DisQuoi Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 "Bark-ouflage" is the term I've come up with to describe what is a funny geocaching phenomenon. This is when someone uses strips of park to cover a hollow or other hiding spot. It actually is a great way to find caches since nothing looks more out of place than barkouflage. You can spot it a mile away. Quote Link to comment
+Team Og Rof A Klaw Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 Thought that was done by someone trying to hide his dog. ____________________________ - Team Og Rof A Klaw All who wander are not lost. Quote Link to comment
+SylvrStorm Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 quote:Originally posted by DisQuoi:"Bark-ouflage" ... <snip> ... You can spot it a mile away. After a few finds, yes Geocachers can spot it a mile away. But I think most geomuggles wouldn't even notice, unless it's really painfully obvious. *** Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry, and they laugh at you. *** Quote Link to comment
dsandbro Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 Especially when the slab of bark used is from a different species of tree. Fir bark on a pine log is kinda obvious. =========================================================== "The time has come" the Walrus said "to speak of many things; of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and Kings". Quote Link to comment
Jomarac5 Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 Interesting topic. There's also stickouflage -- numerous short sticks placed on top of a cache. Usually, the sticks are all placed parallel to each other and are very noticable from quite a distance. I've found many caches that use a combination of barkouflage and stickouflage. To a lesser extent, I've also come across several caches that use the leafouflage technique and often wonder how effective the hide will be once the decaying process begins. Grassouflage can sometimes be quite effective in certain instances and rockouflage caches are definitely the most difficult to locate. I even came across one cache that used the very rare asphaultouflage method near the side of a paved walkway. Most of the caches that I've found were by noticing an area that looks suspiciously contrived. ***** Quote Link to comment
Captain Chaoss Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 My personal favorite is log-aflauge. I receive numerous reports as to the amount of time it takes to find my one cache, since it is hidden inside a log in an area with lots of downed trees. Happy hunting ! Two roads diverged in the woods and I, I took the one less traveled, and that is how I found the cache. Quote Link to comment
+Sam & Kim Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 Palm fronoflauge works great down here on the Georgia coast. Quote Link to comment
+CYBret Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 Let's not forget "Garbage-ouflage." That's when you find the cache that's placed in a black garbage bag. Bret "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again." Mt. 13:44 Quote Link to comment
The Falcon Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 I don't recomend poison ivy-ouflage. It gets a bit itchy ===== It is the tale, not he who tells it." Quote Link to comment
Vacman Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 ... also plasti-flage, tuper-flage, ammo-flage, and ...... -------------------------------------------------- If you're ever stuck in some thick undergrowth, in your underwear, don't stop and think of what other words have "under"; in them, because that's probably the first sign of jungle madness. Quote Link to comment
+Darkmoon Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 I always called it the geobush but I do like the barkoflauge name! Sometimes it is painfully obvious when you can spot it 30 feet away, mmmmmm I wonder if it is in the pile of sticks over there! LOL! Darkmoon All you have to do to fly is throw yourself at the ground and miss! Quote Link to comment
Northern-Lights Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 Some of us out here have started being a bit devious with that.....we'll take a pile of sticks and put a small tuperware containor under it...the unsupecting cacher will almost always see it and open it and find a note saying .... "Fooled ya!!" Or, we'll do something similar....gets some pretty good comments at times... If God is your co-pilot, it's time to change seats!!! Quote Link to comment
