Jump to content

spotting fellow cahcers?


niverson92

Recommended Posts

going to throw this one into this forum as well, i am relatively new to geocaching but i wanted to know how and if you guys try and spot a fellow geocacher?

 

there have allready been several times when i am almost positive i am waiting for a "muggle" to clear out but i get a sense they are a geocacher also.

 

any tips?

Link to comment

i got identified at a FTF possibility by the the FTF once. he was sitting at gz which was a busy mall type location, i only did a cursory hard look walk by with my smart phone as there was a teenage couple being lovey dovey at gz which had trapped him with the cache waiting for their departure for replacement. there where 3 caches placed in close proximity and he had already gotten the first two when i logged the first which i suspect tipped him off, but really it was a good spot of "the person out of place". if i had more time it would probably would have helped if i hung out a bit and made the kids move along as we would have chatted up random stuff. yeah the person randomly walking sniffing around thing is a real good tip. i got a stf in a random state necause of noticing the behaviour. withtime it just becomes obvious.

Link to comment

Let's see.......

 

You spot the travel bug on their vehicle as you pull up to GZ or the closest spot to GZ.

You see the family with a GPSr and a stack of papers or notebook.

You notice the person trying to see where you are looking while you're trying to be "sneaky" and not let them see.

 

OR..... it's the person that walks up to you and says...."Geocaching? Did you find it yet?"

Link to comment

It's like dejavu all over again.

 

hello all i am relatively new to geocaching but i wanted to know how and if you guys try and spot a fellow geocacher?

 

there have allready been several times when i am almost positive i am waiting for a "muggle" to clear out but i get a sense they are a geocacher also.

 

any tips?

 

If you see someone close to the cache approach them and say, "Hello."

 

If they ignore you or strike up a nice conversation with you, beware of the muggle.

 

If they take offense and begin to argue vehemently with you, you know that are a cacher. Ask them if they would like to join you in the hunt.

Link to comment

kramerscared.gif It's like dejavu all over again.

 

hello all i am relatively new to geocaching but i wanted to know how and if you guys try and spot a fellow geocacher?

 

there have allready been several times when i am almost positive i am waiting for a "muggle" to clear out but i get a sense they are a geocacher also.

 

any tips?

 

If you see someone close to the cache approach them and say, "Hello."

 

If they ignore you or strike up a nice conversation with you, beware of the muggle.

 

If they take offense and begin to argue vehemently with you, you know that are a cacher. Ask them if they would like to join you in the hunt.

Link to comment

:blink:

 

I feel like I'm in an alternate reality.

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=288149

 

Same OP, same thread title, same misspelling of "cachers"...

 

I suspect a conspiracy is in the works.

 

I had no idea the Royal Family were cachers! :o

 

 

 

:lol:

 

 

yes but as you can see it was in OT and being relatively new to the forum didnt know exactly HOW off topic it would get in there. they are currently discussing the origins of the word lesbian or something. not exactly what i wanted to start in this thread.

 

now what i really wanted was a discussion of your experiences with finding fellow geocachers and how you identified them as such. so if we could continue in that direction that would be awesome :]

Edited by hippietwinkie
Link to comment

Once I was spotted openly carrying the TB the other cacher had just put in the cache. Who would think it necessary to hide a random toy!!

I usually have seen someone (or been seen) with the GPSr and being interested in the same location.

Once parked by the car with the TB sticker and large Groundspeak logo.

It happens some, but not every day.

Sometimes the location is so out of the way that nobody else would be there.

Link to comment

I was driving today, passed by a spot where I know there is a cache because I attempted it once in the dark without any luck, and saw a group of cachers inspecting the area. Part of me wanted to pull over and see if they found it, but the part of me that didn't want to be late to an appointment took over and I'll have to find it on my own soon.

Link to comment

A couple of times I was stopped by the side of the road inspecting a random structure and passing cars honked at me. Most likely cachers. Once I approached GZ and found someone sitting on a rock within 3 feet with a GPSr in his hand writing notes in a spiral notebook. Most likely a cacher. One time i approached GZ, a large tree, and was greeted by another person ( no GPS in sight) emerging with his dog from behind the tree. Most likely a CO.

Link to comment

Every day when I go to or come home from work, I drive past two caches that I can see from my car. One is my own hide, one is somebody elses' Mine has been there since 2009 and is not by any means a quick grab. It has had 63 finds. The cachers would be very visible to me if they were there.

 

The other (not my hide) is in a sign at a roundabout. That one is a quick grab, but again, I'd see them if they were there. That cache has probably been in place for about a year, maybe more.

 

I have never once seen any cachers at either hide!

Link to comment

I was driving today, passed by a spot where I know there is a cache because I attempted it once in the dark without any luck, and saw a group of cachers inspecting the area. Part of me wanted to pull over and see if they found it, but the part of me that didn't want to be late to an appointment took over and I'll have to find it on my own soon.

 

I was walking up to one of my urban hides ot repalce the log, and came upon a couple looking at the spot where the cache is. I said out loud "Did you find it yet?" They jumped a bit, but laughed when they realized I knew what they were up to.

Link to comment

Yeah the GPS and being in an area where no one really ought to be are dead giveaways. On my last trip to Florida (or back, I forget which), I was looking for a rest area hide in one of the Carolinas, not a micro this was off in the woods a ways, saw a guy walking around with a GPS. Now I'm not shy so I waved and said "I'd guess we're looking for the same thing". The 3 other times I can remember meeting cachers in the field (one time, met one cacher while on a hunt then later another), the tell tale signs were the same.

