Pudn

I'm moving this out of this forum.. I will PM your Geocaching account.

Okiebryan, I actually caught your previously edited post. That's going to vary from state to state. No need to put on any flame suits. I don't have any gas in my flame thrower.

You should have to PROVE cachers are doing something wrong rather than expecting cachers to PROVE they are not. I don't feel any encounter with LEO is a good one, but that was the best I've had in a long time. I should NOT have to explain to a cop what I'm doing unless he has reasonable belief that a crime is being or has been committed. A happy family in a public park within the posted hours looking over a publicly owned monument may be odd, but it's not reasonable suspicion of a crime. It's actually none of their business. I'll keep this one short. Unlike others, I'm not here to argue. I'm here to Geocache. Reasonable suspicion is evaluated using the "reasonable person" or "reasonable officer" standard, in which said person in the same circumstances could reasonably believe a person has been, is, or is about to be, engaged in criminal activity; such suspicion is not a mere hunch. What that means is that a reasonable person with a reasonable mind would find OUR (YOU and I as geocachers) actions suspicious. I have left Geocaches after thinking I was suspicious. It's not only what Law Enforcement finds suspicious.

As a LEOCacher myself, I have to agree with what I've seen. Just be honest. The second thing I can recommend is to have some sort of literature about Geocaching. Dope dealers do some of their "drops" in locations that would be ideal for Geocaches. You can simply print off the Geocaching Brochure and tuck it away with your other cache stuff. I actually have a copy of it, that I carry in my pack. Later, Pudn

I'll further agree that you should use separate devices. No, I'm not a veteran geocacher, but I've been around the world literally. Uncle Sam took me into some of the most miserable and harsh conditions man has ever seen. I would recommend that you have too many gadgets, than not enough. Yes, we would love to have a Super Duper GPS/Digital Camera/Cell Phone all in one. Here's the real problem. Imagine an accidental drop of this "all in one" device, whether into water, over a cliff, or onto a hard rock. You could destroy this all in one device. If that were the case, you have lost your GPS to get you out of where you are at (if you venture way off of the trail), and your phone to call for help. With separate devices, you will be much safer. It would be better to have a broken cell phone and working GPS, or vice versa. Any given day, I would rather have a working GPS and no cell phone. Maybe that scenario will slow you down on purchasing equipment that you may wish you never owned.