when I discovered on my routine checks that GZ was also home to a colony of ticks (something else that swayed my decision to archive it when that tree fell). So yes, I wish I'd known more about tick habitats back then.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
22 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

I hid my first cache after 800 finds. I thought the nano (a lump of pink chewing gum) was special. Which just goes to show how inexperienced I was still after 800 finds. Nano plus thinking that lump of chewing gum cache (I have seen many since) was special. That cache is archived now, and I have never placed another nano cache. I can't say I should have thought I was inexperienced still with only 800 finds, because I was and I knew that, but going back to the original question ("Things you wish you knew about for your first cache"), I guess one thing would have to be, just because I hadn't seen something before (eg. the chewing gum nano), didn't mean that others hadn't and therefore wouldn't have been necessarily impressed with it.

Nanos IMO are probably the hardest to do *right* for a new cacher. I've never been disappointed as a cacher, but the less good caches have been nanos placed just because there happens to be a small place, rather than a good place.

 

Horses for courses, I know some love them, but small and above will always be my favourites unless the nano is because of a very clever host or location hide. We found a bison tube on top of a deserted hillside one... why? Could have hidden a large for all the attention it would have attracted, and the log would be drier too.

Edited by daddybeth
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment

How to properly log a Travel Bug.   First cache I found had one in it.  I took it with me not having a slightest clue what to do with it.  It's no surprise I logged it about as backward as one can (picture of the tracking # included.)  Thankfully the owner of the Travel Bug was watching it.   He fixed it up for me and sent me detailed directions on how to do it along with an open invitation to contact him if I had any questions.   He was the first cacher I had any contact with and his patience and understanding went a long way.      

Link to comment
14 minutes ago, Enjayen said:

What an LPC was. I spent about 10 minutes circling the lamp post. The hint said "you should stop caching if you need a hint", but thankfully I stuck with the game anyways ?.

As a non-American I wouldn't have known what LPC was by itself. I would likely have been looking for a sign or sticker with those letters on it. People need to realise that letter combinations can be local. In Australia, we don't have the style of lampposts that you do in America.

Edited by Goldenwattle
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
On 12/11/2019 at 6:12 AM, daddybeth said:

I was wondering now more people are coming into Geocaching "cold" having downloading the app (myself included), what do you wish you'd known for your first cache.

I forgot about this one...always place a nano log in the cap first and then screw on the bottom. Makes it so much easier to deal with those tiny logs. 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
48 minutes ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 

A slingshot deals with nano caches too. ;)

LOL I have two hidden and kinda feel bad but one of them is hidden so well while being out in plain sight that cachers really like it, enjoyed the challenge. The other one, a cute story. A new cacher found it but thought it wasn't a cache. She said she only found a tiny "black metal thing". lol I let her change her DNF to a Found. 

Link to comment
1 hour ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

A slingshot deals with nano caches too. ;)

 

Sometimes for the CO too I bet.  :D   Here it seems mostly new hiders think these are a good idea.

 - They don't understand the maintenance part of the hobby until the first "dropped it in the water...somewhere" log comes in.  :)

One on a bridge over the delaware river fell into the water four times before they realized that "clever" cache might not be. 

They went to a fake bolt with the same outcome.    :P

Link to comment
46 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

 

Sometimes for the CO too I bet.  :D   Here it seems mostly new hiders think these are a good idea.

 - They don't understand the maintenance part of the hobby until the first "dropped it in the water...somewhere" log comes in.  :)

One on a bridge over the delaware river fell into the water four times before they realized that "clever" cache might not be. 

They went to a fake bolt with the same outcome.    :P

 

If they aren't a good idea then why does Geocaching.com sell them to "new hiders"?  As for fake bolts, what's wrong with them? We have one hidden on a sign, a park & grab. Cachers love it. It's handmade from a guy on Etsy. Very realistic looking. Even got a compliment from a seasoned cacher. So far...no "maintenance" is needed for both the nanos and bolt. What I love about the bolt is that the log is larger and easier to sign. Maybe you should take it up with the geocaching.com shop. 

