Advertising you're a cacher

[clubstew]

I've seen a few logs of people saying they ran into some other caches on the trail and grouped up for the finds. That got me to wondering, how did they know? Oh sure, there's the GPS and pen mounted on your pack. But I also see the GC.com advertisements for various labeled gear. I assume, then, it's okay to advertise you're a cacher even if all you (think you) do is pass by muggles on the trail?

 

I did once have someone ask me on the trail if I was a cacher (the GPS and pen were probably a sign) and I don't think I've ever been so speachless. Do I say "yes"? Do I then have to banish him into the netherworld or wipe his muggle memory?

 

What's the etiquette on advertising you're a cacher? I understand you don't want to be spotted by muggles when making the find, but apart from that shouldn't we want to talk about it openly to bring more muggles into the folds of a wonderful hobby?

[+lamoracke]

Well, sometimes you can tell...you are on a bike trail and you and another stranger have that dazed look in their eyes and both want to walk off trail to this one random stump behind the tree...would be a big coincidence that two people want to pee there after all.

 

Some folks have so much advertisement on their vehicles, you can't help but know.

 

The GPS often will give a cacher away, especially if they keep looking at their GPS and then a tree, then the GPS, then the tree....

 

In the field, I do not advertise I am a cacher unless I have no choice or the situation just feels right to do so. If asked if I am a cacher, I will say yes. Its supposed to be a stealthy thing to do, finding a cache....just blurting out to every Tom, Dick or Harry that you are caching when they bike by would seem a bit silly to me.

Edited September 3, 2012 by lamoracke

[+Ma & Pa]

We try and keep it a secret but sometimes people notice stuff.

 

 

 

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

The GPSr is usually a pretty good give-away..... dontchathink? Especially when you are 19½ miles deep in the woods from the nearest road.

 

 

The last part was (sort of) a joke, but think about it.... why would anyone else be there? Maybe a backpacker or hiker... or are they really dressed for that type of activity -- especially the footwear?

 

Downtown NYC with a smartphone.... that's anyone's guess!

 

Edit: Come to think of it.... maybe my tattoo or TB on the motorcycle helmet gave it away.

Edited September 3, 2012 by Gitchee-Gummee

[+The_Incredibles_]

Do whatever you're comfortable. It sounds to me like you're interested in spreading the goods news. I say go for it. Be proud. I remember when I first found out about geocaching...I went around telling everybody I knew about this wonderful hobby. Someone that I saw every week was a cacher but had never thought to tell me about. Man, was I mad.

[+popokiiti]

"Canadian Cacher" on my GPS lanyard usually gives me away.

[+BlueDeuce]

I was once stopped by a mall security guard. He was a fellow cacher and noticed my local club t-shirt. Other than that it's mainly the gps along with the search in a remote location.

[+Don_J]

If someone walks up to me on a trail and asks if I'm geocaching, sure I'll tell them. They already know about us, so why not? If someone comes up and simply asks what I'm doing, I'll try to size them up quickly and If I get a good vibe, I'll tell them what I'm doing. If not, then I'll tell that I just saw a rattlesnake go into that bush and I'm trying to catch it. I don't think that actively trying to recruit new cachers at someone elses GZ is a good idea. I've read too many found logs where the finder said that they basically flagged someone down to explain what they are doing, claiming that we now have a new cacher, and then that log is followed by several DNF logs. If someone is interested, by all means, be a good ambassador.

[+redsox_mark]

If someone walks up to me on a trail and asks if I'm geocaching, sure I'll tell them. They already know about us, so why not? If someone comes up and simply asks what I'm doing, I'll try to size them up quickly and If I get a good vibe, I'll tell them what I'm doing. If not, then I'll tell that I just saw a rattlesnake go into that bush and I'm trying to catch it. I don't think that actively trying to recruit new cachers at someone elses GZ is a good idea. I've read too many found logs where the finder said that they basically flagged someone down to explain what they are doing, claiming that we now have a new cacher, and then that log is followed by several DNF logs. If someone is interested, by all means, be a good ambassador.

 

+1 for me. Except the bit about the rattlesnake. And if I see someone who I believe is geocaching, I'll ask them. (So far I have been correct, they were geocaching).

[clubstew]

The GPSr is usually a pretty good give-away..... dontchathink? Especially when you are 19½ miles deep in the woods from the nearest road.

 

Perhaps, but one of my friends I've been hiking with carries a GPSr just to record his tracks. Still, that might just be enough in many cases if they're walking around the trails with one.

[CraftyKel*]

I would be very happy to meet other cachers out in the field, so I have a small geocaching pin-badge on our rucksack and my personal mileage TB hanging from it too. Discreet enough for muggles not to take much notice, but clear enough for another cacher to recognise

[+frinklabs]

On the strap of my backpack (which is with me not just when I am caching), I have one of these trackable patches which has been dipped in each cache I have found. No one has approached me and I haven't had any unexpected discoveries of it yet.

 

[+stijnhommes]

I'm not particularly good at being stealthy, but I do try to keep the location of caches secret. However, when people ask me if I'm a cacher (or what I'm doing in general), I'll simply tell them the truth.

[+Fredact]

On the strap of my backpack (which is with me not just when I am caching), I have one of these trackable patches which has been dipped in each cache I have found. No one has approached me and I haven't had any unexpected discoveries of it yet.

 

 

I suspect you'll get a few now!!

 

Edit: Got me!!

Edited September 3, 2012 by Fredact

[+frinklabs]

On the strap of my backpack (which is with me not just when I am caching), I have one of these trackable patches which has been dipped in each cache I have found. No one has approached me and I haven't had any unexpected discoveries of it yet.

 

 

I suspect you'll get a few now!!

 

Edit: Got me!!

 

That's not actually my patch; its an image found after a google search and shows to be owned by Groundspeak (and does not appear to display logs when you check its page: http://coord.info/TB2BHNT )

 

When I picked up mine, it was at the Ontario Science Centre's gift shop and I went through the pile of them until I found one with an amusing/rude set of letters, as I am childish that way.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

The GPSr is usually a pretty good give-away..... dontchathink? Especially when you are 19½ miles deep in the woods from the nearest road.

 

 

The last part was (sort of) a joke, but think about it.... why would anyone else be there? Maybe a backpacker or hiker... or are they really dressed for that type of activity -- especially the footwear?

 

Downtown NYC with a smartphone.... that's anyone's guess!

 

Edit: Come to think of it.... maybe my tattoo or TB on the motorcycle helmet gave it away.

 

A couple of years ago I was walking down a street in Monterey, California in between a couple of caches with my GPS hanging from a lanyard around my neck. A couple of people came walking from the direction and ask they passed the just said, "Geocaching?" I was still 1/3 of a mile from a geocache so I wasn't actively searching but another geocacher might just have the geosense about these things.

[ll JK ll]

I actually ran into my first set of geocachers over the weekend. I said hello as I passed and the guy recognized me from a previous profile pic and asked if I was geocaching. Turns out he and his companion are very, very active in the area and are responsible for a lot of the hides I now have the pleasure of finding.

[+zack_black]

The drunken bee dance and glazed look is a tell-tale sign for me every time. I own a cache that is a block from my house and have often been thanked in the logs as "the phantom geocacher that helped us with where to look".