Devious Hides
We especially liked the micro cache that was disguised as the head of a large machine bolt affixed to a tractor. But we’ve come across plenty of other memorable containers and devious hides.
People fashion containers out of hollowed-out rocks, pine cones and even rubber snakes. And they disguise even conventional containers so well that you can stand right next to them and not know what you’re looking at. What are the most memorable hides you’ve ever encountered? Describe what the owner did to throw you off the trail and how you finally figured out the secret. Or maybe you were the one doing the hiding. We like those stories, too.
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The most clever cache that we’ve come across thus far was one whose name listed it as numbers: ###.# (don’t want to divulge or compromise the cache). Google Maps and my GPSr took us to in front of our local public library. We always print the cache information off on our printer, so we looked at the sheet again. Then, it dawned on me: the numbers in the name were its dewey decimal numbers. I had just recently taught my daughter about those. We rushed to the shelf and started counting down until we found the book with that exact number on the spine. My daughter picked it up and opened the book. Taped inside the front cover was a geocaching log to sign. As I recall, it was an “adventure” book. Gee, I hope no one ever checks that book out! That would be a definite DNF for a few weeks, at least until the book was returned!
We’ve found over 16,000 geocaches, and many of them were quite devious. I’ll try to give you a couple of the more memorable ones. A clever cache is memorable if it is AT the coordinates, AND you just can’t seem to find it. No bush hides, No digging in dirt, No sorting of rocks….just simple clever hides. I’ll leave off the GC numbers, because geocaches come and go.
One of my favorites was hidden by Agoura Charger in California.
We approached the cache area. Imagine a giant canopy of Oak Trees about 40 feet above your head blocking out most of the sun. There were about a dozen mature trees in this mostly dirt field. We tried repeatedly to get a good reading by exiting the area and returning, yelling out the final distance to each other. We were quite certain the cache was going to be on one of the giant Oak Tree trunks in the area. But every time we returned to what looked like Ground Zero, we were no where near any of the Trees…. we were just kinda out in the middle of the dirt field, under the giant tree cover.
Many things went through our minds… Perhaps we entered the coords wrong…Perhaps the coords themselves were wrong…Perhaps the cache was buried…Perhaps the cache was stolen or muggled (a Harry Potter term).
We searched the area carefully, not knowing what size the cache was (it was marked as unknown size). We found nothing.
My daughter Theresa was visiting us today, and really wanted to find a clever cache. We decided on this one because I heard about it from a couple of local cachers at the last big event we had. We hold events monthly to discuss our geocaching journeys with other geocachers. Theresa kept running around between the trees saying “Let me find it”. I really didn’t want her to have her first DNF here (Did NOT Find).
Theresa also wanted to make sure we did NOT have to follow the 7 minute limit again. The 7 minute limit was created by us to ensure we never waste too much time searching for a geocache. We start our little timers as we exit the Jeep and give ourselves a maximum of 7 minutes to find the cache. If the cache has not been found when the 7 minute alarm goes off, we leave. Yes, we leave. 7 minutes is the limit. I assured Theresa we would violate the 7 minute limit if we didn’t find this clever cache by then.
Theresa decided some Brain work was needed….after all…Agoura Charger was known for some devious hides, and we already searched the area and found nothing. Obviously we were not looking in the right spot. Theresa asked me how the latitude and longitude numbers worked, and where exactly would they position us. She concluded that the spot was right in the middle of nothing, under the tree canopy. Theresa also concluded that the cache, in order to be exactly AT the coordinates, must be directly over our heads!
We split up and started scouring the tree canopy above. Theresa spotted a great big pinecone in the Oak Tree branches right above our heads. She was laughing and jumping around gleefully…. “A pinecone in an Oak Tree?…I found it, I found it!” she yelled.
She was very happy until I explained that we need to actually sign the logsheet….that was 40 feet above us.
After a bit of searching the area, we found the other end of the string and lowered the cache for signing. We left the area happy and satisfied that we found the cache. It was another great adventure geocaching.
Some geocaches are considered to be “standard” caches.
The Lampost cache is one of them. Some shorten the name to LPC.
These hides are very tough to find for a new geocacher.
But once you find one, you can quickly find them all.
A LPC is hidden under the skirt of any lampost.
Most lamposts have a skirt to cover up the unsightly bolts at the bottom of the pole. Just slide the skirt up a bit and place a small or micro geocache on the base. Slide the cover back down and you are done.
I’d like to add a warning here regarding the cozy little space under a lampost skirt….bugs love to make their homes there.
I’ve seen piles of crickets, beatles, spiders, ants, termites, and many other critters pour out of there upon lifting the skirt…so be careful to stand back just a bit.
Now…knowing that… I once found a geocache under a Lampost skirt…
As I lifted the skirt I saw nothing. Knowing that sometimes the cache is magnetic, and could be stuck up under the skirt, I leaned down and looked up under the skirt. Just as I peeked up under the skirt, a giant wiggling spider fell on my face! Panic set in as I dropped the skirt and backed up…the giant wiggling spider fell to the ground and was chasing me as I moved backwards! It seemed like forever before I realized that I was backing downhill, and the spider was just rolling along with me. I moved to the side and watched the spider roll along down the hill. After gaining my composure, and waiting for Sandy to quit laughing, we walked over to the spider. We quickly realized it was made of rubber, which made it wiggle, and the geocache was cut into the rubber body. Ever since then I love LPC’s.
Who designed your page? Looks great! Is it a free template you are using?
In the Lake of the Ozarks area of Missouri, I found one of my favorite caches. The owner asked that you bring a gallon of water with you to the cache. When we arrived at the coordinates, we found a 4ft section of PVC pipe attached to the back of a telephone pole. When you poured the gallon of water into the top of the PVC pipe, a small cache similar to a medicine bottle floated up to the top for you to grab. The PVC pipe had small drain holes drilled in the bottom so that the next hunter would have to have their own water to fill it again. I loved this one.
Re Dewey numbers.
I own a cache like that here in the UK. I have made a false book and placed it (with blessing) in the reference section of our local library. The beauty is that it can’t be borrowed from that section.
The “book”, and the cache are called Huey, Dewey and Louis go Caching in Silkingrad. The spine of the “book” has the name of the cache and “Pink Paisley Publishing” printed on it. Silkingrad is the local nickname for the town.
I have never had any negative feedback. Yet.
Robin.
Sorry, reading the thread upside down! That was a reply to the top of the page!
Robin.
I like the layout of your blog and I’m going to do the same thing for mine. Do you have any tips? Please PM ME on yahoo @ AmandaLovesYou702