Do people always stare?

[+aerosmith77]

Hi All!

Just a quick question that may sound weird. I just started caching and have found that every time I am stopped looking for a cache, people always stop and ask if I need help. Is this normal? Don't get me wrong, I like that so many people are willing to help, but it is awkward at times... I don't know if this is because I am a female or what, but I would love any advice about how to be more stealth-like or avoid all the inquiries. Thanks!

[+fegan]

Not always...but it does happen.

 

One way to avoid some of the curiosity is to not cache alone.

[+flask]

DON'T take most of the goofy advice people here will give you about stealth. nobody is fooled for a minute into thinking your clunky GPS is a cell phone, or that you lost your cat, or that you're inspecting the landscaping.

 

people will ask you if you need help. smile vaguely and say "no, thank you". if pressed, admit to being on something like a scavenger hunt. usually people's eyes glaze over when you say that.

 

unless you are REALLY skilled in stealth and have advanced training, trying to be stealthy will do nothing hut arouse suspicion.

 

these days anyway, most of the people who stop me know what geocaching is. most people recognize a GPS receiver, and most people know what looking for something looks like.

 

people who live or work near geocaches see people looking for this thing all the time and lying is never a good idea.

 

if you are uncomfortable being watched, choose more remote caches.

[+Chrysalides]

DON'T take most of the goofy advice people here will give you about stealth. nobody is fooled for a minute into thinking your clunky GPS is a cell phone, or that you lost your cat, or that you're inspecting the landscaping.

 

people will ask you if you need help. smile vaguely and say "no, thank you". if pressed, admit to being on something like a scavenger hunt. usually people's eyes glaze over when you say that.

 

unless you are REALLY skilled in stealth and have advanced training, trying to be stealthy will do nothing hut arouse suspicion.

 

these days anyway, most of the people who stop me know what geocaching is. most people recognize a GPS receiver, and most people know what looking for something looks like.

 

people who live or work near geocaches see people looking for this thing all the time and lying is never a good idea.

 

if you are uncomfortable being watched, choose more remote caches.

Best advice on stealth.

 

I'm never comfortable with lying. I've only been asked a couple of times if I need help, to which I did exactly what flask suggested above. I've also been asked if I'm looking for something, to which I answered "yeah, but it looks like it's not here" and then leave. A couple of times I answered I'm looking for a geocache, and both times it turned out that they knew exactly what I was doing and offered me some hints.

 

Since I have an Oregon (touchscreen) and most people around here seem to be using their phone all the time, I blend right in - looks like I'm looking up something on my smartphone. But before I search in an urban environment, I survey the site before getting to GZ, decide where I want to look, determine if there's anyone around, and if I'm not comfortable searching, I walk past, do a visual scan, then walk away to come back another day.

[+BlueDeuce]

DON'T take most of the goofy advice people here will give you about stealth.

 

Party pooper.

 

On topic, I get plenty of stares but rarely does anyone offer to help me.

[NordicMan]

You need to develop your Geocaching "poker face"

[+brslk]

Hi All!

Just a quick question that may sound weird. I just started caching and have found that every time I am stopped looking for a cache, people always stop and ask if I need help. Is this normal? Don't get me wrong, I like that so many people are willing to help, but it is awkward at times... I don't know if this is because I am a female or what, but I would love any advice about how to be more stealth-like or avoid all the inquiries. Thanks!

 

Or perhaps because you are a female, people (are they mostly men?) are just trying start a conversation with you?

[+SkellyCA]

When I take my bike to go caching and stop along the trail, I get quite a few people asking if I need help.

[+Lil Devil]

I just tell people I'm counting poisonous spiders and if they want to help look for the ones with spots. That usually gets them to leave quickly.

[+Chrysalides]

I just tell people I'm counting poisonous spiders and if they want to help look for the ones with spots. That usually gets them to leave quickly.

I remember someone told the story here once.

