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Has Anyone Gotten Into Trouble While Geocaching?


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The police around here know about Geocaching. It helps that one of the most avid cachers in the area happens to be a well-known lawyer :lol:

 

Winter 2010-2011 I tried caching when I still had my Buick Rendezvous. Tried to pull far enough off to the side of a dirt road so as not to block anyone and I ended up in a ditch. Basically ruined the vehicle getting it pulled out. That's okay, that's how I got my Jeep Wrangler. Cuts & scrapes happen all the time. I was Geocaching last weekend in Connecticut in 100° weather so there was no way I was wearing long pants. My legs were a mess from walking in the woods, through thorns, etc. But my friend who "tolerates" my "strange hobby" because it gives us an excuse to spend time together just patiently used alcohol and neosporin on my legs at the end of every day.

 

And then there's ticks. Never had a tick on me until I started Geocaching. Got bit only once because I've learned how to manage them and use DEET generously.

 

Patti

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I've been stopped by the police a couple of times, but only once when it was more than, "Are you looking for something?" Once my daughter and I were trying to find a cache that was hidden in a big outdoor sculpture installment, but it happened to be located next to a small airport. Police stopped us, took our IDs and made us wait in the squad car while they ran checks on us. A middle-aged woman and her daughter don't look like your typical terrorists, but the cop said it is a bad idea for anyone to be snooping around the perimeter of any airport. I explained what geocaching was, and he asked if I had a way to get this cache removed from circulation. I told him I'd send a note to the CO to that effect. I did, and the cache was archived.

 

I've gotten my fair share of scrapes and scratches, but nothing serious, UNTIL THIS PAST WEEKEND! I think the t-shirt on geocaching.com of the cacher staring at his GPS while stepping off a cliff (and the shirt says "Focus") was made for me. Boy do I feel stupid. I was going for several caches that were along our town's bike trail. One part of the trail runs through some big fields, parallel to the interstate but down from it (the interstate is elevated). I had my GPS on my bike, and as I approached GZ, I got off my bike and walked the 60 or so feet through the field to the cache site. It was obviously going to be somewhere on the bottom of the legs of a big billboard that was there. I was staring at my GPS as I walked, trying to determine which end of the billboard I should approach, when I stepped right into a very deep gopher hole with my left foot and fell (to be fair, the grass was 6-8 inches tall and even if I had been looking down, I wouldn't have seen the hole as it was perfectly hidden by the grass). As I fell, with my foot and lower leg wedged in the hole, my body turned sideways and I completely twisted my knee in about a 180 degree turn it was not meant to take. Yowzie! Talk about pain! I rolled onto my back so I could extract my leg from the hole. It hurt, but didn't seem to be broken, and I was able to put weight on it. I was not at a place where a car could get to easily, so I got back on my bike and rode the trail about 1/4 mile to a gas station (pedaling only with my good leg). I called my husband and asked him to pick me, and my bike, up in the car.

 

Went to the ER, small town ER only staffed by a physician's assistant. He said the knee was sprained and should be better in a week or so. Gave me a referral for a physical therapist to maybe wrap the knee as I was supposed to travel the next day for work and I was worried about all the walking I would have to do. Saw the PT right before leaving on my trip. PT's assessment was very different. I was having trouble walking not only because of the pain but because my knee would just buckle. PT said my MCL appeared to be completely torn, and maybe the meniscus as well, leaving my knee very unstable. He recommended I not travel and see an orthopedist right away. But I had to travel, so the PT fitted me with a huge knee brace that goes groin to ankle, to provide stability for my knee so I didn't wrench it further while I traveled, and said he'd contact my regular doctor and get a referral for me to get an MRI as soon as I got back. I got back last night (traveling on an airplane, squished up in those economy seats, was not very fun with a big brace on and pain to bend my knee) and had an MRI done this morning. Now I'm just waiting to hear the results. The PT, though quick to point out he's not a doctor, said he would suspect I'll need surgery to fix the damage. :(

 

And I was doing so well with geocaching lately! Well, hopefully this will only be a temporary set-back.

 

But yes - FOCUS! That will be my new mantra. :blink:

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I have seen cop cars drive by but not yet been stopped. About a week ago, I was behind a Home Depot one time and had a forklift driver come up as I was sitting in my car signing a log. I didn't see him until I got out to put it back. I quickly stuck it under the skirt on the lamp pole and then he yelled "are you ok?" I said yes and drove to the parking lot to log the entry. I parked where I could watch to see if he went to see what I was doing back there... I regret not walking up to him to explain what I was doing as that cache had been there for about 7 or 8 years. I checked and it was found since I was there but laying on the ground - thinking he probably looked under the skirt and it rolled out and he didn't realize what I was up to.

