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Creepy micro searches


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So am out looking for caches in some new to me areas. Does anyone notice how truly weird it seems to be searching for micro caches in any urban environment? Seems like I am some creepy strange person looking in some obscure ratty hole or bush or underneith some rotted bench or leaves.

 

The final 10 feet of searching always seems creepy.

 

More into the stories behind the placing of the cache. And the general area. Areas that are secret special places with important context. Am liking the favorited column to see what is more interesting to people.

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I agree with the OP; I don't like looking for caches in urban areas with muggles. So most of the caching I do is in rural areas, woodland, etc.

But sometimes I "have" to find urban ones; especially when traveling. E.g. last week I was in Dublin for my first time. I wanted to see of of the city and of course find some caches (I had not previously found any in Ireland). Actually several that I found were in quiet areas - they can be found even in cities. For the ones in busy areas; as long as I can find them quickly then it's generally not a problem. It is the cases where it takes me a long time to find that I get nervous with muggles; especially if I notice some watching me. So... generally in urban areas, for me if I can't find it quickly I move on.

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Searching for caches that are in high traffic areas or in plain sight of nearby houses makes me uncomfortable. I feel awkward and unnatural and I think that I draw undue attention as a result. I usually avoid them.

 

Many people love them and are able to complete them without arousing much if any suspicion at all.

 

But if someone does catch you and expresses concern or dislike for your activity, you must show them exactly where the cache is so they can throw it away. :rolleyes:

 

Edit: 1st paragraph. Clarity.

Edited by Trinity's Crew
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Not me, I just go in there and find the thing. If someone gets suspicious and asks me what I'm doing (rarely happens), then I tell them I'm Geocaching (or maybe looking for snakes, spiders, or lizards).

 

Glancing around to see if anyone is looking MAKES you look suspicious, just go in after it like you are taking care of your own business...most people will just ignore you.

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The comment about being fast is key. Those who place caches that make the last ten feet difficult have themselves to blame when slower searches draw unwanted attention. And the cache gets muggled or taken away.

 

If you hide an urban cache. It's best to not be so secretive. Put exact directions in the encoded text section of your cache posting please.

 

But then that is my opinion

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Not me, I just go in there and find the thing. If someone gets suspicious and asks me what I'm doing (rarely happens), then I tell them I'm Geocaching (or maybe looking for snakes, spiders, or lizards).

 

Glancing around to see if anyone is looking MAKES you look suspicious, just go in after it like you are taking care of your own business...most people will just ignore you.

EXACTLY!! I stink at that. I get self-conscious. I stick out like a sore thumb. That isn't the CO's fault. It's mine. that's why I don't attempt them very often.

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When we do cache in the city, we take the approach that AZcachemeister does. We go right in grab the cache,sign the log and place the container back as found. I don't care if anybody is looking, I'm playing a silly game to find a piece of paper in a container to sign. :laughing:

 

When someone does happen to see what we're doing I just look right back at them and give them the same look that they're giving me. Some smile and some look like WTF are you doing. The WTF people get a wave and a smile and they usually drive away pretty quick. :laughing: The people that stop and ask what I'm doing, I will tell them about the game. Most just walk away more confused then when they stopped to ask. :laughing:

 

There's nothing creepy about geocaching, unless you're a grown man looking for a cache on the swing set in a packed play ground and you didn't come with your own kids. :laughing:

Edited by the4dirtydogs
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Not me, I just go in there and find the thing. If someone gets suspicious and asks me what I'm doing (rarely happens), then I tell them I'm Geocaching (or maybe looking for snakes, spiders, or lizards).

 

Glancing around to see if anyone is looking MAKES you look suspicious, just go in after it like you are taking care of your own business...most people will just ignore you.

Exactly!

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Heh. One near me is in a park.

 

http://coord.info/GCZWP0

 

I've narrowed it down to a walkway over some shallow water. Two attempts so far to find it -- with me splashing around in the water, flashlight in hand, have resulted in people asking me both times "Is it safe to cross?" One group of walkers stopped, conferred with each other, and then just turned around and went back they way they came.