Link to comment
3 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

A slingshot deals with nano caches too. ;)

 

That reminds me of one of the longest times I spent re-finding a blinker-style nano-cache that I had dropped. I found the cache quickly in an obvious location, walked a short distance away to sign the log, and then... on the way back to the hide location to replace the cache... my hand brushed one of those fiberglass utility markers. The top of the fiberglass marker was at just the right height for my hand to hit it. It flexed, and then... as it sprang upright again... it caught the tiny container that I was holding between my thumb and finger. I felt it pull the container from my fingers, and I heard the container land in the leaf litter somewhere behind me, but it was quite a challenge to find the thing again so I could replace it where it belonged.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
2 hours ago, niraD said:

 

That reminds me of one of the longest times I spent re-finding a blinker-style nano-cache that I had dropped. I found the cache quickly in an obvious location, walked a short distance away to sign the log, and then... on the way back to the hide location to replace the cache... my hand brushed one of those fiberglass utility markers. The top of the fiberglass marker was at just the right height for my hand to hit it. It flexed, and then... as it sprang upright again... it caught the tiny container that I was holding between my thumb and finger. I felt it pull the container from my fingers, and I heard the container land in the leaf litter somewhere behind me, but it was quite a challenge to find the thing again so I could replace it where it belonged.

 

I dropped a hide-a-key in a river once.  It floated down stream a bit before sinking.   I've been thinking of placing a cache on a guard rail that is about a minute walk from our house in the Catskills.  It overlooks the Delaware river.  If someone drops it in the river it might eventually make it to you.  

  • Funny 2
Link to comment
Just now, NYPaddleCacher said:

I've been thinking of placing a cache on a guard rail that is about a minute walk from our house in the Catskills.  It overlooks the Delaware river.

There had been a flood and although the water had dropped, there was still evidence of the flood with grass, sticks, etc built up against the road guard and draped over it. The road guard was beside the creek and a cache had been hidden in it. As I approached I was not that hopeful of finding the cache still there, but I reached in. To my amazement the cache was still there, and even more amazingly the cache magnet was weak. The cache had been through a flood and not gone with the flooded creek.

Link to comment
1 hour ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

I've been thinking of placing a cache on a guard rail that is about a minute walk from our house in the Catskills.  It overlooks the Delaware river.  If someone drops it in the river it might eventually make it to you.  

To me? That would be quite a journey, down the Delaware River to the Atlantic to the Pacific to the San Francisco Bay to... Permanente Creek? Adobe Creek? or maybe I could pick it up somewhere in the baylands...

Link to comment
10 hours ago, HunterandSamuel said:

As for fake bolts, what's wrong with them?

 

This is my log on the last one of those I found:

 

Quote

Found itFound it

26/07/2019

In the area today looking for caches with the fingerprint or footprint clues in the current Mystery at the Museum promotion. I quickly spotted the hide but, like the previous finder, discovered it was rusted too tight to open by hand. Luckily I had my tool kit in the car so I took it back there and went to work. With assorted tools and some wire, I was able to open it and prise the slightly damp and rust-stained log out. When reassembling, I rolled the log as tightly as I could so it now shouldn't be quite as hard to get out and reassembled the container to be just finger-tight. Maybe the next finder should bring some WD-40 to free it up a bit more.

 

I don't have a photo of the rusty bolt itself, but these are all the tools I needed to use in order to get my signature on the log strip:

 

c62de6ca-a936-49b7-bc22-cf371df3405b_l.j

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
10 hours ago, niraD said:

To me? That would be quite a journey, down the Delaware River to the Atlantic to the Pacific to the San Francisco Bay to... Permanente Creek? Adobe Creek? or maybe I could pick it up somewhere in the baylands...

No, I was thinking of Cerebus.  He's also near the Delaware river, but further downstream.  I was in Red Bluff about a week ago and could have dropped a cache in the Sacramento river.  It would probably get stuck in the mud in Milpitas. 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
6 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

 

I don't have a photo of the rusty bolt itself, but these are all the tools I needed to use in order to get my signature on the log strip:

 

c62de6ca-a936-49b7-bc22-cf371df3405b_l.j

 

That jolted a memory. Out of 72 finds on our bolt, there was one person who couldn't open it but people after him opened it with no problem. WD-40 is a great idea.  I'll do it this week as a precautionary. Here's a photo of the bolt before placing it on the sign. A park & grab in the bike path parking lot.  The placement is great, it's in line with other bolts! We got many nice compliments on it. A nice compliment from a cacher with over 15,000 finds: "Saw this type of hide before so wasn't fooled, but this one was more realistic looking than others.
Enjoyed my visit. TNLN Thanks!"

bolts123.JPG

Link to comment

I remember reading in the forums about something similar happening near RRws Bluff.There was a scout troop picking up trash along the Sacramento River. One of the scouts brings the leader a container he found. The leader was a cacher  and recognized it as cache. The contents were nice and dry.  From the GC# they determined it was from 50 miles upstream !^uere had bee flooding in the area a few months earlier.

  • Surprised 1
Link to comment
Just now, Keystone said:

No, it very much didn't.

 

To learn more about the history and origins of geocaching, see this page.

