Overused Hiding Spots

[+Happy Bubbles]

After finding three different caches that were micro containers on the underside of bleachers at softball fields in suburban parks, I'm wondering what kinds of hiding spots are overused. Are there any kinds of hiding places that are so common they aren't much fun anymore?

[+Cat'N'Geo]

Well I could do without the ones hidden by flocks of mosquitos, and the ones under poison Ivy plants.

 

They say this universe is bound to blow,

I say we crank up the Calypso Control!

~Jimmy Buffett

 

~Someday I Will~

[+Tervas]

Under a bridge seems to be a popular place, at least in Finland. Most caches here are yet under a stone.

[+Mr. 0]

Tree stumps seem to be popular here, and the clue is almost always "Don't get stumped". Other than that, right beside a fallen tree under a pile of sticks is also popular

 

Mr. 0

 

"Remember that nature and the elements are neither your friend or your enemy - they are actually disinterested."

 

Department of the Army Field Manual FM 21-76 "Survival" Oct. 1970

[+briansnat]

URPs and UPOS are overused. And yes, I'm guilty.

 

Oh, URP=Unnatural Rock Pile and UPOS=Unnatural Pile Of Sticks.

 

"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 August 14, 2003 at 04:56 AM.]

[BassoonPilot]

Brian, what have you been eating?

[+briansnat]

Just had a Taylor Ham with cheese sandwich...why?

 

"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

[+trippy1976]

I thought it might be fish...

 

Edit:

Or beer...

 

--------

trippy1976 - Team KKF2A

Saving geocaches - one golf ball at a time.

[Team Kender]

Lamp pole base in a parking lot.

 

Team Kender - "The Sun is coming up!" "No, the horizon is going down."

[+Brian - Team A.I.]

I think I'm going to hide my next cache from a weather balloon...unless they consider that a moving cache. But if most people consider that a UFO, would it really be considered a moving cache? After all, it IS unidentified, and there's a category for that.

 

Brian

Team A.I.

[+yumitori]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Happy Bubbles:

After finding three different caches that were micro containers on the underside of bleachers at softball fields in suburban parks, I'm wondering what kinds of hiding spots are overused. Are there any kinds of hiding places that are so common they aren't much fun anymore?

---

 

I think this tends to be regional. What's a cool idea the first time it's used in an area quickly get tiresome if it's copied by several cachers.

 

Ron/yumitori

 

---

 

Remember what the dormouse said...

[+Mark 42]

Popular ones in the Puget Sound (Seattle) area...

 

In, under, around stumps & roots.

Shrubs.

Abandoned vehicles in forests.

Ivy, Ferns, similar ground cover.

Adjacent to trails surrounded by stinging nettles.

Stumps.

Cemeteries.

Dense forest where there is poor GPS signal (hard to find much else)

Islands.

Stumps.

Public Parks.

 

I hope that someday we will be able to put away

our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people.

[+Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking]

There are between 1500-2000 caches in Arizona. There is not 1500-2000 ways to uniquely hide a cache. Some cache hides will be duplicated. I could do without ones hidden in areas that could easily have biohazard warnings.

 

Till a voice, as bad as Conscience, rang interminable changes

On one everlasting Whisper day and night repeated -- so:

"Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges --

"Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!"

 

Rudyard Kipling , The Explorer 1898

[+Lone Duck]

I'll second the finds that are hidden in poison ivy! In almost all cases that I've come across so far, those caches were hidden during the cold months when there isn't any foliage. In one case, I don't think the hider knew what he was standing in.

 

That Quack Cacher:

Lone Duck

 

When you don't know where you're going, every road will take you there.

[+The Frantic Cachers]

hey what about in hollow tree stumps?

[+TEAM 360]

#1 hiding spot in the world: velcroed to the bottom side of a bench.

Would someone PLEASE come up with a more challenging spot?

[+bigredmed]

quote:

---

Originally posted by TEAM 360:

#1 hiding spot in the world: velcroed to the bottom side of a bench.

Would someone PLEASE come up with a more challenging spot?

---

 

I am reading the DaVinci Code, how about UV ink? Once dried, you would have to bring a black light to read the message and find the stash hidden in a bush at the very far end of the park.

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nebraskache/

[+MtnLion]

Gotta love the old standby "a hole in the base of the tree..." or "in the hollow of a two (or three) trunked tree, covered with bark"

 

But in the woods, it's pretty much in or around some form of tree or shrub or rock. Not much else to use, not many interesting and refreshing ways to describe it.

[+Renegade Knight]

It varies by area.

 

I've done one common to another area but new to my area and it was hard for people.

 

Like everything else in this sport it's going to vary. What you are sick of, others may flat out not see much of.