 

Guess I look like some kind of park walkway inspector or something. Or a crazed park terrorist. :)

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Not me, I just go in there and find the thing. If someone gets suspicious and asks me what I'm doing (rarely happens), then I tell them I'm Geocaching (or maybe looking for snakes, spiders, or lizards).

 

Glancing around to see if anyone is looking MAKES you look suspicious, just go in after it like you are taking care of your own business...most people will just ignore you.

Exactly!

 

Shifty.gif

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Not me, I just go in there and find the thing. If someone gets suspicious and asks me what I'm doing (rarely happens), then I tell them I'm Geocaching (or maybe looking for snakes, spiders, or lizards).

 

Glancing around to see if anyone is looking MAKES you look suspicious, just go in after it like you are taking care of your own business...most people will just ignore you.

Exactly!

 

Shifty.gif

:laughing: I have too save that one.

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I am a regular exponent of the loud, pretend conversation into a mobile phone tactic when I'm looking for an urban micro. I find the louder and more intense the conversation the more space you are given. Mix in a few peculiar tic's and twitches and this usually allows for a totally unhindered search.

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So many urban caches are done as an evil hide, so it pays to bring along a prop or two, try to look natural (or sufficiently deranged, so people ignore you) while circumspectly searching with eyes for the possible hide locations. Some times are better than others, like late on Sunday seems to be a winner, also rainy days, if you can stand it.

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I am a regular exponent of the loud, pretend conversation into a mobile phone tactic when I'm looking for an urban micro. I find the louder and more intense the conversation the more space you are given. Mix in a few peculiar tic's and twitches and this usually allows for a totally unhindered search.

 

Even better if you can make it sound like a 'break-up' conversation...the angrier the better!

 

I give those people a wide berth. :o

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There's nothing creepy about geocaching, unless you're a grown man looking for a cache on the swing set in a packed play ground and you didn't come with your own kids. :laughing:

 

That's when you need to make yourself look like the playground repair guy looking for dangerously loose bolts. B)

 

Bud "50sumtin" was an environmental safety inspector/consultant, he favored wearing a hard-hat, yellow vest and carrying a clipboard. Not to many people are going to question that.

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I love and hate urban caches for that reason! I don't want to be so obvious that after I leave, a muggle will grab the cache and take it but the challenge in an urban area is often "How do I get it with all that people traffic?"

 

I did some caches in Bangkok recently. I've never been in a city with more foot traffic and as a westerner or 'falang' I am assured to have locals looking at me. I noticed that several of the caches in the densest urban areas include descriptions of exactly where the cache is (even photos of the location). One even suggests that you bring a multimeter so it looks like you are checking a big bundle of wires on the back of a telephone pole rather than grabbing a cache! I guess the challenge changes depending on location. :rolleyes:

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I was on one today under a light skirt on a traffic round-about with lots of traffic. i used my cell phone to take lots of pictures, some pretend, from all kinds of angles whiie retreving the cache. a hard hat, clipboard & traffic vest would have helped.

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LOL, totally know what you mean. This is why I'm not a huge fan of urban caches. If I do them, I don't even bother being "stealthy" anymore, it attracts attention, when you're looking left and right, watching for muggles, looks like you're up to no good.

 

Once I was looking for a magentic cache on a bench. When I arrived at GZ, there were 2 women sitting on the bench I needed to look under. I got down on my hands and knees and starting looking under a nearby bench (knowing the cache wasn't there). Oddly, it didn't take long for the 2 women to get up and go away. :unsure:

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I enjoy urban caches because of the stealth required. I search by pacing around with my phone like a distractable nervous lady. I'll even fiddled with stuff that clearly is not the cache. I often have a large handbag with me, which I will sometimes toss on the ground near an area I want to search, and rummage through it while peeking under benches, etc. I've also dropped coins on the sidewalk so that I can collect them and steal a peek that way.

