Phew! That Was Close!

[+jRandyA]

I meant to post this earlier, but about two weeks ago I set out to a local area with my pal Arcaiden for a day of geocaching. We decided the first stop would be at a waterfall nearby called Longwood Falls. The waterfall is a result of a man-made dam, and is only about 20 ft tall, but it is still a really cool place, plus it has a cache on the hillside woods off of the trail.

 

We found the cache easily enough, and was signing and taking pictures of different travel bugs and ourselves when we heard some voices. We looked down the trail to see some young kids running up the trail. We decided to do be all stealth-like and hide in some nearby brush. At times they came within ten feet of us and had no idea we were even there. The falls helped cover up the noise we couldn't help but make moving through the brush.

 

We decided to head through the woods further up the trail, then emerge onto the trail, and walk back towards the car. That way we would pass them as if we had been we had just been walking on the trail itself. As we were doing so, they were returning from where they came! So we rushed back into some brush right as they ran where we were emerging. Eventually they ran off, and we got back on the trail and back to the car.

 

We also concluded that they were the type of teenagers that would ruin the cache if they found it, cause they broke a lot of bottles while we were hidden. Oh well.. guess doing things like that must be cool at that age..

 

So tell me, has anyone else had a close encounter with a muggle or two, but hidden well enough that they had no idea you were there?

[+Arrow One]

I was in a local park a few weeks ago, and while I was signing the log to a cache I had found, a man came walking up the trail. Wearing Camo (real tree extra grey), I just stood completely still. He passed me within about 20 feet and never saw me. I don't think he would have been the "cache trashing" type muggle, but at least I did'nt have to answer the question, "what are you doing?"

[+eagsc7]

Yesterday, I was out servicing my Go climb a Tree cache(GCWFNE) and realized that there was a VERRY clear view of the road above the base of the tree, but really Below the placement of the cache. The things you dont realize...

[+overtaxed1]

I was doing cache maintenance last year on my first cache and looked up to find a guy in a powered parachute hovering above me. Keep in mind, that this cache is about a mile off of a dead-end road in the forest. To say the very least, I was surprised that I had to worry about this muggle. I kept hidden in the trees the best I could as he kept looping back around above me.

[+Vegas Gamblers]

Muggles approach and the wife and I just start making out and they leave rather quickly and don't pay us much attention.

[ldylostntx972]

While hunting for one wiley cache, I got stuck hiding in the brush. The cache was just off a walking path behind a bench. Just as I had given up trying to find the container, a walker stopped for a breath on the bench. I was stuck. I could not come barreling out of the bushes so I just squated on the ground and waited. After quite a while, he left and I could come out. The sad part of the story is I didn't find the cache. In fact I was off by about 50 feet in the branches another tree. (I found it the following day.)

[+NatureGuy360]

I was geocaching on a trail in a heavily wooded area at a local park. Convinced that no one else was around for hundreds of yards I began concentrating deeply on the hunt. I had my eyes focused close to the ground when out of seemingly no where a team of bicyclist came zooming by me! I think I was more startled to see them than they were of me just wondering around in the woods.

[+Loch Cache]

Just this morning I was checking on a cache had found before that's hidden under a narrow footbridge. I had put my pack on the footbridge and was standing in the gully with the cache in hand when two runners came down the path behind me and cross the bridge. They jumped over my pack and just kept on running. I wonder what they thought I was doing.

 

Loch Cache

[Hillbilly-Rockstar]

Muggles approach and the wife and I just start making out and they leave rather quickly and don't pay us much attention.

 

That sounds pretty effective!!

[+emurock]

Muggles approach and the wife and I just start making out and they leave rather quickly and don't pay us much attention.

That.is.funny.

