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GZ Becomes Homeless Residence


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I recently archived a cache because a homeless person had made the location his/her new residence. Obviously, I was concerned about the health and safety of fellow geocachers poking around the area looking for the cache container. Even if this person left the area, I still felt archiving was the best choice. Has anyone had a similar experience with a cache, owned or otherwise?

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I recently archived a cache because a homeless person had made the location his/her new residence. Obviously, I was concerned about the health and safety of fellow geocachers poking around the area looking for the cache container. Even if this person left the area, I still felt archiving was the best choice. Has anyone had a similar experience with a cache, owned or otherwise?

 

Heard of several, but I can't come up with any links this early in the morning. :o I suppose you could say one of my own caches had a homeless person living in an abandoned park maintenance building. But it was a good 300-400 feet from the cache, He muggled it twice (assuming it was him), but like a year and a half apart! I archived it the 2nd time.

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I rememeber one specific instance here where a homeless person set up camp right on top of a cache. The first person who came by after it commented that they found the cache nearly under the pillow. (Some people will do anything for a smiley, I guess!) The CO archived it shortly thereafter.

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While hobos and homeless aren't really the same thing, this seems to be a good place to point out the Eau Claire Hobo Camp cache... a very cool cache that takes you into a hobo camp.

 

I use a Nuvi to get me to the nearest parking. I removed it from the car and stuck it in my back pocket as I headed out for this cache. As I neared ground-zero, I slowed down and walked very quietly, peering around corners, on the lookout for any activity. While I was there in early spring, and the residents were probably not there yet, this was a time for stealth, for sure, just in case.

 

I took one more step when I heard this loud voice behind me, "ARRIVING AT YOUR DESTINATION!"

 

Danged Nuvi!:lol:

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I'm paranoid about privacy, so when I look for a spot to place a hide, I choose the most discreet, invisible-from-anywhere location I can find.

 

And that's exactly the kind of place the campers look for. I've had a couple of hides now where a campsite has sprung up practically on top of the hide, just a pace or three away. In both cases the campers have since moved on (after a year or two), after never having stumbled across the cache. (Ha!). Guess I hide 'em well. For one of those caches, for the duration I provided an alternate container & logbook a short distance away, and gave people the choice of logging the original or the replacement.

 

So now I search for the most discreet, invisible-from-anywhere location I can find on a steep slope. Nobody wants to camp on a slope.

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I had a homeless guy build a home 6 feet from my cache. It was an Ammo can, and he had no idea. After reading the reports, from people finding the cache, I went there, to retrieve it. About 2 minutes after I removed the cache, the homeless guy showed up, but we bailed before he saw us.

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A fun story about a homeless guy camped out near a night cache that used to be in my area, When Darkness Falls.

 

First mention of "the homeless guy"

We were out with my son's family and G'kids. We were all set with flashlights and gloves and a sense of adventure. No other cars were in the parking lot. Off we went to the first stage and Meg the 12 yr. old did the hard part. I loaded the coords into the gps units and we were off again to stage # 2. When were almost to ground zero my light picked up a reflector, which was attached to a bike. The bike it turns out is the means of transportation for the local resident. We assured each other that we were harmless and parted company. Other cachers should be aware that people( homeless? ) live here.Using the specical black lights my wife made the find, but we couldn't open the container. Worked on it for a good half hr. and I hope we didn't damage it, I assume you should be able to open it? We did sign the log at stage #1. Thanks so much for placing the cache, IT WAS FUN!!

 

Soon, another log mentioning him

Went with withoutapaddle. We really liked the cache idea! Caching at night when you hear a pack of dogs barking in the distance is pretty thrilling, but stumbling across the homeless guy's tent was even more of a scare. If possible avoid the location mentioned with this log. We found him since were were going to the DVD exchange from the second stage.

 

Followed by another

Find #609. Here's a little advice, do NOT do this cache with three unwilling little children. I was out tonight with the entire family and Norvina and we found the control point in short order. We calculated where we needed to go next and had to make a detour around the reported homeless dude, who happen to be home tonight. We scored both finds, returned the tools and headed home with a few tears. I still enjoyed it, mostly. I wanted to drop the Night Caching Travel Coin but didn't find room. I suppose I could have dropped into the control point. TFTC.