 

Last Sunday I had decided I would go for a series that was off a trail where a lot of people go to ride bikes and walk. I got just insde the fenced area with my dogs on leashes and headed for one cache that was not part of the series but I decided, why not. Finally got done with that one and headed to capture my first one of the series. Following the map on my phone gps, I accidentally passed GZ turned around checked out where I thought it might hid and instead of looking down to watch where I walked head straight for a logical tree. Two steps later I stepped on a big clump of dirt and my ankle went one way and I went the other. I heard a snap as I went down and though Oh no! Probably should have been specific where I was going but had my phone. I had let the dogs off the leash so they could run as it was hard to get through thorns, bushes and lowe branches with them on the leash.

 

I layed there long enough to let the pain subside and one of the dogs came over to say this is not a good resting place. Thankfully she stood there for me to use her to lean on a bit to see if I could stand and how much pressure I could put on it. I got to the log and signed it and headed back toward the trail, decided I was spent and I was able to walk out on my own. I no more than got back on the paved trail and started headed back toward the parking area and almost walked over a cottonmouth snake. Squealed like a girl (it is ok, because I am a girl LOL ) pulled the dogs away and kept walking. I didn't figure I could kill it with dogs in tow and my ankle still very sore so he is still out there... The ankle is still swollen and very tender - that could be normal for a bad sprain but I am going to the doctor tomorrow to find out what this rash is on my leg and will see if they think I need an X-ray tomorrow.

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I was approached by a security guard while replacing an LPC. He wanted to know what it was and if i had put any other caches in the parking lot. I explained geocaching to him but he wouldn't listen. He said I wasn't allowed to do it and that I was breaking all kinds of laws (I wasn''t). He kicked me and the cache off the public property and I had no other choice but to move the cache so i drove down the road, placed the cache under another lamp post, took the coordinates and emailed to owner. I felt really bad about moving it, but I had no other choice.

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I was approached by a security guard while replacing an LPC. He wanted to know what it was and if i had put any other caches in the parking lot. I explained geocaching to him but he wouldn't listen. He said I wasn't allowed to do it and that I was breaking all kinds of laws (I wasn''t). He kicked me and the cache off the public property and I had no other choice but to move the cache so i drove down the road, placed the cache under another lamp post, took the coordinates and emailed to owner. I felt really bad about moving it, but I had no other choice.

 

I would have logged a Needs Archived with that story and moved on. Except that I haven't bothered with a LPC in years.

Edited by AustinMN
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I was approached by a security guard while replacing an LPC. He wanted to know what it was and if i had put any other caches in the parking lot. I explained geocaching to him but he wouldn't listen. He said I wasn't allowed to do it and that I was breaking all kinds of laws (I wasn''t). He kicked me and the cache off the public property and I had no other choice but to move the cache so i drove down the road, placed the cache under another lamp post, took the coordinates and emailed to owner. I felt really bad about moving it, but I had no other choice.

When placing a cache, we agree to the guidelines. One is permission.

We've yet to hear of anyone asking for permission to hide a lpc cache in a business/mall parking lot.

You did the right thing (leaving the property as per security), the last thing we need is conflict with anyone in law enforcement.

 

Similar to AustinMN, there's no way I'd "rehide" another's cache.

I would have mentioned I have it in my log though (and why) with an NA.

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I was approached by a security guard while replacing an LPC. He wanted to know what it was and if i had put any other caches in the parking lot. I explained geocaching to him but he wouldn't listen. He said I wasn't allowed to do it and that I was breaking all kinds of laws (I wasn''t). He kicked me and the cache off the public property and I had no other choice but to move the cache so i drove down the road, placed the cache under another lamp post, took the coordinates and emailed to owner. I felt really bad about moving it, but I had no other choice.

 

The parking lot of a group of commercial establishments is NOT public property.

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I was approached by a security guard while replacing an LPC. He wanted to know what it was and if i had put any other caches in the parking lot. I explained geocaching to him but he wouldn't listen. He said I wasn't allowed to do it and that I was breaking all kinds of laws (I wasn''t). He kicked me and the cache off the public property and I had no other choice but to move the cache so i drove down the road, placed the cache under another lamp post, took the coordinates and emailed to owner. I felt really bad about moving it, but I had no other choice.

