Caching At Odd Public Places

[+The Roaming Gnome]

I love caching, but I hate being seen. There are some grabs I would love to get but they are in very public places. For example, everyone has seen the cookie cutter strip malls at every exit in the US. A friend of mine has hidden a cache behind a Target at one of these malls. Best place to get to the cache is marked as delivery trucks only. Another one is hidden behind a grocery store over the bank on a hillside bordering the interstate. So my question is do you all just cache these during the day without a second thought. Has anyone been confronted by a muggle? If so what excuse did you give? He's going to read this and I will never hear the end of it, right WB?

[bogleman]

It's all in the timing. I've done them right at busy time and I've done them at 2am. I was questioned once and I was honest (I scared the kid pretty bad). It the area is clearly posted as no trespassing then not a chance but in a delivery truck area, just park somewhere else.

 

I have used the kids to find urban hides while I distracted folks close by. I guess it is all on how you feel at the time you are there. I will pass by one scouting the area only to come back at a later time and swoop in and grab it.

 

Some folks love the out in the open hides and some dont, I guess it's just another part of the game and how you play. The folks that hide them just love to read and hear about people squirming at their cache and I am sure your buddy will love reading the posts here as well.

[+Nerves]

I've found caches hidden on signs or poles in the middle of busy intersections, real estate offices, private homes and yards (with the owner's permission but still weird to poke around), trailer parks, in the middle of subdivisions, around stores, malls, playgrounds, park benches, in abandoned cars, even amusement parks, old military sites, a cow farm, bed and breakfast, herb farm, ice cream shop, you name it.

 

I usually fabricate some bizarre tale to fit the situation and most of the time people believe the mallarkey I tell them. I've been a fake reporter, botanist, engineer, photographer, radon inspector, bridge inspector, bolt inspector, naturalist. I did get chased by the environmental police once. One cache was outside a former railroad station, now a liquor store and the owner came out to ask what I was doing. Told him I was writing an article so he brought me inside and showed me old photographs and the historic ceiling which was really nice.

 

I cache with someone who is convinced we'll be rewarded with a night in jail some day. Right now I'm temporarily using a cane to walk so most people just think I'm an odd crippled person and walk the other way.

[+Miragee]

I have finally come to the conclusion that those caches are ones I just do not need to find. I prefer caches that involve a nice walk or hike, or at least bring me to a park or a nice view.

 

I don't intend to search for any more urban caches unless I am with others who don't mind searching those locations . . .

[+robert]

I hate these.

I don't like being watched.

I think they're after me.

Or that's just Vinny behind the tree.

[Trinity's Crew]

I don't love retrieving caches from public places, but many people do enjoy it. Having said that, I have found a few. Generally speaking, if you look guilty or try to be "sneaky" you will attract unwanted attention. If you act like you're supposed to be doing what you're doing most people will ignore the heck out of you. Try it. It works. (mostly)

Edited April 6, 2006 by Trinity's Crew

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

I hate these.

I don't like being watched.

I think they're after me.

Or that's just Vinny behind the tree.

 

Ahem!

 

Robert,

 

how. . .

 

did. . .

 

you know. . .

 

that. . .

 

we are. . .

 

watching you. . .

 

at every moment?

 

. . .Are you psychic?

[+WolfTrekker]

I hate being out in the open, as my sometimes caching partner A_Friend_Of_Dorothy can tell you. I can usually manage a grab in urban areas without drawing too much attention, but just the thought of someone spotting me and questioning me makes me nervous. I still won't go onto private property to retrieve caches, even if the land owner knows about it. It just seems....weird

[+robert]

Ahem!

[...]

. . .Are you psychic?

 

Sue told me!

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

I don't love caches that involve retrieving caches from public places, but many people do. Having said that, I have found a few. Generally speaking, if you look guilty or try to be "sneaky" you will attract unwanted attention. If you act like you're supposed to be doing what you're doing most people will ignore the heck out of you. Try it. It works. (mostly)

 

I am much like you, at least for the most part. If I do hunt urban caches, I prefer that they be in places that are a bit out of the way and where no one will likely even notice my presence. I tend to hate "in your face" urban caches. One of our weirdest urban finds in our early days of caching was a camoed Tupperware urban cache container hidden in the bushes on City Hall property, just six feet from the window of the mayor's office and just four feet from her high-security parking spot which was under 24-hour surveillance due to some recent threats on her life. Sigh! Yes, we did find it and sign the log, but not without some tense near-heart-attack moments.

