Rituals and Superstitions?

2.6k · March 28, 2002

Has geocaching been around long enough to develope rituals and or superstitions. I've bike for a few years and biking has it's share. As an example, you never speak out loud on how long it's been since you've had a flat. "I haven't had a flat in months.".. You're guaranteed to get a flat on you next ride. You ALWAYS bring a spare tube.. if you forget the spare tube you'll get a flat. You also never say how long it's been since you've crashed really hard... as soon as you do... you guessed it.. you're going to crash.

Do you have any geocaching superstitions or rituals? Any good luck items?

george

March 28, 2002

...But sure enough. Everytime I remember to bring the digital camera, I end up leaving it in the car.

I've never had a flat driving to a cache.

Uh oh...

Am I jinxed??

Aw, heck...

Go! And don't be afraid to get a little wet!

March 28, 2002

I never say "I hope my car doesn't plunge off a cliff and explode while I'm trying to drive and input coordinates at the same time..." right before I try and drive and input coordinates at the same time. So far I'm safe.

Charlie

"One should never begin a journey by heading in the wrong direction."

March 28, 2002

Never, EVER, take a laxative the night before a cache.

March 28, 2002

I went to an out of town cache to get a travel bug (Travelin Sam) on it's journey and brought a few props (wooden Tiki)for a picture near the cache site and my dad-gummed digital camera batteries gave up the ghost, no juice at all. Oh well live and learn, extra batteries always! People look at you relly funny when your walking through a park carrying a wooden idol and a plastic dog while staring at a GPS unit. I just didn't understand what all the fuss was about, do you?

Later,

TikimanHSA

Later,

Hunter

March 28, 2002

I went to an out of town cache to get a travel bug (Travelin Sam) on it's journey and brought a few props (wooden Tiki)for a picture near the cache site and my dad-gummed digital camera batteries gave up the ghost, no juice at all. Oh well live and learn, extra batteries always! People look at you relly funny when your walking through a park carrying a wooden idol and a plastic dog while staring at a GPS unit. I just didn't understand what all the fuss was about, do you?

Later,

TikimanHSA

Later,

Hunter

1.4k · March 28, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by geospotter:
Never, EVER, take a laxative the night before a cache.

And always, always carry a roll of toilet paper with you.

1.4k · March 28, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by geospotter:
Never, EVER, take a laxative the night before a cache.

And always, always carry a roll of toilet paper with you.

1.1k · March 28, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by LarsThorwald:
I never say "I hope my car doesn't plunge off a cliff and explode while I'm trying to drive and input coordinates at the same time..." right before I try and drive and input coordinates at the same time. So far I'm safe.

Uh oh...if we don't hear from you in this forum again, we'll know what happened.

quote:
"One should never begin a journey by heading in the wrong direction."

*Unless you're a travel bug, that is.

1.1k · March 28, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by LarsThorwald:
I never say "I hope my car doesn't plunge off a cliff and explode while I'm trying to drive and input coordinates at the same time..." right before I try and drive and input coordinates at the same time. So far I'm safe.

Uh oh...if we don't hear from you in this forum again, we'll know what happened.

quote:
"One should never begin a journey by heading in the wrong direction."

*Unless you're a travel bug, that is.

1.1k · March 28, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by Zuckerruebensirup:

Originally posted by LarsThorwald:
I never say "I hope my car doesn't plunge off a cliff and explode while I'm trying to drive and input coordinates at the same time..." right before I try and drive and input coordinates at the same time. So far I'm safe.

Uh oh...if we don't hear from you in this forum again, we'll know what happened.

quote:
"One should never begin a journey by heading in the wrong direction."
*Unless you're a travel bug, that is.

1.1k · March 28, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by Zuckerruebensirup:

Originally posted by LarsThorwald:
I never say "I hope my car doesn't plunge off a cliff and explode while I'm trying to drive and input coordinates at the same time..." right before I try and drive and input coordinates at the same time. So far I'm safe.

Uh oh...if we don't hear from you in this forum again, we'll know what happened.

quote:
"One should never begin a journey by heading in the wrong direction."
*Unless you're a travel bug, that is.

March 28, 2002

I've heard it was bad luck to be.

Actually, my first ritual is to crank up my car with the power adapter still plugged in. My second ritual is to replace the blown fuse in the power adapter.

Ever notice everybody is willing to give THEIR 2 cents worth but only offer a penny for YOUR thoughts?

March 28, 2002

Geocaching has no rituals or superstitions. Now, If I can just learn how to use the force to find this cache.

There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

March 28, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by Web-ling:

quote:
Originally posted by geospotter:
Never, EVER, take a laxative the night before a cache.

And always, always carry a roll of toilet paper with you.

http://img.Groundspeak.com/user/25021_1200.gif

...And don't forget the "wet ones"....

When you come to a fork in the road, take it.

March 28, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by Web-ling:

quote:
Originally posted by geospotter:
Never, EVER, take a laxative the night before a cache.

And always, always carry a roll of toilet paper with you.

http://img.Groundspeak.com/user/25021_1200.gif

...And don't forget the "wet ones"....

