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"Geo-haters"

WolfPack2099
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WolfPack2099

WolfPack2099

Posted
Posted

I work for the Girl Scouts, and I recently took my troop on a geocache hunt/hike. I was explaining geocaching to my supervisor, who seemed to think that it sounded really cool. However, another woman who works in the same office overheard, and proceeded to lecture me about how horrible geocaching is. She hates the idea of people leaving "trash" out in the wilderness. I tried to explain to her the values of geocaching, such as getting people off their butts and outdoors. I told her of its great educational uses. I even told her about the "cache in, trash out" motto that most of us try to follow.... but she wouldn't have any of it. She still seems to think that we are all horrible people who are destroying nature. There was no reasoning with her.

 

Has anyone else encountered these "geo-haters"? If so, what kinds of responses have you given?

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yumitori

+yumitori

Posted
Posted

I guess my first question would be to ask her where she got her information.

 

Then offer her some links, this one for example. It's harder to argue in the face of visual evidence. (Not impossible, just harder.)

 

Finally, since she no doubt considers herself an honest and fair individual, offer to take her on a couple of hunts so she can see for herself what the impact of geocaching is. (Surely, she wouldn't wish to unfairly judge a sport without actually experiencing it, would she?) Then take her to the most scenic and best hidden caches in your area (ones you've already been to, of course).

 

You can't win every fight, but you can give this one a shot...

 

Ron/yumitori

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benjamin921

+benjamin921

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by Criminal:

You may want to remind this dolt that her house was once "wilderness" too.

 

HaHa

 

I really can not stand people like this, not just because she hates geocachers, but because you can't reason with people like that. Stay away, stay far far away from her.

 

icon911.gif

beerchug.gif

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Windrose

+Windrose

Posted
Posted

I've run into this situation once. I told the person that in the 9 months I've been geocaching, I've carried 5 garbage bags of trash out of the parks. And then I asked what they had done in the last 9 months to improve the parks or help the enviroment.

 

Windrose

 

"A mind stretched by a new idea can never go back to its original dimensions."

Oliver Wendell Holmes

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CYBret

+CYBret

Posted
Posted

There are various theories about such "Geo-haters":

 

The Grinch hated Caching! The Whole Caching season!

Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.

It could be her head wasn't screwed on just right.

It could be, perhaps, that her shoes were too tight.

But I think that the most likely reason of all

May have been that her heart was two sizes too small.

 

Bret

 

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.

When a man found it, he hid it again." Mt. 13:44

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JamesJM

+JamesJM

Posted
Posted

For the most part I agree with everyone here. I have never once found a cache that could in any way be construed as "trash".

 

The worthiness and benefits of geocaching I do not need to go into here...we all know them...BUT

 

the problem you address is one that I see coming up more and more often.

 

Frankly...The "Cache In Trash Out" campaign, if I can call it such, is brilliant....and I would be hard-pressed to find anything to compare in it's ability to ingratiate geocaching to the general public. I don't think it *can* be improved on.

 

I, myself, have not even ventured onto the Cache In Trash Out section of this board...and YET...I'm doing it.

 

I have found the aesthetics of geocaching so rewarding than of my own iniative I have taken it upon myself to clean up areas surrounding all the geocache sites I have found. Granted..sometimes it's impossible to completely do the job. Good Lord but some people are trashy.

 

But I do haul out some...(maybe not enough, I'm not all THAT responsible), but some...and if we ALL did some then geocachers, IMHO, would be the most environmentally compassionate people that exist....AND I think most do...just my opinion, but I think they do. - JamesJM

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bug and snake

bug and snake

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by Byron & Anne:

Many people like that are far beyond reason. Why? I can only guess why there are people that think that if something is pure fun, it's got to a bad thing. You can put your own implications as what else she probably thinks is a bad thing.

Reminds me of something my first boss once said when talking about just such a person..... "I wonder if she conceived her kids standing up in a hammock so as not to enjoy the experience.....?"