 

One of the funniest scenes associated with this urban City Hall cache occurred just days before the owner wisely archived the listing. The tale goes that an overzealous elderly out-of-town cache hunter, while rummaging in the bushes alongside the wall of city hall looking for this cache, pulled a piece of plumbing totally out of the ground in the belief that he was retrieving a buried cache. Worse, he was "caught" in this act of wanton destruction by the groundskeeper, who, luckily, was a good-natured older man who took the big view on things and laughed it off.

 

And, when caching in urban areas, I never try to sneak around or look inconspicuous. I look like I am searching for something, and I look serious and intent. I carry a clipboard, and, if appropriate, I wear a hardhat and safety vest and wear a toolbelt. I also own three large magnetic signs for my "Geo Engineeering and Maintenance Services" company which I place on my car when doing necessary "undercover" work in urban senstitive areas. The company has a real home webpage, which offers services such as geocache placement and retrieval, geomuggle abatement, geomuggle sanction (ahem, if you do not know what that means, watch "The Eiger Sanction"), etc., at http://www.funsprings.us/VXP/

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

Ahem!

[...]

. . .Are you psychic?

 

Sue told me!

 

Well, don't think that this "surveillance of Robert" thing is an easy job! It takes most of my time, plus most of the time of four full-time assistants, plus a bank of micro wireless video cameras and two GPS beacon locators, to keep tabs on you! However, the CIA thinks that the expenditure is worth it, and so who am I to argue?

[+Team LaLonde]

bolt inspector

 

Hilarious!

[+robert]

Well, don't think that this "surveillance of Robert" thing is an easy job! It takes most of my time, plus most of the time of four full-time assistants, plus a bank of micro wireless video cameras and two GPS beacon locators, to keep tabs on you! However, the CIA thinks that the expenditure is worth it, and so who am I to argue?

 

Now you know what it's like to be me.

[+The Roaming Gnome]

I am glad I am not the only one who feels weird doing these. Love the Geo engineering thing.

[andylphoto]

I also own three large magnetic signs for my "Geo Engineeering and Maintenance Services" company which I place on my car when doing necessary "undercover" work in urban senstitive areas. The company has a real home webpage, which offers services such as geocache placement and retrieval, geomuggle abatement, geomuggle sanction (ahem, if you do not know what that means, watch "The Eiger Sanction"), etc., at http://www.funsprings.us/VXP/

 

LOL...that's great! I love your sense of humor.

Edited April 6, 2006 by andylphoto

[+briansnat]

I rarely even bother with these kinds of caches, but if I do, I just walk up and grab it. I don't care who sees me. By placing a cache in a highly public place the owner obviously doesn't care if I'm seen, so neither do I.

[+sbell111]

I rarely even bother with these kinds of caches, but if I do, I just walk up and grab it. I don't care who sees me. By placing a cache in a highly public place the owner obviously doesn't care if I'm seen, so neither do I.

While I think you are taking the 'I belong here, so ignore me' stance a little too far, I doubt that you don't care as much as you state, or you would probably ignore the caches.

 

I do think that cachers should make an effort to not be spotted removing or replacing an urban cache, just as we would if we were in the woods and someone wandered down the trail. In my opinion, we owe it to the next cacher to try to keep caches from getting muggled.

[+TeamGuisinger]

We have 2 highly visible urban micros, if you can call anything out here urban. One is in a public square which is surrounded by the busiest intersection in town. The other is in front of our courthouse, at the corner of the 2nd busiest intersection in town. We placed them because we felt our previous hides didn't offer anything for people passing through, or who didn't have much time. Most of ours are about a 1/4 mile passed BFE, on the left, follow the deer trail , but we like 'em like that. Hard to get to, harder to find. So anyway, our evil twisted hiding methods wouldn't let us just throw up a park and grab. We had to use the high muggle traffic, many places to look in a small area, spots. BTW, as of right now, we're the only cachers in our town, so crazy people with little electronic devices hunting easter eggs in the middle of town, probably gets noticed.

[funinthealps]

I rarely even bother with these kinds of caches, but if I do, I just walk up and grab it. I don't care who sees me. By placing a cache in a highly public place the owner obviously doesn't care if I'm seen, so neither do I.

While I think you are taking the 'I belong here, so ignore me' stance a little too far, I doubt that you don't care as much as you state, or you would probably ignore the caches.

 

I do think that cachers should make an effort to not be spotted removing or replacing an urban cache, just as we would if we were in the woods and someone wandered down the trail. In my opinion, we owe it to the next cacher to try to keep caches from getting muggled.

