Are you a Geocacher? No not I!

[+springbok200]

I decided to attempt a First to Find today! The listing was published last night and after lunch I headed down to a quiet lane with fields either side and very little else. After checking no one had logged the find I thought I had a chance. To my amazement there was a young chap with his young baby strapped to his chest walking down the middle of the road holding his phone aloft. I thought oh it's a fellow cacher and asked him if he was and he denied it! I then spotted another older couple coming out of some bushes with a rather nice GPS! I said, "are you doing what I think you are doing? smiling, they replied, "what do you think we are doing? I said Geocaching. They said yes. We had a really lovely chat, exchanged user names I congratulated them on the FTF (their 1st) and went our separate ways.

 

Do you admit what you are doing to a fellow cacher or not? If someone asked me I would tell them I was a Geocacher and then speed up my searching!

[+StarBrand]

The official geocacher greeting, according to Briansnat, is:

 

When you see someone you think might be a geocacher you yell (very loudly) "Ho! Are ye a geocacher?"

 

If the person is indeed a geocacher, his response will be "Yay, a geocacher am I".

 

Once you've established that you are both geocachers you approach each other until you are facing each other at arms length. You each then put your right arm on the other's left shoulder and start dancing and skipping in a circle while repeatedly singing (very loudly) "Geocachers are we! Runy muny mee! Yaba daba baba. He, he, he!". This should continue for no less than 3 minutes

[GOF and Bacall]

My preferred method is to approach from a distance and shout "Geo-police! Put the cache down and hand over the GPS!"

[+Panther&Pine]

The official geocacher greeting, according to Briansnat, is:

 

When you see someone you think might be a geocacher you yell (very loudly) "Ho! Are ye a geocacher?"

 

If the person is indeed a geocacher, his response will be "Yay, a geocacher am I".

 

Once you've established that you are both geocachers you approach each other until you are facing each other at arms length. You each then put your right arm on the other's left shoulder and start dancing and skipping in a circle while repeatedly singing (very loudly) "Geocachers are we! Runy muny mee! Yaba daba baba. He, he, he!". This should continue for no less than 3 minutes

I almost feel like we need a youTube channel just for this- not that I acutally know of any youTube videos of the greeting.

 

For a serious answer I have yet to run into anyone in the field that was caching. If I did I would probably just wait for them to make the find and then try and make the find.

[+Dgwphotos]

The official geocacher greeting, according to Briansnat, is:

 

When you see someone you think might be a geocacher you yell (very loudly) "Ho! Are ye a geocacher?"

 

If the person is indeed a geocacher, his response will be "Yay, a geocacher am I".

 

Once you've established that you are both geocachers you approach each other until you are facing each other at arms length. You each then put your right arm on the other's left shoulder and start dancing and skipping in a circle while repeatedly singing (very loudly) "Geocachers are we! Runy muny mee! Yaba daba baba. He, he, he!". This should continue for no less than 3 minutes

 

Is that intended to confuse muggles?

[+Dgwphotos]

I've pretended to be a muggle on occasion...

[+Rifleman68]

I have met a few so far and all have been pretty nice and friendly.

[+DadOf6Furrballs]

The official geocacher greeting, according to Briansnat, is:

 

When you see someone you think might be a geocacher you yell (very loudly) "Ho! Are ye a geocacher?"

 

If the person is indeed a geocacher, his response will be "Yay, a geocacher am I".

 

Once you've established that you are both geocachers you approach each other until you are facing each other at arms length. You each then put your right arm on the other's left shoulder and start dancing and skipping in a circle while repeatedly singing (very loudly) "Geocachers are we! Runy muny mee! Yaba daba baba. He, he, he!". This should continue for no less than 3 minutes

Clockwise, or counter clockwise?

[+Harry Dolphin]

I think that Briansnat needs to upload a youtube video to demonstrate the proper greeting.

[+briansnat]

I think that Briansnat needs to upload a youtube video to demonstrate the proper greeting.

 

It is being considered. Will you stop by and be my partner for the video.

