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If I knew then what I know now...


MMaru

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I've only been caching for a year and some change but I've already learned some valuable lessons! I was thinking today about some of the struggles I had when I first started. One was the fact that I didn't know what a 'preform' was, and went after a cache whose encrypted hint was 'soda can preform.' It was hidden right across from a Pepsi plant, so I interpreted the hint as, "What form does a soda can take before it's actually a soda can?" and started looking around for some sort of aluminum container. I was so frustrated by my struggle to find it when it was only a 1.5 difficulty rating that I never went back for it even when I learned what's actually meant by 'preform!'

 

Another lesson that I wish I'd known from the start was the fact that the skirts on light posts lift! I probably spent a good half an hour scrutinizing a lamp post outside of a Starbucks one day, poking at cracks, combing the grass around it, picking up the tiny pebbles at the base even though they were WAY too tiny to be a possibility. It wasn't till I accidentally nudged a skirt when looking for another cache whose GZ brought me to a lamp post that I learned those things lift up! I ended up going back for SO many DNFs after that day!

 

What are some of your early geocaching blunders and lessons?

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We had no idea what a "buffalo" or "bison" was when we started... thank goodness for Google! lol

 

Also, we started with the caches all around our house, and worked outward from there when we started... now, we're trying to keep a streak alive, and we wish we had ventured further away, and left some of the closer ones for days when it's more difficult to travel...

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Fake bolts and similar things slowed me down in the beginning.

 

I went to a cache recently with a sophisticated fake clasp that opens to reveal a nano-sized log compartment. It blends in with other hardware at GZ. The cache is rated about D3 and has many DNF'S (& many favs). I found it within a minute. B) A year and a half ago I would never have found it.

 

As for the lamp skirts, each person has to discover that on their own. I got one in a gas station once. The hint was "in the usual place." Someone else (with about 10 finds) DNF it, and posted "what's the usual place?" :D

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I still don't know what a preform is.

A fake small soda bottle that accepts a standard soda bottle cap that screws on, I believe. Only saw one once, with heavy camo glued onto the bottle.

 

It's not really a "fake" soda bottle, it is the actual soda bottle before they blow and mold it into its final shape.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Soda-Bottle-Preforms-Caps-30/dp/B008MB1QNY

Edited by Chief301
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I've only been caching for a year and some change but I've already learned some valuable lessons! I was thinking today about some of the struggles I had when I first started. One was the fact that I didn't know what a 'preform' was, and went after a cache whose encrypted hint was 'soda can preform.' It was hidden right across from a Pepsi plant, so I interpreted the hint as, "What form does a soda can take before it's actually a soda can?" and started looking around for some sort of aluminum container. I was so frustrated by my struggle to find it when it was only a 1.5 difficulty rating that I never went back for it even when I learned what's actually meant by 'preform!'

 

 

Well...I'd say the hint was misleading if it said 'soda CAN preform', since cans are made from aluminum. Not knowing what a preform is, one would naturally take the "can" part and use that as the jumping-off point for their search.

 

I think I figured the skirt-lifter out on the first try. I knew they lifted - I'm an architect and have made countless visits to construction sites where you see all this stuff in various stages of completion - but I had a harder time when I looked for caches where folks would devise some way of attaching it to the underside of the skirt itself.

 

The first time I discovered this, I was at a cache where the only possible hiding spot was a light pole, so I swear I lifted that thing a half dozen times, trying to figure out if it was some fake bolt or flat magnet on the base or tucked under the raised portion of the pole itself. I'd given up and started walking away before I realized I probably ought to check the skirt itself...so I bravely felt up under the cover and immediately felt the container, which had been velcroed to the underside. Fifteen minutes standing at that stupid light post, looking like an idiot.