 

I have to agree with sbell111 on this one. While some may think it's a pain to score a visable cache without being seen others find pleasure in the amount of stealth and covertness needed to get the job done.

 

Maybe the angle that the cache placer may have taken is "sure it's right there in front of you", but how are you going to get it? Do you have the patience? Are you cunning enough?

 

We do owe it to the cache owner and future cachers to keep any cache from being muggled at all costs.

[+whistler & co.]

We sit in the car and make the kids look for them!

 

Just kidding!

 

Actually, not really. We DO sit in the car and make the kids look for them.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

I have to agree with sbell111 on this one. While some may think it's a pain to score a visable cache without being seen others find pleasure in the amount of stealth and covertness needed to get the job done.

 

Maybe the angle that the cache placer may have taken is "sure it's right there in front of you", but how are you going to get it? Do you have the patience? Are you cunning enough?

 

We do owe it to the cache owner and future cachers to keep any cache from being muggled at all costs.

 

I think that your words scare me. The phrase "at all costs" is very strong and absolute and rigid, and implies that you would easily kill a muggle who witnessed you retrieving a cache in order to silence them (i.e., to prevent them from harming the cache or telling other muggles about the cache.) While I can see that it might be very reasonable to kill another geocacher who might be about to beat me to an FTF, I cannot see killing muggles indiscriminately, and if you continue this practice, it could give geocaching a bad name. We have had several local cachers around here who have killed muggles to silence them, and I have always felt that this tactic was excessive, possibly even illegal, and maybe even immoral. So, you may wish to rethink your philosophy and attach a little less importance to keeping geocaching activities secret from muggles.

Edited April 6, 2006 by Vinny & Sue Team

[+Kacky]

...that you would easily kill a muggle who witnessed you retrieving a cache in order to silence them...

 

So this is not ok? Ooops.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

...that you would easily kill a muggle who witnessed you retrieving a cache in order to silence them...

 

So this is not ok? Ooops.

 

This seems to be a bit of a hot topic in the geo community at this time among the elite members of the sport, myself included, and this is pretty much all that we talk about at our secret elitist geo cocktail parties on Friday nights at the fancy metropolitan geo pubs. Bottom line is that most cachers seem to be agreed that it is fine to kill other cachers who may be about to nab an FTF, or who took a particularly neat trade item that you had wanted -- after all the other person is (or was) a cacher too, and they willingly chose to play the sport. However, things get much more murky when it comes to sanctioning muggles, as they never chose to play the sport. In fact, I just read somewhere that the state of Colorado is considering making it illegal for geocachers to kill muggles. On the other hand, in West Virginia there is reportedly a state law that requires geocachers to kill muggles if the muggle may be a threat to a geocache. Go figure!

[+sbell111]

I think that your words scare me. The phrase "at all costs" is very strong and absolute and rigid, and implies that you would easily kill a muggle who witnessed you retrieving a cache in order to silence them (i.e., to prevent them from harming the cache or telling other muggles about the cache.) While I can see that it might be very reasonable to kill another geocacher who might be about to beat me to an FTF, I cannot see killing muggles indiscriminately, and if you continue this practice, it could give geocaching a bad name. We have had several local cachers around here who have killed muggles to silence them, and I have always felt that this tactic was excessive, possibly even illegal, and maybe even immoral. So, you may wish to rethink your philosophy and attach a little less importance to keeping geocaching activities secret from muggles.

You know, those smilies are over there for a reason.

 

I agree with 'at all costs', sort of. In my mind, if I can't extract a cache without alerting non-players, I skip it and come back another day. The cost (to me) is that I will not be able to log it right until later. How many times have we all done this when the micro has been hidden close to a playground?

[+DocDiTTo]

 

You know, those smilies are over there for a reason.

 

 

But maybe he wasn't kidding.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

 

You know, those smilies are over there for a reason.

But maybe he wasn't kidding.

 

[funinthealps]

I have to agree with sbell111 on this one. While some may think it's a pain to score a visable cache without being seen others find pleasure in the amount of stealth and covertness needed to get the job done.

 

Maybe the angle that the cache placer may have taken is "sure it's right there in front of you", but how are you going to get it? Do you have the patience? Are you cunning enough?

 

We do owe it to the cache owner and future cachers to keep any cache from being muggled at all costs.

