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So, you've been Geocaching for a while and you're ready to hide your
first cache. You read the
guidelines
on Geocaching.com and took the time to review their
tutorial but
you'd like to know more to make your cache the best it can be. Consider
the following:
What type of cacher are you targeting?
Who do you want to find your cache? Are you looking for families with
young children? Are you going for the caching elite? Remember your
public speaking classes from high school? Know your audience. Families
aren't going to want to or be able to climb vertical cliffs to reach a
cache. Caching elitists will flame you for filling your cache with golf
balls and McToys.
The best advice we can offer here is to match the contents of the
cache with the difficulty of the terrain and search. We have a cache
that is very difficult to find and placed in a very remote location. (It
took three months for the first to find [FTF] to happen.) Keeping this
in mind, we filled the cache with some fairly nice outdoor-themed loot.
If you're going to hide a difficult cache, reward those who find it!
How frequently would you like your cache to be found?
If you crave log entries, don't hide your cache in the middle of
nowhere. Don't make people hike for 20 miles before they can really
begin their search. On the other hand, if you're not worried about
racking up dozens of log entries and you really want to challenge
someone, go ahead - hide it a long way from other caches and crank up
the difficulty rating to a 5/5!
Are you willing to replace the cache frequently?
By now, you've probably heard of Muggles. They're those annoying
individuals who haven't heard of Geocaching and many times will pick up
a cache and walk off with it. They may have no ill intent in doing this
but the effect is the same - you either have to replace the cache or
have the listing removed.
How can you prevent this? The basics are pretty straightforward:
- Hide your caches where cachers can go through the contents and
write log entries without being seen.
- Hide your caches where cachers will go relatively unnoticed while
searching for the cache.
- Label your caches clearly, inside and out, so someone who finds
them by accident will at least be informed before they walk off with
the cache.
- Booby trap your caches so that only those with clues from the
listing will escape with their lives - JUST KIDDING!
In all seriousness, hiding caches that are targeted at families with
small children seems to be in direct opposition to hiding caches that
will not be Muggled or stolen. To a certain extent this is true. What
can you do to meet both goals?
- Warn cachers of the potential for Muggles in your listing.
- Offer advice in your listing on ways to avoid being spotted by
Muggles.
- Suggest times of day that are best for avoiding Muggles.
- Suggest directions of approach that may help in avoiding Muggles.
- Hide your caches in "quiet containers." The clank of an ammo can
being opened will definitely catch the attention of any Muggles who
happen to be nearby. On the other hand, the "burp" of a Tupperware
container may go unnoticed. Our 1 liter Nalgene bottles are good quiet
containers.
- Camouflage your container. This doesn't necessarily mean black,
brown and green spray paint or camouflage duct tape. Consider the
environment and make your container fit in. We've seen fake rocks, dog
doo, drain covers, sprinkler heads and dozens more great ideas.
Caches with higher difficulty ratings will naturally be less likely
to be stolen but you may still want to consider some precautions.
- Put nice stuff in your difficult caches but not nice enough that
it would tempt someone to haul all of it out.
- If the environment allows it, consider anchoring the cache
container (this can make the cache look more appealing to Muggles so
consider it carefully). Do not harm the environment by doing this!
- The less expensive the container, the less likely someone is to
steal the cache for the container. Ammo cans are pretty appealing to
the general population; spray painted Nalgene jars a little less so.
- In very remote areas, make sure your cache is not appealing to
animals. Don't use containers that held food at one time. Don't use
small, shiny containers. Don't create containers from things that used
to be a part of indigenous animals' diets, e.g. hollowed-out ear corn,
acorns, etc.
Maintain your caches.
Your hides are your responsibility. Keep this in mind when you hide
your caches. If they are quite some distance from your home or work,
maintaining them will require some commute time. Here are a few other
considerations when it comes to cache maintenance:
- Caches in high-traffic areas should be checked more frequently to
insure that they have not been poorly re-hidden or stolen
- Caches in less waterproof containers should be checked after
precipitation
- Caches in less "robust" containers should be checked more
frequently than those in heavy-duty containers like ammo cans
- You may wish to consider an alternate location within a few feet
of the primary hiding spot if your cache will be adversely affected by
weather conditions like snow or ice; this secondary location should be
pointed out in your cache listing and should be no more than a few
feet away (5 or 10) to keep its impact on other nearby caches to a
minimum
- Check caches at least once a month - more frequently is
better
- Watch your cache listings to see what is happening; if there are
several unsuccessful attempts to find a cache, it may have been stolen
- Watch your cache listings to see what is being placed in them; if
your cache is collecting "junk," replace the junk with better swag
- Caches that are found frequently require more maintenance - I
would suggest one visit to your hide for every 5-7 finds
- If your hide requires a good deal of natural camouflage, you may
want to check it more frequently to ensure that the camouflage is
being replaced after finds
- Logically, multi-stage caches will require more maintenance than
single-stage caches
- Pick up trash around your cache when you check on your stash
Pick a nice location.
Not every cache has to have a breathtaking view like the Grand Canyon
or Mt. St. Helens but taking your cachers to a nice place is a sign of a
quality hide. City parks, neighborhood parks, places of historical
significance and quite country getaways are all nice places to take
one's family while Geocaching.
In our humble opinion, magnetic micros in the mall parking lot lack a
bit of Geocaching panache. Take your cachers to a place in their own
home town that they haven't already seen. An example of a great cache
like this here in our home town is
FDN where we came across a Heron preserve just a couple miles from
our house that we had no idea existed. We saw a deer on the way in to
the cache ... in the middle of the city. It was worth the trip even if
we hadn't found the cache. Now that is a high-style hide!
Get permission.
If you're not hiding in a public park, get permission for your hide.
More and more, land management bureaus and state and federal parks limit
the hiding of Geocaches. They do this in part to protect the land and in
part because some before us probably failed to gain permission first.
Check and re-check to make sure you are following the guidelines set
forth by the governing authority. State and federal parks, if they are
close to you, make great places to hide a high-style cache but the
sport, in general, doesn't need the bad reputation associated with
hiding without proper permission.
If in doubt, check it out!
Consider safety first, last and always.
Think of all the possibilities when hiding caches. Are there animals
nearby? Would they be a threat to adults or children. (The deer we saw
at the FDN cache could have posed a minor potential threat if startled -
unlikely, but possible. A doe will go to great lengths to protect her
young.)
Consider how someone unfamiliar with caching will react if they
stumble across your cache. An un-marked (no Geocaching label) ammo can
hidden in a high-traffic city park could certainly raise concerns for
those unfamiliar with our sport. Terrorist concerns are at an all-time
high and a container that used to hold ammunition has a distinct
possibility of raising those concerns even higher.
If your cache is hidden in somewhat or very difficult terrain,
consider warning cachers of terrain features that may pose a danger to
children, the elderly or even able-bodied adults. An informed cacher can
prepare themselves for the terrain or choose not to seek out your cache
for their own safety.
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