Aladar123 plays geocaching

There are so many smaller and bigger bridges in the Netherlands that of every second would hide a geocache I'm sure it would keep most geocachers busy for a few years. We started to turn more points on the map into smileys in our neighborhood and as part of that project we got to this one. Hiding under the bridge It is really a good thing that we have difficulty and terrain as an attribute, without them I would not consider going for under the bridge hides in an afternoon, it would mostly start with some investigation to see how much effort, what equipment is needed to get under the given bridge. This one was a lower difficulty and no mentions of boots in the description, so we just went there with the whole family. My kids are not always into geocaching, more often not into it. To solve this issue icecream can always come in handy, so for this afternoon two geocaches and an icecream was the offer and they took it. Hiding there, but not too obvious This and another geoc...

There are geocaches you just don't find when you first search for them. This one was one of those, and this one was far from home, a few thousands kilometers far, and I still went back and found it. The geocache is just there in the bush, and still missed the first time I do not have a chance to visit Olive Branch in Mississippi too often and when I go I try to find a few geocaches. On my last trip I decided to give another try to this one, it was not any high difficulty nor difficult terrain it was just one where I had to run away last time, police started to show interest in my search. I was not a too experienced geocacher, and I was all by myself so when I saw that police pulled over and kept an eye on me, I just acted the most suspiciously and jumped back into my car and drove away... Worst you should ever do ... haha The bush hiding the geocache It was a nice and sunny morning, nothing to do, my flight was later in the afternoon, and I was busy with finding ammo bo...

I recently visited the US and found many hides under the skirt, also called light pole hides. I was already back in the Netherlands when one day after work to get more of the missing days into my calendar we went to find some geocaches in the area we found one which was under a lightpole. It was completely unexpected. Hiding under a light pole Skirts, like in the US are not used in the Netherlands to cover up the bottom of the light pole, so I wouldn't think of finding a geocache close to any light poles. I did not even see these type of light poles before. We visited the shopping center next to this light pole before and not only once, but never checked if there was any hides here. According to the geocache details this one is there since 2015, and two years later we spotted it. It is funny, but now we found it. The geocache Not the best container as the logbook inside had water damage, and not from rain or so, simple the humidity could get into the container. I was al...

The last few weeks I tried to go for geocaches on days that help me fill in my calendar. In many cases I just picked one that is in reach within a short time. The weather is not always too supportive here in the Netherlands. This time we headed to an easy pick along the Maas river, and we had not much clue on what to expect, one thing was sure there should be some seats to take as the geocache was under the small table next to the seats. If there are seats there should be a nice view we thought. Not too complicated or creative but I guess not the container what was fun here As you can see what we found was a nano under the table, easy to find. Hiding under the small table So when we arrived we drove over some interesting things, did not really think anything of that at that time. Then we got out of the car and started walking towards the coordinates, when I spotted a giraffe. What is that doing here on top of that big... Wait a second... What is that big building looking ob...

Who said a geocache in an industrial area has to be a boring plastic box? It can hold the geocache but the log could also be in some Matryoshka doll to make it more fun. This we found not far from where we live, and it recently got there. Matryoshka doll as the log holder This is a nice animal set. If you are interested in more of this great Russian doll visit  wikipedia  for more information. I remember I saw the first one when I was really young and it was always fun to take them apart and some had even smaller ones in the middle. The doll in the plastic box As these dolls are made out of wood the weather would ruin them really fast so they need to be kept in some plastic box to keep them dry. When we arrived to this geocache the plastic box top cover was half way off and the dolls were not properly packed up, so we fixed that to keep them in good condition for a longer time. As a general hint for all geocachers, you all should treat the geocaches with care and r...

I'm curious if I will reach on these typical hides a three digit number. Here is the next one, this time it was closer to some urban area, at a crossing with a stop sign. Hiding in the safety rail In the USA I mostly found pill boxes, some just had a magnet stick to it some camouflaged with the silver tape, just like this one. It must be out there for a longer time by now if you look at how much it is impacted by the weather and geocachers. The safety rail and the stop sign When I looked at this picture later back at the hotel I could not stop thinking of how did that stop sign got kicked out of its vertical position? Was it a geocacher who only plays park and grab and had to stop right on the X? Was it simply a slippery morning when someone could not stop and needed the sign to help in? My cachemobile parking there It did not rain in the area for a few days all ditches were dry. Not sure if a dry period is the best for me in the Memphis area as it was so hot and ...

New players mostly do not know what TB stands for and why are TB Hotels so cool and important. Let me start with the TB, that stands for Travel Bug, but in general all trackable items are referred by this abbreviation. TB Hotels are geocaches, mostly bigger ones in size where multiple TBs can lodge safely. Be aware that not all TB Hotels are equally safe, just like hotels, depending on their neighborhood they can be where you do not want to stay. TB hotel with 6 rooms This TB Hotel was in an urban area, at the corner of some parking lot. Really nice little town. When we arrived and read the hint it was trivial where to search, but when saw the entrance below I was not sure why is it a TB Hotel, the entrance itself was not too promising. Entrance to the TB Hotel A utility cover, what a great hide. I have one of those myself, but so far I was only thinking of placing a container in it that fits inside, but this hide showed me new possibilities. There is a bigger pipe inside a...

It is common to hide nanos in busy areas, especially when there are not many places to put the geocache. This geocache is part of a serie which is placed to mark historical monuments in the town. Hiding under the bench The container is nothing new if you have came across some nanos before, but the place it is places makes it a bit harder to find. The bench itself is giving the way to hide, but as there are so many crossing metals here and there it is not a just look under and you found it type of hide. Just to make this photo above it took me some time as the sun was in such a position that it kept on getting in my way. The nano container This serie is well maintained as the nano just had a new logroll in it, and I was the second to sign. As the containers are so small the only problem with these is that the owner need to be ready any time to replace the logroll. I also have some nano hides, and when I'm checking on them and I find the log is half way full I replace it,...

You only start to realize how many safety rails are out there when you start searching for the geocaches hidden on them. Most of them should have an attribute stating not kids friendly. Safety rails are placed along the roads most of the time to protect cars from falling over into some dangerous area, and that already points out two issues that are not helping when you are geocaching with kids. The first is where you have safety rails you will have traffic, just read the logs on hides like that, they will all say too much traffic, etc. The second, there is a reason why the safety rails are there and mostly some danger, like deep ditch, water or a place you can fall into, and none of them is the best to have the kids close by. Pill box with a magnet held on to a safety rail Lucky for the geocaching community most if not all safety rails can hold a magnet strong enough to keep the geocache in place for a long time. The only thing I would point out is that if you make such a hide be...