Things I've Learned...Or Things I've Done Wrong
Author: Lavarock
Helpful hints for novice geocachers!
Waypoint your car if you are going more than 500 feet !
Don't carry chocolate in your bag.
Bugs like the smell of soaps & shampoos.
Carry a dark item on top of a stick above your head. The flies like the dark, moving object. (c/o Ski)
When driving thru a puddle or sand, think first , then drive. Don't hesitate EVER. ( c/o moose)
Water is a great item to have.
ANY consumable item is a lousy choice for swappage. Animals will tear a container to shreads to get to a cough drop.
Don't use ANY metal containers besides ammo boxes, they just don't work well.
Never night cache alone.
Don't hide a cache where people can look out of their window and see you or other cachers.
There is always a path that leads to the cache, people are generally lazy. ( author unknown)
A puddle's bottom will tell you what to do. If it has vegetation or is black, green or white,be careful.
Use a walking stick to check puddles and hold it in front of your face on those night caches. It keeps the spiders from gettin in your face...
Rechargeable batteries RULE. Period.
When you hide a cache, hang your unit on a stick or tree and let it settle down for at LEAST 10 -15 minutes. This will average the coordinates and you will get numbers as good as Moose is Loose's.His are never more than 10 feet off.
Print the web page for your first 10 caches and for all Multicaches.
Virtual caches and Locationless caches are great fun during storms, nighttime or hot & cold weather.
Marsh's, swamps, creeks, lakes, coastlines, forests, streams and bogs have no bugs from Oct.-March.
Mud will eventually freeze...
Know where a coffee shop is within 10 miles of every cache.
Never jeopardize a cachers hide by showing it to a Geomuggle.
Swap evenly, or at least make an effort to.
Don't criticize someone's cache on their page, email them privately.
Maybe they don't know any better !
Numbers are relative. Cachers in Alaska with 50 finds are more impressive to me than my 500 in NJ !
Don't head to a ? cache without a cell phone, maps, food and three days change of clothes. joking...
Snow caching is a COMPLETELY differant animal. Bring a broom. You'll need it.
A shovel is a good tool to have if you are going 4x4ing.
It is never too late or too early to start caching for the day.
All flies need to die
Remeber HOW the cache was hidden BEFORE you retrieve. The owner may have put it there a certain way for a reason.
Don't PLACE a cache until you have DONE a 1, 2, 3, & 4 star difficulty cache. You will know what to do then, young grasshopper...
Check your new cache's numbers the next day to see if they are accurate.
FTF is fun...
People don't always post their finds on GC.com.
If you can't sit on the ground near your cache because of trash, relocate. A view of a 100 foot waterfall still sucks if the ground is littered.
Be a finder or a placer.
Pictures make the cache much more memorable.
Write down the clue or hint. If you come back skunked, you'll wish you did.
If you had an adventure, write about it. People love to read about others misfortunes !
Finding a bottle of water in a cache is better than finding a Geocoin.
A spider bite has a ring around it...
The woods are dark at night. And scary. Boo.