[+Manville Possum]

Boonie hat, hiking stick, GPS unit, geobag/backpack. Nerd herd in convoys group caching. Mom in a mini-van with rug-rats muggling the landscaping fighting over a GPS unit. Middle aged man acting strange in a Park with a GPS unit and a camera. Yeah, we are geocachers/waymarkers.

[+Chokecherry]

I tackle first and ask questions later. Or sometimes I just say "hi" and have a conversation like a normal adult would.

[+all done]

It's always nice to run into other geocachers out there. You can usually tell by what they are doing and the way they are acting. I usually ask them if they are looking for buried treasure and they know what I am hinting at. My first experience running into another geocacher was actually with cache owners checking on their recently DNF'ed hide. As they walked towards me out in the boonies I pretended to be just taking photos. They knew right away what I was doing as their first words were "is it there?" I responded "I don't know yet" and then quickly found it. The cache owners and myself chatted for about an hour and then moved on.

[+Coldgears]

If you enjoyed chatting with a geocacher you met on a trail. You would most certainly like an event cache, which revolves around you chatting and enjoying yourself with other geocachers. It's like meeting that guy on the trail times 10.

[+DanOCan]

Do you admit what you are doing to a fellow cacher or not? If someone asked me I would tell them I was a Geocacher and then speed up my searching!

 

When we first started caching I never admitted I was a cacher. In fact, if I approached ground zero and saw other cachers there I would hide my GPSr and just carry on.

 

That seems so odd to me now since my current approach is just to walk up and ask "Found it yet?" and then join in the hunt.

[+luvvinbird]

The official geocacher greeting, according to Briansnat, is:

 

When you see someone you think might be a geocacher you yell (very loudly) "Ho! Are ye a geocacher?"

 

If the person is indeed a geocacher, his response will be "Yay, a geocacher am I".

 

Once you've established that you are both geocachers you approach each other until you are facing each other at arms length. You each then put your right arm on the other's left shoulder and start dancing and skipping in a circle while repeatedly singing (very loudly) "Geocachers are we! Runy muny mee! Yaba daba baba. He, he, he!". This should continue for no less than 3 minutes

God, that is so funny! I laugh every time I think of it, about every five minutes or so. Thanks for brightening this rainy non-caching kind of day.

[+TL&MinBHIL]

We've yet to cross paths with fellow cachers, but I'd like to. We found plenty that others have been to that same day and I always wonder by how long did we miss them. The closest we came (I think) was at a very secluded, small cemetery way out in the country. As we pulled in, someone was pulling out and the log was signed for that day. I'm guessing it was them.

 

Not sure what I'll do or say when/if the time comes. If they're still searching, I'm thinking I won't join in the hunt because I'd feel like I'm stepping on their toes.

[Tahosa and Sons]

The official geocacher greeting, according to Briansnat, is:

 

When you see someone you think might be a geocacher you yell (very loudly) "Ho! Are ye a geocacher?"

 

If the person is indeed a geocacher, his response will be "Yay, a geocacher am I".

 

Once you've established that you are both geocachers you approach each other until you are facing each other at arms length. You each then put your right arm on the other's left shoulder and start dancing and skipping in a circle while repeatedly singing (very loudly) "Geocachers are we! Runy muny mee! Yaba daba baba. He, he, he!". This should continue for no less than 3 minutes

If Brian can make it to AZ I'll gladly dance around a Cholla with him. Bring it on. Cache on

[+Bear and Ragged]

The official geocacher greeting, according to Briansnat, is:

 

When you see someone you think might be a geocacher you yell (very loudly) "Ho! Are ye a geocacher?"

 

If the person is indeed a geocacher, his response will be "Yay, a geocacher am I".

 

Once you've established that you are both geocachers you approach each other until you are facing each other at arms length. You each then put your right arm on the other's left shoulder and start dancing and skipping in a circle while repeatedly singing (very loudly) "Geocachers are we! Runy muny mee! Yaba daba baba. He, he, he!". This should continue for no less than 3 minutes

Clockwise, or counter clockwise?

Like water down the plughole, it depends if you're Northern or Southern Hemisphere...