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I am glad you guys brought these to my attention being new to all this. So I now where to start now and did some google searches:

 

It looks like Preforms are just plastic tube looking things that are hard to break :)

 

http://www.cache-advance.com/proddetail.asp?prod=Preform

 

"These "preform" geocache tubes are the early stage of a 2 liter soda bottle. They are virtually indestructable, dishwasher safe, and they are clear so you can see everything inside. (All preforms have a very slight greyish tint) Caps are included.

 

Each preform measures approx. 5.75 inches (15cm) tall, and each holds about 2 ounces (60 ml.)"

 

It looks like bison containers are the metal containers and they come in all kinds of shapes and styles, or so it seems...

 

http://www.shop4swag.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=133

 

Am I on track?

Edited by MersonMonkeys
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1. Always mark where you park in unfamiliar territory.

 

2. Carry spare batteries.

 

3. Don't focus on the find at the expense of the fun of the hike!

 

I'll add that often the forest caches are on or very close to an actual trail. You'll often see comments from folks about having to bushwhack to a cache only to get there and discover a nice trail leading to/from GZ. Normally I will stay on a trail, even if my device is pointing me off-trail and more often than not the trail will circle back to GZ. It's not always that way, of course...but a lot of times you can get a good sense of what you are up against in the cache description and posted logs. So basically...use the established trails as much as possible. The easiest route between points A and B is not always a straight line.

Edited by J Grouchy
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I know where the OP is coming from... but by the same point, did you play a piano perfectly (or even not-so-perfectly) in your first attempt? How about driving? Swimming? Wait for it............. Walking?

 

Just saying... there is a learning curve to any new (to you) endeavor.

Yes, you can learn by reading, but you learn FAR more by doin'. You certainly cannot learn it all by reading.

 

Using a GPSr or phone app for the first time, even after reading all you can about it, still doesn't make it... well, easy.

 

Geocaching is easy.... after a while.

 

Keeping up with what people mean when they say (or type) something, or even application of specific terms? That, my friend, is a never-ending adventure.

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I really, really, really wish I had known about County and Delorme challenges.

 

What got us into geocaching was a contest the Kansas state parks put on back in 2011. We ended up visiting every state park. But we generally drove straight from one park to the next without stopping for any other caches. Little did we know that we were hopscotching all kinds of counties and Delorme pages! We would have easily knocked them all out if we'd just known about those challenges.

 

Oh well, we really enjoyed that summer anyway. Put tons of miles on the car, but had a blast. And it got us hooked on the hobby.

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I am glad you guys brought these to my attention being new to all this. So I now where to start now and did some google searches:

 

It looks like Preforms are just plastic tube looking things that are hard to break :)

 

http://www.cache-advance.com/proddetail.asp?prod=Preform

 

"These "preform" geocache tubes are the early stage of a 2 liter soda bottle. They are virtually indestructable, dishwasher safe, and they are clear so you can see everything inside. (All preforms have a very slight greyish tint) Caps are included.

 

Each preform measures approx. 5.75 inches (15cm) tall, and each holds about 2 ounces (60 ml.)"

 

It looks like bison containers are the metal containers and they come in all kinds of shapes and styles, or so it seems...

 

http://www.shop4swag.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=133

 

Am I on track?

 

Perfect! And they are "Bison" and not "Buffalo." Just as the wings are Buffalo and not Bison.

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I'm definitely with dprovan on a couple of those items. I naively thought that I'd find every GC when I started. Ha! Then when I found myself looking in the same place for literally an hour (not figuratively), I realized that I had to start setting my own limits on how long I looked. It has not gone up. If anything, since I'm not ashamed of DNFs any longer (another starter issue), it has gone done. There are lots of good GCs out there. I am not going to look for yours for more than maybe 10 minutes. Even if I hiked a mile to get there.

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1. I wish if I had known that I would be working on The 2/2 Challenge later. I found too many 1.5/1.5s.

2. Some of my geofriends say that they didn't imagine how long it was going to take to sign their names when they came up with their geocaching names (13-14 letters).