 

The parking lot of a group of commercial establishments is NOT public property.

 

I wonder how many caches are placed illegally. COs are supposed to make sure that they have permission before hiding a cache, but how many realistically get it?

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I was approached by a security guard while replacing an LPC. He wanted to know what it was and if i had put any other caches in the parking lot. I explained geocaching to him but he wouldn't listen. He said I wasn't allowed to do it and that I was breaking all kinds of laws (I wasn''t). He kicked me and the cache off the public property and I had no other choice but to move the cache so i drove down the road, placed the cache under another lamp post, took the coordinates and emailed to owner. I felt really bad about moving it, but I had no other choice.

 

The parking lot of a group of commercial establishments is NOT public property.

 

I wonder how many caches are placed illegally. COs are supposed to make sure that they have permission before hiding a cache, but how many realistically get it?

 

For parking lot caches? Virtually none. There is still a persistent, incorrect belief that "open to the public" means "public property" and therefore okay for geocaching.

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Just the other day there was a group of us getting a cache from a local park when a possessive homeowner let his dogs out to scare us. His yard had no definitive fence, so his dogs came right up to us and barked their heads off. They had mean barks too. The homeowner came out and said that he didn't like people near his property. Keep in mind this tree is in a public park, placed with permission, and is a decent distance from his yard.

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Just the other day there was a group of us getting a cache from a local park when a possessive homeowner let his dogs out to scare us. His yard had no definitive fence, so his dogs came right up to us and barked their heads off. They had mean barks too. The homeowner came out and said that he didn't like people near his property. Keep in mind this tree is in a public park, placed with permission, and is a decent distance from his yard.

 

We recently had someone take a photo of our car and scream at us for being parked on the side of the road about 75m from her house. She actually ran out in the road to stop us from driving away. Still thinking about reporting her to the land authority that she rents her home from.

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We recently had someone take a photo of our car and scream at us for being parked on the side of the road about 75m from her house. She actually ran out in the road to stop us from driving away. Still thinking about reporting her to the land authority that she rents her home from.

Had something similar. We parked next to a small park-like area that was in a residential area. It's an oddly shaped parking strip, due to an oddly angled intersection. We parked on the public road and sat inside the vehicle for a few minutes while waiting for a dogwalking muggle to pass by. A neighbor was sitting on their front porch staring at us, which made me nervous. We decided to just leave and return on a different day/time when that neighbor might be gone. As we started the engine, the neighbor held up his phone at us and appeared to be taking our photo. Ugh!

 

Don't people realize that many people pull their cars over simply to use their cell phones? I have pulled over several times simply because I needed to use my phone and didn't want to risk a ticket/accident by using it while driving.

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Just the other day there was a group of us getting a cache from a local park when a possessive homeowner let his dogs out to scare us. His yard had no definitive fence, so his dogs came right up to us and barked their heads off. They had mean barks too. The homeowner came out and said that he didn't like people near his property. Keep in mind this tree is in a public park, placed with permission, and is a decent distance from his yard.

 

We recently had someone take a photo of our car and scream at us for being parked on the side of the road about 75m from her house. She actually ran out in the road to stop us from driving away. Still thinking about reporting her to the land authority that she rents her home from.

 

Had some hyper-neighborhood watch patrol guy pull up behind me once and snap picture and then get all Jack Webb on me about strangers in the neighborhood and moving along. Creepy.

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Just the other day there was a group of us getting a cache from a local park when a possessive homeowner let his dogs out to scare us. His yard had no definitive fence, so his dogs came right up to us and barked their heads off. They had mean barks too. The homeowner came out and said that he didn't like people near his property. Keep in mind this tree is in a public park, placed with permission, and is a decent distance from his yard.

 

We recently had someone take a photo of our car and scream at us for being parked on the side of the road about 75m from her house. She actually ran out in the road to stop us from driving away. Still thinking about reporting her to the land authority that she rents her home from.

 

Had some hyper-neighborhood watch patrol guy pull up behind me once and snap picture and then get all Jack Webb on me about strangers in the neighborhood and moving along. Creepy.

 

Yeah, this woman was screaming about a park down the road. The entire area is a public greenbelt with a few small lots rented out. The road and the roadside is public, as is most of the land that isn't obviously fenced off. If she doesn't like the public being near her home she shouldn't rent a house in the middle of the greenbelt. I am pretty sure there is a public hiking trail about 50m behind her house.