 

And a note

One thing about this cache... the accounts of the homeless dude in the woods ARE TRUE and was there last night. Remember, just because these people got a bad shake in life does not mean they are harmless. Be careful.

 

The guy is camped out what appears to literally be in the direct route from stage #1 to stage #2. For some reason he's got reflectors on his camp so using a flashlight you should be able to stay a reasonable distance away.

 

And finally, a note from the cache owner:

The homeless guy is Rocky. He has been camped out in the same spot for the past three years. He is a character and will talk your ear offif ya let him. So if ya see his tent or run into him, just let him know you are a geocacher and all will be ok.

He is mostly concerned about kids robbing him in his sleep or taking any of his meager belongings.

If ya really want to be Rocky's friend, bring him a Snickers bar. :)

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One of my caches isn't far from a homeless camp. I still liked the location a lot, but I decided to use a more readily replaceable container. Hasn't been muggled yet. :)

 

I have a friend who had a homeless man tell him he had taken the cache he was looking for to keep his food dry. The homeless man offered to return it. My friend felt bad and didn't take it. Told the CO and the CO archived it.

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I try to avoid caches I know are in places where homeless folks camp unless I know the homeless folks (I've worked with a lot around here). But I usually explain why I'm there or why others may be there to them so they know.

 

But I don't like walking through what is essentially people's homes. Around here people live where they do in the woods so they have some dignity and privacy and I'm not going to take that away from them without their permission.

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Those who hide geocaches, and those who are homeless are both looking for pretty much the same sort of places.....off the beaten path, but not too far off; hidden from the view of casual passers-by. And given that the homeless are pretty observant of their surroundings, I suspect most of them have noticed the hordes of well-fed and gps-armed visitors to those sorts of places.

And I imagine by now, every homeless person in the world knows quite a bit about geo-caching, is familiar with most caches on their turf, and routinely checks likely cache locations in new areas.

I imagine they don't actually muggle the caches, but take travel-coins and other valuables, carefully re-hide the containers, and then return later to recheck. Even though a pawn-shop wouldn't give much for a travel-coin, I bet a shiny bauble can be traded to others for food or drink.

That would be my guess anyhow. I've certainly stumbled across a lot of their belongings in the woods, though never while the owner was there; and many times I've encountered obviously homeless pedestrians while I was out caching.

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Nobody mentioned all the homeless drug addicts you see sleeping around the city?

 

OK. If you insist:

 

Has anybody noticed all the homeless drug addicts you see sleeping around the city?

 

OK, back on topic now... <_<

No, I meant all the discussion about homeless people has been about the ones in the woods. I've ran into homeless people while caching in the city.

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Nobody mentioned all the homeless drug addicts you see sleeping around the city?

 

OK. If you insist:

 

Has anybody noticed all the homeless drug addicts you see sleeping around the city?

 

OK, back on topic now... <_<

No, I meant all the discussion about homeless people has been about the ones in the woods. I've ran into homeless people while caching in the city.

 

I think the problem people have with the ones in the woods is that it is generally a rather isolated environment, as opposed to a city sidewalk or large, open cith park.

 

(by the way, "I've ran"? You know better than that! :))

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I recently archived a cache because a homeless person had made the location his/her new residence. Obviously, I was concerned about the health and safety of fellow geocachers poking around the area looking for the cache container. Even if this person left the area, I still felt archiving was the best choice. Has anyone had a similar experience with a cache, owned or otherwise?

I had to archive a listing because someone set up camp near GZ. They even had trip wires in the area. :ph34r: Could have been a meth lab, not real sure. :blink: I reported it to law enforcement and moved on. :anibad:

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I have one cache near a place I used to work in a little forested area near a medical clinic where I used to work. Cache was in a pretty good spot for a long time but then I had to move it like 125 feet a year or so later when the object collapsed or something. Anyway, this 2nd spot, eventually a homeless person put their tent literally over the cache. I bravely retrieved the cache (you know its hidden well if it survives not discovered INSIDE a homeless person's tent) and moved it another 60 feet or so and added explicit hints on how to find it so they do not go by the tent (yet people do). I have kept the cache active. The person in question has a really camoed tent, in fact, the nearby business seems to not know he is in there. So far no cachers have mentioned any confrontations so I have kept it active and put warnings on the page.

 

Its a reality of our times, any wooded area can be someone's temporary home.

Edited by lamoracke
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