Cacher Types

[+DragonsWest]

Geocacher-types I have met:

 

1. Casual Cacher - finds when it suits them.

2. Power Hiker - Weather and terrain are of no consequence - finds along the way.

3. It's About The Numbers - Finds, finds and more finds. Can't chat now, on the way to another one.

4. Family Cachers - Find/log the caches as whole or partial family unit.

5. FTF Hound - Can't chat now, someone will beat me to the cache which was just published 10 minutes ago.

6. Pathtagaholic - You can spot them by their bracelets, necklaces or inquiry if you have one to trade.

7. Event Fiend - Let's get together for Coffee or CITO on a regular basis. Swoons for Mega events.

8. Jeep Collector - The'll let you discover their collection - They can't move them along, people would take them.

9. World Traveler - Casually drop into states or countries to advance their list of places visited.

10. Souvenir Seeker - If there's a souvenir for something today, they are on it.

11. Puzzle Fiend - Love to lock wits with a gripping new puzzle to solve, the find is just for the confirmation they've cracked it.

12. Micro Cacher - Covering the world with Micros and Nanos, 528 feet at a time.

13. Evil Hider - Spends their days and nights crafting the most devious of hides, often in plain sight. Lives in fear of men with a large butterfly net and jacket with long sleeves.

14. In And Out - Initially wild about Geocaching, but enthusiasm dims quickly and fades within days or weeks of first find.

15. Travel Bug Transporter - Seeks out caches with travel bugs and moves as many as humanly possible. May pause occasionally for photos.

16. Geocoin Collector - Buys lots of shiny, beautiful, detailed or rare geocoins. Has to be in the right mood to release one into the wild.

17. 4x4 Cacher - Looking to go where few others have gone before, which requires the penultimate in Special Equipment.

18. Space Cacher - Has what it takes to ride to the ISS and see what's in the locker. Uses the ultimate in Special Equipment.

19. Gregarious Cacher - Looking for group.

20. Lone Wolf Cacher - Only wants to go about on their own.

21. Cache Medic - Any of the previous, but carries around a supply of materials to ensure the continuity of a cache.

22. Arm Chair - A cheater, logs finds on caches they haven't visted, some even archived.

23. Geocoin Horder - A thief. Seeks out geocoins to take home and keep, never to move again.

24. Geocaching Widow/Widower - Reluctant spouse or partner dragged along.

25. Specialist - Seeks out primarily one type of cache, such as Earthcache, Virtual, High D/T, etc.

26. Challenger - Likes challenge caches. Quite a lot, actually. Lives in hope there would be an actual Challenge Cache type so they can show how many they've completed.

27. Fearless - Places hides in places few would dare go. Seeks same.

28. Alpha Cacher - One constantly attracting an entourage. Popular, outgoing, attractive or simply magnetic personality.

29. Minion - Usually drawn to an Alpha Cacher, only goes out when the Alpha Cacher is out.

30. Itinerant - Caches for a few days. Doesn't cache for months or years. Starts again, only to stop again.

 

About all I can think of at the moment, feel free to add to the list.

[+geodarts]

I suppose there are various specialties. Kayak cacher. Tree climber cacher. Photo OP Cacher (if you can't post a picture on Flickr it is not worth finding), Group Hije cacher (I know several that only cache if we are doing a group hike).

[+ADKer]

The Discoverer: Geocaches to discover new, interesting places. (Different from 4x4 cacher as it does not neccecarily have to be "where few others have gone before")

 

(I'm personally this type, if I had to choose one!)

[+Manville Possum]

Number 6, 16, and 27 here.

[+St.Matthew]

Jet Skier - most often a "numbers" cacher, these cachers often tag along with Puzzle Fiends to log puzzles that they've never even looked at.

[+mom2sage]

Love this list ....#2 here, with a splash of #1.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Cacher types?

Uses keyboard...

 

I go caching to get out of the house, and have some fun. Involves anything from a parking lot cache and dash, to a four day hike with 9000 feet of climb.