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Just remembered I have been questioned by the police. I parked up and went looking for a cache, as I was searching doing so a normal car rolled past mine slowly. when it arrived next to me (having begun walking back) the uniformed officer on his way to/from work asked what I was up to, I said "Geocaching" he said somthing to the effect of "no problem" and drove off.

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One of my neighbours constantly acts like this on my parked car, on a public road just in front of MY house (and in opposite of her garage but with enough space, totally legal). She even threated me to drive into my car as her friend already had (and didn't notify me, but since it was witnessed she had to pay me, was filed a fine and got her driving license suspended). Well, it's not my driving license.

 

There even was no caching involved. You simply can't fix stupid.

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One of my neighbours constantly acts like this on my parked car, on a public road just in front of MY house (and in opposite of her garage but with enough space, totally legal). She even threated me to drive into my car as her friend already had (and didn't notify me, but since it was witnessed she had to pay me, was filed a fine and got her driving license suspended). Well, it's not my driving license.

 

There even was no caching involved. You simply can't fix stupid.

Is this type of behaviour (suspicion) relatively common in the US of A? Seems to pop up a lot in forums and threads. Have never experienced anything like that here in OZ.

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Is this type of behaviour (suspicion) relatively common in the US of A? Seems to pop up a lot in forums and threads. Have never experienced anything like that here in OZ.

 

I think it is more likely just that a large percentage of people on this forum are from North America.

 

I might be wrong, but I think BenOw lives in Germany.

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Is this type of behaviour (suspicion) relatively common in the US of A? Seems to pop up a lot in forums and threads. Have never experienced anything like that here in OZ.

 

I think it is more likely just that a large percentage of people on this forum are from North America.

 

I might be wrong, but I think BenOw lives in Germany.

 

Per his/her profile, that is true.

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Bavaria is not Germany, it is a German Foreign State, well that is what the other German States say. (Just fun)

As a Bavarian, I somehow like this ;) .

 

Anyway, regarding the thread's topic:

I've had contact with the police because of my caching activities around 10 times or so. But apart from a few minutes delay it was never any trouble at all. In fact, on two or three occasions, it was downright funny :lol: .

OTOH, I did have real trouble a few times with dogs (or better said, with their owners) when I was caching in the dark, and the dog and/or the owner were apparently irritated that someone else was outside after sundown, with a flashlight, on a path hundreds of meters away from any residence or street. It's definitely not funny, if you're growled at by an unleashed dog which you can hardly see (and you definitely don't want to shine your flashlight right at the dog, or all hell breaks loose), and its owner is quite obviously either unable or unwilling to call it back. Of course it's useless in such a situation to point out that you're on public land, because the dog owner's counter "argument" is an angry dog, which beats any rhetoric easily :mad: .

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I was only once questioned by the police while caching in my early days.

 

I was looking for the final of a mystery under a small bridge in the city after dark, and just as I went back up to check the other side of the creek, a police car drove by. They stopped immediatly and started questioning me. I said I just had to pee.

 

Great idea, LEOs can smell if somebody is lying. They didn't let go of me, so I said that I was looking for a geocache. One LEO had heard of it and said "You need a GPSr for this, where's yours?". I reached in my pocket and pulled it out (don't do that in the US), navigation to the cache still active. They told me that it's not a good idea to do that near a graveyard in the night (What? There's a graveyard nearby?), but now that they know what I'm up to, it's ok. They even offerd to help me searching, I said I'll rather return in the daylight. As they drove away they were shortly looking for the cache on the bridge with a strong flashlight.

 

Lesson learned. :)

Edited by Rebore
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Great idea, LEOs can smell if somebody is lying. They didn't let go of me, so I said that I was looking for a geocache. One LEO had heard of it and said "You need a GPSr for this, where's yours?". I reached in my pocket and pulled it out (don't do that in the US), navigation to the cache still active.

 

Lesson learned. :)

 

Sounds like we are being stereotyped here in the US. <_< I'm not sure why. :unsure:

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Great idea, LEOs can smell if somebody is lying. They didn't let go of me, so I said that I was looking for a geocache. One LEO had heard of it and said "You need a GPSr for this, where's yours?". I reached in my pocket and pulled it out (don't do that in the US), navigation to the cache still active.

