Excuses

[CatCouple]

We were in an area today that required a lot of stealth. So it made me wonder... what kind of reasons do you give to muggles who stumble upon you when you're geocaching?

[Pup Patrol]

"We're geocaching. You've never heard of it? Let us explain it to you then."

[+WarNinjas]

Ive already ran into this. I would like to know some excuses other then geocaching if there are some good ones out there.

[Pup Patrol]

There's plenty of threads where people have posted their "excuses".

 

Whether they're good or not would be hard to judge.

[+kunarion]

I usually say "Yes."

 

...Because they usually walk up and ask "Are y'all lookin' for the Gee-oh-catch?"

[+BaylorGrad]

In 425 caches, I've only had muggles ask what I'm doing on 2 occasions. The first time, they were furious and told me to get off their property (that was a mistake on the part of the cache owner). The second time, the muggle stuck around to watch me make the grab. Luckily, it was a "regular" cache. I showed him the log book and he even looked up geocaching.com on his phone. To be honest with you, I think he was looking for a reason to call the cops on me, but I managed to prove what I was doing by finding the cache.

 

Thus, I've found that honest answers tend to be the best ones. Here's the take-home point: You never know WHY the muggle is asking what you're doing until AFTER you've answered. Are you on private property and they're furious? Have they heard of geocaching and want to see what it's like? Are they worried you're looking for a drug stash?

 

And so forth. Thus, honesty.

[+sword fern]

There was an incedent yesterday when I was biking along a popular trail The cache was cleverly camoes and two elderly people asked me if I was looking for a baseball. We explained caching and they seemed interested. We even showed them the cache.

 

Sometimes its nice to have muggles to explain caching...

[+fizzymagic]

We were in an area today that required a lot of stealth. So it made me wonder... what kind of reasons do you give to muggles who stumble upon you when you're geocaching?

I tell them I am geocaching.

[+Ash McCloud]

If its a cop than the answer is easy I tell them I am geocaching. Usually if it is someone else I either tell them about geocaching if they are interested or look interested.

Edited August 15, 2011 by Ash McCloud

[GOF and Bacall]

If there are people around that you think you need to lie to it is probably best if you just leave and come back at a latter time. When they start nosing around because they didn't believe your lie they may just take the cache if they find it.

[+TheLucocks]

- the 7year old has lost his bouncy ball is a good one (except when he then shouts out 'no I didn't!'

- generally we pretend to be taking close up photos of flowers or bits of bark/logs/Walls/dirt for a photography project

[GOF and Bacall]

If you insist on having a story ready you can always tell them "I've lost my marbles!"

[+Borst68]

I usually tell them I am geocaching. That has worked well for me. I did get busted once by a muggle at one of those free local newspaper boxes. The muggle thought I was the guy that stocked the box so I just rolled with it. I didn't lie, I just let him believe what he wanted to believe.

[+A & J Tooling]

I swing my cell phone around, back and forth and say "radioactivity". They usuallu leave quickly. Usually after jumping a bit. I jest.

[+ArcherDragoon]

"We're geocaching. You've never heard of it? Let us explain it to you then."

+1

 

I don't hide what I am doing. Most people just ignore you anyway...those that take the time to ask, I will take the time to explain. About 50% of the time, they end up joining me in the hunt and a couple week later I will receive an email thanking me for introducing her/him/them to a new and addictive hobby...

[+dfx]

Depends on the circumstances. If it's "one of those", then I prefer to go the NOYB route.

[+jacob501]

I swing my cell phone around, back and forth and say "radioactivity". They usuallu leave quickly. Usually after jumping a bit. I jest.

+1

 

Works every time!

[+St.Matthew]

I go with honesty. I say I'm on a type of scavenger hunt called geocaching, and proceed to show them the caches loaded onto the GPS, etc. Sadly, when I did this earlier this week, I DNF'd on the cache. I think this made me suspicious.

[AZcachemeister]

Looking for:

Snakes

Spiders

Scorpions

[+Walts Hunting]

"We're geocaching. You've never heard of it? Let us explain it to you then."

 

Thats my favorite. I was biking on the road between fort Ord and Salinas a whole ago and when I pulled into the area where the cache was there was a CHP sergeant parked about 50 feet from it. So I went over and explained my mission. He hadn't heard of it but went and me add I explained it. Education is far more important than stealth to me.

[+lamoracke]

once was carrying a grabber to retrieve a cache and a kid asked me in front of his dad what I was doing....I said I use this to clean up trash in the pond so I do not get wet. He was like, whoa!