 

One of my favorite grabs happened when I was doing this at GZ and a couple showed up looking for the hide. I backed off a bit and did my chatty cell phone routine and watched them make the find. When they backed off to sign the log, I went to the hiding spot and sat on it for awhile just to be mischievous. Then I got up, paced some more, and let them put it back. As I passed them again on my way to the hide, I said "Thanks for the hint!" into my phone. They never caught on, even then. Being sneaky is half the fun!

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I was on one today under a light skirt on a traffic round-about with lots of traffic. i used my cell phone to take lots of pictures, some pretend, from all kinds of angles whiie retreving the cache. a hard hat, clipboard & traffic vest would have helped.

 

I was scoping out locations for a cache of mine, I had on a yellow vest, had a clipboard, AND a yellow light on top of my truck! And I STILL got someone who asked what I was doing! :laughing:

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I was on one today under a light skirt on a traffic round-about with lots of traffic. i used my cell phone to take lots of pictures, some pretend, from all kinds of angles whiie retreving the cache. a hard hat, clipboard & traffic vest would have helped.

 

I was scoping out locations for a cache of mine, I had on a yellow vest, had a clipboard, AND a yellow light on top of my truck! And I STILL got someone who asked what I was doing! :laughing:

 

If you try too hard you will only become more suspicious. A few months ago I noticed a yellow light on top of a truck backed in an area in a unusual way. The front windows were tinted illegally, and the yellow light only made it more obvious that they were trying to conceal what they were doing by appearing official. I discovered that they were hunting illegally in a posted safety zone between a golf course and a housing development, so I told the police about it. If it wasn't for that yellow light, they may have gotten away with it.

Edited by 4wheelin_fool
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The whole impersonating a license official maintenance worker sounds very risky. If someone calls the cops you might get a warning. Or you might get arrested for what ever lame excuse the cop can think of. Not recommending anyone do that. Am surprised some have. The hobby is not worth that kind of bad karma that potentially could happen.

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The whole impersonating a license official maintenance worker sounds very risky. If someone calls the cops you might get a warning. Or you might get arrested for what ever lame excuse the cop can think of. Not recommending anyone do that. Am surprised some have. The hobby is not worth that kind of bad karma that potentially could happen.

 

Walking around with a hardhat, clipboard and safety vest is not impersonating anyone.

If you start telling people to move on and say you are some sort of official, THEN you might be in some trouble.

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The whole impersonating a license official maintenance worker sounds very risky. If someone calls the cops you might get a warning. Or you might get arrested for what ever lame excuse the cop can think of. Not recommending anyone do that. Am surprised some have. The hobby is not worth that kind of bad karma that potentially could happen.

 

Walking around with a hardhat, clipboard and safety vest is not impersonating anyone.

If you start telling people to move on and say you are some sort of official, THEN you might be in some trouble.

 

Yeah, not that bad. People have been talking about that for years, not that I believe very many of them have actually really done it. :laughing:

 

As a matter of fact, I can remember personally bringing the clipboard with me from the car a few times in 2003 or 2004. You know, when we'd all print out cache pages? There were no hardhats or safety vests involved, however.

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The whole impersonating a license official maintenance worker sounds very risky. If someone calls the cops you might get a warning. Or you might get arrested for what ever lame excuse the cop can think of. Not recommending anyone do that. Am surprised some have. The hobby is not worth that kind of bad karma that potentially could happen.

 

Walking around with a hardhat, clipboard and safety vest is not impersonating anyone.

If you start telling people to move on and say you are some sort of official, THEN you might be in some trouble.

 

Yeah, not that bad. People have been talking about that for years, not that I believe very many of them have actually really done it. :laughing:

 

As a matter of fact, I can remember personally bringing the clipboard with me from the car a few times in 2003 or 2004. You know, when we'd all print out cache pages? There were no hardhats or safety vests involved, however.

