Ciho Cache In Hobos Out

August 17, 2005

I found a great spot for a cache. Unfortunately I think it's a homeless hideout. What's the best way to clear it for cachers? The sherriff here is a real hard nose when it comes to this sort of thing, but while that will work for me, I want to know what techniques other cachers use to prep a cache site.

2.2k · August 17, 2005

Where do you suggest they go?

August 17, 2005

Watch out for those hobos, they never trade even. <_<

9.1k · August 17, 2005

My technique would be to choose another site, if possible, or to reach a conclusion that the cache and the hobos can peacefully coexist. I'd rather leave to law enforcement the decision whether to move them. It is not my job. Also, my experience has been that if the police "move" the people, they will be back there soon enough. It's easier to choose another hiding area entirely, or to figure out a way that a small well-camoed cache can survive without finders and "residents" getting in each others' way.

There are two microcaches downtown that are in very cool spots, but which sometimes have homeless people nearby. I own one, and I moved the cache just a few hundred feet to a spot where people don't congregate, but where geocachers can still enjoy the riverfront view I wanted to show them. I did this after reading feedback in the logs. I don't want finders of my caches to feel uncomfortable. The other cache owner, a good friend of mine, disabled his cache when a homeless person set up their "camp" under the pedestrian bridge where the cache is hidden. When the person moves on to their next camp, he will re-enable the cache.

There are other examples of caches where the local homeless people know about the cache, are friendly to visitors, and actually act as cache guardians. I think that's cool. And there's also plenty of examples where caches have been plundered by homeless people. I think that's to be expected if you hide a cache there.

1k · August 17, 2005

It's a big world; find another spot.

3.8k · August 17, 2005

Find another spot. Unless that spot is so unique to your hide that you just have to have it, I don't know that I would feel comfortable kicking people (who are already down on their luck as it is) out of what they call home. Let the police do that if they need to or want to.

Find another spot.

August 17, 2005

There's nothing homey about this spot. The spot is nothing but vines, busted trees, and containers filled with black water breeding mosquitoes. It's a drainage ditch (currently dry). It's at the edge of a vacant lot. The lot is cleared of brush as far as the drainage ditch. The uncleared area is 150 feet long and 15 feet wide.

I've seen spots with homeless squatters, this isn't one I would normally expect. This doesn't qualify for stray dog shelter. The only thing that made me think it was a hobo den was the t-shirt and makeshift satchel hung up in the tree. I looked but couldn't see if there was any sort of bedding spot.

Where would I suggest they go? We've got shelters. We've got programs.

No human being should be in this spot unless they're looking for a cache or they're driving a bull dozer to raze it.

August 17, 2005

...another example of homeless scum ruining the world for decent hardworking people and their families...

3.8k · August 17, 2005

Sounds like you answered your own question.

If the place sucks that bad, why put a cache there? <_<

1.5k · August 17, 2005

The spot is nothing but vines, busted trees, and containers filled with black water breeding mosquitoes.

Ditto to Robert...why on earth would you want to bring cachers to this spot???

<_< <_<

August 17, 2005

There's nothing homey about this spot. The spot is nothing but vines, busted trees, and containers filled with black water breeding mosquitoes. . . .
No human being should be in this spot unless they're looking for a cache or they're driving a bull dozer to raze it.

Ewww.

20.7k · August 17, 2005

Back to the initial question, I'm fortunate to live in a county that has police that would ensure that the squatters are removed.

38.2k · August 17, 2005

I go there late at night and make strange noises. Then I dress up in a chipmunk outfit and walk through the camp in the wee hours. After doing this every night for about 7 or 8 months they finally leave.

38.2k · August 17, 2005

There's nothing homey about this spot. The spot is nothing but vines, busted trees, and containers filled with black water breeding mosquitoes. It's a drainage ditch (currently dry). It's at the edge of a vacant lot. The lot is cleared of brush as far as the drainage ditch. The uncleared area is 150 feet long and 15 feet wide.

I've seen spots with homeless squatters, this isn't one I would normally expect. This doesn't qualify for stray dog shelter. The only thing that made me think it was a hobo den was the t-shirt and makeshift satchel hung up in the tree. I looked but couldn't see if there was any sort of bedding spot.

Where would I suggest they go? We've got shelters. We've got programs.

No human being should be in this spot unless they're looking for a cache or they're driving a bull dozer to raze it.

I thought you said it was a great spot for a cache?

3k · August 17, 2005

I go there late at night and make strange noises. Then I dress up in a chipmunk outfit and walk through the camp in the wee hours. After doing this every night for about 7 or 8 months they finally leave.

