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Hello, my name is John. I just joined the gecaching.com site and am literally brand new at this. I have yet to locate my first cache. I live in Sioux City, Iowa. I am going ot start locating cache's starting this Sunday. The area I live in affords me a unique opportunity. That is to potentially locate cache's within three states, Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota, 4 counties, Woodbury, Plymouth, Union, and Dakota and within 6 cities or towns, Sioux City, Sgt, Bluff, North Sioux City, Dakota Dunes, South Sioux City, and Dakota City.

 

I am going to do as much geocaching via my bicycle. Since 2008 I have been visiting historical sites and cultural events and posting articles about it on my blog. I hope to incorporate geocaching into this, especially when a cache is located at or near a historical site or the location of a cultural event in my area.

 

As I am brand new at this I am going to not do trades with the cache's/ I will simply locate them, sign the log, photograph the area and post about it on the web site and possibly my blog. Eventually I will start trading and hope to start creating new cache's myself as I become more experienced.

 

I am using a Galaxy Note 4 android smartphone with the geocache app downloaded on it. It looks pretty straight forward but I do have a few questions. One of the first cache's I am going to attempt to locate is at the end of a pedestrian bridge on one of the multi-use recreation trails. It appears the cache down the embankment and possibly under the bridge. I know this area well. I have traveled it on my bike literally hundreds of times so know the landscape and terrain. Is the location shown on the app within a few feet of the cache? How accurate is locating with the app? In the surrounding area are private property, commercial property adjacent to the public right of way trail.

 

Any help, advice, tips, would greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you.

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The location on the map is what the cache owner believes to be GZ (ground zero).

On a perfect day, civilian GPS is accurate +/- 10', but it's rare for many "perfect" days.

That close, the CO would had to have a perfect day too.

If you're within 20 or 30', that's good, and when many put the GPS away when approaching, to start looking. :)

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Well hello and welcome to the wonderful world of Geocaching John! :D I'm located in Ankeny, Iowa so its always good to see more Iowa cachers! The cache is most likely on the public property. Like cerberus1 said 10 feet is about how accurate coords usually are. Good luck and happy caching :grin:

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A common recommendation for beginners is to stick with small small.gif size, regular regular.gif size, and large large.gif size caches. Until you're more experienced, avoid micro micro.gif size caches, some of which are smaller than most beginners can imagine (sometimes called "nanos"). Save those for later, after you have some experience.

 

Also, stick with caches that have a difficulty rating of no more than 2 stars stars2.gif. Save the more difficult ones for later. You may also want to choose caches with easy terrain ratings. (The difficulty rating tells you how hard it is to find the cache once you get there. The terrain rating tells you how hard it is to get there.) And it is often best to start with traditional 2.gif caches, which will be at the published coordinates. Multi-caches 3.gif or mystery/puzzle caches 8.gif or other cache types can require more work just to figure out where the container is located.

 

Under ideal conditions, a consumer GPSr will be accurate to about 3m (10ft). That applies both to your device, and to the cache owner’s device, so you may find the container 5-6m (16-20ft) from ground zero under ideal conditions. Under less than ideal conditions, both GPSr readings can be much less accurate. Once you get within that distance of ground zero, put your device away and look around for places where a container could be hidden.

 

Where would you hide something? Do you notice anything unusual? Is anything too new, too old, too organized (e.g., UPS: an Unnatural Pile of Sticks/Stones), too symmetrical, not quite the right color or shape, etc.? Don’t look only on the ground; the cache may be knee-level, waist-level, eye-level, or overhead. How might the container be secured in place? With magnets? With a hook? With string? With fishing line? With something else? Does anything move when you touch it? (Be careful when touching things though.)

 

Go ahead and read the cache's additional hints (if provided), and read the past logs and look at any photos in the cache's image gallery. They may help you understand what you're looking for, and how/where it may be hidden. It may also help to look at some of the cache containers available online. For example, check out the cache containers sold by Groundspeak. Also, take a look at the Pictures - Cool Cache Containers (CCC's) thread in the forums, and check out some geocaching videos on YouTube.

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In looking at all of the cache's I am going to attempt to hunt for on Sunday April 2 I know the terrain well. In some of these areas 20' would put a person in the middle of a creek, part of which is under the ground or the Missouri River and even in the middle of a 4 lane divided busy street. Using logic and reasoning I am pretty sure the cache owner did not hide the cache's in the creek, river, under ground or even on a raised median in the center of a busy 4 lane street. I hope to find at least three on Sunday and will let you all know how it goes.

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Using logic and reasoning I am pretty sure the cache owner did not hide the cache's in the creek, river, under ground or even on a raised median in the center of a busy 4 lane street.
FWIW, I've found geocaches in creeks, rivers, lakes, and sloughs, as well as under ground, as well as in, over, and under streets and highways (including a couple raised medians).
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In looking at all of the cache's I am going to attempt to hunt for on Sunday April 2 I know the terrain well. In some of these areas 20' would put a person in the middle of a creek, part of which is under the ground or the Missouri River and even in the middle of a 4 lane divided busy street. Using logic and reasoning I am pretty sure the cache owner did not hide the cache's in the creek, river, under ground or even on a raised median in the center of a busy 4 lane street. I hope to find at least three on Sunday and will let you all know how it goes.