 

I used to wear a safety orange t-shirt for work. I would often be caching in one of those and carrying a clipboard full of cache pages. Usually with a ball cap on. The hardhat was left in the truck.

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It's impersonating a worker bee of the corporate utility overlords. Tell that to the judge who will have to sort it out. Why tempt it? Do you really have time for a court date? Is every cop or muggle that nice to let this go?

Many private companies that have nothing to do with the goverment in any way or form dress that wat. Will they be arrestrd too? :unsure:

Edited by Totem Clan
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Shifty.gif

Love it

I ignore them too. It depends on how it's placed. Sometimes CO deserve their caches go missing if they are taken because someone spies a cacher finding something suspicious.

 

I try not to hide my caches where others can see you. I know some do so they can make the difficult rating higher. Unless well camoed I don't see the point in putting it where you are purposely being watched.

 

If someone asks me, I try to judge the muggle on if they may remove it after I am gone or if they are the type that might enjoy the game and try it themselves.

A lot of the times I don't have muggles ask me what I am doing, they are saying "Oh you are doing that Geo thing."

Edited by jellis
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The last three caches I did were nothing but muggle-mania.

 

I setup my game plan in the hours before lunch. I had three quick and easy caches in sight with a bonus 4th if I had time. I run out at lunch and drive to the first stop: A magnetic set in between two coffee shops. I pull in to the lot and can see the keyholder on the fence - but I am given the stink-eye from a lady who is jibber jabbering on her phone in her car in the spot closest to the fence and there were about 15 cars sitting at the stoplight within 30 feet away. OK - I know where it is, I'll go back for it.

 

On to the next. Half a mile away, a micro in an urban cemetery. I pull in and drive around. I get out of the car and zero in on the cache - a pill container zip-tied to a branch on a tree in the corner of the cemetery. The corner closest to all the traffic. Just as I go in for the kill, a LEO pulls in and drives into a cul-de-sac at the entrance to the cemetery and parks it... OK - again, I know where this one is, I'll get it after. On to the third.

 

Another micro - this time in the woods off the edge of a parking lot in an urban park. No problem. As I drive in the compass arrow swings around and points DIRECTLY at the ONLY car parked in the entire acre lot. Hoping beyond hope that it will start veering off to one side or another, I keep driving. NOPE. The GPS says that the cache is still 250' away so I figure what the heck - I've wasted half of my lunch hour with nothing, I'm going for it. I park a little bit away from lonely muggle and just get out and walk straight into the woods. I make the find easy enough and walk out, hop in the car, and take off. Maybe they thought I had to pee or something - who knows. I was done with the nonsense.

 

I drove back to the first one - the magnetic between the coffee houses. This time all is well and clear. I park in the SBUX lot, walk over to the fence, grab the cache, and proceed to walk to the D&D adjacent. I get a sandwich from D&D and while they are making it, I sign the log. On my way back to the car, I was about to return the cache to the fence pole, but the chatter from 30 minutes ago is now walking out of SBUX with her chat buddy heading straight for the car that is 10' away from GZ. She gives me an even dirtier look this time as she has now seen me once, seen me leave, seen me return, and now I'm walking right past her car... WTF. I head into SBUX and get some coffee with the cache in my pocket.

 

I head out to the cemetery and luckily, LEO is gone so I get that one under my belt.

 

I end up kidnapping the magnetic coffee cache for 3 hours and returned on my way home from work... This time I just zipped into the lot, jumped out of the car and stuck it. I didn't even care who saw me this time.

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I mostly do urban caches if I am in the area with a few extra minutes or a new one pops up within walking distance from work. Either way, it can be fun to explore a neighborhood, look at street art, or see why someone might have thought it worthwhile to bring me there. If I am not caching I may get out the iPhone and find an ispy (gps game) mission for the same reasons. But whether I decide to find the cache is another matter.

