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.
Camouflage
Camouflage in geocaching is a catch-all term for a method of concealment. There are lots of different types of camouflage, but common types are to hide the cache behind a rock, sticks or log. You may also sometimes find caches concealed in the roots of a tree or hidden amongst the branches. Camouflage can be something as simple as army-style camouflage tape on the container, but it can also be very elaborate. Elaborate camouflage can be covering the cache in natural bark, or using a container that looks like something different, eg; a fake rock. Natural camouflage like bark might not be much help if the cache is in an urban setting like a city street - it would make the cache stick out. That's where urban camouflage can be used, such as the cache being made to look like a metal bolt on a street sign. The 'size' rating of the cache is sometimes used by cache owners to indicate that you are not looking for a standard container-type (small plastic box, metal tube etc), instead you are looking for a cache that has been camouflaged to appear like something else - perhaps something that fits into the surroundings. In those instances a cache owner will sometimes put the size category as 'Other', like has been done for one of the caches in this series.
Trackables
A 'game within a game' for geocachers, might be a way of thinking of trackables. A trackable is a small moveable item which travels from geocache to geocache. Trackables appear in many shapes, but it's important to recognise them when you see them in a cache, and to be able to distinguish them from other things you might find in a geocache such as 'SWAG' (swoppable items left in a cache as souvenirs). A trackable is a side feature of geocaching and isn't about helping you to find a cache. It's about helping the trackable's owner achieve the trackable's goal. This goal is commonly about travelling to the maximum distance possible, reaching a particular location in the world, or visiting certain types of places (bridges, churches, castles etc). You can help to achieve that goal.
You can recognise a trackable by a 6 digit code somewhere on the item. This code is unique to the trackable and tracks its travels wherever it goes, from cache to cache. You don't generally get to keep trackables, instead you should take them out of the cache and move them on to another cache, in line with the trackable's goals - you can read about these by looking at the trackable's own webpage - accessed using the 6 digit code on the Geocaching Website. You can read more about that here. An easy way to find trackables is to look at the Inventory section of the cache page, or the Trackables section of the cache on the app.
Typical Trackable
Need Some Help?
This is possibly the most difficult of this little series of 3 caches, because the container is a purchased container that has been manufactured to appear as something that blends in to the surroundings. If you find yourself really stuck trying to find this one, then look in the cache page gallery/pictures for a 'spoiler picture'. Cache owners sometime put these on cache pages to reduce the cache's difficulty, make a hint item more recognisable, or to help with issues like dodgy gps reception in the cache area,