My hides? I try to take you somewhere interesting, but frequently with evil puzzles...

Think I'm an A+.

[+Mudfrog]

#1, #17, and a bit of #27 here. I have to say that ADKer's, "The Discoverer", probably fits me best.

[+aka Momster]

Out-of-Towner geocacher, here. Roughly 55% of my finds are 50+ miles from home. I used the August Challenge to search for more local hides, but I continue to search more intensively while traveling.

[+Traditional Bill]

You forgot the rare Wherigo'r (raises hand) - seeks out Wherigo caches wherever they may be. Searches surrounding states and will sometimes travel long distances in a day to do one or two Wherigo caches in some other state.

[+niraD]

25. Specialist - Seeks out primarily one type of cache, such as Earthcache, Virtual, High D/T, etc.

That covers a lot of territory, but I'll suggest the Art Aficionado (seeks out caches that highlight public art). And there's the Historian (seeks out caches that highlight historic locations).

[+lamoracke]

What about the type who likes just the stats in general...like getting 100 in a county or 50 webcams, or getting 5 on each calendar day, or doubling their Jasmer

or the type who wants to find the old caches (because they are often in cool places too)

or folks who like to find high favorited caches

 

Personally, any oddball, high favorite, cool statistic, new park, neat hike works for me.

[+WarNinjas]

#31 Streaker- I think you as well as I would fall into this category. Need to find one everyday no matter what one it is.

 

I have also met one cacher like this...

 

#32 Fixer- This cacher prided himself into fixing up all the caches he found. He had a back pack full of supplies. He would dry them out and replace old swagg and add a pencil or something if it was missing one. He seemed to want to fix them up before he even found them but I think that is a OK thing. He is welcome to find mine anytime.

[+WarNinjas]

I think I fall into most of those categorys except of course for the stealing of TB's and logging caches I didn't find ones.

[+J Grouchy]

Cacher types?

Uses keyboard...

 

I go caching to get out of the house, and have some fun. Involves anything from a parking lot cache and dash, to a four day hike with 9000 feet of climb.

My hides? I try to take you somewhere interesting, but frequently with evil puzzles...

Think I'm an A+.

 

That's closer to what I am...though I am not likely to go on a long hike primarily due to family and work responsibilities. I'm an "any kinda cache as long as I can get there, find it, and get back within an hour or hour and a half" cacher.

[tomowens]

#'s 1, 4 and 2 for me. Probably in that order.

 

I didn't see an entry for 'doesn't really care about the numbers'. You can add that one also. Most of our finds are not logged in the database, just in the log books.

[+Ma & Pa]

We are obsessed full time cachers so a lot of those apply to us.

 

To me the best thing about the list is that it shows the diversity. Geocaching attracts all kinds of people with all kinds of motivation and likes. We know a ton of geocachers and they are all different

[+Calypso62]

 

To me the best thing about the list is that it shows the diversity. Geocaching attracts all kinds of people with all kinds of motivation and likes. We know a ton of geocachers and they are all different

 

+1 from me. Well said Ma and Pa

Edited December 14, 2013 by Calypso62

[+SirDonB]

This is an interesting topic.... After reading all of post 1, I feel that I fall under the following...

 

1, 4, 15, 19, 27, 30...

 

Most of the time due to when I am able to cache

 

20 applies, and I am starting to become a 16 as well, as I slowly start to mount my coin collection. Just need to find a good way to store and display my coins as I get new ones. At this stage though, I do have a limit as to what I will pay for a coin...

[+wmpastor]

This is an interesting topic.... After reading all of post 1, I feel that I fall under the following...

 

1, 4, 15, 19, 27, 30...

 

Most of the time due to when I am able to cache

 

20 applies, and I am starting to become a 16 as well, as I slowly start to mount my coin collection. Just need to find a good way to store and display my coins as I get new ones. At this stage though, I do have a limit as to what I will pay for a coin...