 

I don't need any more smileys so it would take something special to make me want to look for a nano on private property in front of a business without any indication that permission was obtained. Been there. Done that. And there is usually nothing that makes me want to look for this type of hide. But if I decide to find a cache then I will assume its there with permission and do what needs to be done.

 

I will look up the cache to narrow the search. I will try to time the search - if someone is sitting on a bench with more time than i have, I might come back later or ask them if they would mind if I looked around But nobody would believe it if I carried a clipboard or talked into a gpsr. So being reasonable is one thing, acting stealthy is another. I am not going to try to hide what I am doing because the CO picked a poor location. But with that I mind, urban caching has taken me to interesting areas.

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The whole impersonating a license official maintenance worker sounds very risky. If someone calls the cops you might get a warning. Or you might get arrested for what ever lame excuse the cop can think of. Not recommending anyone do that. Am surprised some have. The hobby is not worth that kind of bad karma that potentially could happen.

 

Walking around with a hardhat, clipboard and safety vest is not impersonating anyone.

If you start telling people to move on and say you are some sort of official, THEN you might be in some trouble.

 

It's not illegal at all. It will fool most people, but undoubtedly will attract too much attention from others.

 

If I noticed someone obviously impersonating someone that they are not, I would call the police to check them out (and if I knew that they weren't geocaching). Going to extremes to hide what you are doing ususally gives the impression that something illegal may be going on.

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The last three caches I did were nothing but muggle-mania.

 

I setup my game plan in the hours before lunch. I had three quick and easy caches in sight with a bonus 4th if I had time. I run out at lunch and drive to the first stop: A magnetic set in between two coffee shops. I pull in to the lot and can see the keyholder on the fence - but I am given the stink-eye from a lady who is jibber jabbering on her phone in her car in the spot closest to the fence and there were about 15 cars sitting at the stoplight within 30 feet away. OK - I know where it is, I'll go back for it.

 

 

I drove back to the first one - the magnetic between the coffee houses. This time all is well and clear. I park in the SBUX lot, walk over to the fence, grab the cache, and proceed to walk to the D&D adjacent. I get a sandwich from D&D and while they are making it, I sign the log. On my way back to the car, I was about to return the cache to the fence pole, but the chatter from 30 minutes ago is now walking out of SBUX with her chat buddy heading straight for the car that is 10' away from GZ. She gives me an even dirtier look this time as she has now seen me once, seen me leave, seen me return, and now I'm walking right past her car... WTF. I head into SBUX and get some coffee with the cache in my pocket.

 

I end up kidnapping the magnetic coffee cache for 3 hours and returned on my way home from work... This time I just zipped into the lot, jumped out of the car and stuck it. I didn't even care who saw me this time.

 

Some snippage has occured for continuity of the coffee shop micro story. :)

 

I might come off as arrogant, and a cache snob to some, but I ignore caches like that, and the story barely even sounds like the same game I play and call Geocaching. That's how foreign finding caches in front of 15 people at a stop light and a lady parked next to the cache itself at Dunkin' Donuts is to me. So my question is, do you like finding caches like that? Do you like being "stealthy" as the parking lot crowd calls it? I'm big, dumb, and ugly, and not cut out for that stuff. But many people over the years have stated they like being sneaky in public.

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I know some geocachers who like doing (sub)urban cache runs on Super Bowl®©℗℠ Sunday. There are very few other people out and about that afternoon.

 

Not my experience. While there may have been a few who weren't out and about, that day there were still buckets of people in the parks. Nof everyone is an NFL fan. Now when we're talking World Cup I may be good for one or two caches on a match day. After watching 3 group stage matches my head is spinning.

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I know some geocachers who like doing (sub)urban cache runs on Super Bowl®©℗℠ Sunday. There are very few other people out and about that afternoon.

That's funny that you say this. I went out caching/maintenance during the game and every city I went through the streets were empty. I couldnt believe it. Kinda creepy but nice to not be in traffic. So I would agree that the S.B. is a good time to cache in the city :laughing: .