[+Mosaic55]

Recognizing fellow geocachers seems to be pretty easy. Except for when they turn out to be mushroom hunters or letter-boxers.

[+all done]

If you enjoyed chatting with a geocacher you met on a trail. You would most certainly like an event cache, which revolves around you chatting and enjoying yourself with other geocachers. It's like meeting that guy on the trail times 10.

Made our first event this year and looking forward to the next. Putting faces to the names was a lot of fun. A good time was had by all.

[+BlueDeuce]

Do you admit what you are doing to a fellow cacher or not?

 

If the person seems scary or likely annoying to engage in conversation, no I don't. I'm sure others do the same for me.

[AZcachemeister]

My preferred method is to approach from a distance and shout "Geo-police! Put the cache down and hand over the GPS!"

 

I prefer a variation on this...

 

In any case, I let them know they are BUSTED!

[+KBfamily]

The official geocacher greeting, according to Briansnat, is:

 

When you see someone you think might be a geocacher you yell (very loudly) "Ho! Are ye a geocacher?"

 

If the person is indeed a geocacher, his response will be "Yay, a geocacher am I".

 

Once you've established that you are both geocachers you approach each other until you are facing each other at arms length. You each then put your right arm on the other's left shoulder and start dancing and skipping in a circle while repeatedly singing (very loudly) "Geocachers are we! Runy muny mee! Yaba daba baba. He, he, he!". This should continue for no less than 3 minutes

 

I totally laughed out loud at this one~~!!

Thanks for the chuckle!

[+onthegomom]

The official geocacher greeting, according to Briansnat, is:

 

When you see someone you think might be a geocacher you yell (very loudly) "Ho! Are ye a geocacher?"

 

If the person is indeed a geocacher, his response will be "Yay, a geocacher am I".

 

Once you've established that you are both geocachers you approach each other until you are facing each other at arms length. You each then put your right arm on the other's left shoulder and start dancing and skipping in a circle while repeatedly singing (very loudly) "Geocachers are we! Runy muny mee! Yaba daba baba. He, he, he!". This should continue for no less than 3 minutes

 

I totally laughed out loud at this one~~!!

Thanks for the chuckle!

 

BAHAHAHAHAHA! That is pretty much how I met my first geocacher out this weekend, he asked, I said yep, though I didn't know the dance, but I will remember that for next time

[+springbok200]

The official geocacher greeting, according to Briansnat, is:

 

When you see someone you think might be a geocacher you yell (very loudly) "Ho! Are ye a geocacher?"

 

If the person is indeed a geocacher, his response will be "Yay, a geocacher am I".

 

Once you've established that you are both geocachers you approach each other until you are facing each other at arms length. You each then put your right arm on the other's left shoulder and start dancing and skipping in a circle while repeatedly singing (very loudly) "Geocachers are we! Runy muny mee! Yaba daba baba. He, he, he!". This should continue for no less than 3 minutes

I almost feel like we need a youTube channel just for this- not that I acutally know of any youTube videos of the greeting.

 

For a serious answer I have yet to run into anyone in the field that was caching. If I did I would probably just wait for them to make the find and then try and make the find.

[+springbok200]

Is there any special clothing that we should wear whilst this greeting is performed?!

Edited May 19, 2011 by springbok200

[+springbok200]

If you enjoyed chatting with a geocacher you met on a trail. You would most certainly like an event cache, which revolves around you chatting and enjoying yourself with other geocachers. It's like meeting that guy on the trail times 10.

Made our first event this year and looking forward to the next. Putting faces to the names was a lot of fun. A good time was had by all.

[+RhinoInAToga]

We've been greeted with "Found it, yet?", "Where is it?", and the ever-so-lovely "You're getting cooolder...warmer, waaaarmer.."

Of course we've only met LEOs so far, but a couple of them are cachers as well.

[+E_ZIG_A]

When I turn up to a cache and see what I suspect are fellow geo-cachers, I generally bellow out a friendly "A HA! I know what YOU are doing!" Then enjoy the look of shifty guilt, hiding of GPS behind back and then sheepish smile! I've been busted like that myself by a mum and a bunch of kids and they all roared out "WE KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!!" Ha ha!