When you come to a fork in the road, take it.

March 28, 2002

Based on some previous responses, I'll elaborate a little.

I still consider myself relatively new at this. I have found 36 caches since Christmas and on at least 5 of them I have felt natures calling (The loud call!).

Everytime, I have prayed that the cache contained toilet paper. None of them did!, so on several occasions, I had to "improvise". The worst one was on the Hawk 3 cache in PA. Sorry Hawk-eye, but I did hike a significant distance away before I did the deed.

Recently, I've started a ritual of using my home facilities before I leave the house. I have had no trouble in the last 12 or so finds, so I think I will keep this up.

By the way, every cache I have placed contains a backpacker roll of TP. Another ritual, I guess.

I can't believe I'm really going to submit this but here goes!

"Give a man a fish and he eats for a day...

Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime"

March 28, 2002

i agree, hit the porcelain BEFORE hitting the trail!

superstitions??

i use the force alot. is that superstitious?

being a night cacher i guess i will soon have superstitions.

urbo

2.7k · March 29, 2002

Wouldn't the drunkin' bee dance be considered a geocaching ritual?

Has this happened to anyone else. You place fresh batteries in a cache and your GPS batteries die on the way back from the cache.

- Lone Rangers

March 29, 2002

I never say that I have great GPSR reception any more. Even if my Etrex tells me I have 7 feet accuracy when I start off, if I say that out loud, sure enough once I am 500 feet away I will lose my signal. Happens allllll the time.

March 29, 2002

smootchnme ought to change their name to 'bear' !!

King Pellinore

March 29, 2002

...but nearly everytime I find a cache, it makes me want to pee. Before we open the container, I have to wander off and do my duty.

2.6k · March 29, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by Lone Rangers:
Wouldn't the drunkin' bee dance be considered a geocaching ritual?

Has this happened to anyone else. You place fresh batteries in a cache and your GPS batteries die on the way back from the cache.

- Lone Rangers

Drukin bee dance?? Is that where you get back to the trail head and you see another cacher and you start dancing and wiggling your *** to tell the cacher which way and how far the cache is?

This I'd like to see.

No doubt, I have a container with spare batteries, last week I noticed a close cache, that wasn't much of a hike so I just grabbed the gps and the coordinates. The thing died before before I even got on the trail. Had to stop and buy the cheapest set of AA batteries I could find since I had no cache on me.

george

March 29, 2002

I will never, ever look for a cache under a ladder.

Have GPS, Will Travel.

March 29, 2002

A ritual--ALWAYS mark my car before I leave for a cache hunt--it would make one feel really stupid to have a GPS-R and still be lost in the woods. 15T

www.1800goguard.com

1k · March 29, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by Ken & Robin:
...but nearly everytime I find a cache, it makes me want to pee. Before we open the container, I have to wander off and do my duty.

Way too much information

1k · March 29, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by Ken & Robin:
...but nearly everytime I find a cache, it makes me want to pee. Before we open the container, I have to wander off and do my duty.

Way too much information

March 30, 2002

First- James fix your signature, it's lose not loose.

I have a ritual that I do everytime I go on a cache hunt.

I take with me 2 bottles of water, not the big ones, you know the little squirt bottles, I also take with me a 30-30 Winchester and fire 14 random shots in the woods before I start out on the "path". On my way out of the woods after I have found the loot, I light small fires along the path.

The KGB

March 30, 2002

First- James fix your signature, it's lose not loose.

I have a ritual that I do everytime I go on a cache hunt.

I take with me 2 bottles of water, not the big ones, you know the little squirt bottles, I also take with me a 30-30 Winchester and fire 14 random shots in the woods before I start out on the "path". On my way out of the woods after I have found the loot, I light small fires along the path.

The KGB

March 30, 2002

My superstition is when hunting a cache if you ever have to decrypt the clue while searching inevitably it will contain completely useless information like what location to park or what park the cache is... You know stuff you already know because you have been searching for it for about an hour and a half already!

Maat

1.1k · March 31, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by smoochnme:
I have felt natures calling (The loud call!). [...] Recently, I've started a ritual of using my home facilities before I leave the house.

LOL, I never know what I'll run into next in these forums! But, I suppose if this saves someone else from suffering while caching in the future, it was worth the mental scars I've had to suffer from reading it.

1.1k · March 31, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by smoochnme:
I have felt natures calling (The loud call!). [...] Recently, I've started a ritual of using my home facilities before I leave the house.

LOL, I never know what I'll run into next in these forums! But, I suppose if this saves someone else from suffering while caching in the future, it was worth the mental scars I've had to suffer from reading it.

2.6k · March 31, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by me, maat & rijn:
My superstition is when hunting a cache if you ever have to decrypt the clue while searching inevitably it will contain completely useless information like what location to park or what park the cache is... You know stuff you already know because you have been searching for it for about an hour and a half already!