This chart is a great diagnostic & self-awareness tool! We are becoming so self-aware and enlightened!

[+jellis]

Did you forget Night cacher? And I don't mean night caches. I mean they find caches at night.

 

Or someone who does another hobby at the same time. I also have gotten into birding and if there is a cache nearby I will grab it.

 

Weekend warriors. Ones who picks a location and spends the weekend just caching that spot.

 

On your list I do:

1,2,3,5,15,16,19,20,21.26,29,30

[+Fugads]

And the list goes on... might I suggest also:

• Geocache Police. On a mission to root out geocaches that do not meet listing guidelines and get them archived/altered.
  
• Forums Junkie. 100s or 1000s of forum posts. If you post it, they will comment.
  

I see myself most closely identified as a #2,4 and 27. There are certainly shades of many other types, but those 3 are the best overall representatives for me right now.

[+SirDonB]

Yes, Night Cacher is a great addition to the list, I fall under that one as well... Most of my finds have been after the sun goes to bed.

[+oxford comma]

1,20,21,24

 

definitely a widow!!

[+K13]

1, with the same casual attitude applied to the FTF hunt and the alone/cache with friends choice.

[Clan Riffster]

12. Micro Cacher - Covering the world with Micros and Nanos, 528 feet at a time.

We call these "Carpet Bombers"

 

Jet Skier - most often a "numbers" cacher...

We use the term "Jetskier" to describe finding a puzzle, multi, Wherigo, etc, using less than conventional means. It's actually a form of praise, because, to qualify for "Jetskiing" a cache, you need to figure out where it is hidden using nothing but deductive reasoning and a buttload of searching, a talent the namesake excels at. Tagging along with someone who has the coordinates would disqualify anyone trying to "Jetski" a cache".

 

I can say with some certainty that the namesake is not a numbers cacher.

 

Used properly in a sentence:

 

"I've been staring at this puzzle for months, unsuccessfully. I got nothin'. No clue on how to solve it. Rather than beat my head against my keyboard, I decided to try Jetskiing it. Looking at past logs gave me a general idea, and three days of searching later, I had the cache in my hand."

[team tisri]

What about people like:

 

The Hygenic Cacher - will find a cache as long as it doesn't involve handling anything too nasty. If it's a clean container in a clean location that's fine but no reaching into spiderwebs or moving around wet and dirty logs or anything.

 

The Lazy Cacher - will gladly find endless caches as long as they can park within about 50 feet. If you can reach the cache from the driver's seat without having to get out of the car, so much the better.

 

The Psycho Cacher - will place or hunt caches in the most improbable of locations, only accessible by a series of death-defying manoeuvres where one false move would lead to certain death at the hands of Gravity.

 

The Safe Cacher - the opposite of Psycho Cacher, this type will only attempt caches that are readily accessible with both feet firmly on terra firma. They may consider reaching above their head, as long as they don't have to reach too high. Shares many characteristics of Lazy Cacher - you never know what dangers you might face if you're more than 100 yards from the car.

[+niraD]

The Hygenic Cacher - will find a cache as long as it doesn't involve handling anything too nasty. If it's a clean container in a clean location that's fine but no reaching into spiderwebs or moving around wet and dirty logs or anything.

So if someone carries more hand sanitizer than they carry water, does that make them a "Hygenic Cacher", or are they some new type of geocacher?

[team tisri]

The Hygenic Cacher - will find a cache as long as it doesn't involve handling anything too nasty. If it's a clean container in a clean location that's fine but no reaching into spiderwebs or moving around wet and dirty logs or anything.

So if someone carries more hand sanitizer than they carry water, does that make them a "Hygenic Cacher", or are they some new type of geocacher?

 

I guess it would depend. If you carry no water and a small bottle of sanitizer then maybe that doesn't register. If you carry half a gallon of water and even more hand sanitizer you're probably an extreme form of Hygenic Cacher.