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I know some geocachers who like doing (sub)urban cache runs on Super Bowl®©℗℠ Sunday. There are very few other people out and about that afternoon.

That's funny that you say this. I went out caching/maintenance during the game and every city I went through the streets were empty. I couldnt believe it. Kinda creepy but nice to not be in traffic. So I would agree that the S.B. is a good time to cache in the city :laughing: .

 

National holidays work pretty well, too. In the US you can figure on very little competition for some urban locations on Memorial Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, etc. But if the weather is good, the parks they be flooded with visitors.

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The last three caches I did were nothing but muggle-mania.

 

I setup my game plan in the hours before lunch. I had three quick and easy caches in sight with a bonus 4th if I had time. I run out at lunch and drive to the first stop: A magnetic set in between two coffee shops. I pull in to the lot and can see the keyholder on the fence - but I am given the stink-eye from a lady who is jibber jabbering on her phone in her car in the spot closest to the fence and there were about 15 cars sitting at the stoplight within 30 feet away. OK - I know where it is, I'll go back for it.

 

 

I drove back to the first one - the magnetic between the coffee houses. This time all is well and clear. I park in the SBUX lot, walk over to the fence, grab the cache, and proceed to walk to the D&D adjacent. I get a sandwich from D&D and while they are making it, I sign the log. On my way back to the car, I was about to return the cache to the fence pole, but the chatter from 30 minutes ago is now walking out of SBUX with her chat buddy heading straight for the car that is 10' away from GZ. She gives me an even dirtier look this time as she has now seen me once, seen me leave, seen me return, and now I'm walking right past her car... WTF. I head into SBUX and get some coffee with the cache in my pocket.

 

I end up kidnapping the magnetic coffee cache for 3 hours and returned on my way home from work... This time I just zipped into the lot, jumped out of the car and stuck it. I didn't even care who saw me this time.

 

Some snippage has occured for continuity of the coffee shop micro story. :)

 

I might come off as arrogant, and a cache snob to some, but I ignore caches like that, and the story barely even sounds like the same game I play and call Geocaching. That's how foreign finding caches in front of 15 people at a stop light and a lady parked next to the cache itself at Dunkin' Donuts is to me. So my question is, do you like finding caches like that? Do you like being "stealthy" as the parking lot crowd calls it? I'm big, dumb, and ugly, and not cut out for that stuff. But many people over the years have stated they like being sneaky in public.

 

It's not ideal... I just started in the beginning of December here in CT so I haven't had much time to get out and enjoy longer hikes to wonderful places yet. I also work about 50 miles from home, so with short, cold days, I've been concentrating on just having fun and getting out at lunch and finding some caches. I've hit most of the larger parks in the city that I work in and have even ventured out 10 miles or so from work. It's tough to do anything meaningful in an hour (minus walk from desk to parking garage, minus drive to cache area, and back). I really only have at most 40-45 minutes if I hustle.

 

It beats sitting on my butt and working through lunch. I'm not going to get home any sooner...

 

I'm definitely not the "stealthy" sort... I'm a big, bald guy, with a goatee. I'm far from non-descript. But HEY, it's just a game right? These inconsequential micros in CT's urban blight infested capitol city are keeping me going for now.

 

Edit: And not to sound defensive...but BoulderCache? I guess that was a truly inspired cache - on private property - must be a different game we are playing indeed. Oh wait! Quick grab at lunch. Hmm...

Edited by oobnuker
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The last three caches I did were nothing but muggle-mania.

 

I setup my game plan in the hours before lunch. I had three quick and easy caches in sight with a bonus 4th if I had time. I run out at lunch and drive to the first stop: A magnetic set in between two coffee shops. I pull in to the lot and can see the keyholder on the fence - but I am given the stink-eye from a lady who is jibber jabbering on her phone in her car in the spot closest to the fence and there were about 15 cars sitting at the stoplight within 30 feet away. OK - I know where it is, I'll go back for it.