[monkeykat]

I was doing a 4 part multi cache at a Christian College nearby my house and the last 2 parts ended up being in a cemetery. I really don't like cemetery caches because they seem inappropriate, but I was almost done, so I decided to respectively finish it up and leave. As I was getting the final coordinates to decipher the cache from the College founders gravestone, a couple came to visit a tombstone adjacent to me. I felt really awkward scribbling dates and numbers and doing math while they were having a private moment. Eventually they left only to be replaced by 6 roudy teens that were cutting through the graveyard to get somewhere else. After they left I found the cache in a nearby tree, grabbed it and headed to a slightly secluded area to sign and get out!

 

When I went to replace the cache a groundskeeper had arrived to pick up some tools about 300 feet away. Then his assistant showed up. At the same time a car pulled up to an adjacent parking lot to drop off someone who had done some carpooling. They talked for a while about 150 ft away and then left. As they were pulling out, another woman showed up to get into her car. Then a guy came to the cemetery to walk his dog. It was just insane. I couldn't wait to get out of there, and then 5 people showed up while I had the cache in my hand and couldn't replace it until they all left. I had to look busy for an extra 15 minutes, and this was all around 5:30pm on a Friday afternoon. Who knew that was a busy time for a cemetery?

[terrible2u]

mhm, somehow, altough a n00b, i already have plenty of muggleparanoia..

 

i dont know about the US, but here in switzerland, everybody is suspicious about everyone, minding other people's business. so, that makes caching in this country not really easy.. especially when you're in some odd town where only tourists go and look from top to other stuff or just have a wonder around. so if you look at something very closely which to others is not interessting, YOU get all the attention. same with forests, broad walking trails and you jump out of some bushes, sweating like hell. they all look as if you had burried someone there or worse.. not to mention cardrives in the woods (here in nearly all woods, roads are not allowed to be driven on), except for when you are a paysan, a ranger or the like! well, adds some more of the adventure to the sport, but is also cause for trouble..

 

i heard bad stories from fellow-swiss cachers, including a swat team going after one, throwing him face down to the earth and hold a pistol to his head, and, followed by that, the police dog finding the cache since the cacher did not find initially what he was looking for. the swat team in return meant, ok, we cant leave if there is unfinished business.. kind of funny, kind of scary.. i am sure, i would of filled my pants on that occasion!

[+Tall Rice]

While searching out a micro recently I heard the clatter of a couple youngsters on bicycles. I just pressed up against the tree I was near and stayed still. The lads (who had they have seen me would surely have stopped) roared right on by. They were literally within arms reach when they passed.

 

On an urban cache by a mailbox I had to duck under my car. An elderly couple pulled up to drop a couple items off in the mailbox. I'm pretty sure he didn't see me, but I'm not so sure about his wife.

 

* edited to fix a typo *

Edited October 4, 2006 by Tall Rice

[thehelmz]

Muggles approach and the wife and I just start making out and they leave rather quickly and don't pay us much attention.

 

thats a good idea tho, im gonna have to implement that next trip im on with my gf

Edited October 5, 2006 by thehelmz

[+redtailfalconer]

I was doing one of those skirt lift caches the other day. I was about to do an 18 hour shift, and did not think I would have the energy to do it on the way home, and I hardley ever get down to that cache location. I pulled into the parking lot and there were alot of teens wearing what appeared to be some panty-hose on their heads. Not wanting to pass this up, i figured id mess with them a bit to do the cache. I pulled right up to the lightpost they were standing around, put on my hardhat, saftey glasses, and welding gloves. I also happened to have an electrical tested I picked up at a yardsale only hours ago. I walked up to the pole, grabbed the cache, acted like I was reading the electric meter, signed the log, replaced and went to work! Them kids never knew what hit em, and they moved right out of the way when they saw me coming. It might be worthwhile to carry a hardhat for them urban caches.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Hmm... In urban settings, sometimes people just ignore the weirdos! We were sitting on the island separating the east and west bound lanes of a major road. Traffic westbound was stalled. A few hundred motorists must have seen us. Caching partner provided the distractions. Sixty or more marchers in the March (For or Against?) Breast Cancer passed within two feet of us. Nobody saw anything! One of our favorite urban micros. And nobody saw anything. It was hilarious.