Urban Caching

[ashleybz]

So we're new at this...and we live in a smallish city, so we're hitting those up first. We tried five different ones today, and were only successful on two (and one was a virtual cache). Most of the hints I see are on things in the woods...Who can give us some hints or common hiding places for urban caches? It seems like it might be almost more difficult to do these starting out, since the GPS signal bounces (is that what people mean by "urban canyon"?).

[+DiamondDaveG]

Urban caching is definitely different than caching in the woods as you seem to imagine.

 

A number of urban caches are micros. What you are usually looking for are magnetic keyholders, 35mm film canisters, old prescription bottles, etc. Things of that size. There probably are a number of nanos in your area also. Oh yeah, almost forgot.... there can be bison tubes. Which looks like a nano that ingested too much growth hormone. A couple ideas to see what you might be looking for is to check the forum thread Pictures - Cool Cache Containers or check here for an EBay search of cache containers.

 

Where they might be hidden is just about any place one of these things would fit. Here is a forum thread about a nano somewhere at a Sonic Drive-In.

[+undertree]

LPS or LPC= Lamp post skirt or Lamp post cache. Often times these are hidden under the skirt on lamp posts in parking lots. Sometimes the cache will be disguised as blank panel on the light post. Those are easy to spot as they are often times not the right color and you can move them cause they are magneted onto the post.

 

Nano Caches are about the size of your pinky finger from the last joint to the tip. Often times they are black and hold a very small log. They can also be small plastic centrifuge vials often times they will fit in small holes on street sign posts. Bison tubes were mentioned. The bison tube is marketed as a keychain pill holder. They are the size of your pinky from the second joint to the tip. All of these can be camoed very well. Read the previous logs and the hints before hand so you can have a bit of warning of what you are looking for.

 

For some reason I have the worse time trying to find the small size caches. The decon containers are about the worse. So everyone has days they can't find much.

 

Good luck. Happy caching.

[ashleybz]

Urban caching is definitely different than caching in the woods as you seem to imagine.

 

A number of urban caches are micros. What you are usually looking for are magnetic keyholders, 35mm film canisters, old prescription bottles, etc. Things of that size. There probably are a number of nanos in your area also. Oh yeah, almost forgot.... there can be bison tubes. Which looks like a nano that ingested too much growth hormone. A couple ideas to see what you might be looking for is to check the forum thread Pictures - Cool Cache Containers or check here for an EBay search of cache containers.

 

Where they might be hidden is just about any place one of these things would fit. Here is a forum thread about a nano somewhere at a Sonic Drive-In.

 

I saw the Sonic thread. I hope people are not that creative around here! If those are typical microcaches, we might be in trouble! Hopefully once i develop some sort of caching instinct, it will get better!

[+edscott]

Yes, you happen to be in an area loaded with micros. If you do a search centered in one of the nearby smaller towns there are lots of small or regular sized caches in suburban parks that will be a bit easier to find. Concentrate on the lower difficulty ones at first. It's a lot more fun to find them than to search and go home not knowing why you missed it.

[+DiamondDaveG]

After doing a quick check of the ones near downtown, it looks like you have a variety of all micros with a few smalls & multis added in. If possible (I didn't check extremely close) look for ones that are 'small' with difficulty/terrain under 2. Next choice would be micros that state P&G (park & grab), 'a quick find' or have previous log entries similar to that. Even though they are micros, they should be easy enough to let you find it but still 'learn' about where future hides could be.

 

Undertree has some really good info too. Mentioned was one thing that I do almost religously and that is to read the entire cache page and virtually all the previous logs.

 

You are correct that you will develop a 'geosense' about where things are without standing right on top of it with the GPS in hand.

[+briansnat]

First check the guardrail. 42.8 percent of all urban caches will be there.

 

Next check the lamp post skirt. 38.3 percent of urban caches will be hidden there.

 

After that check the nearest street sign. 14.2 percent of urban caches will be there.

 

The remainder will be found attached to park benches, under newspaper vending machines, on playground equipment and in tree knot holes.

 

Remember that 88.7 percent of urban caches are magnetic, so look for metal.

 

Note that these number came out of an exhaustive study where I wrote a bunch of random numbers down on a piece of paper and circled the ones that sounded the best.

[+va griz]

Note that these number came out of an exhaustive study where I wrote a bunch of random numbers down on a piece of paper and circled the ones that sounded the best.

 

I'm glad you researched it first. Seventeen out of fourteen people would have just made something up.

 

Back to the real question, urban caches. Most are not that tough once you figure out you have to look where they could be hidden. It sounds simple, but don't forget to look on the bottom of things like fence rails and other objects (often metal as Brian said) close to the ground. It's easy to stand there and think that everything is visible when actually you can't see the bottom half of anything. Also look for hollow things (posts for instance) and electrical boxes that aren't real. Use caution with that last one.

 

Good luck, Griz

Edited February 9, 2009 by va griz

[+DiamondDaveG]

One of the best ones I have seen was at a bus stop. The side glass didn't go completely to the ground. When you sat on the end of the bench you could reach down and grab the film canister velcroed up inside the bottom groove of the side glass. Almost had me for a minute until I checked the hint and it said 'tie your shoes.'

Edited February 9, 2009 by DiamondDaveG

[+Harry Dolphin]

Those may be misclassified as 'urban' caches, but they are actually 'suburban' caches. You find those across north Jersey, to be sure. I think I've only found one guardrail cache in New York City, and that was in Queens. I have yet to find a lamp post skirt cache in The City.

