The secret society

[+Ibar]

The more I think about geocaching the more the feeling I get we are members of some kind of secret society.

 

I've been caching for a couple of years, I travel quite a lot (1000+ flights so far), have a sizeable social network, consider myself relatively well-informed and I live in a quite geocaching-active part of the world (Flanders, Belgium). Even so, nobody I know seems to have ever heard of geocaching and I would be in the same case today. Fortunately a couple years back in some kind of party for the basket team of my sons, I asked one of the parents about that website he was browsing in with maps (I love maps) and some funny icons on it .. and the rest is history.

 

I don't know if it's a question of marketing, but considering the amount of members worldwide it still seems to be quite an invisible hobby, at least that's how I experience it. Do you have a similar feeling?

 

Now, not that I have any problems with that, at the end of the day there's no need for the rest of the world to know what I'm enjoying, but it would feel better if when I say somebody on a business trip that I'm going to grab a couple of caches before dinner their answer would be "Ah, do you geocache?" rather than "to grab a couple of WHAT?".

 

And on the other hand it's almost certain that not more than a couple hundred meters from where that "somebody" lives ... there's a micro container waiting to be found.

 

The reason I'm writing this story today and not earlier has to do with a story that confirmed me that even if "you" don't know it ... we are everywhere. The story goes as follows:

 

As earlier mentioned, I live in Belgium. A couple of weeks back there was a traveller TV show on prime time. On that particular week, the traveller followed the footsteps of Chris McCandless (for those of you who don't know the story, basically after graduating, he decided to leave everything behind and going "into the wild" in Alaska). Chris eventually settled in an old discarded bus,literally, in the middle of nowhere. Well, while watching the area around the bus I told my wife: "I'm sure there is a cache there somewhere" and yeap, I should have bet something, because a quick check in my iPhone gave GC3TTVD, which is actually IN THE BUS !!

 

So, though nobody knows us ... we are definitely everywhere

 

Immediately that cache entered my list of "impossible dream caches", together with the A.P.E. one in Brazil, one in Antarctica, the Everest EC, one in Tierra del Fuego ...

 

Do you have such a list as well? Dreaming is always good

[knowschad]

[knowschad]

I remember the feeling, but honestly... we are pretty commonplace and well-known these days. You should have been around in 2005 (my starting year) or earlier. Today, the bomb squad seems to be about the only group that isn't aware of us to some degree or another.

[+jellis]

Me too. When I first started many muggles had no idea who were are. Now when I mention it they respond " Yeah I heard about it"

[+Manville Possum]

A secret geocaching society? Huh.

Edited March 14, 2015 by Manville Possum Hunters

[+The_Incredibles_]

I've run into quite a few people who have heard of it. However, I've met many more who have never heard of it. Amazing, really.

What's even more shocking is the number of people who not only know about it, they've done it and don't have much interest in doing it again.

Edited March 14, 2015 by The_Incredibles_

[+cerberus1]

Years ago, caching was kinda under the radar. That's not so today.

- Sometimes folks get it confused with orienteering.

I have a bucket list and some places do have caches there, but caching would be secondary.

[+L0ne.R]

Three years ago I was searching around a tree in a forest when a couple of hikers called out "Are you geocaching?" I asked if they were geocachers. They said no, but had heard about it. I knew then that the game had gone mainstream. It's rare these days if you mention geocaching (in North America), that someone hasn't heard about it.

Edited March 14, 2015 by L0ne.R

[+PlantAKiss]

I rarely meet anyone who knows what caching is before I tell them. That surprises me since there are so many cachers and caches. I'm always telling people they have probably walked past many caches and never knew it.

 

I read the book "Into the Wild" and my mother is (re)reading it now. It was also made into a movie which I haven't seen. Definitely an intriguing but sad story. I can't believe someone put a cache in the bus!! Wow...

[+narcissa]

I rarely meet anyone who knows what caching is before I tell them. That surprises me since there are so many cachers and caches. I'm always telling people they have probably walked past many caches and never knew it.

 

I read the book "Into the Wild" and my mother is (re)reading it now. It was also made into a movie which I haven't seen. Definitely an intriguing but sad story. I can't believe someone put a cache in the bus!! Wow...

 

The bus is a popular landmark on that trail. It gets many visitors.

[+mrreet]

I normally only tell people who I believe would be interested in geocaching what it is / what I am doing. I normally tell random people who ask that I am on a scavenger hunt. Unless the police ask, then I alway tell them / show them.

[+coachstahly]

Today, the bomb squad seems to be about the only group that isn't aware of us to some degree or another.

Edited March 18, 2015 by coachstahly

[+PlantAKiss]

I'm sorry... I cannot find how to delete a post on the (NOT FREE) phone app.

Edited March 21, 2015 by PlantAKiss

[+PlantAKiss]

<quote>

The bus is a popular landmark on that trail. It gets many visitors.</quote>

 

Reading the cache descrip/logs was disappointing. I thought it might be more respectful but there almost seemed to be a kind of gruesome glee about it. I understand a degree of curiosity about the site but...its a sad kind of landmark. The scenic landscape is stunning to be sure and worth a trek for the skilled. Too bad the cache isn't more honoring of a life lost.

[+SwineFlew]

<quote>

The bus is a popular landmark on that trail. It gets many visitors.</quote>

 

Reading the cache descrip/logs was disappointing. I thought it might be more respectful but there almost seemed to be a kind of gruesome glee about it. I understand a degree of curiosity about the site but...its a sad kind of landmark. The scenic landscape is stunning to be sure and worth a trek for the skilled. Too bad the cache isn't more honoring of a life lost.

Welcome to the world of geocaching. Not everybody see things the same way you do.

[+niraD]

I'm sorry... I cannot find how to delete a post on the (NOT FREE) phone app.

It isn't the app. This forum does not allow posts to be deleted.

[+oldsoldier]

I remember the feeling, but honestly... we are pretty commonplace and well-known these days. You should have been around in 2005 (my starting year) or earlier. Today, the bomb squad seems to be about the only group that isn't aware of us to some degree or another.

 

I started in 2002. Then, most were in the woods, and I avoided town or city caches like the plague. I can still recall when they removed the variable with navigation (this was before I started caching, but not too much before). My dad had one, I thought it was cool. I honestly dont recall how I found geocaching, but it was in its infancy. I found one when I was stationed in Cuba (at the time, it was the only one there), but, its since been removed, and, for some reason, I dont have any finds prior to 2005. I was in Gitmo from 03-04 and, anyone who has been there, is familiar with the boat landing from the airstrip. There WAS one there, even way back then!

Explaining it back then was a little harder, as most people werent aware of what a GPS even was. These days, they are commonplace-but, I am rarely asked what I am doing. PRobably because I try to limit my finds to more woodsy areas. And, I have a rotating schedule, so, I'm out when others are working