When do you read the Cache Hint?

GIN51E · Post by **GIN51E** » 19 January 06 10:09 pm

I often read it at the same time i read the description but thats before i start driving to the cache, once there and after looking for a while if i haven't found it yet i usually read it again as i forgot what the hint was

Gunn Parker · Post by **Gunn Parker** » 19 January 06 10:46 pm

I read every hint when I first read the cache page, I may not read it again until I am out searching though
Andrew

Rabbitto · Post by **Rabbitto** » 19 January 06 10:56 pm

Link: Sorry, I'm a baaaaaaad boy

TeamAstro · Post by **TeamAstro** » 19 January 06 11:06 pm

While I am reading the page. I normally read it again after I can't find it initially. Sometimes, the hint does not actually help 'till AFTER I find it.!!

clear skies, Astro.

SNIFTER · Post by **SNIFTER** » 19 January 06 11:22 pm

I read the hints as soon as I read the cache note but Hounddog doesn't read them and then get frustrated when he can't find the cache. Sometimes a hint is worth a couple of hours.

ian-and-penny · Post by **ian-and-penny** » 20 January 06 8:11 am

Some caches can't be found without reading the hint.

Grank · Post by **Grank** » 20 January 06 8:27 am

as part of the prep before leaving home

Map Monkey · Post by **Map Monkey** » 20 January 06 8:39 am

ian-and-penny wrote:Some caches can't be found without reading the hint.

and some caches can't be found WITH reading the hint.....we completed a cache yesterday where the hint stated something like "elevation 3 metres" and the actual elevation was 8 metres! Makes a real difference on a coastal cliff!!!

Currently we just try to find the cache, no description viewed etc....then revert to turning on the laptop and reading the description and hint to eventually find the 1/1 !!

Actually the best hints always seem to come from the previous logs.

Agsmky

Suitman · Post by **Suitman** » 20 January 06 8:44 am

ian-and-penny wrote:Some caches can't be found without reading the hint.

Grank wrote:as part of the prep before leaving home

<br>
... and usually forget the hint by the time I've got to GZ!

pprass · Post by **pprass** » 20 January 06 9:42 am

Reading the hint is our third last resort. We don't even read other peoples logs until after we find the cache and then we get a great deal of satisfaction to see what other peoples experiences have been and how they matched ours. We use a system that we made up called the GAFF system (stands for Geocaching Assistance Finding Factor) It is a self imposed discipline which describes what assistance we needed to find the cache.
So a GAFF1 find is where we just read the cache instructions. No hint and no logs - it is like being a FTF for us!
GAFF2 is reading some logs to see if there were any difficulties or maybe someone has offered different co-ords.
GAFF3 is reading the logs and looking at the hint.
GAFF4 is GAFF3 plus calling someone for assistance.
GAFF5 is all of the above plus getting someone to come out and point to the cache with a stick. It also is when we are with other cachers and they find it before us. (we get GAFF5's all the time in those situations

)

This may be a pedantic point, but a hint to us should be something that gives you an idea or a suggestion as to where the cache is. It should be of assistance and not a straight out "It's in the small end of the log under the tree that has a split trunk and is 35 metres on a bearing of 45Ã‚Â° from the track". That is telling - not hinting. We like the cryptic hints

TEAM LANDCRUISER · Post by **TEAM LANDCRUISER** » 20 January 06 12:43 pm

We always (used to) never use the print out, logs, hint till our second visit after logging our DNF. But since we've been paperless the temptation is always too much, when you've searched and come up wanting and the PDA is sitting right there.... AAAARRRGG.<p>I must say that of the last 50 or so caches we've done probably half didn't have a hint, so that took the temptation away!

Cached · Post by **Cached** » 20 January 06 11:01 pm

It depends on the difficulty - if it's anything less than a 2/2 traditional, i probably won't even look at the clue sheet, never mind the hint. I go in with what i can get in to the GPS - name, last 4 logs, type, size.

Post by **CraigRat** » 20 January 06 11:14 pm

I find it more fun to try and get help via the cryptic comments in the logs.... The clue is a real last resort to me. I remember doing a cache once where we spent ages at GZ, then some new players rocked up, went straight to the object mentioned in the clue and found the cache!! Surley its not as much fun if you go 'when we get there we need to look under the rock' or whatever.... different things for different people I suppose......

Mind you, I'm usually that unprepared I don't have the PDA on me so the debate is all a bit academic at that point!

(as an aside, I have been contacted more than once about typos in clues in my new caches........heheheeh)

Papa Bear_Left · Post by **Papa Bear_Left** » 21 January 06 12:30 am

I got a bit disgusted when we met up with cachers who seemed to have more information than we did, even thought they'd just arrived and hadn't started looking yet.

There seems to be a lot of cachers who just treat the hint as part of the description. (Which I why I like the idea of email hints, especially for puzzles rather than in-the-field clues.) PDAs are wonderful, but they make it tooooo easy to read the hint as soon as it's not under the first bush you check.

I tried to trick people with this cache by sending them to a fake cache above a railway tunnel, but the locals I was aiming at knew the site too well and weren't fooled. If you go straight to the revealed GZ, you can miss the start of the tunnel...

Cached · Post by **Cached** » 21 January 06 12:50 am

think one of your January 2 logs is a give away though - spoils your cache a little...