Yes. Lots of magnetic micros in fences and signs. Also, very good use of the local parks. And, some very creative hides!

Generally small to micro caches, but someone did hide a five-gallon bucket in Central Park! A lot of small Lock and Locks.

I guess the cache owners have to be more creative for true 'urban' caches, than for those 'suburban' caches.

Not sure about Harrisburg, though.

 

First check the guardrail. 42.8 percent of all urban caches will be there.

 

Next check the lamp post skirt. 38.3 percent of urban caches will be hidden there.

 

After that check the nearest street sign. 14.2 percent of urban caches will be there.

 

The remainder will be found attached to park benches, under newspaper vending machines, on playground equipment and in tree knot holes.

 

Remember that 88.7 percent of urban caches are magnetic, so look for metal.

 

Note that these number came out of an exhaustive study where I wrote a bunch of random numbers down on a piece of paper and circled the ones that sounded the best.

[+flaffle]

I hate to threadjack but I was just about to post a question semi-relevant to this discussion so I thought I give it a go.

 

I'm new to this and have had great luck in the woods/middle of nowhere finding difficult caches. I'm having trouble with the easy urban setting ones and I think my problem is mental....

 

How do I do it without looking weird? I had tried a few during the day but I felt too conspicuous so I've tried them now at night but that seems even more suspicious. How do you make it look "normal" searching around a guard rail behind your local supermarket? Should you just do it without abandon? What are some good excuses if someone ask you what on earth you are doing behind the Walmart with a flashlight at midnight? I tried to do a search on the forums but didn't find anything addressing this specifically.

 

Thanks for any advice and again sorry to threadjack.

[+Scouters Fred and Brenda]

I hate to threadjack but I was just about to post a question semi-relevant to this discussion so I thought I give it a go.

 

I'm new to this and have had great luck in the woods/middle of nowhere finding difficult caches. I'm having trouble with the easy urban setting ones and I think my problem is mental....

 

How do I do it without looking weird? I had tried a few during the day but I felt too conspicuous so I've tried them now at night but that seems even more suspicious. How do you make it look "normal" searching around a guard rail behind your local supermarket? Should you just do it without abandon? What are some good excuses if someone ask you what on earth you are doing behind the Walmart with a flashlight at midnight? I tried to do a search on the forums but didn't find anything addressing this specifically.

 

Thanks for any advice and again sorry to threadjack.

Some times it helps to have a Geo Dog with you and you act like you are looking for the ball or something. That has worked for me sometimes

[+Renegade Knight]

...It seems like it might be almost more difficult to do these starting out, since the GPS signal bounces (is that what people mean by "urban canyon"?).

 

Downtown areas with tall buildings are urban canyons. No sun, lots of shade, signal bounce etc. About like real canyons.

[+ras_oscar]

1 walking around with a cel phone in your hand allows you to "absently" look at, over, under and around things

 

2. calling "here kitty kitty works if you're looking in a tree or bush

 

3. realizing that most peoploe don't really care

 

4. recognizing that when someone starts looking with "that look" it's time to go. Had that once when I was searching near a parked car.

[+TrailGators]

So we're new at this...and we live in a smallish city, so we're hitting those up first. We tried five different ones today, and were only successful on two (and one was a virtual cache). Most of the hints I see are on things in the woods...Who can give us some hints or common hiding places for urban caches? It seems like it might be almost more difficult to do these starting out, since the GPS signal bounces (is that what people mean by "urban canyon"?).

 

Fattboy claimed that he needed a hint for this one. See if you can guess where it is....

[+Zor]

I hate to threadjack but I was just about to post a question semi-relevant to this discussion so I thought I give it a go.

 

I'm new to this and have had great luck in the woods/middle of nowhere finding difficult caches. I'm having trouble with the easy urban setting ones and I think my problem is mental....

 

How do I do it without looking weird? I had tried a few during the day but I felt too conspicuous so I've tried them now at night but that seems even more suspicious. How do you make it look "normal" searching around a guard rail behind your local supermarket? Should you just do it without abandon? What are some good excuses if someone ask you what on earth you are doing behind the Walmart with a flashlight at midnight? I tried to do a search on the forums but didn't find anything addressing this specifically.

 

Thanks for any advice and again sorry to threadjack.

 

You have a couple of options. First off, one of the other posters said that most people don't care. This is more true than you may realize. In a lot of cases, people will give you a quick glance, and move on, not caring what you are doing. I have had some people ask me "Did you lose something?" and I've said, "Nope. I'm good. Thanks anyway" and went back to looking and they moved on. It's amazing how people will just leave you alone despite the fact that you might look weird walking in circles.

 

If you're overly concerned about it, buy yourself one of those orange/yellow vests that construction workers wear. When doing urban caches, put that on. If people see you, they'll assume you're some sort of city/town worker and ignore you completely. Even add a hard hat for good measure.

 

I've done the whole "talk into my GPS like it's a cell phone thing" and it does work too although that sometimes makes me feel a bit weird. Harmless but weird for me somehow.

[+Headhardhat]

Urban geocaching is an adventure very different than finding geocaches in other terrains. You have to be sneaky in a special way with the emphisis on hiding in plain site. There is a special need of truly hiding a cache where there is a lot of muggles so as to not promote unwanted attention to your geocache. Like say the bomb squad. So they tend to be smaller in size.

 

Some Examples:

 

Nanos: This is actually twice the size of a standard nano.

 

35mm Containers

 

Skirt Hides

 

Bison Tubes:

 

You can see more on my blogs or GeoSnippits found in my signature below... Enjoy.