 

Lesson learned. :)

 

Sounds like we are being stereotyped here in the US. <_< I'm not sure why. :unsure:

Sounds (to me) like a swift movement of a bulky (often black) item from a pocket may cause issues, in these days of police being targeted on the job.

My preferred maybe (60-64 series, and that antenna), but most today just look like everyone elses sortasmartphones. :)

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Great idea, LEOs can smell if somebody is lying. They didn't let go of me, so I said that I was looking for a geocache. One LEO had heard of it and said "You need a GPSr for this, where's yours?". I reached in my pocket and pulled it out (don't do that in the US), navigation to the cache still active.

 

Lesson learned. :)

 

Sounds like we are being stereotyped here in the US. dry.gif I'm not sure why. :unsure:

Sounds (to me) like a swift movement of a bulky (often black) item from a pocket may cause issues, in these days of police being targeted on the job.

My preferred maybe (60-64 series, and that antenna), but most today just look like everyone elses sortasmartphones. :)

 

Someone I thought was a geocacher with a 60-24 series GPS (with that antenna) on a belt clip was actually a plain clothes Roman policeman with a 2-way radio.

 

 

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Great idea, LEOs can smell if somebody is lying. They didn't let go of me, so I said that I was looking for a geocache. One LEO had heard of it and said "You need a GPSr for this, where's yours?". I reached in my pocket and pulled it out (don't do that in the US), navigation to the cache still active.

 

Lesson learned. :)

 

Sounds like we are being stereotyped here in the US. <_< I'm not sure why. :unsure:

Sounds (to me) like a swift movement of a bulky (often black) item from a pocket may cause issues, in these days of police being targeted on the job.

My preferred maybe (60-64 series, and that antenna), but most today just look like everyone elses sortasmartphones. :)

 

Yes, exactly, they seemed alarmed. It's also usually no problem here to step out of the car when being stopped and approached by the LEO, I wouldn't do that in the US (or some other places) either.

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Great idea, LEOs can smell if somebody is lying. They didn't let go of me, so I said that I was looking for a geocache. One LEO had heard of it and said "You need a GPSr for this, where's yours?". I reached in my pocket and pulled it out (don't do that in the US), navigation to the cache still active.

 

Lesson learned. :)

 

Sounds like we are being stereotyped here in the US. <_< I'm not sure why. :unsure:

Sounds (to me) like a swift movement of a bulky (often black) item from a pocket may cause issues, in these days of police being targeted on the job.

 

Sounds to me like a scenario for anywhere in the World, not just the US. I bet the guy has never even been to the US. :laughing:

 

I did watch the movie Brüno, and I have never visited Austria. :P

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Great idea, LEOs can smell if somebody is lying. They didn't let go of me, so I said that I was looking for a geocache. One LEO had heard of it and said "You need a GPSr for this, where's yours?". I reached in my pocket and pulled it out (don't do that in the US), navigation to the cache still active.

 

Lesson learned. :)

 

Sounds like we are being stereotyped here in the US. <_< I'm not sure why. :unsure:

Sounds (to me) like a swift movement of a bulky (often black) item from a pocket may cause issues, in these days of police being targeted on the job.

 

Sounds to me like a scenario for anywhere in the World, not just the US. I bet the guy has never even been to the US. :laughing:

 

I did watch the movie Brüno, and I have never visited Austria. :P

 

You are right, I've never been there. I didn't say that, I said I wouldn't act like I did, if I was there.

 

You don't seem to disagree with that, sorry if my choice of words was somehow hurtful.

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Great idea, LEOs can smell if somebody is lying. They didn't let go of me, so I said that I was looking for a geocache. One LEO had heard of it and said "You need a GPSr for this, where's yours?". I reached in my pocket and pulled it out (don't do that in the US), navigation to the cache still active. They told me that it's not a good idea to do that near a graveyard in the night (What? There's a graveyard nearby?), but now that they know what I'm up to, it's ok.

 

Vampires perhaps? Maybe I need to add some garlic cloves to my caching backpack.

Edited by barefootjeff
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Great idea, LEOs can smell if somebody is lying. They didn't let go of me, so I said that I was looking for a geocache. One LEO had heard of it and said "You need a GPSr for this, where's yours?". I reached in my pocket and pulled it out (don't do that in the US), navigation to the cache still active. They told me that it's not a good idea to do that near a graveyard in the night (What? There's a graveyard nearby?), but now that they know what I'm up to, it's ok.

