Heh, so much for my plan of doing one of these every week. I apologize! Anyway, here’s my quick synopsis of five more types of geocaching containers I’ve found in the wild.
Bottle Preform
Hmm. Kinda looks like a test tube, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not, really. It’s known as a Bottle Preform. Before a two-liter soda bottle obtains its well-known shape, it actually looks like this! A process of heating and air expansion is used to cause the preform to expand into the bottle shape, not entirely dissimilar to the glass-blowing process. Since they contain all of the material of a two-liter soda bottle but are considerably smaller, it makes sense that these are EXTREMELY rigid and solid containers! The screw-on cap is about as waterproof as they come, and these things hold up to the elements extremely well. They generally don’t have much room for swag, but their shape means that it’s very easy to include a pen/pencil right in the container. These make ideal micro-caches, and I only wish to find more of them! They’re really inexpensive too, especially if purchased in bulk.
Cigar Tube
Literally… a cigar tube. These are more common than they should be. Basically, take the idea of a Bottle Preform, and remove EVERYTHING good about it. Cigar Tubes aren’t even remotely waterproof, don’t stand up to the elements one bit, are easily crushed, warp under intense heat, shatter under intense cold… they leak, leak, leak. These are terrible containers. Please don’t use one if you’re planning a hide!
Fake Electrical Plate
Talk about sneaky! A muggle will pass right by this and have no idea it’s a geocache. I personally have two of these out in the wild, and they’ve received many compliments. Stick one of these onto something magnetic, and it just blends in perfectly. Of course they cannot hold any swag, and another unfortunate thing is that these are becoming more popular, so many geocachers will be able to spot one on sight. But if you’re okay with that, these make great micro-caches – they’re virually muggle-proof!
Fake Rock
Often used in the non-geocaching world as a “hide-a-key”, these are one of the ultimate sneaky hides. Take your fake rock geocache, throw it into a pile of real rocks, and watch as the cachers squirm to find it. This can be both good and bad – sure, it’s a tricky hide, but ask yourself, is it a tricky hide for the right reason? Some people are not happy with these “needle in a haystack” type hides. But if you want to drive your fellow cachers crazy, you’d be hard-pressed to find an easier way to do it!
Fake Sprinkler
Again, these are often used in the non-geocaching world as a “hide-a-key”… and if I had my way, that’s where they would remain! Sure, these hides are sneaky. But there are two problems with them. First, how exactly are you going to hide the thing? Unless you happen upon an existing hole in the ground, you’re going to have to dig your own hole to stick the thing into… and that is strictly against the rules of geocaching. (If digging is required to hide a cache, or to retrieve a cache, it violates the guidelines.) Second, this type of hide encourages people to start looking in REAL sprinkler heads… taking them apart and damaging them. And, well, that’s just not cool. Please think long and hard before hiding one of these!
And that’s it for this edition. The next edition, which will be the final one, will include five more types of geocaching containers. I will be going over the last two types of containers I have found: Nano (Pet ID Holder), and Peanut Butter Jar. I will also go over three popular types of geocache containers which I have not personally found, but which I do have experience with: Ammo Boxes, Decon Containers, and Pelican Cases.
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