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Squatters at or near caches


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I had a kind of odd conversation this afternoon with a squatter (not in the woods either), and it got me thinking about the number of squatter camps I have come across geocaching and or mtn biking. I actually had to archive my first cache because GZ was where they built their camp. I'm actually kind of proud that it was the most elaborate camp I have seen, at my cache (Close to Home).

 

Of all the camps I have come across, I've been lucky enough to never actually meet the owner or owners.

 

Has anyone else run into these camps?

Ever met the tenants?

 

Here is a shot of the camp at our first cache.

eb93bc42-56ab-4277-b557-6dbaca0ca9ec.jpg

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I had a kind of odd conversation this afternoon with a squatter (not in the woods either), and it got me thinking about the number of squatter camps I have come across geocaching and or mtn biking. I actually had to archive my first cache because GZ was where they built their camp. I'm actually kind of proud that it was the most elaborate camp I have seen, at my cache (Close to Home).

 

Of all the camps I have come across, I've been lucky enough to never actually meet the owner or owners.

 

Has anyone else run into these camps?

Ever met the tenants?

 

I recently moved one of my caches because a camp had sprung up nearby. Several of the finders had mentioned it, and some had met the residents. I didn't want future cachers invading the living space, or being afraid to go hunting for the cache.

 

(Edited because the one time I didn't preview the post before submitting, I messed up the quote)

Edited by NanCycle
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I would have thought it was a really elaborate hunt stand, until I saw the map. Gosh, hope no one is hunting there!

 

Then my next thought was that it was a kids' tree house. Perhaps adults are using it for other purposes, because that seems like a really lousy place to live. Too exposed to the elements and to bypassers.

 

 

B.

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I would have thought it was a really elaborate hunt stand, until I saw the map. Gosh, hope no one is hunting there!

 

Then my next thought was that it was a kids' tree house. Perhaps adults are using it for other purposes, because that seems like a really lousy place to live. Too exposed to the elements and to bypassers.

 

 

B.

Ya, no hunting stand. It's a patch of bush surrounded by houses. The items in the "shack" where typical of squatters (empty food cans, etc).

It's fairly common for squatters here to remove their tarp and take it with them.

 

I'll see if I can dig up the photos of the other sites I have found. I think I've got photos of 5 or 6 camps total (seen a few more, but don't always have a camera biking).

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Had a cache where a camoed tent was actually placed over one of my caches...I had to reach into it to get my cache out. It was unseen most likely, being tucked into a log in a non obvious spot. Never met or saw any of the squatters, but it was a very thorough job of camouflage in an urban small woods setting.

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we tried once to be confronted by a person who was living in a tent deep in a forrest,

near a final of a famous night cache :-)

poor man, that is a BAD place to try to sleep,

we said we found what we came for, and ran away as fast as we came.

 

We prefer to be a few on those spooky night caches.

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There is a fun series of logs regarding a homeless guy near a now archived night cache in my neck of the woods.

 

We were out with my son's family and G'kids. We were all set with flashlights and gloves and a sense of adventure. No other cars were in the parking lot. Off we went to the first stage and Meg the 12 yr. old did the hard part. I loaded the coords into the gps units and we were off again to stage # 2. When were almost to ground zero my light picked up a reflector, which was attached to a bike. The bike it turns out is the means of transportation for the local resident. We assured each other that we were harmless and parted company. Other cachers should be aware that people( homeless? ) live here.Using the specical black lights my wife made the find, but we couldn't open the container. Worked on it for a good half hr. and I hope we didn't damage it, I assume you should be able to open it? We did sign the log at stage #1. Thanks so much for placing the cache, IT WAS FUN!!

 

Went with withoutapaddle. We really liked the cache idea! Caching at night when you hear a pack of dogs barking in the distance is pretty thrilling, but stumbling across the homeless guy's tent was even more of a scare. If possible avoid the location mentioned with this log. We found him since were were going to the DVD exchange from the second stage.

 

Find #609. Here's a little advice, do NOT do this cache with three unwilling little children. I was out tonight with the entire family and Anivron and we found the control point in short order. We calculated where we needed to go next and had to make a detour around the reported homeless dude, who happen to be home tonight. We scored both finds, returned the tools and headed home with a few tears. I still enjoyed it, mostly. I wanted to drop the Night Caching Travel Coin but didn't find room. I suppose I could have dropped into the control point. TFTC.

 

Went out with Ejtnelfb and his whole family. None of the 3 kids were really very happy!!!! And, yes, there really is someone living out there. We were a little leary about getting too close; not knowing what might happen. Found both caches and went on our merry way home. TFTC

 

One thing about this cache... the accounts of the homeless dude in the woods ARE TRUE and was there last night. Remember, just because these people got a bad shake in life does not mean they are harmless. Be careful.

 

The guy is camped out what appears to literally be in the direct route from stage #1 to stage #2. For some reason he's got reflectors on his camp so using a flashlight you should be able to stay a reasonable distance away.

 

And the saga of the homeless guy ends with this post by the cache owner:

The homeless guy is Rocky. He has been camped out in the same spot for the past three years. He is a character and will talk your ear offif ya let him. So if ya see his tent or run into him, just let him know you are a geocacher and all will be ok.

He is mostly concerned about kids robbing him in his sleep or taking any of his meager belongings.

If ya really want to be Rocky's friend, bring him a Snickers bar. :)

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GC1H7AZ, Eau Claire Hobo Camps (check out the entire gallery!)

 

 

That is a very nice looking camp. It is actually nicer then most of my backpack camping sites.

Someone put a lot of work into it.

 

Yes... it is a permanent camp, though. It is abandoned fall thru spring. One of the joys of finding it is seeing all the bits of folk art scattered about. The gallery, unfortunately, doesn't really show much of that.

