As_ter

As a 17-year-old unsupervised male cacher (no worries, a few months and I'll be legal), lemme give a promise to you that the caches I inevitably hide are all going to be in sealed containers, with actual good information, surrounding terrain, parking, clean logsheets, no thorns, and significantly less fecal matter than all of these posts talk about experiencing. I apologize on behalf of my kind. The worst cache for me was actually at absolutely no fault of the CO, however, it was a pretty unfortunate circumstance that made this a bad hide. Recently (so no logs knew about it), wasps had begun building a honeycomb attached to a cache. Essentially, the cache was resting on a screw, in a sign, and was plainly visible, and just like the others in the series hidden just like it. However, the wasps had begun construction hanging off of the screw the cache was on. So I swaggered up to it, removed the cache, and after signing the log, realized the extreme wasp activity going on in the sign. I then looked through the screw-holes, noticing the wasp comb, and debated on whether to replace the cache in the hiding spot (risking stinging of myself and the next people to find the cache), or remove it (which the owner probably wouldn't like). I decided to replace it and immediately contact the owner about it, so I basically got posed to run, plopped it back into place, and sprinted about 40 feet away. I must have gotten some strange looks from muggles, but, no stings! (And yes, the owner has been contacted and knows about this now)

It's been in the lower to upper 90's, and I've been caching (trekked about 15 miles today) in jeans/dress pants, dress shirts, and a bow-tie. I am not a normal person but I do not try to be.

What helped me starting out was reading all the hints and comments made by other cachers. Sure, it's basically giving it away when someone logs "man i hate looking for micro ones in pine trees," but you have to start somewhere, so honestly it's not just a cheap tactic, it's an easy tactic. After a few caches, and looking at hints and comments and such, you just start to get a sense of where things are hidden. Usually I have a pretty good idea where a cache is hidden from about 100 feet off, even without spotting it, and then finding it can be easy. Just look for small 'landmarks' - a telephone pole, a sign, a streetlight, a big weird tree, a giant rock, etc. Geocachers never choose to hide a cache in something that doesn't stand out in at least one way or another, so sometimes it's more useful to stare at the scene at ground zero, not search every last nook and cranny until you're exhausted and frustrated enough to give up. Oh, and keep walking in circles, cause that helps.

I get through it by feeling indignant towards muggles, as if what I am doing is perfectly normal and to consider me strange is completely foolish. I haven't been confronted by a muggle, so I haven't actually had to be indignant to them, but it's the mentality that what you are doing isn't just acceptable, or right, but it's what you and everyone else should be doing that makes it easy to do publicly. I wouldn't be ashamed (rather the opposite) if a friend knew I geocached, so I would never feel embarrassed around complete strangers either.