Your first hide

[u/mygrandmajen]

What inspired you to do your first hide? What kind did you do?

[u/Geodarts18]

I often went into our local state prison for work, an old prison with lots of history. Johnny Cash sang there. Any attempted break out left a judge dead. It has housed everyone from the Hispanic Bandit Tiburcio Vasquez to Charlie Manson and the old death row.

There is a public access overlook with the best view of the prison and surrounding area. It is known as Shipwreck Point. In 2004, I had been caching for at least two or three weeks. So naturally it was the first spot that seemed good for a cache with a nice place to tuck in a container. I was surprised by how many people did not know about it.

It’s had some problems now and then. Somebody else thought it was a good spot so they put an easy to see letterbox, touching the cache. Over the years the landscape has changed due to erosion and the plants disappearing. But in one way or the other it’s still there.

Soon after I placed an ammo can (still there) in an open space, so I got lucky with those.

[u/skimbosh → u/Geodarts18]

When your cache outlasts the land eroding, you know it's a good spot (but a shame about the plant loss.)

[u/dukeofurl01 → u/Geodarts18]

Oh I used to live kinda near there.

[u/restinghermit]

I built a hollowed out pig out of wood as the final of a multicache. The multicache was on the grounds of my church, which used to be an old pig farm before it was developed.

[u/Dug_n_the_Dogs]

I waited way way too long to hide my first in 2018.. but I finally just decided to do it. I had recently taught myself some welding skills and made a metal electrical box that I attached to a light pole on the street near my office where it would be easy to reach and maintain. Its still my most favorited cache and most found caches of those that I've placed (not counting adopted caches that have been in place for over 20yrs.)

[u/02TanYota]

Lack of micros in our city. Plenty of multi and puzzle caches but sometimes it’s more encouraging for new players to get started by finding a simple micro. I like placing them on or near my favorite walking trails to encourage exploring the trails.

[u/BethKatzPA]

My first was in a park that had been a company town and now has just house foundations covered in ivy. It’s not in those. It’s now an arboretum with trees with labels on them. A friend passed away, and her son called me as I was walking there.

It felt appropriate to create a cache in her honor but not really mentioning her specifically. It’s still there 11 years later. It’s along a walking path not many people visit.

[u/mygrandmajen → u/BethKatzPA]

Beautiful way to remember!

[u/skimbosh]

I was inspired by the multitude of awesome hides that I was fortunate enough to live around. My first cache was kind of a test run, then I did a multi with the ol' lock at one location, key at another. And I had a pretty sweet location for all stages that fit the little story I had.

You putting out a hide? It is quite fun.

[u/mygrandmajen → u/skimbosh]

I’m trying to plan it! Was curious how people landed on their specific spots or types of hides so this has been a fun read.

[u/RedditJennn → u/mygrandmajen]

Consider placing a truly traditional geocache. Introduce other new cachers to the simplicity of a well placed, well maintained cache. Perhaps in a local conservation or wildlife area!

Great caches don't have to be intricate and tough to find.

[u/skimbosh → u/mygrandmajen]

Good luck with your hide. Personally, I enjoy the planning stage sometimes more than the placing stage.

[u/babygeologist]

I was walking around last week doing a virtual and an idea for a mystery cache puzzle just popped into my head fully formed. It just got published about an hour ago :D

[u/acravasian]

Made one at my local disc golf course, using the description to tell a little about the sport.

[u/RedditJennn]

Finding local caches inspirited me - so I put a traditional in a local park - placed in 2001. Lasted until 2023 (iirc)

[u/samburket2]

We placed our first because we "won" a container at an event. The cache is still there, though the container has been replaced.

[u/Standard_Mongoose_35]

I wanted to place my first cache near my house at the time, which was on French Avenue. I found a Tupperware-type container shaped like a slice of bread, so the cache is called French Toast. The avenue ends at a deep ravine and creek below, and the cache is tucked near the large roots of a tree there. It’s a pocket of wilderness at a quiet corner of a residential neighborhood.

[u/mygrandmajen → u/Standard_Mongoose_35]

Clever!

[u/fizzymagic]

My first hide is still out there with the original container logbook from 2002. It's in a very hard-to-reach spot but gets a few finds a year.

[u/FloridaFlamingoGirl]

My first hide was in the parking lot at the company my dad worked at, I thought it would be easy for my dad to maintain it and he was glad to, but I ended up archiving at after security got confused by people looking for it. 

Next couple of caches I hid were in a canyon in a rural area, along a road through the canyon. This was in 2015. One is still there. 

[u/DeliveryCourier]

My first was a pill bottle in a knothole. It was placed as a destination for a travel bug to come "home" from a family trip. Of course, the TB was quickly taken and never seen again. (The cache is now archived.) 

[u/Minimum_Reference_73]

My first was a multi, hidden many years ago. I wanted to up the ante a bit because traditionals are so common. It's a simple tour through a nice park with three waypoints before the final.

It takes effort to maintain it. Over the years I considered archiving it, but I never got around to it. Eventually it ended up on a list of "golden oldies." Now because of its age, it gets regular visits from people who want it for their stats when they pass through.

[u/HolyMackenzie]

I wanted to make a simple one, but something different from a guardrail cache or LPC. I bought a few different types of caches from the website and Etsy. One was a rock that had been hollowed out enough to fit a bison tube. There's a sign near me that promotes an Appalachian-type museum—a favorite of mine. It has a small log cabin and puts it at the base, with pillars that have a bunch of rocks on them.