This post is motivated by caches I have done in the past and a few I have heard about and have been on my mind. A few descriptions I have altered to protect the cache from being spoiled. A few have been done by people I have met and like, and nothing stated here is anything personally against them. But some hiding practices just don't set well with me.

When do we go too far in hiding caches?

We've all encountered a rock wall that we worry has been compromised by cachers looking, moving stones to verify a cache is not hidden behind it.

Ever seen those plastic information signs, often screwed to the top of a post? Imagine a log sheet in a ziplock, under that sign, and you have to unscrew the screws holding the sign to find and access it.

How about a steel barrier post, in which the cap has to be pulled off or setscrews loosened to access the cache, and the cache is glued to the underside of the cap.

And then there is the multi cemetery cache, in which one of the stages takes you right to a tombstone. Not feeling right about it, but quite certian you are right, you lift of the top piece of the tombstone, revealing coordinates written underneath.

And then there is the light pole/electrical access box cache. Weren't any of us taught to always treat such devices as live and not open them?

How about taking a bolt out of a bridge, taking it home, and modiifing it to hold a logbook? The finder would also have to unsrcew the bolt to sign the log.

Finding these types of caches dampens my excitement in finding them. They can be very clever, but should be we tampering with stuff that does not belong to us?

I dont think we should be placing caches were we have to remove parts of equipment not intended to be removed. Not only will it likely loosen the parts, but it encourages cachers to tear things apart at the next cache when they don't spot it in the correct location.

In the case of the tombstone, you are risking dropping and breaking it, and what if it's the wrong stone? And still, we're encouraging a cacher to assume they have to do that at the next cache. We have done one cemetery cache where the final was in a bucket of flowers at the grave site, but at least they made it quite clear in the description what we were looking for.

As far as the light poles / electrical boxes (and I don't want to discuss the lameness factor here), we are taught not to tamper with electrical equipment, and try to teach out kids the same. Yet, we will take them to get a cache in one. Suppose they will think every electrical box or light pole they come to has a cache?

So how much is too much? Or is it just me?