Darling there's a man in my bush!

[+Merlin1978]

Heya guys,

 

Been meaning to post this one for a while. I would say I'm still relatively new to this hobby and am in love with it. I love walking and photography anyway so this is just another reason to get up in them hills I'll be caching until the satellites fall from the sky.

 

One of the fun parts is once you have found the area keeping an eye open for muggles, esp joggers and cyclists who are on you in seconds. Anyway what am I posting about? Sometimes I've found myself looking very dodgy indeed. I mean let's face it, before I knew about Geocaching if I'd have caught someone rummaging around in the bushes at the back of my house I'd have been asking some serious questions. I recently did a few micros in the centre of Manchester. It must look dodgy, it must. One of these caches was a magnetic hidden under a bench in the open area outside the Arndale. So here I'm am, a gps and smart phone in my backpack, retreiving a small package and then replacing it in an area that was very badly bombed. I've now decided to stick to country caching as I don't want to end up arrested for terrorism.

 

I have also been in situations where people see you emerge onto paths from nowhere if these are woman on their own or elderly people you can tell they are deciding whether to run or not, and understandably. Not that I'm a frightening looking fella but it just looks so shifty. It was a cache this morning that finally made me post. Ten caches all out on Urmston Meadow, give the last coordinates for the bonus cache. The ten were out on the fields and well placed. I go for the bonus today in order to look for it I found myself peering through bushes with houses on the other side. If the people would have called the police I'd certainly been in play.

 

I know there can also be a funny side to this but I was wondering has anyone else every found themselves in very risky situations in the name of Geocaching? Or even thought ' I'm not going near that!'

[+larryc43230]

I know there can also be a funny side to this but I was wondering has anyone else every found themselves in very risky situations in the name of Geocaching? Or even thought ' I'm not going near that!'

 

I've been caught out quite a few times while looking for a cache or while signing the log. Something like this happened to me this past Sunday, in broad daylight on a bridge far out in the countryside.

 

I had just found a rather tiny cache hidden on an old iron bridge on a country road. I had retrieved the cache after more than fifteen minutes of poking around, and was extracting the log sheet to sign it. I must have been concentrating too hard on the hunt; the next thing I know, a huge piece of farm machinery comes lumbering onto the bridge, and stops directly across from where I'm standing. The farmer shuts off the machinery... climbs down... walks directly up to me... grins... and asks me whether I'd found it. He has two friends who are geocachers, and they had talked about the hobby, including telling him there was a cache hidden on that bridge. He'd wondered where you could possibly hide a cache on a little bridge, but had also decided he didn't want to poke his hands and/or head into all those places that probably housed hornets (a few of which I'd found before I found the cache).

 

I showed him the cache container (a cammoed bison tube in this case), and he was amazed at how small the things can be. I didn't tell him exactly where I'd found it, but told him in general terms where caches can be hidden. He seemed to be impressed, though not enough to take up the hobby himself. He suddenly realized his equipment was blocking the road and continued on his way. It was a fun encounter, after a rather ominous beginning. Not everyone might be that sympathetic!

 

--Larry

[+briansnat]

My wife and I have emerged from the woods many times and encountered non geocachers, who gave us that "what were they doing back there?" look.

 

I've found myself in risky situations a few times, but generally I avoid them. Someone planted a series of caches along a cliff that involved putting yourself in very precarious spots. I saw the containers but enjoyed them from afar.

 

One of the riskiest situations was early in my caching career when I thought I had to find every cache. It was on the edge of a cliff and I made the find, but slipped on the wet rocks. Everything went into to slow motion. As I fell I was able to throw my weight backwards and onto the rocks instead of off the cliff. Whew! Close call.

 

Another time I was going to place a cache and was climbing very steep, rocky, ice encrusted hill. I was wearing heel crampons and as I stepped, the spikes on my lower leg came out and I did a split, with only the crampon on my upper leg holding me in place. I couldn't move my upper leg because I would have definitely slid a long down the icy slope, to probably serious injury or worse. But I couldn't get my lower leg in a position where I could plant the crampon. I sat in that uncomfortable position for several minutes thinking of what to do. My wife was there, but her coming out to assist me would have been too risky for her. Finally I had to do something, I couldn't spend all day there. I had to shift my weight onto my lower leg and somehow plant the spikes of my crampon while simultaneously releasing my upper foot. It also meant that all of my weight would be on my ankle which would be bent in an awkward position. If I failed the only thing to break my slide would be the rocks a couple of hundred feet below. I'm here typing this now, which shows that I succeeded.

