Badly placed caches have been a bug in my side lately. I have seen more then my fair share as of late.

We all understand the concept of “Placing a Geocache” don’t we? Or do we?

Lately I have been finding caches just a little too easy. Caches that are placed in front of homes on rural roads, a cache in a playground set, one in a stop sign in an urban setting and even a few in a playground area right near the houses bordering it.

When we place caches, we should look around us to see what others might see. If it is near a playground, think of what it would be look like if a 55 year old man, dressed in his finest caching clothes, holding a gps and wandering around would look like. If you had kids at that playground, would you think something fishy was going on watching this person fish around a pine tree?

I think I would.

Pulling up across the road from a home in a rural setting. Looking around a tree or stump. Not a normal thing to see on a normally abandoned road. And yet as I drove in, I see 10 other stumps that AREN’T in front of a home. Why would you choose the one directly in front of their home where they can see me pull up while they are watching TV. Now difference here is that if the owner knows about the cache, then say so in your cache description. Tell me that the occupants know what is there. I really don’t need to feel like any minute now the police are going to drive up with sirens blaring.

I have also seen caches on the side of the road of main thoroughfares in the country. The other night I stopped for one of these and believe it or not, as I was coming out of the ditch, an officer stopped to ask if everything was ok. Now I am ok with explaining geocaching to each and every officer that has asked, but I don’t see why I should have to worry about it. I have now been asked by half a dozen officers about what I was doing. They have been pretty good with my explanation of geocaching, but I am waiting for the day that one of them doesn’t grasp the concept and into the back of the cruiser I go. Good thing I am pretty clean cut!

I have also encountered caches that just seem to be out in the open. Sometimes I wonder how they don’t get muggled. Just plain luck? I know that sometimes caches get moved around after the hide. But it seems that some are just plain out in the open and there wasn’t anywhere to hide them originally. A small sized cache sitting in the crotch of a tree in a playground is going to come up missing more than once!

So let’s just think about our surroundings when we place caches. Look around. Don’t just jump out of the vehicle, hide it, take the coords and run.

I would love to hear about some of your pet peeve hides! Post your comments below!