Huh, I wouldn't have thought that challenge would fly w/ guidelines.

I think that the said challenge was published before the current guidelines.

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If anything, since I'm not ashamed of DNFs any longer (another starter issue)

 

I've never been ashamed of a DNF, though sometimes when I go back and find them I think "Wow, how did you miss that, you nitwit?". (like yesterday's find...)

 

I think the thing I shouldn't have done when I was (even more) new was try to read everything about everything. In an effort to learn the game I ended up overloading my brain with stuff which made it all seem too too complicated. I talked myself out of playing as a result!

 

When a friend asks me how to get started, I tell them to look up what they need to know that day. There's time to learn everything, you don't need to understand the concepts of challenges, multies, puzzles, travelbugs, waypoints and so on and so on before you go looking for your first traditional in the local park. Look it up as and when you have questions, or as an when you encounter new cache types.

 

As for on the field mistakes, I was so glued to the GPSr that I actually fell down a wombat hole. Look UP people! :laughing:

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Also, we started with the caches all around our house, and worked outward from there when we started... now, we're trying to keep a streak alive, and we wish we had ventured further away, and left some of the closer ones for days when it's more difficult to travel...

This is true. I always tell new cachers that contact me for one reason or another when they start that they might want to think of this. They might not think so at the beginning of playing but later might decide to do a streak and it will be hard. Even though I would like them to find our hides I still let them know.

We got lucky with this and hid a cache our first week of caching and one who found it said something like "So glad you hid this close to home to keep our streak alive as it is getting hard to do" I asked about what a streak was and it really interested me. It has been a few years now after that and our streak is still going. It gets harder on days off now but would have been impossible if I had not found out about it at the very start.

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Actually look at the D/T ratings...particularly the terrain rating. For probably the first few months I barely gave that number a glance, and would often find myself trudging through the woods or up steep slopes in my work clothes like an idiot. The I got wise and started considering that number before deciding whether or not to make the trip to find the cache.

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Actually look at the D/T ratings...particularly the terrain rating. For probably the first few months I barely gave that number a glance, and would often find myself trudging through the woods or up steep slopes in my work clothes like an idiot. The I got wise and started considering that number before deciding whether or not to make the trip to find the cache.

The terrain rating can also help you make the find once at GZ, by helping you rule out possible hiding areas. For example, if you're after a Terrain 1.0 cache, and have followed a paved path to a bridge, but your GPS seems to be pointing into really thick undergrowth just past or to the side of the bridge - stop and give that bridge a REALLY thorough search before you go diving into the brush.

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The difference between True North and Magnetic North for projections. I still don't know how to do projections with the regular app. I have to use something else.

 

Converting coordinates to and from different formats.

 

I also wish I paid more attention to events. At first I didn't want to meet a bunch of strange people in a restaurant, but I am glad I did.

 

Not following the trail but following the arrow on the GPS. Almost stepped on a large rattle snake early on. :shocked:

 

This! Almost every time I leave a trail, I end up paying for it.

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I also wish I paid more attention to events. At first I didn't want to meet a bunch of strange people in a restaurant, but I am glad I did.

 

Yeah, it took at least two or three "meet and greet" events before I became comfortable enough at events. It certainly helps to have an established group that does regular events...with welcoming members. Atlanta has a group (AAG..."Atlanta Area Geocachers") that does an evening meet-up at a restaurant once a month. They also do weekly lunchtime events and occasional CITOs and flash mobs. Sure does make it easier to attend events and meet other cachers.

Edited by J Grouchy
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It's not really a "fake" soda bottle, it is the actual soda bottle before they blow and mold it into its final shape.

 

Hence the 'pre' at the front of the name. It's the raw material 'before' it is formed into the final product.

As a newbie I had to Google that myself, to figure out what I was looking for.