 

Only nuts eat squirrels,

Snake

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GEO*Trailblazer 1

+GEO*Trailblazer 1

Posted
Posted

Well,I get a diffrent outlook from the People of Pierce City,Mo.I have been helping clean up the trash that Tornado strung 75 miles.It took my cache and the hearts and lives of the community as well.As a Geocacher I felt the compassion to help in everyway that I can,They did give me the permission to place the cache.And have been truly thankful for helping in the clean up efforts.I have seen none of them out here helping their neighbors.But they are fast to give an opinion on Geocachers.But as in all aspects of life there are those whom remain negative until (their) bitter end.Rember the law of KARMA you will reap what you sew.

 

THE MOST DANGEROUS ANIMAL IN THE FOREST DOES NOT EVEN LIVE THERE*********WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS*GEOTRYAGAIN **1803-2003 "LOUSIANA PURCHASE" 200TH ANNIVERSARY AND THE "LEWIS AND CLARK EXPADITION" http://www.lapurchase.org http://www.msnusers.com/MissouriTrails

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Team Kender

Team Kender

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by yumitori:

Then offer her some links, http://ubbx.Groundspeak.com/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=5726007311&f=74160851&m=92560671 for example. It's harder to argue in the face of visual evidence. (Not impossible, just harder.)

 

Ron/yumitori

 

Wow, what a great link! Thanks for posting that. There are some people who will argue against anything that doesn't fit within a snap judgement they have made, but the pics of the piled up bags and even a letter from the parks service thanking the Geocachers for their efforts is really hard to argue against.

 

I'm bookmarking that link!

 

Team Kender - Willow and Dan exploring the Bay Area backroads!

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Blackfoot

Blackfoot

Posted
Posted

Smal minded people........Go figure! There has always got to be one out there that speaks before she thinks! Oh well I'd say Geocaching is better off without her. She would be one of those nimrods that trades junk anyways!! icon_mad.gif

 

Life is a gift, unwrap it and use it to the fullest!

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briansnat

+briansnat

Posted
Posted

There are many people out there who smugly believe that their way of enjoying the outdoors is the only correct way.

 

In reality, geocaching has an impact on the environment that is similar to birding, hiking, orienteering and hunting...which are all activities that sometimes take people off trail.

 

The impact is probably considerably less than camping and mountain biking, both of which are allowed in many places that geocaching isn't.

 

"Au pays des aveugles, les borgnes sont rois"

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dsandbro

dsandbro

Posted
Posted

That type of person is called an 'eye-gnat'.

 

A common bothersome annoyance whose sole purpose seems to be to buzz around, but no real threat.

 

===========================================================

"The time has come" the Walrus said "to speak of many things; of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and Kings".

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Renegade Knight

+Renegade Knight

Posted
Posted

When I meet people like that I always wonder what their spouse is like. I mean someone has to bed them and someone has to find them attractive. Or they wouldn't breed more people like themselves. At a minimum you would think they were good looking just so someone might put up with them, but often they aren't. What's up with all that?

 

I think this proves evolution doesn't work.

 

=====================

Wherever you go there you are.

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Kouros

+Kouros

Posted
Posted

Lecture her on how much damage the emissions from her car do to the environment, or for that matter the electricity it takes to cook her food in the evening. We all damage the environment every day.

 

Then ask her what she has done recently - and by that, emphasise actually going out of her way, not just using the recycling van provided by the local council - to actually help the environment. I bet my money that she hasn't done much, if anything at all.

 

Show her the pics that yumitori was kind enough to link to, and then ask her once more who was doing more to destroy nature? Us, the Geocachers who enjoy it, and clear up after other people, or people who can't get off their high horses long enough to realise just how hypocritical they're being?

 

Then leave her be, and go out caching! Just out of spite.

 

------

An it harm none, do what ye will

soapbox.gif

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FFC

+FFC

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by BrianSnat:

There are many people out there who smugly believe that their way of enjoying the outdoors is the only correct way.