Thanks. That was a fascinating read. From an instant GPS upgrade, to the White House, and then "Great American GPS Stash Hunt", etc and here we are. I didn't know that "geo" stood for "earth". A funny story. When asking permission to hide a cache in a business parking out, the owner asked who gets to keep the "cash".

Link to comment
17 hours ago, HunterandSamuel said:

Thanks. That was a fascinating read. From an instant GPS upgrade, to the White House, and then "Great American GPS Stash Hunt", etc and here we are. I didn't know that "geo" stood for "earth". A funny story. When asking permission to hide a cache in a business parking out, the owner asked who gets to keep the "cash".

Groundspeak.

 

Link to comment
2 hours ago, BethDaddyKaty said:

Groundspeak.

 

LOL When we explained to the parking lot owner what geocaching is, told him we hide a "cache" and others find it, sign the log, and do a trade, that's when he asked who gets to keep the "cash". He thought we were hiding money. Only a man with a business mind would think in those terms. lol  So since then I make sure to call it a geocache. 

Link to comment
3 hours ago, HunterandSamuel said:

LOL When we explained to the parking lot owner what geocaching is, told him we hide a "cache" and others find it, sign the log, and do a trade, that's when he asked who gets to keep the "cash". He thought we were hiding money. Only a man with a business mind would think in those terms. lol  So since then I make sure to call it a geocache. 

Lots of people hear "geo-cash" so I always add "spelled C A C H E, a hidden box" when explaining our quirky little obsession to others.

  • Upvote 1
  • Helpful 1
Link to comment

I first found out aboit geocaching when I discovered a plastic container in a hollowed log near my house in the nearest park. I looked up what geocaching was, and was surprised. I just wish I learned to make more meaningful online logs...and was more serious about it....though I was 13 haha. I stopped caching after my 4th find....I still dont really know when I found that first cache however. 

 

My first hide was five years later, just above 400 finds. I was VERY nervous around hiding caches, it sounded complicated with finding coordinates...but after that first one, I realized how easy it was....I published a few in the following weeks. I just wish I started hiding earlier, and pushed myself to publish one.

Link to comment

Labeling your caches is a good idea and can help (hopefully) prevent muggling and like Dreamachine74, gets people interested in geocaching. I learned this after one of our unlabeled caches was muggled but another cache that was labeled (an official geocache lock-n-lock) wasn't. The tree we place it near was cut down but they left the geocache there. I'm sure because it was labeled. 

Link to comment
1 hour ago, HunterandSamuel said:

Labeling your caches is a good idea and can help (hopefully) prevent muggling and like Dreamachine74, gets people interested in geocaching. I learned this after one of our unlabeled caches was muggled but another cache that was labeled (an official geocache lock-n-lock) wasn't. The tree we place it near was cut down but they left the geocache there. I'm sure because it was labeled. 

I had to retrieve a cache from the police station after the tree it was in was cleared for a new road.  The tracked me down and contacted about claiming some lost property.  So contact info, inside or out, is always a good idea.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
19 hours ago, The Jester said:

I had to retrieve a cache from the police station after the tree it was in was cleared for a new road.  The tracked me down and contacted about claiming some lost property.  So contact info, inside or out, is always a good idea.

Inside too is a great idea!  We did go to the Police Station to see if anyone turned in our geocache. Even called the Department of Public Works.  Left our name & cell #.  No luck in finding it. I mentioned a while ago that a guy (an environmentalist) was arrested for stealing geocaches. He had a backseat full of them! Got caught red handed. 

Link to comment

Most of my containers are smaller than that first container I found, so it's tough...or their designed to not work that way, partly because I live in an urban and busy environment. This year however, I'm hiding some larger containers, further in some suburban areas of my city...and some still close-ish, where I'll label my caches.

 

I do need to return to at least 2-4 geocaches and label them however.

Link to comment

It is a good idea to label containers, so good that it's in the Geocache Hiding Guidelines.

Geocache container

Choose container wisely

The container must hold the logbook. The ideal container is waterproof.

To avoid confusion or suspicion if your cache is found by a non-geocacher, follow these tips where possible:

  • Label your container as a geocache.
  • Choose a transparent container to show that the contents are harmless.
  • Include "instructions for finders".
  • Do not place containers that could be perceived as bombs or other dangerous items.
  • If the container has military markings, permanently cover or remove them.

However, it does not mention what to include on the label.

My cache labels include; cache name, my geocaching name, GC code, and website address.

If the container is large enough, bison tubes and upwards, I'll include a stash note, ("Instructions for finders") something I rarely see in containers these days.

I have a few nanos and I will have, at minimum, the GC code and logo.

I once had a nano go missing. Some months later it was found by a muggle and, using the GC code, he tracked me down and returned my tiny cache.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...