Geocache Ideas

[+littledipper11]

This is a topic where you can discuss geocache creation ideas. People can discuss what makes a favorite worthy geocache.

[+SamLowrey]

Containers that fit the environment and are hidden in plain sight.  The most common of this form is something like a birdhouse that opens up.  There is one that I saw that were a couple of shoes that were tied together and thrown over a branch.  Wasn't too visible from the trail so wasn't too likely to be picked up by some well-meaning person to clean things up.  Most would look at it and just be a little repelled and wouldn't touch them.  But inside one of the shoes was the container.  

[+niraD]

34 minutes ago, SamLowrey said:

Containers that fit the environment and are hidden in plain sight.

Those are some of my Favorites as well. I've found a few that simply replicated part of a structure, and made the replica the camouflage for the cache.

 

I also enjoy caches that feature local history or public art.

[+barefootjeff]

For me, what will get a cache right up amongst my all-time favourites is the adventure along the way to GZ. If it has me clambering around in places like this...

 

 

... or leads me to places like this ...

 

 

... then it's pretty much a guaranteed FP from me regardless of what the actual cache container is. Of course, caches like these won't get lots of FPs because they'll only ever get a handful of finders, but you can be pretty sure that those who do make the effort will appreciate the hide. Those two caches, hidden in 2015 and 2018, have only 20 finds between them, but are sitting on 92% and 100% FPs respectively.

[+mesillywoohoo]

I really like ones that blend in. Magnetic electrical plates or birdhouses are my most favorite. I can't get out to the more adventurous ones anymore so I appreciate the ones that blend in so well people are scratching their heads

[+SamLowrey]

Yes, what barefootjeff said.

 

I have one that is a neat old VW bus abandoned in a wooded area.  I was elated that no one else had put a cache there.  The bus has character to it and is in an unexpected place.  It hasn't been discovered too many times but I get a lot of favorite points.  There is also a VW beetle abandoned in a greenspace that was made in to a virtual (so that tells you how old the placement is) that gets lots of favorite points.  

 

 

[+TeamRabbitRun]

14 hours ago, mesillywoohoo said:

I really like ones that blend in. Magnetic electrical plates or birdhouses are my most favorite. I can't get out to the more adventurous ones anymore so I appreciate the ones that blend in so well people are scratching their heads

 

Of course, the use of magnetic electrical plates and birdhouses trains the geocaching public to attempt to dismantle actual electrical equipment and real birdhouses.

 

Perhaps there are less, um, 'consequential' real-life objects that can be spoofed to appear as everyday items.

 

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

 

11 minutes ago, TeamRabbitRun said:

 

Of course, the use of magnetic electrical plates and birdhouses trains the geocaching public to attempt to dismantle actual electrical equipment and real birdhouses.

 

Perhaps there are less, um, 'consequential' real-life objects that can be spoofed to appear as everyday items.

 

 

There is always that risk with any real-life object. Here's a few others.

• A plastic thermometer, where the unit would slide up off of a mount, revealing a cavity for a log book.
• A reflector attached to a rubber cord, inserted into a hole in a post.
• A fake sewer cleanout next to a public restroom in a park. Just unscrew the top.
• The removable metal fence post cap.

Maybe something less consequential is a fake book in a little free library.

[+mesillywoohoo]

1 hour ago, TeamRabbitRun said:

 

Of course, the use of magnetic electrical plates and birdhouses trains the geocaching public to attempt to dismantle actual electrical equipment and real birdhouses.

 

Perhaps there are less, um, 'consequential' real-life objects that can be spoofed to appear as everyday items.

 

 

I've never attempted to move one that was a real electrical plate. The magnetic ones are very easy to remove and to spot around here tbh. And the birdhouses are obviously not real as the hole is plugged up by black fabric or sometimes wood. Some of them have no holes. 

 

If you are going to worry about consequential items. Then the entire game could be seen as bad and I've seen it said as such by conservationists because humans are traipsing into the underbrush to go after what is essentially plastic often times hidden in the wood. Wouldn't that be seen as a kind of littering? The entire game could be seen as consequential if you start going down this path

[+cerberus1]

53 minutes ago, Wet Pancake Touring Club said:

There is always that risk with any real-life object. Here's a few others.

• A plastic thermometer, where the unit would slide up off of a mount, revealing a cavity for a log book.
• A reflector attached to a rubber cord, inserted into a hole in a post.
• A fake sewer cleanout next to a public restroom in a park. Just unscrew the top.
• The removable metal fence post cap.

Maybe something less consequential is a fake book in a little free library.

 

Yeah...  The worst "natural" example we saw was a fiber/fabric bird's nest, a plastic Easter egg inside, w/a bison in it..

The first victim was just a few weeks later, a real nest with the eggs broken on the ground.  The bird box cache was about 22' away...

[+niraD]

3 hours ago, Wet Pancake Touring Club said:

Maybe something less consequential is a fake book in a little free library.

I found a LFL cache that used a fake book. The original fake book cache container had been taken. The replacement couldn't be taken. It was a wooden drawer built into the LFL that looked like a book. There were real books stacked on top of it, something like this:

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

There are some caches located at historical locations. In a lot of cases, these are virtual caches, but here is a physical cache that is one of my favorites. It is a log only cache, no trading swag. https://coord.info/GCHQJM It is a gazebo marking a historical location on the Oregon Trail. The log book is a letter sized yellow pad. You can see the cache in some of the photos. Inside the box on the center post is the log sheet/visitor log. Another variant on the hidden in plain sight theme.

 

What is really amazing is the amount of traffic that this location gets. At least one visitor a day, based on my inspection of the log. If you view this on the map, you will note that this location is just to the left of the middle of nowhere. 

[Keystone]

If the Oregon Trail cache uses an existing visitor's register, that cache would not be published today.  If the cache owner installed the box with the visitor's log, then the Reviewer would ask about the permission obtained to do this.