You might be able to shorten the process a bit if you pick something scarier than a chipmunk outfit.

Just a suggestion.

August 17, 2005

But that's what makes it so PERFECT for caches!

I'll dump the black water when I prep the spot.

Hmm..... maybe if I dump the black water now, the area will be good and stinky? Yeah, that'll work. It'll be uninhabitable AND great for cachers! I'll call the cache "Annie's Armpit Aroma" or something.

38.2k · August 17, 2005

I go there late at night and make strange noises. Then I dress up in a chipmunk outfit and walk through the camp in the wee hours. After doing this every night for about 7 or 8 months they finally leave.

You might be able to shorten the process a bit if you pick something scarier than a chipmunk outfit.

Just a suggestion.

Hmmmm, thanks! Maybe that's why it takes so long.

9.1k · August 17, 2005

<_< August 19 by The Leprechauns (1071 found)

Thank you for bringing me to this special spot.

20.7k · August 17, 2005

Sounds like you answered your own question.

If the place sucks that bad, why put a cache there?

The OP didn't ask for our opinion on what he should do, he asked what you would do if you found a really good place for a cache and some bums were living there.

2.1k · August 17, 2005

took drink, left vomit

if it's a great place for a cache, except for the bums, it's not a great place

20.7k · August 17, 2005

Again with the not answering of the question.

August 17, 2005

I have a cache spot in mind from which I received a poison ivy attack. I'm going in there with some Round-Up and a long long rake. That spot WILL be mine.

As for why this spot is so special? The Greater New Orleans area is essentially an island. Lake Ponchartrain is to our North; the Mississippi River is to our South; and East and West are vast waterlogged swamps. We have no wild land left. There are no "woods" or hills around here. If you want natural land, you're going to put some miles down first. Therefore, spots to hid regular caches are few and far between.

I cannot just go out and drop a cache off at the nearest cropping of trees. It takes research to find good spots. Today I found two excellent spots for regular caches and I did it from my computer. I've resorted to satelite pictures to tell me where the remaining thickets lie.

One spot is between the rails of a train switch. The dozens of 8-inch tree trunks growing between the tracks tells me the rails are no longer in use. The other spot is the nasty thicket in question. Go find another spot? I'm doing my best. But this one will have a cache in it before I move on. Oh, and it'll smell of black water.

1.5k · August 17, 2005

Maybe dress up in a troll costume....that gets rid of squatters I've heard...and really races up the forum posts too!!

7.2k · August 17, 2005

As for why this spot is so special? The Greater New Orleans area is essentially an island. Lake Ponchartrain is to our North; the Mississippi River is to our South; and East and West are vast waterlogged swamps. We have no wild land left. There are no "woods" or hills around here. If you want natural land, you're going to put some miles down first.

You found Dwarf Sumac. There *are* woods and hills in New Orleans. You don't have blinders on when you hike do ya! <_< <_<

From my log on the cache page:

I left the cache and climbed the mountain on the way back (mountain, hehe).

OK, it is really a hill. It is the biggest hill in NOLA. I was actually impressed.

From your log on the cache page:

Blasted trees blocking the path. Well, no problem really, just some off path and through the limbs walking.

Found the cache once I found my bearings. Really should have brought my gear on this one. Needed my walking stick for the vines and webs. Needed my external antenna to divine a sat lock. Needed Bam's super duper cache hole poker to look in places where the cache should have been but only held spiders.

If it has me looking and it's in a great place, it's a great cache. Thanks!

Vines, spiders, spider webs, trees blocking the path after Hurricane Cindy, antenna for satellite lock? Sounds like woods to me! <_<

August 17, 2005

These are few and far between and mostly taken. I speak of the woods of my youth. Vast tracts of land populated by trees; half mile and more on every side. That's ALL gone.

As for City Park, it's reaching the saturation point. A nature trail through the "woods" is not much of a wooded feature. As for the mountain, 30 feet of dirt is a joke.

Edited August 17, 2005 by BillsBayou

7.2k · August 17, 2005

Well, that's the case for any major city. Being the 40th largest city in the US and having over 1 million people in the major metro area (almost a half a million in New Orleans city proper), you would expect the population to be somewhat dense.

I just hope your description tells cachers what to expect.

I would avoid this cache personally. It just seems like there has to be some place left in New Orleans that is better suited for people to take their kids to for some fun geocaching time together. To each his own I guess.

(Edit: since you edited your post, mine does not make quite as much sense, but I will leave it as it is.)