 

They were asked what they were doing by some curious passer-by. They replied they're looking for poisonous snakes. The passer-by replied "Great! Let me help!" and joined in the search.

 

They DNF that cache

[+NYPaddleCacher]

 

Since I have an Oregon (touchscreen) and most people around here seem to be using their phone all the time, I blend right in - looks like I'm looking up something on my smartphone.

 

I've got a Garmin 76Cx. If I pretended to use it as a cell phone, people would not only stare but they'd also point and laugh.

 

Since it doesn't look anything like a cell phone I can pretend to punch buttons on it so that it looks like I'm using some sort of data collection device.

[+AC16]

 

Since I have an Oregon (touchscreen) and most people around here seem to be using their phone all the time, I blend right in - looks like I'm looking up something on my smartphone.

 

I've got a Garmin 76Cx. If I pretended to use it as a cell phone, people would not only stare but they'd also point and laugh.

 

Since it doesn't look anything like a cell phone I can pretend to punch buttons on it so that it looks like I'm using some sort of data collection device.

 

Ahhh. The one benefit of using the iPhone appp. Though, my Dakota 20 is due in today or tomorrow. Excited to have a better GPS.

[+vw_k]

Some cachers I know carry a hard hat, reflective vest and clipboard in their car, nobody takes any notice of someone in a hardhat and reflective vest looking like they are doing something boring and job related.

[+Renegade Knight]

Hi All!

Just a quick question that may sound weird. I just started caching and have found that every time I am stopped looking for a cache, people always stop and ask if I need help. Is this normal? ...

 

Maybe normal for you. For me they aren't asking if I need help. They are asking WTF am I doing (or a nicer variation). Normally because I'm running around in a T-shirt in 4' of snow when they find me while I'm looking for a cache, or heading off into the woods with a young girl in a snowstorm clearly ready to dump the body after I do vile things. (nevermind that it's my daughter who wanted to come along and help me hide the cache).

 

So I'm thinking you have a much kinder countainance that causes people to assume the best.

[+Renegade Knight]

...I would love any advice about how to be more stealth-like or avoid all the inquiries. Thanks!

 

2 things.

1) when caught, tell them exactly what you are donig.

2) To avoid being caught, don't cache were people are. Stealth when people are all around isn't possible unless you are dong exactly what they are doing, which you aren't. Your caching which hits most all of the types of behavior that qualify as suspicious.

[+flask]

or heading off into the woods with a young girl in a snowstorm clearly ready to dump the body after I do vile things. (nevermind that it's my daughter who wanted to come along and help me hide the cache).

 

 

people watch too much TV.

 

the world just isn't chock-a-bloc full of child abductors.

[Rocketsteve]

When I take my bike to go caching and stop along the trail, I get quite a few people asking if I need help.

 

Yeah, generally speaking, people don't approach me when I'm caching, but the site of my bike laying on the ground just off the trail, and me rooting around in the bushes like an armadillo, tends to draw stares, and occassionally someone will come up and ask me what I'm doing. Once I tell them what I'm doing, most give a polite "half smile" and then they go back to whatever they were doing before.

[+GreenStarsinTX]

I always carry my camera with me when geocaching, so when I happen to be looking for a cache and there happen to be a few other people in the area, I just take out my camera and start taking pictures. I guess they figure I'm working on a school project or something.

[+StarBrand]

Be bold. Very bold.

 

Do not try and be stealthy or sneaky. Act as though it is your job to find that cache in that location at that time. It is a Job you are proud of and happy to complete. Act is if you are doing nothing wrong (mostly because you aren't). Walk up to the cache location, find it, sign the log, put it back and move on quickly. Carry a clipboard and carry yourself like an offcial. You'd be surprised how often such people are totally ignored by the public.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

 

Since I have an Oregon (touchscreen) and most people around here seem to be using their phone all the time, I blend right in - looks like I'm looking up something on my smartphone.

 

I've got a Garmin 76Cx. If I pretended to use it as a cell phone, people would not only stare but they'd also point and laugh.

