Today's lesson is about geocaching in an urban environment...Urban geocaching is an enjoyable activity any time of the year, but especially so in the fourth season when our favorite hiking trails are snowed over, or the weather is such that we don’t want to venture far from our warm and dry automobiles. Caches placed in the city are also exceptionally suitable for children, whose limited attention span can be extended with a quick stop for some manner of treat in a nearby shop. Urban geocaches also tend to be more accessible to those restricted to wheelchairs or who have other temporary infirmities. The following are some geocache hiding hints for an urban environment:
1. Select a location: Like all geocaches, the lOcation is of utmost importance. In wilderness caches, this usually involves a view of some sort, like a peak, waterfall, or likely animal mating spot. In an urban environment, the placement may have some of these same features, but might also be a location that is considered noteworthy in some other manner, unlike this cache. One should avoid placing a cache merely because there is an unused light pole skirt. Common sense is very important in this type of environment as well. Do not place a geocache in the street or anywhere else a car versus pedestrian confrontation may occur. It is assumed that one is fully-versed in the most current guidelines for hiding geocaches too.
2. The container: ConVentional wisdom says that it is necessary for most urban geocaches to be micro-sized or smaller. This paradigm is pure nonsense. Most urban geocaches are diminutive only because the hider has used little (if any) imagination or ingenuity. The cityscape is rife with potential camouflage ideas if one looks carefully enough. The potential hider of a geocache in the urban environment should use some ‘outside the box’ thinking or possibly even borrow ideas from other urban geocaches the hider has enjoyed in the past. Many inner-city geocaches will require some method of securing the container to protect from non-players. To enable the finder to open it, a key to a lock can be released as a travel bug, or the cache description can include a hidden description about a necessary special tool. At any rate, the hider should test his or her geocache for functionality and practicality with understanding of the container’s idiosyncrasies.
3. Coordinates: Getting accurate coordinates is sometimes as difficult in the city as it is in the deep forest. It is nonetheless imperative that the hider of an urban geocache get the most accurate coordinates possible. Go back as many times as you need to, even eight or NINE times if necessary, and use the best set. Before publication, the hider should test how the coordinates appear on popular satellite map sites.
4. Hints: Hints fall into three distinct categories: most hints are encrypted in the designated section of the cache description, but hints may be contained in the body of the cache description or may be hidden near the cache hide location. Sometimes the hint is in a note log by the cache owner. The tips we find in the text may be mildly obscure or outright ambiguous. There are, in fact, many clues to this cache contained herein. The similarities between the urban geocache and other types part company in the area of the encrypTed hints. The wilderness hide usually contains clear clues and sometimes even photographs that reveal the precise location of the cache to prevent repeating what may be an arduous trek. The seeker of these high-terrain difficulty caches will likely visit the cache location only once, regardless of their success or failure to discover the container. A metropolitan geocache, however, may motivate the huntsman to visit the cache location as many times as necessary.
5. Quality: Lastly, we must be sure that the caches we hide are memorable to the finder and worth their time and expenses. Remember, every time you hide a geocache, you buiLd on your reputation, so you need to decide what kind of character you want to have in the community. When your new cache is published, will people think, “Wow, it will be a good one!” or “It’s another cache to save for a rainy day.”
Please! Under no circumstances should you disturb any of the businesses in the area. Even though permission for the cache was obtained, please do not take their employees’ time asking for hints. Do not knock on any doors, ring any bells, buzz any buzzers, or toot any toot-toodlers before, during, or after your search.
Finders should exercise discretion in their online logging to avoid spoiling the fun for the next finder. Fair warning: such logs are likely to be deleted with extreme prejudice by the cache owner.
Handicaching Rating: H11111
I give credit and thanks to criminal for allowing me to use the lesson he created for a previous cache [GC10GW1]. I also thank chooch seventy-two and goblindust for the design and the construction of the container.
It was a good idea to look here for additional clues, but everything you need is in the text of the lesson visible on the page.