Edited August 17, 2005 by mtn-man

August 17, 2005

I say we all down for a dip before the clean up starts. what do you say kids! <_<

Edited August 17, 2005 by geo_boy_2001

August 17, 2005

Convince them all to geocache, put them to work at it, write a book and get a grant and retire as a philanthropist. :lol:

August 17, 2005

If I name it "Annie's Armpit Aroma" I'm not thinking it's going to be a kid-friendly cache anyway. I only have 8 caches and I wouldn't take kids to half of them. Only two of the caches are accessible by the handicapped. I'm not exactly on the welcoming committee.

And another thing about City Park...

City Park is the location of my Earthcache. As a pre-requisite to getting the Earthcache established, I received a signed letter from the Director of Public Relations of City Park granting me permission to establish the Earthcache on their premises. The letter points out their preference that physical caches not be established in their park so as to preserve the beauty of the park and to provide for the enjoyment of other visitors. That said, I'm hesitant to be peppering their woods with my containers.

So it's back to the blackwater bums.

6.5k · August 17, 2005

I go there late at night and make strange noises. Then I dress up in a chipmunk outfit and walk through the camp in the wee hours. After doing this every night for about 7 or 8 months some will leave.Then I yell "Ho, are ye a geocacher?" and the correct response is "Yay I am".

Upon the confirmation, the two then approach each other, put their left hand on the other person's right shoulder, standing arm's length and dance around in a circle while skipping and singing (very loudly) "Geocachers are we! Runy muny mee! Yaba daba baba. He, he, he!".

Is anyone else really scared besides me? <_<

August 17, 2005

By the way, I think I'm finding all the remaining Poison Ivy in the city... can't see THAT on no fancy schmancy satelite photo.

August 17, 2005

You could go there and plant plenty of poison ivy, relocate several hornet nests around the area, attract some bears to visit the area frequently. Just don't forget to warn the wimps about your cache protection strategy.

Jan

1.3k · August 17, 2005

Where do you suggest they go?

Give them a one-way bus ticket to Seattle like SLC did before the Olympics. To me it makes no difference if I trip over 5 or 10 of them on the way to the ferry, so what the heck, if it opens up a caching spot, we'll take one for the team.

Edited August 17, 2005 by Bull Moose

1k · August 17, 2005

...The Greater New Orleans area is essentially an island. Lake Ponchartrain is to our North; the Mississippi River is to our South; and East and West are vast waterlogged swamps. We have no wild land left. There are no "woods" or hills around here. If you want natural land, you're going to put some miles down first. Therefore, spots to hid regular caches are few and far between.

Sounds like it's time for a moratorium on new caches in the Greater New Orleans area, of course, not all your local cachers may agree with your assessment of the situation. <_<

Edit: Typo

Edited August 17, 2005 by Kai Team

August 17, 2005

Where would I suggest they go? We've got shelters. We've got programs.

It's not even remotely that simple.

August 18, 2005

I go there late at night and make strange noises. Then I dress up in a chipmunk outfit and walk through the camp in the wee hours. After doing this every night for about 7 or 8 months some will leave.Then I yell "Ho, are ye a geocacher?" and the correct response is "Yay I am".

Upon the confirmation, the two then approach each other, put their left hand on the other person's right shoulder, standing arm's length and dance around in a circle while skipping and singing (very loudly) "Geocachers are we! Runy muny mee! Yaba daba baba. He, he, he!".

Is anyone else really scared besides me?

Sad thing is, thats probably one of the more "normal" things done by some cachers !

38.2k · August 18, 2005

I go there late at night and make strange noises. Then I dress up in a chipmunk outfit and walk through the camp in the wee hours. After doing this every night for about 7 or 8 months some will leave.Then I yell "Ho, are ye a geocacher?" and the correct response is "Yay I am".

Upon the confirmation, the two then approach each other, put their left hand on the other person's right shoulder, standing arm's length and dance around in a circle while skipping and singing (very loudly) "Geocachers are we! Runy muny mee! Yaba daba baba. He, he, he!".

Is anyone else really scared besides me?

Don't worry, he's harmless (I hope).

1.1k · August 18, 2005

I agree with Lep leave the hobos alone and find a better spot. Besides they may only leave for a short period and the return. Just do your fellow caches a favor and find another spot.

cheers

August 18, 2005

Had a spot in Raleigh where the homeless dude simply left, I guess he simply wanted to be left alone and cachers plundering his area made him uncomfortable.

Had to replace the cache for the owner as it came up missing . . . wonder if the homeless dude took it, maybe he was a micro-hater.