[+NYPaddleCacher]

The official geocacher greeting, according to Briansnat, is:

 

When you see someone you think might be a geocacher you yell (very loudly) "Ho! Are ye a geocacher?"

 

If the person is indeed a geocacher, his response will be "Yay, a geocacher am I".

 

Once you've established that you are both geocachers you approach each other until you are facing each other at arms length. You each then put your right arm on the other's left shoulder and start dancing and skipping in a circle while repeatedly singing (very loudly) "Geocachers are we! Runy muny mee! Yaba daba baba. He, he, he!". This should continue for no less than 3 minutes

Clockwise, or counter clockwise?

 

That depends on what hemisphere in which you are located.

 

I've encountered quite a few other geocachers in the field. If it's near GZ I'll typically ask "Have you found it yet?" or simply "are you geocaching?"

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Is there any special clothing that we should wear whilst this greeting is performed?!

 

A blue bow.

[+va griz]

I've meet a few and always enjoyed it. They aren't as dangerous as they appear.

 

The funniest one, probably to both of us now that I think about it, was at a new cache in an isolated park like location. At GZ, a woman was there intently staring at the ground, poking around, occasionally reaching down to pick up things. The only people I've ever seen do that are geocachers, so I said "found it yet?" as I walked up. She looked at me like I was from Mars and said "found what?" Turns out she was looking for walnuts and had never heard of geocaching.

[+TerraViators]

The official geocacher greeting, according to Briansnat, is:

 

When you see someone you think might be a geocacher you yell (very loudly) "Ho! Are ye a geocacher?"

 

If the person is indeed a geocacher, his response will be "Yay, a geocacher am I".

 

Once you've established that you are both geocachers you approach each other until you are facing each other at arms length. You each then put your right arm on the other's left shoulder and start dancing and skipping in a circle while repeatedly singing (very loudly) "Geocachers are we! Runy muny mee! Yaba daba baba. He, he, he!". This should continue for no less than 3 minutes

Don't forget the super secret handshake...of course, you must have platinum level memebership to know the handshake. Sadly, I do not know it.

[+E = Mc2]

I always identify myself as a cacher when asked. I've met others who did not. One time when I was pulling into a trailhead parking lot to go perform maintenance on one of my caches, I discovered a pair of cachers offloading their bicycles. The had a "GPS" sticker in the rear window. When I asked if they were caching, they said 'no'.

 

"Well that's a shame, because there's new cache on this trail that just published about an hour ago".

 

They decided to say that they were geocachers after that.

[+geodarts]

Recognizing fellow geocachers seems to be pretty easy. Except for when they turn out to be mushroom hunters or letter-boxers.

 

I was fooled once by a person standing next go a cache looking at their garmin60csx. It turned out she was just a lost hiker. It is easier when someone is holding a log book or walking round in circles while holding their gpsr, particularly when wearing a Groundspeak hat. Or when someone is holding a gpsr and talking into it like it is a telephone.

Edited May 19, 2011 by mulvaney

[+springbok200]

Recognizing fellow geocachers seems to be pretty easy. Except for when they turn out to be mushroom hunters or letter-boxers.

 

I was fooled once by a person standing next go a cache looking at their garmin60csx. It turned out she was just a lost hiker. It is easier when someone is holding a log book or walking round in circles while holding their gpsr, particularly when wearing a Groundspeak hat. Or when someone is holding a gpsr and talking into it like it is a telephone.

 

I did drive by a cache last week I had already done to see a guy in a suit with the film canister in one hand and the log in the other! I rekon he was out on a lunch cache and dash!

[mresoteric]

I've pretended to be a muggle on occasion...

 

Claiming you're a muggle is a dead give away that you're a geocacher.

[+springbok200]

I am seriously thinking of replicating the Geocacher Official Greeting! The creative possibilities are endless!!!!!