 

So, use that story if you are carrying a grabber. Well, if there is no pond nearby, improvise something else.

[+geocachescout317]

looking for box turtles, cause I really am!

[+goddess25]

Have had a few questions so far and have just started GC this month. We were looking for one which we found in a tree up a lane opposite some houses, a little man came over and asked is if we were lost, we said no and we went on our way. It happened the other day too but turned out to be fellow cachers... a man and his kid were cycling towards us smiling and he said have you found it yet?

 

I think we will just be honest if it happens again!

[+geodarts]

I think we will just be honest if it happens again!

 

It has always worked for me.

[+GeoReapers]

If we don't take the time to explain what geocaching is, we usually just say that we are looking for something and that kind of ends it. This is a rather difficult spot for us, however, when we are both in work clothes (I wear slacks and ties daily, so it looks a bit odd digging around bushes).

[+LocutusMIT]

"What are you doing there?"

 

A: "I'm using multibillion-dollar military satellites to find Tupperware in the woods... Why? What's your hobby?"

B: "Collecting spider bites. I'm up to 27 different species."

C: "I've lost my marbles. Can you help me find them?"

D: "The Bronx Zoo's cobra got out again, and I'm helping look for it."

E: "I'm geocaching, Officer."

[+phillies26]

I don't think anybody's ever come up to us and asked what we're doing, but it may be because I ward them off with the fake cellphone bit with my GPSr.

[+robnzh]

Obviously to say you are geocaching is the best answer if you are sure they are not likely to steal the cache afterwards!

I don't believe in lying either but it can be very tricky to find something to say if you are unsure about whether the person can be trusted. But don't forget that the person who muggles you can be a fellow cacher also trying to be discreet- it has happened to me- I was unsure of the people and was evasive until they went a few metres, turned round and were obviously looking at or for something and turned out to be very nice cachers!

 

I was within a short distance but not quite visibly close to a cache (GPS coverage had temporarily dropped out so I was trying to get a reading) when someone muggled me after seeing my GPS and said something along the lines of "are you one of those people that look for those things?"- it seemed safe to say yes, especially seeing I was a safe distance from the cache. It turned out that he worked with a cacher so knew a bit about it, so in the end I took him with me when I did find the cache. He mentioned the colleague's real name which didn't mean anything to me and didn't know his caching name. I later found out that his colleague was..... the cache owner! (Hoping I might have recruited a new cacher but if so I haven't heard!)

Edited September 5, 2011 by robnzh

[+robnzh]

Obviously to say you are geocaching is the best answer if you are sure they are not likely to steal the cache afterwards!

I don't believe in lying either but it can be very tricky to find something to say if you are unsure about whether the person can be trusted. But don't forget that the person who muggles you can be a fellow cacher also trying to be discreet- it has happened to me- I was unsure of the people and was evasive until they went a few metres, turned round and were obviously looking at or for something and turned out to be very nice cachers!

 

I was within a short distance but not quite visibly close to a cache (GPS coverage had temporarily dropped out so I was trying to get a reading) when someone muggled me after seeing my GPS and said something along the lines of "are you one of those people that look for those things?"- it seemed safe to say yes, especially seeing I was a safe distance from the cache. It turned out that he worked with a cacher so knew a bit about it, so in the end I took him with me when I did find the cache. He mentioned the colleague's real name which didn't mean anything to me and didn't know his caching name. I later found out that his colleague was..... the cache owner! (Hoping I might have recruited a new cacher but if so I haven't heard!)

[+robnzh]

Also just found this http://geocass.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/geocaching-excuses/

But in some circumstances it is better not to approach the cache at all, I heard recently of a cache placed of all places on a trash can in a playground, a cacher was asked by a child if he was poor, presumably the kid thought that the cacher was digging any food scraps etc out of the trash can! (and if the cacher MUST plant in a playground where any cachers would be rather obvious and could be at risk of being put under suspicion, -it's not illegal in our location to be in a playground without a kid present but it can be darn risky- there was a perfectly good hide under a table right next to the can!)

[+teamblklab]

Don't delay us getting back to the mothership or you'll be next!

 

Seriously, it depends on the situation and who is asking. We often have the team mascot with us which in many locations provides a legitimate reason to be there. One of our team members is a child which helps too. A camera around the neck provides a disguise. We have also answered and lightly explained geocaching in some situations. Some hides require multiple visits of 10 minutes or less so we don't look too "weird". We may get away with feeling up and down sign posts, squatting and moving tree branches along a bike path for a few minutes but more than that could lead to problems.

Edited September 6, 2011 by teamblklab