 

 

I drove back to the first one - the magnetic between the coffee houses. This time all is well and clear. I park in the SBUX lot, walk over to the fence, grab the cache, and proceed to walk to the D&D adjacent. I get a sandwich from D&D and while they are making it, I sign the log. On my way back to the car, I was about to return the cache to the fence pole, but the chatter from 30 minutes ago is now walking out of SBUX with her chat buddy heading straight for the car that is 10' away from GZ. She gives me an even dirtier look this time as she has now seen me once, seen me leave, seen me return, and now I'm walking right past her car... WTF. I head into SBUX and get some coffee with the cache in my pocket.

 

I end up kidnapping the magnetic coffee cache for 3 hours and returned on my way home from work... This time I just zipped into the lot, jumped out of the car and stuck it. I didn't even care who saw me this time.

 

Some snippage has occured for continuity of the coffee shop micro story. :)

 

I might come off as arrogant, and a cache snob to some, but I ignore caches like that, and the story barely even sounds like the same game I play and call Geocaching. That's how foreign finding caches in front of 15 people at a stop light and a lady parked next to the cache itself at Dunkin' Donuts is to me. So my question is, do you like finding caches like that? Do you like being "stealthy" as the parking lot crowd calls it? I'm big, dumb, and ugly, and not cut out for that stuff. But many people over the years have stated they like being sneaky in public.

 

It's not ideal... I just started in the beginning of December here in CT so I haven't had much time to get out and enjoy longer hikes to wonderful places yet. I also work about 50 miles from home, so with short, cold days, I've been concentrating on just having fun and getting out at lunch and finding some caches. I've hit most of the larger parks in the city that I work in and have even ventured out 10 miles or so from work. It's tough to do anything meaningful in an hour (minus walk from desk to parking garage, minus drive to cache area, and back). I really only have at most 40-45 minutes if I hustle.

 

It beats sitting on my butt and working through lunch. I'm not going to get home any sooner...

 

I'm definitely not the "stealthy" sort... I'm a big, bald guy, with a goatee. I'm far from non-descript. But HEY, it's just a game right? These inconsequential micros in CT's urban blight infested capitol city are keeping me going for now.

 

Edit: And not to sound defensive...but BoulderCache? I guess that was a truly inspired cache - on private property - must be a different game we are playing indeed. Oh wait! Quick grab at lunch. Hmm...

 

Not worth responding to. I asked you a question. You respond by making a snarky comment after "investigating" me? You want my Foursquare username, so you can keep tabs on me?

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The last three caches I did were nothing but muggle-mania.

 

I setup my game plan in the hours before lunch. I had three quick and easy caches in sight with a bonus 4th if I had time. I run out at lunch and drive to the first stop: A magnetic set in between two coffee shops. I pull in to the lot and can see the keyholder on the fence - but I am given the stink-eye from a lady who is jibber jabbering on her phone in her car in the spot closest to the fence and there were about 15 cars sitting at the stoplight within 30 feet away. OK - I know where it is, I'll go back for it.

 

 

I drove back to the first one - the magnetic between the coffee houses. This time all is well and clear. I park in the SBUX lot, walk over to the fence, grab the cache, and proceed to walk to the D&D adjacent. I get a sandwich from D&D and while they are making it, I sign the log. On my way back to the car, I was about to return the cache to the fence pole, but the chatter from 30 minutes ago is now walking out of SBUX with her chat buddy heading straight for the car that is 10' away from GZ. She gives me an even dirtier look this time as she has now seen me once, seen me leave, seen me return, and now I'm walking right past her car... WTF. I head into SBUX and get some coffee with the cache in my pocket.

 

I end up kidnapping the magnetic coffee cache for 3 hours and returned on my way home from work... This time I just zipped into the lot, jumped out of the car and stuck it. I didn't even care who saw me this time.

