What would you do in this situation?

[+Cachier]

You arrive at a cache site that is located in a public place with people around other than geocachers. There is a chance that the location of the cache may be compromised by your exploring.

 

Would you:

 

"When you find it, its always in the last place you look."

[BassoonPilot]

This has happened to me a number of times, including once where I had driven further than 150 miles to the site. After waiting out the crowds for about an hour, I moved on and logged it as a 'Couldn't Find.'

 

It is absolutely wrong to compromise the integrity of a cache. Should one decide to "go for" a cache in an area packed with people, the person might as well plunder the cache him/herself, because if there are people around, you will be seen.

 

Need proof? Go check the logs. Time after time I've read Find logs that said something like "there were a lot of people around, but we managed to get the cache discretely" that are followed by a series of frowny faces.

[+Wander Lost]

I guess that depends on your goal for the hunt. Is to find the cache, exchange trinkets and sign the log book? Or is it the personal satisfaction of knowing that you found it?

 

If it is the first you should wait until the crowds clear or come back another time. If it is the latter then you grab your handy Cache In/Trash Out bag and start hunting. If you are picking up garbage while hunting for the cache people will generally ignore you. When you find it, don't uncover it leave it just where it is and if necessary/possible leave it hidden better than you found it.

 

When you get home log a note saying you found it but due to the crowd you didn't open it up or sign the log. If you want, you can email the cache owner and get their permission to log it as a find.

 

For me it's the hunt that is fun, not the trinkets. I'd be happy just knowing I found it.

 

If ignorance is bliss, why aren't there more happy people??

[+joedohn]

'this definitely has to be one of the most frustrating geocaching experiences i've ever had. my gps said i was about 150 ft from the cache when i spotted a whole flock of ducks sitting in the water. just then, my cell phone started ringing and i immediately felt bad for startling the ducks. then i realized that the ducks weren't startled, in fact, they weren't even moving at all. just floating there. that's when the giant bush up the trail started shushing me and waving its four arms. the bush turned out to be a duck blind with two hunters, and the ducks just decoys. i backed off a bit, decoded the hint, and realized the hunters had set up not 50 feet away from the cache. for a half a second i thought about going for it anyway, but they would have surely seen what i was doing. i thought about asking them to ignore me for about ten minutes, but then i remembered Deliverance and that i, too, have a purdy mouth. so i smoked a consolation cigarette, picked up some beercans, and dejectedly walked back to the car.'

 

What Oregone doesn't mention is he hiked 4-1/2 miles for this. I call this admirable restraint...Joe

[+yrium]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wander Lost:

 

...then you grab your handy Cache In/Trash Out bag and start hunting. If you are picking up garbage while hunting for the cache people will generally ignore you. When you find it, don't uncover it leave it just where it is and if necessary/possible leave it hidden better than you found it.

 

---

 

How bout putting the cache in the garbage bag and taking it to another location for a few minutes and signing the logbook there? Then you can return it using the trashbag with no one the wiser.

 

--- yrium ---

[skydiver]

with why, and hope that with enough similar logs, the cache owner has enough sense to move the cache to a more suitable location.

 

--- Two paths diverged in a wood, and my... my GPSr pointed dead center between them. ---

[+RAD Dad]

I'd hang around, and wait for an opportunity to nab it, people will eventually move on. But if I can't get an opportunity, I will log it as a non-find, and be sure to log why I was unable to get to it. The way I see it, if it's not in my hot hands, I didn't find it. They aren't handing out merit badges for having a perfect record, so I have no problem letting folks know when I run into trouble.

 

ummmm....not sure what to say here....so ummm, well errrr, uhhhh, well I guess that's it.

[+sbell111]

Like several other people who have responded, I would do a combination of the options.

 

1) Wait to see if the coast will be clear and I can log freely.

2) If I can be absolutely sure that I can camoflage my actions, I'll go for it. Who hasn't done the tying-my-shoes-micro-grab.

3) If the first two options don't pan out, go on to the next cache. I can't find them all.

[+majicman]

I would start yelling "Free Money at the bank across the street!" and when no one was left around, I would slip into my wife's silky undies (so that no one could recognize me) and retrieve the cache!

 

--majicman (And no, I am not becoming one... yet!)

 

majicman

[+ClayJar]

I've aborted several caches on approach. A few times there were people around. Other times there was no apparent legal access or parking. With enough aborts under my belt, I've started to be far more discretionary in my cache choices.

[+OblongFred]

I usually abort and retry later. Most of the time crowds don't hang around to long in parks. Urban caches are different matter though. They might be a few mintues, maybe a few hours. But urbans around here, so far, can be done at night.

 

Never hold a cat and a Dustbuster at the same time.

[+Navdog]

If there ever was an oppurunity as a cacher to practice the Golden Rule, it is in a situation like this. Would you want another cacher compromising your cache that you invested time and hard work and are proud of, just to add one more number to a find list? I have one cache that is in a high traffic area, and it is the one that I have fretted over and checked on the most.

 

The adventures of Navdog, Justdog, and Otterpup