hiding the drunken walk with muggles around

[Little Miss Muffet]

I am still learning my gps, and just learning geo-caching. Not skilled in either one.

 

This past weekend I went to a local park with my 7 year old daughter. There were 3 in the park, 2 ammo cans and a micro and a TON of people in the general areas of all of them.

 

How do you find them with out drawing attention to yourself? Especially when you have NO CLUE if you are even close to ground zero yet. I'm using a Nuvi 660--I don't think its providing me the information that I need.....or that I can figure out.

 

We ended up leaving without really searching because there were just too many people around watching me walk in circles along a fence.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

You probably did the best thing that you could. Leave.

 

Something to think about. Until you get the hang of it, don't go to populated muggle areas. A busy park would be begging to be watched by muggles -- doing a drunken bee dance and whatnot.

 

OR -- let the kids do the walking/looking. You just stand and mark Ground Zero for them. You can just look like you are watching the kids play.

 

Lastly, get to know your GPSr. Not the best for geocaching, but it will work just fine IF you get to learn it!

Make sure you have it set for "off road". "hiking", or some such thing in the menu.

[+Chokecherry]

Typically I will hold the GPSr away from my face when I get to the vicinity of ground zero. I'll glance at it and go in the direction it's sending me for approximately the distance. Sometimes I'll see a potential cache hiding spot at that distance and just walk towards that. If not I glance at the GPS again and see how far off I am and to that. Once it gets down to under 10 feet I will sometimes just put it away and start seriously looking. Doesn't always eliminate the dance but it's easier than trying to watch the arrow the entire time.

[+Dragery]

Depending on the type of hide, and location, you CAN get away with it by looking confident. If you're sitting around looking over your shoulders, that's one way to automatically draw suspicion. Or get your phone out and pretend like you're texting or something while glancing around. Most of the time tho the confidence can get the job done so long as you don't go longer then a few minutes. Just tell yourself that you're not doing anything wrong, and you wont project that demeanor.

[BCProspectors]

Not as many Muggles are watching you as you feel like they are. Most people don't care at all why you're walking around a fence. My advice on caching in high Muggle areas is in my signature.

[+Chrysalides]

I try to estimate where GZ is before I reach it. Walk past, then find somewhere nearby to sit down or stand around observing to see where it might be hidden, so that my time spent searching is as short as possible.

 

If it's too crowded I'll just walk away. Sometimes there is just no way you can get to certain caches without revealing it.

 

Edit to add : I just noticed you said you are using the Nuvi 660. I found my first 10 caches with that, and a few more since then. Great car GPSr, not so convenient for geocaching. The way I use it is to write the coordinates on a small post-it and then using the satellite screen, try to walk to the coordinates. You're right, it involves a lot of drunken bee dance. Others have mentioned using pedestrian mode, but I don't seem to have much success with it. Takes practice, I guess.

 

If the google aerial photos of your area is good, you can check it before going to GZ. I found a number of caches from what I remembered seeing on google maps when I arrived near GZ without using the GPSr.

 

After the first 10 I got a Venture HC. After the first 1000 I got an Oregon 300

 

Oh, and when I saw your username, I thought of this thread...

Edited July 28, 2010 by Chrysalides

[+eightwednesday]

The vast majority of caches are only hidden in a few different ways. So if you get some practice in unpopulated areas to get the hang of how caches are hidden (especially how they're hidden considering their size) and get used to your GPS, I bet you and the kids could go for it more confidently and muggles wouldn't even notice.

 

For me, I've noticed if I just go for it and look confident others don't notice--because I'm not acting like I'm doing anything out of the ordinary. Of course, everyone's definition of ordinary is different.

 

And on the two occasions someone has asked me what I was doing, explaining I was part of a global scavenger hunt got them off my back and got them interested in the idea of caching.

[+Bear and Ragged]

I try to estimate where GZ is before I reach it. Walk past, then find somewhere nearby to sit down or stand around observing to see where it might be hidden, so that my time spent searching is as short as possible.

 

If it's too crowded I'll just walk away. Sometimes there is just no way you can get to certain caches without revealing it.

I'm much the same.

Look at the GPS for direction and distance, walk past, have a quick glance, and find somewhere to sit/stand and study the scene for possible hiding places.

 

Then go for the find if there aren't too many around.

[+lachupa]

I take the dog. Not only is he a big help finding caches but if we're wandering aroud it looks like he's looking for a good spot to pee.

 

We did bug out of the plaza in Santa Fe while we were there on vacation. We were there early but there were a few people around. Since we were in an unfamiliar area we were doing a bit of drunken looking wandering. It was when I heard someone say "oh they're using a GPS to find their way around that's clever" that we pulled the plug. We probably should have just explained what we were doing but we ran off instead.

 

edited cause I can't spell

Edited July 28, 2010 by lachupa

[+Zwack_&_Irish_Eyes]

Or you could pretend that you're drunk.

 

People will deliberately ignore you then.

 

Z.

[+Harry Dolphin]

We will not mention the time I was serching for a nano under a picnic table. The two friends I was with were sitting on the bench. Park workers drove up in their little scooter, and asked if I were drunk or homeless, and if I were all right...

[Andronicus]

You could try this

[+benderoos]

I have found as long as you have kids along, you can get away with anything, and not many people will watch what your doing. I have been looking in a few bushes/trees in a local park, and when I am alone, I feel like I must look like a peeping tom looking around in a bush or under a large tree. But having the kids playing around, you look like you might be playing some type of game with the kids, or that they may have lost one of their toys, and you are looking for it.

[+ras_oscar]

first, I have an answer in my mind to the question" watcha doin" having that info in my mind allows me to act confidently and have never needed to use it yet.

 

Second, I don't hold the GPSr in front of me like i'm following it. I hold my hand by my side with my fingers pointing to my leg and swing my hand naturally as I walk. Glance down periodically and it looks like I'm walking and holding a cel phone. Not that unusual.

 

Third, nobody really goves a crap what you're doing, unless you near their car, kids, or property.

 

Fourth, staqy away from kids. They are curious, observant, and seldom fear things the way adults do.

[+synthacide]

you could always get drunk, I'm pretty sure that will help ya out...

[+Chrysalides]

you could always get drunk, I'm pretty sure that will help ya out...

With her 7 yr old kid around? Not unless you want to attract the attention of child protection service

[chili_das_schaf]

I found out that the more determined you look and act the less attention you get. If you sneak around trying to be suspicious you get glances. If you just walk around like it's the most normal thing, nobody will be suspicious. And there's so many people running around while typing on their mobiles these days that you don't really stand out when you have something in your hand and look on its display.

 

And what others said: as soon as you know where it is, just sit down there, tie your shoelaces or fake a phonecall.

[+Topper-Tsennya]

Just hold the GPS to your ear, and say kind of loudly "can you hear me now?!" then look at the display, move closer to Ground Zero... repeat. Mention a few times how dreadful your cell phone is, complain about the provider.

 

A *LOT* of Muggles have had that drunk walk time and time again.