Welcome to Geocaching
This is a short series of 3 geocaches intended to introduce people to geocaching. The geocaches are all along the Bo'Ness Harbour/Foreshore area.
This series was created because I recently tried to introduce someone from the Bo'Ness area to geocaching, and suggested Basic membership of the app as a good way to start. However I hadn't remembered how limiting Basic membership was in terms of which caches it allowed people to see and find, so I decided to create some caches in Bo'Ness that could be seen on the app by a Basic member.
I'm also going to explain some features of geocaching in each of the cache pages for the series.
Size
All geocaches have a size rating, to give you an idea how big the thing you're looking for is. They are explained in more detail here. It's useful to know the size because it will tell you something about what areas you might want to look for the cache, when you get to the cache coordinates. Micro is the smallest size - they are generally something smaller than a box of matches.Their limited size can make them difficult, but that depends on the setting (eg; lots of hidings places or just a few), the hint (detailed, non-cryptic, related to an obvious object/feature), and the camouflage the container has (colouring that blends in/stands out, made to appear like something else etc).
The cache page usually tells you the size rating. In the case of this cache, the size is micro, and it's a bison - the name for a small metal screwtop tube used often as containers. They are usually held in place by a metal loop like you would find on a key ring. Micro-sized caches are often too small to have a pencil inside so always remember to take something with you to sign the log, particularly for these size of caches.
Bison Tube Geocache
Attributes
Attributes tell you about the additional features of the cache, the setting it is in, and give advanced notice of any safety precautions/additional equipment that might be needed. From the attribute symbols shown below you can see this cache is in an area where; dogs are permitted, it's available 24 hours a day, takes less than an hour to complete, is not recommended at night (for safety reasons), may require you to be stealthy as there will probably be people about near the cache, will appeal to tourists, has picnic tables and parking nearby, is available to find in winter and is in a potentially dangerous area. That information is useful for all sorts of reasons, but the key one might be the 'dangerous area' bit, and that's because it's near the edge of the harbour. There's a public path to the cache that's popular with tourists and dog walkers, so the setting is not immediately life threatening, it just requires you to look where you are going. You can read more about attributes here.
