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Cache Hiding Tips


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Hey everyone I am just about to hide a new cache somewhere in Massachusetts. I've noticed that the two I've found thusfar were basically tupperware containers wedged into cracks of rocks.

 

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade but this location is very typical. I mean in both cases -once I found the coordinates -I can just look for these typical hiding spots.

 

So before I go off on a tangent. Does anyone else have any good ideas as to the best place to hide a cache?

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The best place is not.

 

Can I be more cryptic? Yes, but I'm not.

 

Okay, okay, always try to hide in a fresh spot. Don't hide everything the same. Hide one low, then hide one high. Even up a tree. Use different containers. Hide it different than anything you've seen before--which gets harder and ahrder as you progress.

 

Some of the best advise I picked up here when I first started out: find the perfect spot, then hide it 20' away.

 

Pretty soon, you'll be spotting all kinds of places to hide a cache other than a crack.

 

CR

 

72057_2000.gif

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If you want to make it more difficult, overlook the obvious spot. Often, when you get to an area where you plan to hide a cache, you see a spot that looks perfect. The cache hunter will also see that, so try someplace else. A good camo job on the container will help too.

 

Personally, I try to make my hides fairly easy to find when they are in the forest. I don't want people tearing up everything and turning over every boulder. What I try to do is hide them so they are not likely to be accidently found, but if someone is looking for it, they'll say "ah-hah!".

 

"It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues" -Abraham Lincoln

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I waited until I'd found 50 caches before hiding my first. By then, I'd seen all the standard techniques:

 

  • the stump hide

  • the hollow log hide

  • the unnatural rock pile (URP) hide

  • the fake stick teepee hide

  • the aerial hide

  • the camoflaged ammo box hide

  • the unusual container hide

  • the thornbush hide

  • the tree crotch hide

  • the stone wall hide

  • the urban microcache hide (dozens of variations)

  • the fake rock/fake stump hide

  • the birdhouse/electric box/sprinkler/other innocent-looking object hide

  • the underwater hide

  • the cliffside hide

  • the cave/tunnel hide

  • the puzzle hide

  • the compass offset hide

  • the multicache hide

  • the triangulation hide

  • the totally exposed but in the middle of nowhere hide

Once I had seen these, I had a good sense for what kinds of caches I would like to hide, and what made a hide good or bad. I discovered that I especially enjoy hiding multicaches. The point being, the more caches you find, the better your placements will be. Good luck!

 

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Some mornings, it just doesn't pay to chew through the leather straps. - Emo Phillips

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quote:
Well I was thinking about using a hide-a-key fake stone containing nothing more than the coordinates of the next 'real' cache.

 

That would work. It could also be used as a log only cache in a high traffic area.

 

"It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues" -Abraham Lincoln

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Skin the bark off old pine branches, glue securely to piece of PVC pipe, slip cache inside pipe. Done well it's fiendish.

 

Or another of my favourites is to screw the lid of the cache to the underside of a footbridge, bench or similar. The cache then locks in and just hangs around waiting for thoughtful cachers, whlst avoiding GeoMuggles.

 

HLD

 

I aim to become immortal. So far, so good....

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quote:
Originally posted by DudeZilla:

Well I was thinking about using a hide-a-key fake stone containing nothing more than the coordinates of the next 'real' cache.


 

I have one with a state quarter trade in it. Some people have been lucky by kicking it, others have taken awhile and finally found it. Most responses have been good about the cache container. Next idea is to hollow out a real rock maybe with a masonry drill bit and glue or wedge in a small container like a pill bottle or film canister. Place the rock in a field of rocks and drive everyone really crazy. I've also hung a small plastic container that the trinkets come in from a gum machine (about 3/4" diameter) with fishing line on a tree branch and covered it with moss and stuck a micro log sheet inside of it. Really hard to find that one.

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quote:
Originally posted by DudeZilla:

Okay I have a question for cachers who camoflage their cache. Do you repaint it for every season?


 

My first 3 caches were PVC tubes. I painted a winter pattern on one end, and a forest green pattern on the other. You just 'flip' them over. I air-brush this Humbrol model paint. It's very tough!. They paint trains with it in the UK

 

18486_200.jpg

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quote:
Originally posted by Hairy Little Dwarf:

Skin the bark off old pine branches, glue securely to piece of PVC pipe, slip cache inside pipe. Done well it's fiendish.


 

Sorry about the big pic, I don't have a re-sized one in webspace anywhere. Here is the tree the plastic screw-lid container below is sitting in. I used a glue gun to quickly anchor one end of the bark-strips in place, then 'really' glued them in place with some marine-grade epoxy so when it rains/snows, the bark will stay in place. Painted up the see-through bits with some Humbrol paint, same shade as the bark. The bark was from a dead branch off the same tree the cache is stashed up high in.

 

61420_900jpeg

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quote:
Originally posted by Zartimus:

 

quote:
Originally posted by Hairy Little Dwarf:

Skin the bark off old pine branches, glue securely to piece of PVC pipe, slip cache inside pipe. Done well it's fiendish.


 

Sorry about the big pic, I don't have a re-sized one in webspace anywhere. Here is the http://img.Groundspeak.com/cache/61420_700.jpg the plastic screw-lid container below is sitting in. I used a glue gun to quickly anchor one end of the bark-strips in place, then 'really' glued them in place with some marine-grade epoxy so when it rains/snows, the bark will stay in place. Painted up the see-through bits with some Humbrol paint, same shade as the bark. The bark was from a dead branch off the same tree the cache is stashed up high in.

 

http://img.Groundspeak.com/cache/61420_900jpeg


 

BOTH of those ideas are fiendishly good... can't wait to try one of them, LOL! And here I was, getting ready to plant a plain, old ammo box...

 

Joel (joefrog)

 

"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for ye are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!"

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quote:
Okay I have a question for cachers who camoflage their cache. Do you repaint it for every season? It seems like a green camo box would stand out against a snowy backdrop.

 

No. If the snow is deep enough to cover the cache, it doesn't matter. If it's not deep enough to cover the cache, logs, bushes, rocks, etc... aren't covered either, so the camo still works fine.

 

"It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues" -Abraham Lincoln

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quote:
Originally posted by georgeandmary:

What every you do, don't pull the classic newbie hide and place the cache in a patch of ivy. There are more creative ways to make a cache difficult to find than ivy.

 

It's not fun to look through and often results in the ivy getting torn up.


 

The prevalent kind of ivy out here is poison ivy. Even this newbie isn't that cruel.

 

poison-ivy.jpg

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