Using logic/reasoning, if still a basic member using the app, and ratings are 1.5/1.5 and below, odds are the cache is alongside that creek, lake, or street.

This is where civilian GPS accuracy is taken into account.

 

Later, if you decide to become a premium member, or use a GPSr to cache with instead (no limitations other than pmo as basic with a GPSr), higher terrain ratings will present all the caches in rivers, lakes, and underground. :)

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Welcome to the hobby! The previous posts cover a lot, so I'll just add a few comments that I didn't see already mentioned.

 


  •  
  • If you find the Geocaching-R app to be cumbersome, then there are other options that will work with your smartphone. A list of approved API partner apps can be seen here.
  • The terrain rating should be able to help you determine whether a cache is really located in the creek or right next to the trail. If a cache was hidden in the water, then the terrain would be closer to 5.0 (less than 5.0 if a boat is not required).
  • Regarding both your Blog entries and your Geocaching.com logs - it's not a good idea to mention how the cache was hidden or to post pictures showing the cache in it's hiding place.
  • For example, I've seen logs on caches where the person said 'It was under the large rock'. This is generally frowned upon. If the CO provides this type of info, then that's their perogative. If finders provide this type of info, then it's considered a 'Spoiler'.
  • If you are looking for more information that you can't find in the "Learn" section of the site, then you might like to use the Help Center Knowledge Books instead. Personally, I find it easier to look up things in the Knowledge Books.

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While I am photographing the exact place the cache is hidden I am not posting those photos online. I am however photographing the area around where the cache is hidden, for example there is one hidden at a veterans memorial so I photographed that and am posting those photos. I am also photographing the container and the contents of the cache along with what is in the cache when I find it and what I traded for if there are items to trade.

 

There are pretty clear rules for cache owners to hide and place a cache. In the terms of use there is the mention of not posting spoilers on the geocache site but I have found nothing about posting spoilers when a cache is found on other sites outside of geocache.com. Outside of geocache.com is this one of those so called unwritten rules and if/when it occurs it is frowned upon but nothing can really be done about it?

Edited by SUX_VR_40_Rider
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I suppose if you want to post spoiler pictures on other sites like Facebook, there's nothing GS can do about it, but you'd be thought of badly here.

 

The point is to not ruin other people's caches, however that's defined by the cache owner, period. Posting the 'hidden' details of someone's hide ANYWHERE is a low-class move, IMO.

 

Why not just stand there by the cache and point it out to everyone who comes along?

 

Or sit at the movies and tell everyone how it ends?

Edited by TeamRabbitRun
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I'd say consider the cache owner and the cache hide. If it seems like the fun of the experience is discovering how the cache is hidden, then even posting a spoiler on an external website may not be appreciated by the owner. There is of course nothing they can do about it, but a good rule of thumb is 'do unto other as you'd have them do to you' :) If the owner discovers that the 'secret' to their cache is posted publicly somehwere out in the internet, they might choose to archive their cache because in theory anyone can find that spoiler. In their mind the cache is ruined.

 

Your best bet would be to contact the owner if you're uncertain and ask if it's ok if you cover their cache on your blog, and how 'spoilery' the coverage can be. I think you'll find generally that for the really easy caches most owners won't care if there's a spoiler out there, because it really is that easy and often more work to find the spoiler than the find the cache.

 

Some owners absolutely love when a finder loves their cache so much that they want to share it with others publicly, it may attract more people to come and find it.

 

On another note, for ratings, here's a general rule of thumb I go by: Difficulty is the 'brain' required to find the cache, and Terrain is the 'braun'. DIfficulty could refer to a puzzle, specialized knowledge, or the container's camouflage, and Terrain could refer to length of a hike, strength required, or special equipment needed. General rule of thumb :) Unless you know how the cache owner interprets the ratings, that's a good starting point.

 

Difficulty 1 usually means anyone should be able to 'figure it out'. Difficulty 5 usually means special/technical knowledge is required.

Terrain 1 is supposed to mean wheelchair accessible. Terrain 5 is supposed to mean special equipment is required to get to gz (climbing gear, water craft,etc).

Most often, a Terrain 4.5 may take much more work to get to than a Terrain 5 (if you have the right equipment).

 

Lots of little nuances here you'll pick up the longer you play the hobby :)

Edited by thebruce0
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While I am photographing the exact place the cache is hidden I am not posting those photos online. I am however photographing the area around where the cache is hidden, for example there is one hidden at a veterans memorial so I photographed that and am posting those photos. I am also photographing the container and the contents of the cache along with what is in the cache when I find it and what I traded for if there are items to trade.

 

There are pretty clear rules for cache owners to hide and place a cache. In the terms of use there is the mention of not posting spoilers on the geocache site but I have found nothing about posting spoilers when a cache is found on other sites outside of geocache.com. Outside of geocache.com is this one of those so called unwritten rules and if/when it occurs it is frowned upon but nothing can really be done about it?

 

Instead of worrying about the letter of the law, let common sense guide you. I'm not sure why are are asking about posting pictures on another site. Are you planning to do so? If so, why? I try to photograph every cache I find for my own use. I think the only time I've posted a picture online was to fulfill the requirements of a grandfathered virtual.

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