 

Since it doesn't look anything like a cell phone I can pretend to punch buttons on it so that it looks like I'm using some sort of data collection device.

 

Ahhh. The one benefit of using the iPhone appp. Though, my Dakota 20 is due in today or tomorrow. Excited to have a better GPS.

 

I also have an iPhone (and the app) but only look it to reference page listings and occasionally while traveling when I'm in an area wher I may not have downloaded waypoints to my Garmin.

[+flask]

when people ask me what i'm doing, i often look mirthlessly at them and say "clues". if you can pull off a REALLY icy stare, you can drive whole families right off of entire parks.

 

of course, i am a veteran of many performance art campaigns designed to see just how much bizarre behavior it will take to make people dive out of your way. this is not for amateurs.

 

you should never, EVER ask me to create a diversion for you unless you are fully prepared for me to step twenty feet away from you and proceed to rotate wildly while flapping my arms up and down at full extentsion and shouting "WHOOOP!WHOOOP!WHOOOP!WHOOOP!dingdingdingdingding" at the top of my lungs.

 

i guarantee you that if i do this, NOBODY will be looking at you.

 

i used to do this at work when people handed paperwork in on time. oddly, this increased the punctuality of paperwork. you do what you have to do.

 

 

alternately, in quiet settings, i can sneak off away from you and shout "STOP LOOKING AT ME! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!", which will guarantee you enough time to grab any cache.

[+Chrysalides]

Some cachers I know carry a hard hat, reflective vest and clipboard in their car, nobody takes any notice of someone in a hardhat and reflective vest looking like they are doing something boring and job related.

Unless you run into someone thinking you're after their union job...

[+flask]

crashco always wears his reflective vest, over the same greasy yellow jacket. he caches in his work clothes. he goes everywhere in his work clothes. i wish he wouldn't.

[+Harry Dolphin]

The only times I can remember being asked if I needed help wer in the NJ Pine Barrens. The Pine Barrens are sand! Once on a hard packed sand road. We were parked on the side of the road, about three miles in from the nearest paved road. "Nope. We're okay."

The other time was on a loose sand road. (It did show on the map as a road!) Well we were hopelessly stuck in the sand! A four-wheeled vehicle drove by. Three guys got out and pushed us out. And gave advice on the proper way to drive on that sort of a road. "Keep going when the sand gets soft!" We made it in, to the waypoint for the EarthCache, and back out with no further problem. But thank goodness they came along and helped us!! Don't know what AAA would have done...

[+maggi101]

 

you should never, EVER ask me to create a diversion for you unless you are fully prepared for me to step twenty feet away from you and proceed to rotate wildly while flapping my arms up and down at full extentsion and shouting "WHOOOP!WHOOOP!WHOOOP!WHOOOP!dingdingdingdingding" at the top of my lungs.

 

i guarantee you that if i do this, NOBODY will be looking at you.

 

 

Unless you run into someone thinking you're after their union job...

[+Harry Dolphin]

you should never, EVER ask me to create a diversion for you unless you are fully prepared for me to step twenty feet away from you and proceed to rotate wildly while flapping my arms up and down at full extentsion and shouting "WHOOOP!WHOOOP!WHOOOP!WHOOOP!dingdingdingdingding" at the top of my lungs.

 

i guarantee you that if i do this, NOBODY will be looking at you.

 

Reminds me of a cache hidden in a gazebo. Girl sleeping on the bench just below the cache. He parents sitting at the other corner. How do we get this??? A pair of cachers came by hunting for the same cache. "Okay. You go over there. Point at the lake. And yell "LOOK AT THAT!"" Everyone's head turned. I climbed over the sleeping girl, and retrieved the cache. "Now, point to the rocks, and scream "WOW"." Cache was returned, and no one ever saw me!