 

The hardest thing for me at first was a fake outlet cover on a square light pole next to a dumpster behind a fast food restaurant. I learned how to be more selective and check satellite view after that. :D

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Actually look at the D/T ratings...particularly the terrain rating. For probably the first few months I barely gave that number a glance, and would often find myself trudging through the woods or up steep slopes in my work clothes like an idiot. The I got wise and started considering that number before deciding whether or not to make the trip to find the cache.

The terrain rating can also help you make the find once at GZ, by helping you rule out possible hiding areas. For example, if you're after a Terrain 1.0 cache, and have followed a paved path to a bridge, but your GPS seems to be pointing into really thick undergrowth just past or to the side of the bridge - stop and give that bridge a REALLY thorough search before you go diving into the brush.

 

What I learned during my recovery period, after breaking my leg while geocaching and getting back into geocaching with a brace....select only caches rated Terrain 1 or 1.5. T2 and T2.5 is a crap shoot. T2: "Suitable for small children. (Terrain is generally along marked trails, there are no steep elevation changes or heavy overgrowth. Less than a 2 mile hike required.)...someone could ride a bike up such a slope." Many cacher owners think climbing Mt Everest only rates a 2.

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I've only been caching for a year and some change but I've already learned some valuable lessons! I was thinking today about some of the struggles I had when I first started. One was the fact that I didn't know what a 'preform' was, and went after a cache whose encrypted hint was 'soda can preform.' It was hidden right across from a Pepsi plant, so I interpreted the hint as, "What form does a soda can take before it's actually a soda can?" and started looking around for some sort of aluminum container. I was so frustrated by my struggle to find it when it was only a 1.5 difficulty rating that I never went back for it even when I learned what's actually meant by 'preform!'

 

Another lesson that I wish I'd known from the start was the fact that the skirts on light posts lift! I probably spent a good half an hour scrutinizing a lamp post outside of a Starbucks one day, poking at cracks, combing the grass around it, picking up the tiny pebbles at the base even though they were WAY too tiny to be a possibility. It wasn't till I accidentally nudged a skirt when looking for another cache whose GZ brought me to a lamp post that I learned those things lift up! I ended up going back for SO many DNFs after that day!

 

What are some of your early geocaching blunders and lessons?

 

1- Beagles are very bad at finding caches.

 

2- Florida has some big a** spiders that block your way to caches.

 

3- Always, always bring snacks so when you're walking around a park in circles trying to find your way out, you at least won't die of starvation.

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1. Search in the easy places first. Save the brier patch/cliff/top of the tree for last (unless it's got a high terrain rating).

 

2. If you're looking at your GPS, you're not looking for the cache. Put it away when you get near GZ (Ground Zero).

 

3. Cache coordinates are two dimensional. Do not forget about the third dimension. The cache might be up in the air, and it might be under where you're standing.

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One was the fact that I didn't know what a 'preform' was...

I didn't know what that was until just now. Thanks for this :)

Another lesson that I wish I'd known from the start was the fact that the skirts on light posts lift!

LOL, I didn't realize that either for one of my first caches...my husband accidentally kicked the skirt, saw that it moved, and we peeked under. I was literally ready to start pulling up bricks but luckily I was saved from that ;)

 

I've also learned that when people say a cache is easy, that doesn't mean easy for me! I just have to accept my own learning curve, no matter how steep it is. There are still a few that I've missed but I'm hoping this winter is kind (and since no gross bugs!) and I can go back and explore without fear of creeper crawlers. /Shudder, lol.

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Much of what's already been said works for us too.

 

One thing I wish very often is that I'd paid more attention to making my caches winter friendly. We cache a lot in the winter, and always appreciate when the cache is hidden off the ground. Now, as I do maintenance on our caches I try to re-hide them off the ground if possible. I wish I had started doing that right from the start!

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4. Permethrin and DEET work much better when you actually put it on rather than just having it in the truck. :laughing:

 

That reminds me:

 

1. Bug spray with DEET will ruin a flashlight lens. Maglites have a replaceable lens, but it isn't cheap for what it is.

 

3- Always, always bring snacks so when you're walking around a park in circles trying to find your way out, you at least won't die of starvation.