 

Some snippage has occured for continuity of the coffee shop micro story. :)

 

I might come off as arrogant, and a cache snob to some, but I ignore caches like that, and the story barely even sounds like the same game I play and call Geocaching. That's how foreign finding caches in front of 15 people at a stop light and a lady parked next to the cache itself at Dunkin' Donuts is to me. So my question is, do you like finding caches like that? Do you like being "stealthy" as the parking lot crowd calls it? I'm big, dumb, and ugly, and not cut out for that stuff. But many people over the years have stated they like being sneaky in public.

 

It's not ideal... I just started in the beginning of December here in CT so I haven't had much time to get out and enjoy longer hikes to wonderful places yet. I also work about 50 miles from home, so with short, cold days, I've been concentrating on just having fun and getting out at lunch and finding some caches. I've hit most of the larger parks in the city that I work in and have even ventured out 10 miles or so from work. It's tough to do anything meaningful in an hour (minus walk from desk to parking garage, minus drive to cache area, and back). I really only have at most 40-45 minutes if I hustle.

 

It beats sitting on my butt and working through lunch. I'm not going to get home any sooner...

 

I'm definitely not the "stealthy" sort... I'm a big, bald guy, with a goatee. I'm far from non-descript. But HEY, it's just a game right? These inconsequential micros in CT's urban blight infested capitol city are keeping me going for now.

 

Edit: And not to sound defensive...but BoulderCache? I guess that was a truly inspired cache - on private property - must be a different game we are playing indeed. Oh wait! Quick grab at lunch. Hmm...

 

Not worth responding to. I asked you a question. You respond by making a snarky comment after "investigating" me? You want my Foursquare username, so you can keep tabs on me?

 

Yet you responded...

 

Honestly, I would hardly call it "investigating". I was curious about what types of finds you had. Generally speaking, I find it interesting that all of the so called, and often times self-proclaimed, "cache snobs" who have thousands of finds have PLENTY of "those annoying micros" under their belts. And to my surprise (not really), you were no different. Even more interesting was your "quick lunchtime find" was a micro in clear view of someone's house or private property. Granted you have some nice trails and lots of parks (I only went to page 2 - some investigator...) as well.

 

I really don't care. I'm having fun. I'm grabbing the low hanging fruit during my lunch hour in an unfamiliar city and quick grabs on the way home and when the honey-do list allows me, I take the kids out on the weekends and we try to do some more meaningful caching. I take my GPS just about everywhere I go so I can grab something quick if I have time.

 

And really? I had quite an elaborate response. The snarky comment was an after thought... Why so serious, batman?

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If you try too hard you will only become more suspicious. A few months ago I noticed a yellow light on top of a truck backed in an area in a unusual way. The front windows were tinted illegally, and the yellow light only made it more obvious that they were trying to conceal what they were doing by appearing official. I discovered that they were hunting illegally in a posted safety zone between a golf course and a housing development, so I told the police about it. If it wasn't for that yellow light, they may have gotten away with it.

 

Yeah, my truck doesn't look very "official" even with the light on top, which I have because I was in construction for a while. It could certainly pass as a private contractor, though! That's what I was going for.

 

dsc6422smaller.jpg

 

It's impersonating a worker bee of the corporate utility overlords. Tell that to the judge who will have to sort it out. Why tempt it? Do you really have time for a court date? Is every cop or muggle that nice to let this go?

 

As I told the guy who asked what I was doing: I work for a private corporation that is interested in the GPS locations of the entrances and exits of these tubes so they can put them in their database and later on create a proposal to the county for replacement. I actually BS's the poor guy pretty good.

 

What's he going to call the cops for? Even if he did, what would they arrest me for? And if the cop starts asking questions: "Ok, I'll come clean. Have you ever head of geocaching...?" And if I feel like being particularly difficult, I'll use my right to remain silent. Which would do no real good in this case, but it's there as an option.

 

And actual DEC officer DID show up while I was talking to the guy, and while they were talking about hunting laws I snuck away! :ph34r:

 

I wasn't doing anything illegal, there's nothing they could charge me with.

Edited by Mitragorz
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