 

Vampires perhaps? Maybe I need to add some garlic cloves to my caching backpack.

 

I guess you are referring to this:

 

The etymology of the two words is also quite intriguing. The origin of “graveyard” is rather obvious; it is a yard filled with graves. However, you might be surprised to hear that “grave” comes from Proto-Germanic *graban, meaning “to dig”, and it is related to “groove” but not to “gravel”.

 

Of course, the word “cemetery” did not appear out of the blue when graveyards started to burst at the seams. It comes from Old French cimetiere, which meant, well, graveyard. Nevertheless, the French word originally comes from Greek koimeterion, meaning “a sleeping place”. Isn’t that poetic?

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I never been stop by the police yet. But I ordered the Geocaching Trail Cards and I always keep a few of them on me. If I do ever get stop by the police while Geocaching, it will help me explain what I am doing.

 

I have a speech impediment, so if the police ever stop me while I am Geocaching, it will just make it easier for me and the police officer if I have something that explains what Geocaching is.

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I never been stop by the police yet. But I ordered the Geocaching Trail Cards and I always keep a few of them on me. If I do ever get stop by the police while Geocaching, it will help me explain what I am doing.

 

I have a speech impediment, so if the police ever stop me while I am Geocaching, it will just make it easier for me and the police officer if I have something that explains what Geocaching is.

 

About a year ago I started a project on Github (the de-facto site for sharing a collaborating on open source software) for soliciting translations of text similar to what is on those cards into different languages. I did that after being stopped by a couple of policemen in Rome that, somewhat oddly, did not speak English (and I don't speak Italian).

 

As it turned out, that site ended up causing more grief. When I went to Cuba last year to do some consulting on a software application for which I am one of the developers, apparently they did a bit of research on my internet presence and came across the "I am Geocaching" flyer site I set up. As bringing a GPS into Cuba is illegal I was questioned about the site they thought was an advocation for using a GPS there.

 

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Is this type of behaviour (suspicion) relatively common in the US of A? Seems to pop up a lot in forums and threads. Have never experienced anything like that here in OZ.

I think it is more likely just that a large percentage of people on this forum are from North America.

I might be wrong, but I think BenOw lives in Germany.

 

Yes, I do (at the moment, Bavaria still is a state within Germany).

 

But from my experience with life and everything, I am fully convinced that stupidity is international.

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A couple years ago we were going after a cache behind a restaurant about 250 feet away. As we approached the path between two retention ponds, we looked to the left and saw a Police K9 Officer with his German Shepard come out of the woods about 100 yards away. Then a Police car with lights flashing come up behind us. We explained what we were doing and he was not impressed. He just said we need to find another place far away to geocache. The Police were chasing a fugitive who was armed and dangerous in the woods we were about to enter. We made tracks out of there and haven't been back since. :o :o :o

I had a similar experience a few months ago as well. I was doing a power trail and one of the caches required me to go fairly deep into the brush. A girl who was approaching me on the trail stopped right where I disappeared and started freaking out. I assumed she thought I was going to attack her or something so I stayed hidden and hoped she'd move on when I didn't do anything. But she didn't leave. She just kept shouting "YO!!!" louder and louder and was getting more and more emotional, and after what seemed like an eternity, finally left. This freaked me out so I got out of there. As I was headed back down the trail I rounded a corner and was face to face with the girl. She immediately turned and ran.

 

The next day...

 

I returned to finish the series figuring it would be more quiet and after finding a few of the caches, a hooded person in sunglasses was walking towards me and I didn't think much of it. When they passed me I realized it was her again. So I turned and when she realized it was me again, she once again took off running. A few minutes after that another person, also hooded, in a backpack emerged from about where one of the caches was and I assumed it to be another cacher and when he saw me... you guessed it, he ran.

 

Half an hour later...

 

I got to the very last entry in the series and once again it was in the brush. Before I could make the find, I heard someone coming and assuming it was her again, hid once more. After hiding for at least 10 minutes and realizing they weren't leaving, I manned up and emerged. I was greeted by two police officers noticeably surprised. I was shocked but figured my best option was to just approach them and tell the truth if questioned. They asked me what the heck I was doing and I told them. They questioned me for about 10 minutes and I soon found out they were looking for a suspicious person and asked if I had seen them. Needless to say I had so I told them my story. They asked me to take them to the spot where I saw the backpack guy so I did. They took down my statement and finally let me go. I immediately went to my mother's house to tell her my story and before I could, she informed me that there was a massive manhunt in the area for a murder suspect and she pulled up a picture of him on Facebook and guess who? It was backpack guy.