 

I think that your words scare me. The phrase "at all costs" is very strong and absolute and rigid, and implies that you would easily kill a muggle who witnessed you retrieving a cache in order to silence them (i.e., to prevent them from harming the cache or telling other muggles about the cache.) While I can see that it might be very reasonable to kill another geocacher who might be about to beat me to an FTF, I cannot see killing muggles indiscriminately, and if you continue this practice, it could give geocaching a bad name. We have had several local cachers around here who have killed muggles to silence them, and I have always felt that this tactic was excessive, possibly even illegal, and maybe even immoral. So, you may wish to rethink your philosophy and attach a little less importance to keeping geocaching activities secret from muggles.

 

Geeze, you East Coasters are harsh. Are you serious? Maybe "at all costs" is a bit absolute but I didn't realize that a forum post would need to be run by a team of scholors for proof reading before hitting the almighty "add reply" button.

 

To clear things up, what I ment was that the "I don't care who sees me" reply previously posted is, to me, an unacceptable way to cache. The biggest "cost" in my "at all costs" statement may mean leaving the cache and not signing the almighty log book if it means being seen,or perhaps going back to the cache at a later time, as to not be seen retrieving it when muggelers are about.

 

The phrase "at all costs" isn't nearly as strong as the word "hate" which I tend not to use. Oh wait, I just did. Dang! I hate it when I do that. Crap! I just did it again! From here on out I vow never to use the word hate and will avoid doing so at all costs. Oh my God I think I just killed an innocent bystander. Doh!

[+briansnat]

I have to agree with sbell111 on this one. While some may think it's a pain to score a visable cache without being seen others find pleasure in the amount of stealth and covertness needed to get the job done.

 

Maybe the angle that the cache placer may have taken is "sure it's right there in front of you", but how are you going to get it? Do you have the patience? Are you cunning enough?

 

We do owe it to the cache owner and future cachers to keep any cache from being muggled at all costs.

 

I think that your words scare me. The phrase "at all costs" is very strong and absolute and rigid, and implies that you would easily kill a muggle who witnessed you retrieving a cache in order to silence them (i.e., to prevent them from harming the cache or telling other muggles about the cache.) While I can see that it might be very reasonable to kill another geocacher who might be about to beat me to an FTF, I cannot see killing muggles indiscriminately, and if you continue this practice, it could give geocaching a bad name. We have had several local cachers around here who have killed muggles to silence them, and I have always felt that this tactic was excessive, possibly even illegal, and maybe even immoral. So, you may wish to rethink your philosophy and attach a little less importance to keeping geocaching activities secret from muggles.

 

I agree. It could give us a bad name in the community and with law enforcement. I think the practice should be discouraged.

[TygerD]

Here in Wisconsin, we rarely terminate muggles. We capture them and put them in a reeducation center, where we brainwash errrrr..... teach them to wear cheesehead hats, love the Greenbay Packers, and Geocaching.

If they can't be brainwashe.. errr trained. We send them to Minneosota.

 

TygerD

[+sbell111]

Here in Wisconsin, ...

If they can't be brainwashe.. errr trained. We send them to Minneosota.

What's the difference?

Edited April 6, 2006 by sbell111

[funinthealps]

Here in Wisconsin, ...

If they can't be brainwashe.. errr trained. We send them to Minneosota.

What's the difference?

 

Good God, I've been sentenced to 3 years in Minnesota not sent. Only here due to my wifes job. Only 448 days till we're out on parole. There is a place in Wisconsin with the acronym D.C. that is a little slice of heaven. There, the people think straight, love the Packers, and you can buy beer on Sundays

[funinthealps]

Well today I practiced what I preach. Drove 20 miles out of town with the plans of finding 3 caches. First one was in front of a VFW next to a high and elementary school. As it turned out school was getting out right about the time I arrived. I tried to look without drawing too much attention but the kids just kept coming. I opted to leave it for another day.

 

The second one of these elaborate playgrounds. Cache listing stated that some crawling would be involved. When I got there wouldn't you know it there were two moms with their kids. If I had a kid to use as a decoy I may have went for it but I just had the dog and he never seems to help much. There too, I opted to save that one for another day.

 

The third cache however was located in a Wildlife Management Area and which was in the boonies. The dog had a great run and I scored the cache.

 

Was only 1 for 3 today but that's the way it goes sometimes.

 

BTW nobody got killed on todays mission although I did have a bit of road rage on the way home. I'll never be able to understand how people can talk on their cell phone, smoke a cig, and drive slowly in the left lane. Knuckleheads!