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This is our first winter doing Geocaching. There are some obvious differences for us who live in the great white north (also known as Canada) - there is snow. With snow come snow tracks - footprints that sometimes can lead directly to the cache. This can be an advantage for the finder or possibly boring - the snow hints sometimes make it just too easy.

I have seen it a lot in the logs of our caches recently:

GC17K55: Nice little winter geo-trail to follow! - So grateful for large footprints in the snow!

GC17Q5J: It looks like somebody shoveled a path to the cache…

GC16Z1T: Must have been there a few min after Avanar, I followed the tracks in the snow.

While snow-caching can be easier in some ways - hiding a cache that is winter friendly might pose a few challenge. I posted a question in some local Geocaching forums to get some good hints on hiding winter-friendly caches. This is what I learned:

• Winter-friendly caches pretty much have to be off the ground by about a meter (~3.5 feet) or so
• Cache containers need to be thoughtfully considered - can the container handle the cold/snow? Will it freeze shut?
• Geocachers do not “Dig”. Digging gets us into trouble! Indicating that you were “Digging” around in the snow for the cache is probably not the best plan “Pushing around” the snow or “Displacing” the snow is probably a better choice of wording.
• If snow is going to have to be displaced - give a really good clue to narrow down the amount of snow that will have to be displaced

Thanks to all the cachers who helped me in the forums - it’s always nice to know you can get help from a local Geocaching Community!