 

But generally I avoid risky caches. One the supports of an old RR bridge I let someone else retrieve and logged a note. Same for one on top of a 15 foot high boulder.

 

As for caches in view of homes or businesses, I generally avoid them.

[+lachupa]

I was geocaching in the plaza in Sante Fe this summer. It was fairly early on a Sunday so I didn't think there would be that many people around. There weren't really but at one point we overheard a couple sitting at an outdoor cafe remark at how clever we were using a GPSr to navitage the city. oops

 

We usually have the dog with us. He was actually with us in Sante Fe. That can be good and bad. The good part is that if we're walking around in circles or picking up something off the ground, he can be blamed for it. The bad part is that he's very friendly and it makes it harder to go unnoticed.

 

[+power69]

My wife and I have emerged from the woods many times and encountered non geocachers, who gave us that "what were they doing back there?" look.

of course you say looking for hidden tupperware and they go mmmmmm ok.

[+Team MacKenzie]

I've had a couple of 'close' encounters that in retrospect are kinda funny.

 

I was out on a cache run last summer and there was a new cache that had sat for a couple of days after publishing. it was off in the bush from a pull off area beside a lake. I did a FTF on it and just as I was replacing the cache I heard a car door slam. My immediate thought was 'man, I got FTF by less than 3 minutes, how cool is that!!'. As I made my way out of the brush, I came face to face with a guy casting a fishing rod at the lake edge.

 

I am absolutely positive that man thought that I was in the bush doing something that should be reserved for a bathroom....

 

I nonchalantly said good morning to him and left.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

My wife and I have emerged from the woods many times and encountered non geocachers, who gave us that "what were they doing back there?" look.

 

My favorite incident like this took place a few years ago. I was in Rome (the first time there after I had started geocaching) for a multiday conference and had a couple of hours free at lunch on the second day so I went out to look for a cache that was about 1 mile from the conference site. I had looked for a few caches the day before, found a few, but hadn't found one big enough to drop in the trackable items I brought along. I was dressed more for attending a conference then geocaching and was carrying a laptop backpack rather than leave it unattended at the conference. The cache that I was looking for had several comments which asked that seekers of the cache avoid climbing over a wire fence just above the cache location as previous seekers had smashed it down a bit, so like a good geo-citizen I followed to trail to a spot below GZ and made my approach that spot. The cache was located about 50' up a pretty steep dirt hill through dense brush and was covered in leaves. In order to avoid slipping down the hill I had to grab onto tree branches and roots but eventually made it to the cache. I sat down next to it, dropped in a couple of TBs and traded for a nice lanyard from an Italian forestry service that I still have connected to my GPSr. Just as I finished, someone walking a dog along the trail above, said something to me in Italian, then switched to English when I replied "Io non parlo italiano" (I don't speak Italian). He said, "are you trying to find the trail? Come this way. There is a place where the fence is knocked down."

 

So, I ended up climbing over the fence anyway. The guy didn't ask me what I was doing, but I thanked him for his help, then went on my way back to the conference.

[+geodarts]

I have had a few encounters with irate property owners when a cache has been placed on private land without permission. And sometimes get the usual kind of looks when emerging from behind a bush -- in one case a friend and I got some very quizzical looks and only later, when we were doing another cache in same park, did we discover that the area was used for various kinds of liaisons. (Lets just say you can surprise people who are doing equally suspicious things when you go off in search of a cache).

 

I have been known to stretch the search beyond common sense. My daughter embarrassingly stood watch when I retrieved a cache that warned people against finding it if they feared encounters with law enforcement officers. There was also a cache in a tourist spot in Italy that I really wanted to get for the online log - only the area was closed. Still there was a low fence on a rocky ledge above a bus stop. I grabbed my camera, waited for a caretaker to ride his bike down the path on the other side of the fence below, hopped over and made the quick find. My wife said the guy running the food stall across the road looked at me kind of funny and she did not feel sorry when I realized that I had dropped my umbrella when crossing the fence (on a rainy day).

 

These days, however, I have reformed and do not recommend doing either of the above. I ignore caches behind no trespassing signs. I see no reason to do caches right outside someone's house or directly in front of a restaurant where people might want to eat without having to worry about what someone is doing looking through the bushes. Particularly, if the cache owner states that you have to use stealth or not to tell what you are doing if the people inside the building ask. I don't have to retrieve the cache placed in an area where garbage is spewed about, where there is a yappy dog behind the fence, or that would have me do something I am not comfortable in doing in order to make the find.