+RJFerret Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Jomarac5:...and rockouflage caches are definitely the most difficult to locate. Sometimes, today I did one where a bunch of similarly sized rocks were piled on a camo-colored bag... The ol' "stack-o-rocks" is a dead give-away too. Then there are those stone walls where one large rock has scratches all over it from the rock above being slid aside to access the cache within! {Wink}, Randy Quote Link to comment
+Alan2 Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 The whatever-flage is really to keep the casual passerby from accidently discovering the cache in my opinion. As a cacher, however, Who needs to spend 45 miniutes tearing up the ground, turning over evry rock and bush and exposing yourself unneedlessly to Lyme infected ticks. The quicker I find the cache the better I like it. So being able to spot the cache location more easily is a plus for me. Alan Quote Link to comment
+arrowroot Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 My favorite case of bad stick-o-flage was a cache hidden in a fork of about four limbs, four feet up a tree. Six different logs were leaning up to that fork, at a 45-degree angle making a bizarre teepee. I walked right past it, saying, "There's no way anyone would be trying to hide something *there*" (aside from the fact that it was a good 60-feet off by my GPSr). Fifteen minutes later, I decided to check it anyway. Yup. And to Sam & Kim in Georgia -- shouldn't it be Kudzuflage? I am Arrowroot, son of Arrowshirt. I have many names, you know Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted June 22, 2003 Share Posted June 22, 2003 quote: Let's not forget "Garbage-ouflage." That's when you find the cache that's placed in a black garbage bag. Thankfully, thats a practice that isn't common in this area, but it seems to be in some others. Yuk! Nothing like reaching into a wet, slimy garbage bag to extract the cache. quote:The whatever-flage is really to keep the casual passerby from accidently discovering the cache in my opinion. As a cacher, however, Who needs to spend 45 miniutes tearing up the ground, turning over evry rock and bush I was going to say the very same thing. I go through the trouble of camoflaging my caches to keep them hidden from passersby, not from geocachers. I want geocachers to find them. "Au pays des aveugles, les borgnes sont rois" Quote Link to comment
+leatherman Posted June 22, 2003 Share Posted June 22, 2003 quote:Originally posted by BrianSnat:I go through the trouble of camoflaging my caches to keep them hidden from passersby, not from geocachers. I want geocachers to find them. Yeah. There's nothing wrong with Geo-obvious. No one wants to make a cache unfindable. Pepper playing nice! Mokita! Quote Link to comment
Vacman Posted June 22, 2003 Share Posted June 22, 2003 Does that mean that my puzzle-cache (you know - solving a compex puzzle to get to the final location) has puzzouflage..? -------------------------------------------------- If you're ever stuck in some thick undergrowth, in your underwear, don't stop and think of what other words have "under"; in them, because that's probably the first sign of jungle madness. Quote Link to comment
gm100guy Posted June 22, 2003 Share Posted June 22, 2003 gm100guy http://members.rogers.com/gm100guy/cachepage.htm Ontario geocachers http://groups.msn.com/GeocachinginOntario/homepage Quote Link to comment
+PDOP's Posted June 22, 2003 Share Posted June 22, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Alan2:The whatever-flage is really to keep the casual passerby from accidently discovering the cache in my opinion. As a cacher, however, Who needs to spend 45 miniutes tearing up the ground, turning over evry rock and bush and exposing yourself unneedlessly to Lyme infected ticks. The quicker I find the cache the better I like it. So being able to spot the cache location more easily is a plus for me. Alan I agree totally. For me it's about using the technology not checking out a hundred possible hiding spots PDOP's GPS Pages Quote Link to comment
+Florafloraflora Posted June 22, 2003 Share Posted June 22, 2003 I just hunted a multicache where the hider used camouflage in a very cool way. *SPOILER ALERT: if you live in my area, to avoid (a slight) spoiler effect don't look at my recent cache finds* One stage was hidden in the root of a fallen tree. Classic. But right on top of the cache on the outside of the tree, the hider put a small stone. There are rocks around, there are lots of trees and sticks around, so this stone blends into the background. But the cacher will notice that and think, "Ha! How would that little stone get perfectly balanced on the end of that fallen tree? Let's investigate!" At another stage, a cache is hidden in a big pile of rocks surrounded by trees. In one hole in the rocks, there are some (discreet) sticks and bark. Again, it blends into the surroundings, but again, the cacher will think, "How did that get there?" What an amazing cache that was. It's like a good book: I wish I hadn't done it yet so I could experience finding it for the first time again. Quote Link to comment