 

Then again my favorite hiding spot is one step left of where everyone is going to look.

 

There are zero underside of the bleachers caches in my area. Maybe I should do one, then move it one step left...

[+Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking]

quote:

---

Originally posted by TEAM 360:

#1 hiding spot in the world: velcroed to the bottom side of a bench.

Would someone PLEASE come up with a more challenging spot?

---

 

Just for you, when I can get some gas (only 1 in 12 gas stations have gas here), I will set out "Throwing Down the Gauntlet". I dare you to find this one. It will be a 5 star rating. I promise not to move this cache like another cacher likes to do.

[+Sam & Kim]

Under Palm fronds here in Ga on the coast.

[+TeamK-9]

I believe that unnatural rock and stick piles are definately overused, but in some cases it always seems like people overlook the obvious spots. Hollowed out trees are almost always used, but how about something lying out in the open (a good deal away from a path that is.) One of my first searches with a group of friends, we walked past a unsuspicious looking bottle just thinking it was rubbish. It was not until later that we noticed that it WAS the cache.

 

----

Extra batteries for GPS, don't leave home without 'em.

[+tankboy]

I've only been at this for a few weeks, but I've seen two really clever hides, and one that was absolutely brilliant.

By and large though, around here things are under rocks, under sagebrush, and under logs. Bridges are a popular spot for micros.

 

I like the really remote spots, requiring long walks and climbs over rugged terrain. By that time, I don't care if the hide is clever or not, I just want to find it and get the ordeal over with!

 

I also enjoy the really clever urban hides, the ones that can be in plain sight, right under your nose, but you don't realize it until three days later. Such was the case with the brilliant hide mentioned above.

[+flask]

the obvious spots are good for when you want cachers to be able to find it easily, but you don't want other people to find it. any cacher knows to check the URP.

 

-====)) -))))))))))))

presta schrader

[+Bull Moose]

quote:

---

Originally posted by bigredmed:

 

I am reading the DaVinci Code, how about UV ink? Once dried, you would have to bring a black light to read the message and find the stash hidden in a bush at the very far end of the park.

 

---

 

I have a cache which requires the use of UV light. I even provide the light on a TB. Response has been underwhelming. I'm trying to figure out a way to rejigger it to make it more accesible, while keeping the black light and invisible ink involved.

[+Mephistopheles]

I guess it is just what you are used to. I’m most often hunting caches in a rural area where the pile of sticks or hollow stump (Guilty, first cache don’t you know.), are the most common. Even those can be fun if placed in an interesting area, or set up right, so they look very natural. Urban caches kick my ------, you are looking for something unnatural in an unnatural environment. How unnatural is that? I’ve even stepped on caches in an urban environment before I found them.

All in all though, I would say that the human mind is capable of infinite deviousness, and some people, as in all areas of human endeavor, are very creative. You learn who those people are quickly hunting caches in your area and just pray, hope and beg for them to put out more. But hey, the hunt and the excuse to go for a walk, and all that nature stuff is why we do it anyway!

[BCR]

In my area (DFW, TX) in my perceived order of popularity:

 

Under a fallen tree.

 

Next to the base of a tree under a pile of sticks.

 

In a knothole, in the crown of a multitrunk, or underneath soil eroded roots of a tree.

Preferred tree being a Maclura Pomifera (aka: Osage Orange, Bois d'arc, bodark, hedge apple)

because of its thorns and massive voids.

 

Decon container hanging in the foliage of a tree on the bank of a creek that is difficult to cross and guaranteed to be on the other side.

 

In the middle of a briar bush, surrounded by a wall of thorn vines and poison ivy.

 

Random painted plastic container clipped to an evergreen.

 

Multistages are _very_ popular here.

 

Coordinates are often printed from a label maker taped somewhere on a foot bridge. This can be much tougher than it sounds.

 

Hide-a-key magnet container under metal object or painted to blend with side/top of metal object.

 

Numbers or names off a historical marker, headstone, drain cover, or telephone pole are used to calculate the next stage.

 

Terrain level 2 multistage where the direct route to the next stage becomes a terrain level 4 due to obstacles, such as rivers or fences. Only the perfect route is level 2.

 

Other popular containers: 30mm ammo box, 50mm ammo box, tupperware container, decon container, bison tubes, and used sports bottles.

 

Locations: almost aways either parks (which are often in the flood plane here) or cemeteries, but sometimes along abandoned roads.

 

BTW, some of the hardest ones are because of mental barriers. Just because you wouldn't place a cache on a movable object, or amongst lots of trash, or in a dangerous area, or where it will be swept area during the next torrential rainstorm, or in tough spot when so many good easy spots are available, doesn't mean someone else won't.