 

This reminds me:

 

2. Always bring water for anything more than a simple park-and-grab. I usually can count on my wife to remember it, but on one of my few solo geocaching hikes when I didn't remember to bring water, I was lucky enough to meet a fellow geocacher who brought extra. I didn't think it was much of a hike when I started.

 

also:

 

3. If it sounds like a ridiculously daring hide, then it probably is. Caches that ask to be muggled probably will be, very quickly.

 

4. There is no glue on the market that can stand against the forces of nature. Bolt it, clip it or wire it, or be prepared to make frequent maintenance visits. The strongest glue in the world is only as strong as the weakest mating surface.

 

5. Wood is the most effective camouflage out in nature, but it shrinks when it dries, swells when it's wet, and it generally requires very frequent replacement.

 

6. About one in ten finders can properly close a container with a complicated closure mechanism. About one in ten finders cannot properly close any kind of container. I've made both kinds and learned my lesson. Recently, I had someone complain that he couldn't unscrew the lid, so the log wasn't signed. The lid was a soft rubber cap that pulls straight off. I had a feeling that might happen, but there's no way to make a closure any simpler than that, so what can I do? No container is so robust that it never needs to be checked on. Someone, somehow, will leave it compromised.

 

7. When looking for a cache, keep in mind that this is not your job. You're not getting paid for it. If you aren't having fun, then there's no reason why you shouldn't move on.

 

8. When looking for a cache, assume nothing about the legality or the safety of the hide. Think for yourself. At the end of the day, if you are uncomfortable about what you did, then you have no one to blame but yourself. The cache is available for anyone who chooses to seek it. That choice belongs to the finder.

 

9. Don't hide a cache if you can't handle criticism. Also, rethink hiding a cache if you have obsessive tendencies, because you might lose sleep over it.

 

10. Don't spend too much time on the forums. Much of the participation is motivated more from the joy of chatting or bickering than the joy of caching.

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I've also learned that when people say a cache is easy, that doesn't mean easy for me!
Yeah, a lot of caches have low difficulty ratings because they're in the "usual place", and experienced geocachers know to look there. Of course, they'll be much harder for less experienced geocachers to find, because they won't know to look there yet.
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My biggest blunder was definitely not fully reading the cache pages.Wasting time on a 1.0 difficulty with 15 DNFs in a row and not found in a year or doing a 100M bushwack when the pages says 5M off the trail was a lesson learned.Another thing that was tough was knowing i won't find every cache or solve every puzzle. I've learned to accept that if the D or T is too high for me its time to move on or put it on ignore list

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One was the fact that I didn't know what a 'preform' was...

I didn't know what that was until just now. Thanks for this :)

Another lesson that I wish I'd known from the start was the fact that the skirts on light posts lift!

LOL, I didn't realize that either for one of my first caches...my husband accidentally kicked the skirt, saw that it moved, and we peeked under. I was literally ready to start pulling up bricks but luckily I was saved from that ;)

 

I've also learned that when people say a cache is easy, that doesn't mean easy for me! I just have to accept my own learning curve, no matter how steep it is. There are still a few that I've missed but I'm hoping this winter is kind (and since no gross bugs!) and I can go back and explore without fear of creeper crawlers. /Shudder, lol.

 

This reminds me, too, that because you quickly learn that a cache hidden as such in one of these light fixtures is generally called a 'skirt lifter' - the first time I came across a clue that read, "She doesn't mind if you peek under her skirt," I felt REALLY awkward. The cache was in a parking lot that was adjacent to a private property and I kept looking at the home's garden to see if there was some sort of statue or something with a movable skirt that I could look for the cache under! :D

 

I think once you get some of these basics down, it becomes a lot easier! And you learn something new every hunt!

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