+Zartimus Posted June 23, 2003 Share Posted June 23, 2003 Here we call those little piles of sticks: 'cacher piles'. Not to be confused with, well.. You know, the steaming kind... Quote Link to comment
+PDOP's Posted June 23, 2003 Share Posted June 23, 2003 Lets not forget the often unintended Snow-ouflage. It's no fun trying to find a cache under a metre of the white stuff. PDOP's GPS Pages Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted June 23, 2003 Share Posted June 23, 2003 URP = Unatural Rock Pile USP = Unatural Stick Pile. Never did name the bark so I like Barkoflage. Some people have gone to great pains to hide something that is out of place and entirly natural. Like a pine cone container in an area with only leafy trees. If you are not in the geo zone you can miss it even thouh if you look around you would notice that it doesn't belong. ===================== Wherever you go there you are. Quote Link to comment
+mustanglx Posted June 26, 2003 Share Posted June 26, 2003 Car-ouflage I was out caching along the Appalachian Trail on Tuesday and the one cache that I was looking for ended up being in a rusted out car along a field. It was hidden in the rear wheel well. When I seen that it reminded me of this post. It made me laugh. mustanglx Quote Link to comment
+GOT GPS? Posted June 26, 2003 Share Posted June 26, 2003 One thing ive done is to create a few stick piles and hide the actual cache behind a tree. I would scoop up some of the forest floor debris, then throw it at the cache from a few feet away, for natural scattering of debris. Has anybody done this?? -------------------------------------------------- My Old posts as Geoffrey My Current Post as GOT GPS? My profile My Home Page about what is GPS Quote Link to comment
+MercRocks Posted June 26, 2003 Share Posted June 26, 2003 Under-thepineneedles-oflage...a classisc interior hiding technique...R Without your brain, a map is a piece of coloured paper, a compass is a glorified magnet, and a GPS is a waterproof battery case." " Foothills SAR " Quote Link to comment
Jomarac5 Posted June 26, 2003 Share Posted June 26, 2003 How about a deceptoflage? For my next cache I'm going to place a whole bunch of false 'flages' around the area to throw the cachers off. Maybe 10 or so varieties of the common 'flages' will work good. Piles of parallel sticks, mounds of bark, pyramids made of rocks, mountains of leaves, clumps of grass scattered everywhere -- and then I'll just place the cache behind a log. ***** Quote Link to comment
+Team GPSaxophone Posted June 26, 2003 Share Posted June 26, 2003 So, would it be wrong to put a couple of bolts in a tree and use magnets to hide a barkoflauged cache on it? Took sun from sky, left world in eternal darkness Quote Link to comment
+RobAGD Posted June 26, 2003 Share Posted June 26, 2003 Hey DisQuoi , Give my 2 caches a shot Birch ? and Colvin Mill Run Unless thay have been mangled I think I pulled off something rather intresting with them Actually I have been surprised you have not gotten to those yet as they are fairly close to you. -Robert Quote Link to comment
+ZingerHead Posted June 26, 2003 Share Posted June 26, 2003 quote: exposing yourself unneedlessly to Lyme infected ticks Indeed! Save that stuff for the privacy of your own home, fer cryin out loud. Quote Link to comment
+Brian - Team A.I. Posted June 26, 2003 Share Posted June 26, 2003 Hey, I've actually used bark to hide a clue to one of my caches. There is velcro attached to a branch on a tree missing all other bark (lying at the base on the ground). Velcro was also attached to the bark, and the clue was hot-glued in place. Even though it sticks out like a sore thumb, some cachers have spent a fair amount of time scratching noggin' wondering just where the clue was. I defend my use of bark-oflauge and would do it again. Brian Team A.I. Quote Link to comment
+Sam & Kim Posted June 27, 2003 Share Posted June 27, 2003 This thread has been great reading and I have picked up some good ideas for futher caches. And the need for camo all to obvious,I use a couple down here in Ga and S.C myself sticks,stumps, leaves, palm branches.But when you get into the super-flage technigues Doesnt that drop your find count down? I may have just answered my own question the hunt is more important than the find. Quote Link to comment
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