[+S&M Crozier]

The official geocacher greeting, according to Briansnat, is:

 

When you see someone you think might be a geocacher you yell (very loudly) "Ho! Are ye a geocacher?"

 

If the person is indeed a geocacher, his response will be "Yay, a geocacher am I".

 

Once you've established that you are both geocachers you approach each other until you are facing each other at arms length. You each then put your right arm on the other's left shoulder and start dancing and skipping in a circle while repeatedly singing (very loudly) "Geocachers are we! Runy muny mee! Yaba daba baba. He, he, he!". This should continue for no less than 3 minutes

God, that is so funny! I laugh every time I think of it, about every five minutes or so. Thanks for brightening this rainy non-caching kind of day.

[+S&M Crozier]

Happened to us today had the cache in the car filling out the log and someone pulled up beside us they got out and started searching so I got out and said i bet your doing the same thing we are. He said maybe I said I have the cache here he said well you can put it back and we will find it . We stood and chatted for awhile cool to meet other people doing this it is a blast.

[+copperisblue]

I've only had the experience once. As I journeyed a local path, I discovered a child of approximately eight years marching forward whist brandishing his mother's iphone. I positioned myself to the side of his otherwise oblivious passage, and waited until he reached the groundzero. As he lifted his head, I proclaimed "Geocachers are we! Runy muny mee!"

 

he ran away.

 

Or I gave him a knowing nod, and said "Yup, you're right at it!" He grinned, and found the cache. It was their first time out, and they were on a frustrating trail of micros. I gave them the names of a couple of the better local Treasure Box finds, and wished them luck. It's always good to be pleasant and social.

[+QuiltinNana]

We occasionally run into other cachers, though not very often. When we were in Aruba we went to the Animal Sanctuary and met a couple coming out with GPS in hand. Turns out they were also from Pennsylvania and had just gotten the cache. Talked for quite a while, then went in and found it ourselves.

 

Last summer, we had just pulled off the road just off an I-79 exit and a car pulled up behind us. Hmmm, I said to my husband, do you think???? Just as we got out of our car, he exited and started walking quickly to the cache. We followed and I don't think he even knew we were right behind him until he had the cache in hand. We all laughed and chatted for a few minutes. He was finishing up his PA Delorme and had to be back in State College for dinner.

 

It's a lot of fun to run into other cachers out in the wild. Especially people whose names you've read a million times, and now you have a face to put to the name.

[+PigsnChickens]

There is a cache out in front of my work. We all know about it, a few of us are cachers, and we have a lot of fun watching people getting it!! we have had 2 people say they weren't caching -then when we went back inside, they find it. :eye roll: We have a front wall that's mostly glass. WE SEE YOU!!! Lmao.

[+funkymunkyzone]

Recognizing fellow geocachers seems to be pretty easy. Except for when they turn out to be mushroom hunters or letter-boxers.

 

Or some random dude whose friend threw his keys into "that bush" the night before to stop him driving home drunk. Asking him if he had "found it yet?" began a surreal conversation full of misunderstandings and confusion.

[+Kryten]

Emerging from an abandoned railway tunnel after my first FTF I encountered a dog whose photo I recognised from the local caching website and following behind the owning team.

"Hi" I said, but ignoring me they rushed on into the darkness so I left them with that fevered FTF gleam in their eyes. My first encounter with fellow members of the species.

 

The clue said "10 metres NW of Lucy's bench", I was sitting innocently on a bench inscribed with that very name, waiting for the latest batch of muggles to get fed up of admiring the

waterfall and clear off when a voice from behind me said said, "you're fooling nobody, aint you found it yet". We then looked together but it turned out to be a DNF. My first encounter with cachers from another continent.

 

Leaving work early I drove into the countryside like a maniac, abandoned the car in a hedge and headed off up the hill, my target an FTF in an abandoned village. Half way up the slope,dressed in office clothing but carrying a GPS I met a more appropriately dressed couple coming the other way, they looked at me, I looked at them, no explanation necessary. We introduced ourselves then went our separate ways. My first "missed it by a minute FTF".

 

There's no point denying what you are, they always know (almost).