 

In reality, geocaching has an impact on the environment that is similar to birding, hiking, orienteering and hunting...which are all activities that sometimes take people off trail.

 

The impact is probably considerably less than camping and mountain biking, both of which are allowed in many places that geocaching isn't.

 

_"Au pays des aveugles, les borgnes sont rois"_

 

Well said.

 

Even I've run into a few of these people and they all seem to think they have enough knowledge to walk off trail without damaging the enviroment but no one else has.

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dsandbro

dsandbro

Posted
Posted

quote:

Well said.

 

Even I've run into a few of these people and they all seem to think they have enough knowledge to walk off trail without damaging the enviroment but no one else has.

 

===========================================================

"The time has come" the Walrus said "to speak of many things; of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and Kings".

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dsandbro

dsandbro

Posted
Posted

quote:

Well said.

 

Even I've run into a few of these people and they all seem to think they have enough knowledge to walk off trail without damaging the enviroment but no one else has.

 

Whoops!

A little quick on the click.

 

I was hiking with a friend who is a Wilderness Ranger for the Forest Service. We had a conversation about LNT and hikers who claim they 'stealth camp' and no one can tell where they camped.

 

We stopped at a flat place along the Pacific Crest Trail, she studied the spot for a minute or so said with a smile "Two people, one night, one tent placed there (pointing). Cooked and ate there. About two weeks ago. They did a good job about leaving no trace, but the signs are there."

 

I couldn't see a thing out of place.

===========================================================

 

===========================================================

"The time has come" the Walrus said "to speak of many things; of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and Kings".

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briansnat

+briansnat

Posted
Posted

quote:
I was hiking with a friend who is a Wilderness Ranger for the Forest Service. We had a conversation about LNT and hikers who claim they 'stealth camp' and no one can tell where they camped.

 

We stopped at a flat place along the Pacific Crest Trail, she studied the spot for a minute or so said with a smile "Two people, one night, one tent placed there (pointing). Cooked and ate there. About two weeks ago. They did a good job about leaving no trace, but the signs are there."

 

I couldn't see a thing out of place.

 

You got it! There is no such thing as LNT. The goal is to leave as little trace as possible and most geocachers comply with this ethic.

 

"Au pays des aveugles, les borgnes sont rois"

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Kordite

+Kordite

Posted
Posted

quote:
"Two people, one night, one tent placed there (pointing). Cooked and ate there. About two weeks ago. They did a good job about leaving no trace, but the signs are there."

 

She could have just been making it up. I've done something similar way back in the boy scouts.

 

One scout was trying to impress us with his woodland knowledge attempting to convince us that a dog track was actually a wolf track. Nevermind that there are no more wolves around here and the very rare coyote is smaller than the noted tracks. I pulled a leaf off a nearby weed, rolled it around in my fingers and snifed it. "It's a German Sheppard," I announced after poking at the tracks again, judging the track compression in the mud. "Maybe a Husky-mix. That's why you mistook it for a wolf. A common mistake. But the wolf and sheppard scents are very different."

 

It shut him up for a while, anyway.

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FFC

+FFC

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by Kordite:

quote:
"Two people, one night, one tent placed there (pointing). Cooked and ate there. About two weeks ago. They did a good job about leaving no trace, but the signs are there."

 

She could have just been making it up. I've done something similar way back in the boy scouts.

 

One scout was trying to impress us with his woodland knowledge attempting to convince us that a dog track was actually a wolf track. Nevermind that there are no more wolves around here and the very rare coyote is smaller than the noted tracks. I pulled a leaf off a nearby weed, rolled it around in my fingers and snifed it. "It's a German Sheppard," I announced after poking at the tracks again, judging the track compression in the mud. "Maybe a Husky-mix. That's why you mistook it for a wolf. A common mistake. But the wolf and sheppard scents are very different."

 

It shut him up for a while, anyway.

 

ROFL!!! icon_cool.gif

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