3.2k · August 18, 2005

I went somewhere just yesterday that I had thought might be a great cache spot. It's at the end of a road and there is a creek nearby and I know there is a wooded area there. I went to the place and took the dirt road at the end of the pavement. It curves around and I could see a few other roads through the wooded part. After a very short bit on the dirt road I encountered someone's truck and a trailer. The truck was parked in such a manner that I couldn't even continue on and had to back out. It's obviously not a legal place to be parked and living. There was a very large bunch of junk and trash nearby and it looks to be an environmental "yuk" in the making.

I decided that, even though it "would" have been a nice place to get people to go and discover I would not place a cache there due to the squatters. For all I know there may be a meth lab there or something and folks could be in danger by going to the spot.

20.7k · August 18, 2005

If those are your suspicions, why did you not notify your local police?

August 18, 2005

I think the answer is to try to not be so conceated as to actually believe that our hobby is more important than someone else's struggle to hide from the rain or sun.

You would have the police force someone to relocate they're home (yes, their home) because you want to hide a can of mctoys and don't want people to see a poor person when they come to find it?

That's cruel and sad. Give the hobo a sandwich and place your precious cache somewhere else. :blink:

20.7k · August 18, 2005

That's bad logic. If they are not supposed to be living there, they shouldn't be there. If they are littering, or worse, they should be dealt with. If I were walking in front of you on trail and I kept tossing trash in the bushes, would you just let it slide or would you tell the ranger or police (or whatever the appropriate authority is for that locale)?

August 18, 2005

"Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge.

"Plenty of prisons," said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

"And the Union workhouses?" demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?"

"They are. Still," returned the gentleman, "I wish I could say they were not."

"The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?" said Scrooge.

"Both very busy, sir."

August 18, 2005

I went somewhere just yesterday that I had thought might be a great cache spot. It's at the end of a road and there is a creek nearby and I know there is a wooded area there. I went to the place and took the dirt road at the end of the pavement. It curves around and I could see a few other roads through the wooded part. After a very short bit on the dirt road I encountered someone's truck and a trailer. The truck was parked in such a manner that I couldn't even continue on and had to back out. It's obviously not a legal place to be parked and living. There was a very large bunch of junk and trash nearby and it looks to be an environmental "yuk" in the making.

I decided that, even though it "would" have been a nice place to get people to go and discover I would not place a cache there due to the squatters. For all I know there may be a meth lab there or something and folks could be in danger by going to the spot.

You should call the police and report suspicious activity.

As you should do with ANY homeless activity. Trailer or otherwise. Call the cops anyways. Let them sort it out.

I hate homeless people. They pollute the civilized world with waste, bodily and otherwise. Get a job or take a hike.... off a pier.

Sorry. But that's my story and i'm sticking to it.

Edited August 18, 2005 by Marcie/Eric

August 18, 2005

Well, that's assuming there's something that says they can't be there. If it's public land, you can reside in one spot for 14 days. If you move, and come back, you have broken no law. If you are littering, which is more than likely true, you can be fined for that. But it's not really littering while you are still 'camping' at that site. It's only littering if it doesn't get carried off with you.

Anyway, my logic was simply that; we shouldn't be so selfish as to think our game is more important than someone's right to sleep in the mud. Providing they're not breaking the law by their presence, my logic is sound.

20.7k · August 18, 2005

The issue goes beyond the game. It goes to whether we should live in a civilized society and whether all members of that society should be made responsible for their actions.

August 18, 2005

:blink: Does the idea that people who probably can't help themselves should be persecuted by those that can show compassion?

Or the idea that you are the center of the universe and people who make you uncomfortable must pay the price.

My advice is to leave your unhappy childhood behind and take some responsibiliy for the society that is sheltering you.

Those of you who are ragging on the homeless need to spend some time finding out the actual problems rather than rationalizing your hostile attitudes.

20.7k · August 18, 2005

Not only did you give two options that did not leave room for a realistic answer to your question, but you are romantisizing the problem and presuming that you know the background of all that disagree with you.

meh.

BTW, personal attacks are not cool.

Edited August 18, 2005 by sbell111

August 18, 2005

Sorry, I am generalizing from responses that I get when I talk about bringing homeless people in off the street to the several missions I work with in San Francisco around Christmas and New Years.

If this does not apply please let it fly.

You are right that personal attacks only tend to inflame people with personality defects.

All I am asking is for a little more compassion for a class of people which everyone in affluent society is ultimately responsible for.

Ciho Cache In Hobos Out

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