 

We're not exactly inconspicuous.

Link to comment

Most times it's pretty easy: we're on a geocache hunt, off trail or in some seldom traveled portion of the world, and we see other folks in the area, with an object in their hand, wandering around looking for something(or suspiciously eyeing us to see if we are muggles). The last time it happened, it was especially obvious, as the other cacher and we were the only three Americans in a park in a Japanese suburb. Glad he showed up, as we were just about to give up looking for what turned out to be our 4000th cache.

Link to comment

A couple weeks ago I was hiking and the arrow swung off to the side showing the cache was about 15m off the trail -- hey, it's pointing right at a group of five people all sitting under a tree passing around a LnL. Cool, fellow cachers!

 

I waved from the trail and yelled "Oh cool, you found it!"

 

They shot me a strange look so I followed up with "Are you Geocaching?"

 

One of them must have sort of heard of the hobby because he replied "Yeah, we just finished reburying it."

 

It's winter so it's not unusual to have caches buried under snow so I didn't think much about it and marched off trail right into the midst of their little group. The arrow was pointing off to the side a little bit, right where there was a trail of footprints in the snow.

 

"Oh, it must be just over here, eh?"

 

Another one in the group said "That trail only goes a little way into the bush, that's where so-and-so went to the bathroom."

 

Uh, OK. A little odd. As I started down the trail I quickly spotted a pile of rock under another tree. I grabbed the cache, sat down to write in the log, swap a TB, etc. All the standard cache stuff. No more than 3m from this group of people.

 

I re-hid the cache and walked out the same way, as it was now totally clear (even to a slow-wit like me!) that they were just a group of hikers who had stopped for lunch and the LnL I had seen them with actually contained food. :unsure:

 

I'm sure they thought I was crazy, but what can you do? So much for stealth on that one!

Link to comment

Yeah the GPS and being in an area where no one really ought to be are dead giveaways. On my last trip to Florida (or back, I forget which), I was looking for a rest area hide in one of the Carolinas, not a micro this was off in the woods a ways, saw a guy walking around with a GPS. Now I'm not shy so I waved and said "I'd guess we're looking for the same thing".

 

Careful, at certain rest areas this is NOT a wise thing to say.

Link to comment

I was once caching in rome, near the Castel St. Angelo, and there was a big moat. I was one the one side,

and there was a street on the other side.

As I was looking around (and I swear I wasn't staring at my GPSr OR doing the bee dance, because I immediately saw where it was) a guy walked on the street on the other side with his two little kids.

One of the kids (maybe 5) goes: "Daddy, what's this man doing there?"

And Dad replied: "He's probably a geocacher." :blink:

I froze, and they stopped and looked at me, so I waved and they waved back. :ph34r:

Still have no idea how the dad knew that :blink:

Link to comment

I ran into two sets of cachers in a single go a long time ago. First we had stopped at our favorite deep dish place for a pizza before heading out to our fun. Near the end of our meal we overheard the people in the booth next to us have a chat with the restaurant owner. They were just casually talking about their plans for the day when the two people mentioned that they were going geocaching afterwards. This lead to a whole discussion with the owner about what geocaching was. After the man went back to his restaurant I couldn't help but tell them I was eavesdropping and we were geocachers too. This lead to us chatting and exchanging information.

 

After leaving the restaurant, we went to a local park to pick up a cache that was there. After parking our car, we started navigating. As we were walking in, two kids about our age walked out with a GPS in their hands. We didn't say anything to each other, but when we came back to our car we found a note from them with their name and a short message.

Link to comment

Yeah the GPS and being in an area where no one really ought to be are dead giveaways. On my last trip to Florida (or back, I forget which), I was looking for a rest area hide in one of the Carolinas, not a micro this was off in the woods a ways, saw a guy walking around with a GPS. Now I'm not shy so I waved and said "I'd guess we're looking for the same thing".

 

Careful, at certain rest areas this is NOT a wise thing to say.

 

Yup. I got propositioned at two different rest stops in Germany, once by an amateur, once by a professional. (I politely declined both.)

 

It's true for certain parks, too -- all a part of "better know your neighborhood."

 

I was once on a FTF hunt for a micro hidden in the corner of a park. I met up with another cacher who had just snagged the cache. We chatted, then we were heading back to our cars when someone else pulled up. We didn't recognize him, but I figured, hey, what else could he be out here for? Turns out...other things. Thankfully it only took a minute or so for the light to go off for me; I politely interrupted him, said we were talking about two different things, and left.

 

Naturally the story made the rounds and there's now a puzzle that indirectly "honors" the event.

Link to comment

I have ran into many cachers out there.

There was this one time at night my daughter and I were at a rest stop and it was way off into a orchard where the cache was hidden. It was really creepy and we couldn't find it. Along comes a family with flashlights. 3 adults with there small children! I was happy to see them and went right over and said hi. They said are you looking for what we are. We immediately said YES! Thinking we were going to get some help! Then I got a funny feeling when they asked if we had found any. So I was like any what? They said Olives. That is what you are looking for right? I bet we looked really funny to them when we said "What Olives? No." We left thinking they were weird for looking for olives and I'm sure they thought we were weird and wondered what it was we were looking for then. :D

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...