 

I have a funny story about my trip to it. I had used my Nuvi to get me to the general area, where I parked the car. I unplugged the Nuvi and stuck it in my back pocket and used my handheld to take me to the cache. It was springtime, but fairly late in the season, so I was apprehensive about the possiblilty of surprising some of the residents, so I walked very slowly and quietly, stepping toe-first (a trick I learned as a boy... supposedly the Indians snuck through the woods that way) to avoid snapping twigs. I kept my eyes peel for any movement. So far, so good... a little further, still good... I spot the first of the structures ahead of me through the brush... still not seeing anybody, but not taking any chances...

 

... then, suddenly...

 

"APPROACHING GC1H7AZ EAU CLAIRE HOBO CAMPS"

 

That's when I realized that I had I forgotten to power down the Nuvi.

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GC1H7AZ, Eau Claire Hobo Camps (check out the entire gallery!)

 

 

That is a very nice looking camp. It is actually nicer then most of my backpack camping sites.

Someone put a lot of work into it.

 

Yes... it is a permanent camp, though. It is abandoned fall thru spring. One of the joys of finding it is seeing all the bits of folk art scattered about. The gallery, unfortunately, doesn't really show much of that.

 

I have a funny story about my trip to it. I had used my Nuvi to get me to the general area, where I parked the car. I unplugged the Nuvi and stuck it in my back pocket and used my handheld to take me to the cache. It was springtime, but fairly late in the season, so I was apprehensive about the possiblilty of surprising some of the residents, so I walked very slowly and quietly, stepping toe-first (a trick I learned as a boy... supposedly the Indians snuck through the woods that way) to avoid snapping twigs. I kept my eyes peel for any movement. So far, so good... a little further, still good... I spot the first of the structures ahead of me through the brush... still not seeing anybody, but not taking any chances...

 

... then, suddenly...

 

"APPROACHING GC1H7AZ EAU CLAIRE HOBO CAMPS"

 

That's when I realized that I had I forgotten to power down the Nuvi.

That's actually worse then having a cell phone ring on you.

Definitely funny considering it read out the name.

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There's a cache in a cave near Livermore, CA. Turns out there's actually someone living in the cave, and most people find his bedroom near the back of the cave before they find the cache, which is closer to the opening. No reports of anyone actually finding him home, though. I assume there wasn't anyone living there when the cache was planted, but the cache name makes me wonder: CAVE MAN.

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While looking for a cache under a bridge last week, a father and son biking stopped and offered me some money and asked if I lived there! Holding my phone and a gps I said that I was playing a game but that I'd take their money if the offer was still valid :rolleyes:

 

:D

 

I have 2 caches near encampments. On one the guy is foreign from a European country,

and speaks little English. He typically holds a broken phone up to his ear and pretends to talk to someone. The area is left trashed with all kinds of crap everywhere. It appears that the authorities have found alternate lounging for him elsewhere several times. The other one, the guy leaves it neat, and is not alway there. The cache is several hundred feet away, so most of the time it's fine.

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Interesting, Mike. There is a multi in downtown Toronto, Language of the Trees where the final is located less than 50 metres from a long-term squatters' camp. When we visited, it was a crisp day in January and there was nobody around, but judging by the logs and photos it is still a very active spot.

 

We have a puzzle cache Rouge From Above where the solution brings you above the Glen Rouge campground in Rouge Park. I performed maintenance on it one day in the winter and discovered a tent and cooler not more than 15 metres from the cache. It looked active, so I left it alone. Went back a several weeks later and everything was frozen into the ground. Haven't been back since as the cache is healthy - but the remnants of the illegal campsite remain according to the logs and pictures.

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I came across a homeless camp yesterday. The cache was located at the site of some stone ruins from the 1800's. Here is a photo.

87678eda-bf38-44ad-889b-d52a02274c80.jpg

 

There were plenty of beer bottles and cans around the area.

I didn't read the logs before hand, but here is one from April:

 

The homeless kid living in the foundation directed us to the cache. He said he found it a while ago.... Anyways a neat spot.....
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I've come across a couple of caches near camps and transient hangouts. Situational awareness is key. After working in a spot where transient encounters were frequent for me I've learned most of them are harmless, however some are not. I've haven't had any issues while caching, and hope not to.

darenE k7dne

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Yesterday I went to a cache located near a "remarkable tree" (I do not know if this exists worldwide but here in Belgium there is a directory of such trees).

Homeless people were camping under the tree, they seem to be there for a while now.

I immediately cancelled - don't want to get into troubles - and posted an additional note on the cache page.

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Yesterday I went to a cache located near a "remarkable tree" (I do not know if this exists worldwide but here in Belgium there is a directory of such trees).

Homeless people were camping under the tree, they seem to be there for a while now.

I immediately cancelled - don't want to get into troubles - and posted an additional note on the cache page.

 

I've had never heard the term "remarkable tree" before but apparently it's used worldwide. I *have* seen some pretty impressive trees though. I was born about 20 miles away from the famous Chandelier tree, a California coastal redwood that one can drive through. Although I haven't seen the General Sherman (claimed to be the largest tree, by volume, in the world) I've been to Sequoia National Park many times were there are a lot of other impressive Sequoia trees. I've also seen some massive baobab trees in Tanzania. Actually, "remarkable trees" sounds like a good suggestion for a worldwide challenge.

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It's pretty creepy around here to just be tromping around and see something like this...

 

251122_10152159740170198_620941039_n.jpeg

 

We thought it was someone hanging from a tree but it was a hobo's blanket. I had two caches I couldn't get to recently because there were big camps right on the trail. Not worth finding out if they're harmless. This morning I stumbled across one on the way out from a cache and I couldn't see anyone but I could hear them and it was creepy. blink.gif

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