 

I later deduced that crazy girl and backpack guy were together and when she saw me go into the brush initially, she thought I was him (I assume that's where he was hiding out) and was looking for him.

 

Needless to say I didn't go back for the last entry for a few weeks after that.

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In the short amount of time I have been enjoying geocaching, I have managed to have several encounters with various representatives of the security enforcement world. Thus far, I'm happy to say, everything worked out ok.

 

The first was while trying to find a cache inside the cemetery adjacent to Trinity Church in lower Manhattan. The GZ was a large carving, and the cache itself was behind part of a carved sculpture that had to be accessed by, well, sort of climbing up the thing a little. I was having trouble reaching the pair of capsules stashed back there. When I finally managed to grasp them and carefully stepped down, I discovered several hundreds of pounds of security officer waiting for me. They were VERY curious about why I was climbing on a monument listed as a National Landmark (Hamilton is buried fairly nearby). I explained what I was doing, to their apparent relief and bewilderment. The one in charge said, "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," and the entire detail walked away. Which was an unusually good thing since: (a) I had to put the cache back in place; (B) apparently, the cemetery is owned by a trust that is administered by the National Park Service, so if they had called for someone to ask me more questions, it would have been someone federal.

 

Yesterday, I was searching for a micro called Mulberry Bend at roughly the corner of Mulberry Street and Worth Street. This is just south of Chinatown. Which means it was roughly 75 yards from U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. I concluded that either a phone booth (one of the last in lower Manhattan, perhaps) or mailbox was the hiding place, and was searching underneath one or the other when I realized that there were several sets of legs standing close by me in blue uniforms. They were heavily armed and incredibly courteous. I showed them my iPhone, explained what I was doing, and one of them admitted that this was the most reasonable explanation he had received in this kind of situation in a long time. On the one hand, I wasn't doing anything illegal this time (climbing on a monument constitutes trespass, technically speaking). On the other hand, anyone who looks like they may be searching for a place to put an IED across the street from the courthouse where everyone from tax cheats to terrorists stand trial is going to attract some serious attention.

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Yup, several times. Mainly cos I was kind enough to accept adoptions from other Geoposeurs (sorry, that's French for CO) who were leaving this area.

Why in bother? Cos they didn;t ever get permission to place a cache in that location. So whe I went back to upgrade a grotty shattered tube or tupperware and replace it with something much more 2014/2015/2016 the landowner got shirty with me. Or, at a fabby TB Hotel I created (which was once a pill container inside a black plastic bin liner) the Gendarmes cut the chains holding it down cos some Muggle thought it might be a drugs cache (happened 3 times and then I went to landowner & discovered no permission had ever been granted & they refused me permission cos of the trouble that cache had caused them (since 2007).

 

The moral of this story? Get permission. And if you haven't? Archive your cache if you can;t maintain it. That allows someone else to get the permission you never did.

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I concluded that either a phone booth (one of the last in lower Manhattan, perhaps) or mailbox was the hiding place, and was searching underneath one or the other when I realized that there were several sets of legs standing close by me in blue uniforms.

FYI - caches are not allowed to be hidden on/in/under mailboxes, so save yourself the trouble and don't search around mailboxes in the future. Of course, I'm just assuming that your encounter was while you were searching the mailbox.

 

Phone booths seem to be a pretty popular hiding spot, maybe because they are such a novelty nowadays. If you have your phone with you while searching and get stuck on which place to search, then checking out photos from previous find logs might prove helpful. Have fun!

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FYI - caches are not allowed to be hidden on/in/under mailboxes, so save yourself the trouble and don't search around mailboxes in the future. Of course, I'm just assuming that your encounter was while you were searching the mailbox.

 

?? I found a few hidden on/in/under a mailbox. Doesn't seem to be a problem.

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FYI - caches are not allowed to be hidden on/in/under mailboxes, so save yourself the trouble and don't search around mailboxes in the future. Of course, I'm just assuming that your encounter was while you were searching the mailbox.

 

?? I found a few hidden on/in/under a mailbox. Doesn't seem to be a problem.

 

Blue post boxes are prohibited.

 

This does not preclude someone's mailbox type on their property or the popular 'mailbox in the woods'.

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