Though the best one was probably the crowded NYC sidewalk We were checking out the metropark stand. Two cachers came up to us and said "It's over there. But that lady won't move!" I plopped mybackpack against the sign the lady was leaning against, and tied my shoes! Palmed the cache to the other cachers. When we had all siged, I plopped my backpack agaist the sign again, and started rifling through it, and put the cache back in place. I was probably a foot from her butt, and she never saw a thing! (Both caches were found after that.)

[+Chrysalides]

 

you should never, EVER ask me to create a diversion for you unless you are fully prepared for me to step twenty feet away from you and proceed to rotate wildly while flapping my arms up and down at full extentsion and shouting "WHOOOP!WHOOOP!WHOOOP!WHOOOP!dingdingdingdingding" at the top of my lungs.

 

i guarantee you that if i do this, NOBODY will be looking at you.

 

Unless you run into someone thinking you're after their union job...

Politicians are unionized?

[+flask]

 

Politicians are unionized?

 

why not? orchestras are. you just TRY to run one a minute into overtime and see the shop steward come flying out.

 

'nother cache strategy:

 

"'scuse me, ma'am. you mind if i just look right under your butt? this won't hurt a bit. hold still, please..."

[Lemonhead]

when people ask me what i'm doing, i often look mirthlessly at them and say "clues". if you can pull off a REALLY icy stare, you can drive whole families right off of entire parks.

 

Hilarious... I've done that before only i said "Evidence" or "A severed arm" or something goofy like that. Sometimes when asked "What are you doing?" I say "What are YOU doing" Stumps em!

[+weathernowcast]

Hi All!

Just a quick question that may sound weird. I just started caching and have found that every time I am stopped looking for a cache, people always stop and ask if I need help. Is this normal? Don't get me wrong, I like that so many people are willing to help, but it is awkward at times... I don't know if this is because I am a female or what, but I would love any advice about how to be more stealth-like or avoid all the inquiries. Thanks!

 

If people ask what I am doing, I tell them. Never had a problem with the truth.

[+flask]

when people ask me what i'm doing, i often look mirthlessly at them and say "clues". if you can pull off a REALLY icy stare, you can drive whole families right off of entire parks.

 

Hilarious... I've done that before only i said "Evidence" or "A severed arm" or something goofy like that. Sometimes when asked "What are you doing?" I say "What are YOU doing" Stumps em!

 

i would NEVER say "a severed arm". if you have ever been questioned by the police while geocaching and on their second question they jump right to "severed body parts", you will not wish to push this one.

 

that is a VERY uncomfortable moment.

 

log

[+maggi101]

 

you should never, EVER ask me to create a diversion for you unless you are fully prepared for me to step twenty feet away from you and proceed to rotate wildly while flapping my arms up and down at full extentsion and shouting "WHOOOP!WHOOOP!WHOOOP!WHOOOP!dingdingdingdingding" at the top of my lungs.

 

i guarantee you that if i do this, NOBODY will be looking at you.

 

Unless you run into someone thinking you're after their union job...

Politicians are unionized?

 

[+anakerose]

We had someone ask us if we were smoking pot once when we were out in Tulameen, BC. Then we had to explain what we were doing. I get a lot of people ask if we've lost something. Some even join in the hunt.

[knowschad]

[

I've got a Garmin 76Cx. If I pretended to use it as a cell phone, people would not only stare but they'd also point and laugh.

 

 

 

Yup... I'd laugh, too!!

[+flask]

typically when people ask us if they can help us find something, we are looking for a micro.

 

if we have been looking long enough for people to want to assist us, we're not usually lookinf for a film canister.

 

"we don't know, what we're looking for", we say grimly. "but it's SMALL."

 

it gets kind of mixed responses.

[+fraunik]

I'm still pretty new to all this as well, and so far all the remote and larger caches have been easy for me. The micros are a whole different story. I've been looking at locations on google maps with the satellite image box checked...so I usually know the specific area where the cache is located. I'll drive to these locations and then there'll be someone else parked in the exact parking spot where the cache is supposed to be infront of, next to, etc. There always seems to be a person or people just chilling in the car. Other cachers perhaps? Or just bad luck? Interested to hear all your thoughts on the matter...

