Hiding First Cache

[+susiepummill]

Hello All.

My husband and I love geocaching and are completely addicted. We would like to start thinking about our first hide, and have ordered some awesome containers.....my concern is, someone told me, or suggested, that since we are "newbies" nobody would want to look for our hides, is that accurate, and if so, what can we do to encourage seekers?

 

Thank you in advance for any and all feedback!

[RuideAlmeida]

...is that accurate, and if so, what can we do to encourage seekers?

 

No.

It is good to have some experience in finding several types of geocaches, before hiding your first, but there are no guidelines about it.

[+niraD]

I haven't heard anyone say that they don't look for caches hidden by newbies. Although I have heard some people say that they don't look for caches hidden by newbies until they've been found by a few experienced geocachers. But there isn't really much you can do about that. Different people like different types of caches, and there are few (if any) cache types that appeal to everyone.

 

The guidelines recommend finding "at least twenty geocaches before you choose to hide one", but that isn't a hard rule. Personally, I think it's more important that you find a variety of different caches, rather than a specific number of caches. The goal is to get a better idea of what kinds of caches you like, what kinds of caches work well, and what kinds of caches you want to own and maintain for the long term.

[+Mockingbird559]

IMO the single biggest thing you can do is have good coordinates. If bad coordinates are reported, then go out and fix them. A real GPS with averaging is a big help, but I think there is a way to get good cords using a cell phone but I dont know how to do it and have never had enough confidence in taking readings from a cell phone to use them to post a new hide.

 

Recently a new local cacher posted 3 new caches, all of which had coordinates off by 50-200 feet. One has been changed so it is off by 150 feet rather than 85 feet.

 

Another has had reliable cords posted in logs by finders but they still have not been changed on the cache page.

 

I have seen new players have some fabulous caches for their first hide. Being a newby hider will not keep others away for that reason alone.

 

Cache Happy

[+L0ne.R]

Hide something you can be proud of - good coordinates, a nice location to bring people to, a quality container (authentic Lock & Lock is a good choice and comes in a variety of sizes including a palm size 100ml size), and no guideline violations.

 

Good luck and I hope you get some great comments on your cache hides.

Edited September 30, 2015 by L0ne.R

[+JeepFreak81]

I've never heard that and I don't check out the hider's profile before going to a cache. I see a cache that looks interesting and I go after it. I only have a bit over 80 finds and have done 5 hides. I became a member in 2011 and did a bit of finding before placing my first hide. Personally I love hiding caches and plan to do several more in my area.

 

My biggest suggestion would be to take your time, bring somebody to a place of at least some interest, and make it a good quality hide with a good container. Put a little thought into it and people will come. Good Luck!

[+WarNinjas]

Cachers in our area want to be FTF! It wouldn't matter if you were new or not. There would be someone there within the hour if it wasn't a Kayak to or really long hike. That is in our area though.

[+Chief301]

In my area it's not unusual for a cache to go a week or more before FTF. 3 or 4 days is common. This is out in the rural areas mostly, I'm sure the ones in Baton Rouge and New Orleans get found much quicker.

[+vw_k]

If you feel that you have found enough caches to know what makes a good and bad hide then go for it. Get accurate co-ordinates and place a decent container in a nice area and geocachers WILL want to come and find it.

[+geekgrl1]

Often inexperience shows in the cache description because the CO doesn't know what makes a "good" cache (although "good" is completely subjective). I wouldn't say that I would ignore a cache just because it was hidden by someone new, but I will ignore a cache that sounds uninteresting. Some cachers just want to find caches, no matter what they are.

 

I'm embarrassed to say that my first hide was an LPC, and I thought it was clever and unique because I had only seen one of them before! A couple hundred finds later I realized just how common and boring they are, and they are never hidden in interesting places. At least I made it a puzzle cache

Edited October 7, 2015 by geekgrl1

[+Spacemann Spiff]

(I thought I might piggy-back off of this topic rather than start a new thread, since I am also a "newbie" getting ready to hide my first cache).

 

I've found 60+ caches so far, of several types in multiple states, so I think I have a pretty good handle on how things work, at least from the "hunting" side.

 

My question is:

 

I'm using my smartphone when hunting and don't have a separate GPS (and don't want to get one), so I'm trying to determine the best way to get accurate coordinates for hiding caches. I've selected two hiding spots, downloaded an app onto my phone which (supposedly) tells me the GPS coordinates of where I'm standing (the app is called "My GPS Coordinates" for Android), and went to both locations today to get the coordinates. In both cases, the app said the coordinates should be accurate to "within 3 meters."

 

However, when I got home, I plugged the coordinates into Google Maps just to see where it would point. In both cases, the Google Maps pointer is pointing about 20-30 feet away from my desired locations (one about 30 feet southwest, the other about 20 feet northeast). So, then I used the Google Maps pointer itself to get me its version of the coordinates. My question is: which is more accurate? Is Google Maps considered to be accurate? When using their Satellite view, I can see the actual spots where I want to hide my caches. Just wondering if Google Maps is considered to be "an authority" in GPS accuracy.

 

(My next step will be to see if I can use the "decimal version" of coordinates when creating a cache or whether I'll have to convert it to degrees, minutes, etc. But I presume the process will inform me of that when I get that far).

 

Thanks in advance for any comments!

John

"Spacemann Spiff"

[+K13]

The better practice to check the validity of the coordinates you obtained is to enter those coordinates in your search device and try to return to that spot. See where your device takes you. Google Maps has been known to be off from the actual coordinates in some areas of the world.

 

As to the coordinates question, I seem to remember the submission page accepting coordinates in decimal degrees, so you may be able to get by without changing anything in your app.

 

Good luck.

[+niraD]

If you don't trust your coordinates, then test them.

 

Enter your coordinates into your device, and then approach the cache location from at least 100ft/30m away. The arrow should point right at the cache location as you approach. Repeat the process, approaching the cache location from various directions, from at least 100ft/30m away each time. No matter which direction you approach from, the arrow should point right at the cache location.

 

If it doesn't, then adjust your coordinates until it does.

 

Bonus points for repeating the test on another day when the GPS satellites are in a different configuration.

 

Also, the Help Center article How to Get Accurate Coordinates should prove useful.

[+Spacemann Spiff]

OK, thanks. Will give that a try.

 

I've never entered coordinates as a destination into my phone before (only had the geocaching app take me to a destination based on what cache I click on), but it can't be too hard. I do see that I have a "Navigation" app on my phone, so I'll trying inputting the coordinates into that.

 

Thanks again!

John

[+WarNinjas]

Also you can download a gps averager. It will keep taking coords as you stand there and average them. I usually will do it and then email them to myself. Walk away and go back and do it again a couple of times. Let it average about 10 times or more when I am standing there. Then check google earth like you did. If it is off by a lot then go back and double check it.