 

I still have somewhat high tolerance for certain situations. I don't mind looking under benches in a busy spot, or poking around various nooks as people walk by. There was a small, very well camo'd micro supposedly hidden around a bus stop in a busy section of the city. Seven or eight of us were all over the stop, searching every nook and cranny, from the sidewalk to the roof or the wall on the other side, for an extended period of time. We must have looked rather odd. But it was in San Francisco. People look odd here doing all sorts of things. And if anyone had asked I would have told them that a geocache search was in progress.

Edited September 27, 2010 by mulvaney

[+Merlin1978]

I think you did well to hold your ground Larry, if a farmer came walking towards me with a big grin I would have pushed him over and run

 

Seriously though, Brian how are you even still alive?! Sounds like you have a some close shaves.

 

I am usually on my tod as I like my own company but I must admit I was thinking a dog would be very handy

 

Some very interesting stories, hope people add some more or give their opinions on this topic.

 

Cheers

 

Merlin

[+EscapeFromFlatland]

This summer I was very careful about searching for geocaches in parks.

 

At the end of the school year an 8yo disappeared from his school and hasn't been seen since. While media and the sheriff's department have said there isn't a child kidnapper on the prowl and while there are plenty of strange people about the city parks, I just wanted to eliminate the possibility of being stopped and questioned for lurking around while trying to find a cache.

 

I have a whole list of caches to find on a cold rainy day during school hours when nobody will be at the park.

[+redsox_mark]

I have met muggles when I was coming out of the woods/bushes back on to a trail who gave me a funny look, but they never dared ask what I was doing. I don't really like caching in urban situations much, though there if you go about it with confidence people seem to ignore you.

 

I recently had a funny experience on a rural/countryside cache. While walking to a cache I saw this dog on the footpath; no owner in sight. The dog was watching me closely. As I got near the dog, the owner jumped out of the bushes - we both were startled! She was playing a game with her dog and hiding from the dog, and couldn't figure out why the dog wasn't finding her.. .but the dog was distracted by me. Then I continued on to the cache.

[+Merlin1978]

I have met muggles when I was coming out of the woods/bushes back on to a trail who gave me a funny look, but they never dared ask what I was doing. I don't really like caching in urban situations much, though there if you go about it with confidence people seem to ignore you.

 

I recently had a funny experience on a rural/countryside cache. While walking to a cache I saw this dog on the footpath; no owner in sight. The dog was watching me closely. As I got near the dog, the owner jumped out of the bushes - we both were startled! She was playing a game with her dog and hiding from the dog, and couldn't figure out why the dog wasn't finding her.. .but the dog was distracted by me. Then I continued on to the cache.

 

Maybe she was Geocaching herself

[+SeekerOfTheWay]

i've been "caught" caching by neighbors near a cache site, fisher people, park workers, etc. i've had to lurk by a playground in the bushes to get a cache! i've some strange looks and some questions but never any negative experiences. i just smile and say hello or explain what i'm doing. But i am a female, look like kid so i think that helps! If i saw some strange man lurking near a playground i'd think that's weird.

 

i know a cacher that was asked if they were doing cocaine while they were rolling up a micro logbook! Wow! Now whenever i roll up a logbook i feel funny.

[+SeekerOfTheWay]

i've been "caught" caching by neighbors near a cache site, fisher people, park workers, etc. i've had to lurk by a playground in the bushes to get a cache! i've some strange looks and some questions but never any negative experiences. i just smile and say hello or explain what i'm doing. But i am a female, look like kid so i think that helps! If i saw some strange man lurking near a playground i'd think that's weird.

 

i know a cacher that was asked if they were doing cocaine while they were rolling up a micro logbook! Wow! Now whenever i roll up a logbook i feel funny.

[+Method81]

It was risky situations that got me hooked on geocaching. I was away in Malta with work and got talking to a colleauge who introduced me to geocaching. My very first cache involved walking a cliff to a series of underground lava tubes where the cache was hidden behind a boulder deep in the system, very cool! My second cache took us to a massive overgrown crater where we had to descend part of the cliff face via 20ft of rotten rope lashed around the base of a bush! After fighting through the jungle of undergrowth, finding and signing the cache and then returning up the sketchy rope I was won over

Edited September 28, 2010 by Method81