Welcome to this great hobby, and to the Geocaching community! And congratulations on "Old 470" as your first cache! I have to say our team tried that a fistfull of times before finally making the find! I second all the great advice offered so far. And as Fins_Up said, be sure to check out the previous logs to see what kinds of comments folks have had about a cache...and one of my own personal faults has been forgetting to re-read the cache title! More times than I care to admit I've been stumped, only to have another member of the team remind me of the title, which can sometimes hold additional hints. And whereas you're beginning this hobby in winter, be sure to check the cache attributes on the right side of the cache listing for "Winter Friendly," which is the picture of the snowflake. And also realize that "Winter Friendly" sometimes means the cache is above the snowline, and sometimes means that the cache location (geographically speaking) is still accessible in Winter, although the cache may be under the snow (in which case you should bring a "poking stick"). Enough from me...welcome again, and hope to see you at an event!!

-ampmdp