Edited January 8, 2010 by fraunik

[+aerosmith77]

thanks

Edited January 9, 2010 by aerosmith77

[GOF and Bacall]

With a face like mine I am used to people staring.

[+Chrysalides]

With a face like mine I am used to people staring.

It's not the face...

[+flask]

in this log i address both the problem of searching with people around and the problem of giving too much information in a log.

[+NatureGuy360]

When people stare at me, I just stare right back at them. Eventually someone will have to crack, and it’s not going to be me.

[4wheelin_fool]

What are you looking for?

 

Nothing. Most of the evidence is long gone.

 

Are you a police officer?

 

No! Not really..

 

Not really? Who are you with?

 

Doing a geocaching investigation maam. Nothing to worry about. they are completely harmless.

 

You are a cop!

 

No! I am not affiliated at all with the local department!

 

Your a FED!

 

No! Not since the indictments. I didnt do it! Neither did the bodyguard. I cant help it if they asked too many questions.

 

Bye!

 

Bye!

[+Team Cotati]

It has been my experience that otherwise normal looking individuals who are observed by the casual passerby scrounging thru shrubery, ivy, transformer housings, commercial irrigation valve assemblies and rubbing the paint off dumpsters, tend to draw a few stares.

 

I think that that is something to be expected.

Edited January 10, 2010 by Team Cotati

[+speeronline]

Maybe I'll get us some "CSI" shirts... or "Bomb Squad" jackets...

[+Chrysalides]

Maybe I'll get us some "CSI" shirts... or "Bomb Squad" jackets...

Impersonating a police officer? I don't think there's too many geocaches in prisons

[4wheelin_fool]

It has been my experience that otherwise normal looking individuals who are observed by the casual passerby scrounging thru shrubery, ivy, transformer housings, commercial irrigation valve assemblies and rubbing the paint off dumpsters, tend to draw a few stares.

 

I think that that is something to be expected.

 

Thank you.

[+aerosmith77]

It has been my experience that otherwise normal looking individuals who are observed by the casual passerby scrounging thru shrubery, ivy, transformer housings, commercial irrigation valve assemblies and rubbing the paint off dumpsters, tend to draw a few stares.

 

I think that that is something to be expected.

 

Thank you.

 

Thank you for the sarcastic reply. It was my intention to seek advice from other geocachers since I am new to this. I was asking for ideas about how you handle people stopping etc. Thank you for reminding me that there are people out there who insist on being rude even in a friendly forum like this.

[4wheelin_fool]

It has been my experience that otherwise normal looking individuals who are observed by the casual passerby scrounging thru shrubery, ivy, transformer housings, commercial irrigation valve assemblies and rubbing the paint off dumpsters, tend to draw a few stares.

 

I think that that is something to be expected.

 

Thank you.

 

Thank you for the sarcastic reply. It was my intention to seek advice from other geocachers since I am new to this. I was asking for ideas about how you handle people stopping etc. Thank you for reminding me that there are people out there who insist on being rude even in a friendly forum like this.

 

There isn't anything sarcastic or rude about it. That's what happens. The rude people are the ones that are staring.

 

You have to discreetly look for it when nobody is watching, which means waiting them out. Stand there and stare back at them. Pull out you cell phone and pretend to take their picture if they are staring from a distance. This usually will drive them away quickly. If they ask what you are doing, tell them. However most people won't say anything, other than asking what you lost, and offering help. You can always ask them if they need help also.

 

If you do act too suspicious someone overly paranoid may call the bomb squad. Thats what happens.

Edited January 10, 2010 by 4wheelin_fool

[+smstext]

just start taking pics of the wildlife and surroundings or the best one ive heard so far (from dr solly) is "im doing a slug survey" and most people just move on lol.

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

If they're staring, they are not People...they are CacheSnatchers!!