Step 5: The Search

At about thirty feet it's time to start searching with your eyes. Look for some likely cache locations. These will be at the base of trees, near fallen logs, among a pile of rocks or other locations where a box could be hidden. Very often the cache will be covered with sticks, leaves, bark or rocks to help camouflage it. Look high and low. Try to think like a geocacher: if you were hiding a box in the woods where would you put it? This is a talent that will become easier as you find more caches.

If you're having trouble finding the cache don't get discouraged. There are many factors that can cause you problems: tree cover, faulty coordinates, low batteries in your GPS or exceptionally sneaky cache hiders.

It's helpful at this point to move a few feet away from the area your GPS is zeroing out on. Think of yourself as moving in a cloverleaf pattern. Walk out about 60 feet in any direction and then circle back towards the cache. Move slowly, allowing for any lag the GPS might be experiencing under the tree cover. Keep an eye out for those "likely cache location" and anything that might just seem out of place (like a group of sticks lying together).

If you're still having trouble, it might be time to look at the hint on the cache page (if you haven't yet). The hints are coded with a very simple code called "ROT13" which is short for "Rotate 13." Simply rotate the letters of the alphabet by 13 so that A=N, B=O, C=P and so forth. The cache page contains a decryption key to help you decode.

A simple cache with a terrain and difficulty rating of 1-2.5 stars shouldn't take too long to find. Still, you might find yourself looking for a half hour or longer. If you are getting frustrated and still can't find the cache it might be time to give it up and go looking for another cache. Even if you don't find one on your first time out, you've gotten out into the woods and spent some time enjoying the world around you. You're still taking home much more than you brought with you.