Broadaxe Posted June 28, 2003 Share Posted June 28, 2003 I've been thinking of putting a couple of caches in the western NC region and have come up with some nice, out-of-the-way spots. I have yet to go find my first cache due to time constraints and I was wondering if it was bad juju to place a cache before finding any? Is there such a thing a Cachers etique? Quote Link to comment
magellan315 Posted June 28, 2003 Share Posted June 28, 2003 I can only speak for myself, but you may want to wait until you have found a few caches first. This way you can get a good sense of how to hide, where to hide, and what to avoid. Trust me the locations you are thinking of hiding caches will still be there after you have a found a few. Quote Link to comment
+Gaddiel Posted June 28, 2003 Share Posted June 28, 2003 I totally agree. We made the mistake of hiding one too early in our geocaching "career". Ended up making about five pretty major boo-boos on that one. Looking back, I'd say get at least 15-20 under your belt before you hide one. Yeah, it's hard to wait, but the quality of your hide will be much better after getting a feel for things to do and things not to do. Oh yeah, and WELCOME ABOARD!!! Quote Link to comment
+Perrin Posted June 28, 2003 Share Posted June 28, 2003 Yeah. Definitely go find a few first! It will give you a much better idea of what's going on. Enjoy the obsession! Signature? I don't need no stinkin signature!!!! Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted June 28, 2003 Share Posted June 28, 2003 A lot of people think you should find some before you hide one. I don't agree. Hide one when you dadgum well feel like it. If down the road experience teaches you that you should do something different with the cache, worry about it then. Just think. Right now you are unbiased about what a cache "Should be" What's wrong with a fresh angle on it? Quote Link to comment
martmann Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 For me it was right to wait until I found a bunch of caches, before I hid one. I wanted to get a good idea of what I liked and what I didn't like while cache hunting, so I could avoid the things I didn't like and incorporate things I did like. Neither of my hidden caches are spectacular, but they are both caches I would enjoy hunting. So my method worked for me. But Renegade Knight makes a pretty good point too. I always look at the profile of a cache hider, if I haven't hunted one of their caches before. If I saw they had no found caches, but 2 hidden ones, I would most likely still hunt it, but my expectations would be low, and I would expect mistakes. That leaves a lot of room to be pleasantly surprised, and not too much room to be disappointed. Quote Link to comment
+droosa Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Broadaxe: I've been thinking of putting a couple of caches in the western NC region Hide one if you want. I have been to caches that the hider had no finds and they were well done. But you can sure make mistakes if you aren't careful. One tip, visualize the terrain as it would be in all of the seasons. We hid ours in the late winter months and then did some cache maintenance this month. I am not sure we would have hidden the cache properly in the summer due to the growth of grass. By hiding it in the non-growth months, we lucked out and hid it well. Good Luck! Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 quote: I've been thinking of putting a couple of caches in the western NC region and have come up with some nice, out-of-the-way spots. I have yet to go find my first cache due to time constraints and I was wondering if it was bad juju to place a cache before finding any? Is there such a thing a Cachers etique? It's probably best if you find a few before you place a cache, but I've found great caches placed by people a few, or no finds and some pretty lousy caches placed by people with hundreds of finds. I placed my first cache after one find and to this day, its one of my best. The cheif thing I've learned since was that I didn't have to put so much time and effort into choosing the container, contents and location. "Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll sit in a boat and drink beer all day" - Dave Barry [This message was edited by BrianSnat on June 29, 2003 at 12:52 PM.] Quote Link to comment
magellan315 Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 The only other reason I would caution you to wait until you have found a few, is Geocahcing has now become an accepotable activity by many park and land use managers. In doing so they have created some basic guidelines with the assitance of the local Geocaching community. The most common is that you need to apply for a "permit". By doing so the park manager nows where the cache is(in the event someone thinks they have found a suspicious object in the woods) and to make sure they are not placed in environmentally sensitive areas. By find a few caches first you may find out these agreements exsist and avoid annoying the park staff. Quote Link to comment
+Spzzmoose Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 Both excellent posts magellan! I only have about 17-20 finds and I'm itching to place my first! I've gathered a lot of idea's from the caches we have been at and have come up with a few ideas of my own (involving whips, chains, hand grenades, punji sticks and buried tigers in-a-pit! I'll give it a difficulty rating of...1.5! ) Seriously though, I'm going to wait till I get a few more finds (say around 25) before I place my first. Experience is the best teacher! Quote Link to comment
+walkietalkie Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 I hope placing a cache before finding one isn't bad juju, cos I hid one before any finds. My reasoning was the closest cache to me by road is 110 miles, over a mountain pass, away. And I want to get other people in my area into geocaching so I can find theirs. I think I did pretty good hiding my first cache (Bear Bread Stump) after I got the waypoints coverted right. Then I went searching for the one (Tazlina View)up the road and couldn't find it on our first try. I hope I won't be just a hider, I want to be a finder, too! Have fun and good luck! Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 quote:The most common is that you need to apply for a "permit". By doing so the park manager nows where the cache is(in the event someone thinks they have found a suspicious object in the woods) and to make sure they are not placed in environmentally sensitive areas. By find a few caches first you may find out these agreements exsist and avoid annoying the park staff. You might want to check in your regional forum about the situation in NC. I know their state parks have (or had) some very geocaching unfriendly rules. I read somewhere that a $30 permit is required to place a cache and it's only good for 6 months. This may have changed. If the area you are considering is in a NC state park, then you need to find out what the current rules are. "Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll sit in a boat and drink beer all day" - Dave Barry Quote Link to comment
are.we.there.yet? Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 The question isn't will I place a good cache, but will I maintain it? Is this a passing interest that will go away after a couple of hunts? By placing a cache, you need to be willing to maintain it for several years. If you are not sure, try a travel bug instead. If you get tired of them, just turn the computer off. Quote Link to comment
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