Maat

Those are my pet peaves. I'm here searching for the cache and I break down to decipher the clue and it's telling me which path to take or where to park. And the best part is.... it'll be a 4 or 5 line clue.

george

5k · March 31, 2002

Fortunately, I've only encountered that once so far. My ritual is to leave the cache page in the car as I go to find the cache. That way, if I'm having trouble finding the thing my options are to keep searching or walk all the way back to the car to get the cache page so I can decrypt the hint. It encourages me not to give up too easily.

So one day I'm on a hunt, and I can't find the durn thing. I'm scrounging all over the area my GPS is pointing me, but can't find anything. I decide to go get the clue. Fortunately, my car was parked within a couple hundred yard (yet another park-n-bag) so I walked and got it. The problem was that it was very windy, and the picnic table I chose to sit at to decrypt the hint didn't have a solid top--it was full of holes to discourage graffiti, so I couldn't use the thing to write on. So I'm sitting at this picnic table, the cache page is fluttering in the wind like a sheet of paper is apt to do, trying to write using my hand as a clipboard. When I finally get this hint figured out, it tells me to bring my tennis racket because there are tennis courts in the park. ARggg!

I found the cache anyway, but it soured me on the thing. Makes me grumpy to think someone thought that that might make a useful bit of information. I guess that's what I get for searching for a drive-up.

Jamie

April 1, 2002

Superstition: leave the batteries at home and you -will- have a dead GPS before the end of the trip.

Try to be the first to find a cache and you -will- meet somebody else also trying to be the first.

Forget to mark you car and you -will- get lost on the way back.

I had the fortune to be out of town this past weekend with my GPS. I marked the hotel parking lot before I went geocaching. Later on that day, I had a friend's wedding to attend. On the way back to the hotel, I got lost (kinda easy when there's a Target and a fast food chain on every corner). So I turned on the handy GPS and found my way back.

April 1, 2002

Everyone knows that...

Its BAD LUCK to be superstitious ...

April 1, 2002

Everyone knows that...

Its BAD LUCK to be superstitious ...

24.7k · April 1, 2002

Ritual? I'm thinking of sawing the arms off a Levi Jacket so I have enough pockets all summer. Sure I'll look like a Redneck, but dammit all those batteries, cell phones, trading items, and other indispensables need a place to go.

1.8k · April 1, 2002

After we've logged our find and re-stashed the cache, when we remember to, my 6-year-old daughter (GeoGrrrl) and I will do what we call the "GeoDance." Basically, we face each other, hold hands, and jump up and down while spinning in a circle singing "geo geo geo geo" until we nearly fall down giggling.

Hey. Your fault for asking.

April 15, 2002

Are you serious?

Do you do it at the cache or out in the parking lot?

The KGB

April 15, 2002

Are you serious?

Do you do it at the cache or out in the parking lot?

The KGB

April 15, 2002

My only ritual is to play my collection of Geocaching Songs while in route. This list was discussed at length in another thread.

(Current favs - Sheryl Crow, Everyday is a Winding Road & Dr. John, Right Place, Wrong Time.)

April 15, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by mwmm15T:
A ritual--ALWAYS mark my car before I leave for a cache hunt--it would make one feel really stupid to have a GPS-R and still be lost in the woods. 15T

http://www.1800goguard.com

Learned THAT the hard way, at least twice (so far!). It is a ritual that must be followed!

April 15, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by mwmm15T:
--ALWAYS mark my car before I leave for a cache hunt--

Hmmm....I thought you could always just follow your "breadcrumb" trail that you just made on your GPSr if you forget to mark your car. Thats what I do

It's out there...let's go get it!

April 16, 2002

quote:
Hmmm....I thought you could always just follow your "breadcrumb" trail that you just made on your GPSr if you forget to mark your car. Thats what I do

I've tried that, too, and after wasting my batteries deleting all the waypoints my track log created, I found it was just easier to mark my car or the trail head. 15T

www.1800goguard.com

July 29, 2002

this is a great thread for newbies...so much to learn!

:-)

July 29, 2002

It's bad luck to be superstitious

July 29, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by VentureForth:
...But sure enough. Everytime I remember to bring the digital camera, I end up leaving it in the car.

I've never had a flat driving to a cache.

Uh oh...

Am I jinxed??

Aw, heck...

Go! And don't be afraid to get a little wet!

It's funny you should mention those!

I had a flat on one of YOUR caches (by the way it was a blast!) and last week I droppped my digital camera in a creek and then fell in after it!

Bad luck or not ~ I've had fun!

~Honest Value Never Fails~

July 29, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by VentureForth:
...But sure enough. Everytime I remember to bring the digital camera, I end up leaving it in the car.

I've never had a flat driving to a cache.

Uh oh...

Am I jinxed??

Aw, heck...

Go! And don't be afraid to get a little wet!

It's funny you should mention those!

I had a flat on one of YOUR caches (by the way it was a blast!) and last week I droppped my digital camera in a creek and then fell in after it!

Bad luck or not ~ I've had fun!

~Honest Value Never Fails~

August 4, 2002

If I don't check the batteries on the GPS before I leave the house (I know that I put new ones in just yesterday ), then I can be assured of scrambling to find the cache before the GPS gives up the ghost.

Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son!

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