Caching In Populated Areas

December 20, 2003

We did some micro hunting a few weeks back in a city park and while trying to find our first micro, I was getting a little paranoid about being seen. So, for a few minutes, I put my GPSr up to my ear as if I were on a cell phone :mad: I was just curious if anyone else has any funny stories about caching in populated areas

James

The King Kachers

1.5k · December 20, 2003

I usually tie my shoes while searching near people. The other day I stopped in a park on the way home. Acouple of people approached so I naturally stooped down to tie my shoe... oops.. I was wearing my cowboy boots.

1.1k · December 20, 2003

Try pretending the GPSr is a camera. A lot of people will leave to get out of the picture. :mad:

December 20, 2003

Try shouting very loudly "It's here somewhere, if I could only find the frequency!"

Alternatively "I am going to scratch my butt now!" That one always makes them look the other way.....

1.1k · December 20, 2003

Just use your GPSr as normal. Turn to your caching partner and say "The radiation levels are REALLY spiking here. Shouldn't we be wearing the suits?"

1.7k · December 20, 2003

(1) I take my camera and shoot pictures

(2) I use my Magellan Companion clipped to my Palm Vx instead of my Meridian - It looks like a wireless PDA.

38.2k · December 20, 2003

The GPS as a cell phone is an old trick. Then there is the trick of carrying your cache page on a clip board and look like you're writing stuff down.

I once had a guy come up to me just as I opened the cache and he asked me if I was doing a study. I said "Yes I am", closed the cache and took it over too a nearby bench to wait for him to leave. As I sat there using the log book to fake like I was making notes, he came over and started questioning me about the types of fish and aquatic life in the swamp (the cache was in a swampy area). I went into a spiel about low dissolved oxygen levels and high temps making the water uninhabitable for piscine life and went on about tadpoles, types of snakes, frogs etc... using every big, scientific word I could think of. It had its desired effect, because the guy's eyes started to glaze over and he beat a hasty retreat. Mission accomplished! Truth is that I had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.

Edited December 20, 2003 by briansnat

December 20, 2003

good luck trying to look inconspicuous in an urban setting, haha! i always feel like i've got a neon glow about me that yells "weirdo!" when i'm looking for a cache in public and trying to blend in to the background. don't worry, most will believe you "aint right in the head" and will avoid you. those that don't and come over to question you, play it by ear and either bs them or explain the game depending on the vibe. -harry

4.5k · December 20, 2003

What's really wierd is when the compass locks up on my Vista and I have to do two 360 degree turns to re-calibrate it! How do you explain that one?

December 20, 2003

good luck trying to look inconspicuous in an urban setting, haha! i always feel like i've got a neon glow about me that yells "weirdo!" when i'm looking for a cache in public and trying to blend in to the background.

I thought I was the only one that felt like a weirdo

9.4k · December 20, 2003

When searching in a park, it is very helpful to have your kids with you. Don't have kids? Borrow someone else's! I felt really conspicuous on my trip to Chicago this summer while searching next to a playground. 'It's so easy back at home, I have the kids with me...'

Kids, on the other hand, can get in the way on some urban caches. Other times they can be a great help. Usually, no one will care if they are climbing through the bushes, but they might speak up if you are.

Camo'd urban micros are probably the worst ones to bring your kids on. For those it's better to use the call-phone trick or have a clip-board.

December 20, 2003

We've never really pulled off a good disguise. You do feel like an A-1 idiot you get the look like "What are those people doing back there?"

December 20, 2003

Just use your GPSr as normal. Turn to your caching partner and say "The radiation levels are REALLY spiking here. Shouldn't we be wearing the suits?"

ROTFLMAO

I'm going to have to try this one.

F_M

6.5k · December 20, 2003

I had two such occurances in the past two days. Yesterday there was a couple of guys just ahead of me on the trail. I moved slower than I would have liked so they could stay out in front as It seemed out meeting point would be right about at the cache area. They moved away so I could go in for the find. Get an email today-turns out it was the cache owner showing his handiwork to his son!

(It is a very creative container.) Today I went after another of his caches and I'm the only person NOT walking a dog in these woods.

Didn't quite know how to not be noticed looking into evergreens for a micro so I just went for it and pretended to be invisible.

December 21, 2003

Ha! Try Geocaching while BLACK! I look suspicious where ever I go to hunt urban caches. I have no disguise, though I am considering making one. I have some boots and a hardhat and a clipboard to start with. Lately I just imagine myselt to be "invisible" and try to ignore onlookers. I have experienced only one encounter during 14 months of hunting caches. Fortunately I had logsheets and maps with me to explain my odd behavior. Most of you probably wonder where I'm coming from with this, but you have to live it to know it. It is like Driving While Black and Shopping While Black and etc.............

3.9k · December 21, 2003

good luck trying to look inconspicuous in an urban setting, haha! i always feel like I've got a neon glow about me that yells "weirdo!"

You do. I stuck it on your back when you weren't looking.

I use the cell phone trick, the tying the shoes trick, clip board w/ tape measure, I've even went with the measuring wheel and I acted like I'm a surveyor once. If all that fails I talk very loudly to my imaginary friend. If that doesn't work I expose myself, that NEVER fails!

December 21, 2003

Yesterday there was a couple of guys just ahead of me on the trail. I moved slower than I would have liked so they could stay out in front as It seemed out meeting point would be right about at the cache area. They moved away so I could go in for the find. Get an email today-turns out it was the cache owner showing his handiwork to his son!

I had one like that. Looking for a cache in a trailer park, and my GPS swore it was in the lot right next to me...then a car pulled up and two people got out. They unloaded groceries and went into the trailer in question. After two passes by the area to confirm that my GPS wanted me to go into their lot, I noticed the couple watching me from their trailer window.

I left and logged a DNF rather than poke around in their front garden right in front of their eyes. Got an email back the next day...it turns out they were the cache owners, it was in their lot, and I just was being too inconspicuous with my GPS, so they weren't sure I was geocaching.

This was all complicated by the fact that the cache was in the Netherlands, and I don't speak Dutch. Most Dutch people do speak English, but the thought of explaining geocaching to Nethergeomuggles daunted me too much to try.

December 21, 2003

Lately I just imagine myself to be "invisible" and try to ignore onlookers.

This is a little off topic, but that reminds me of when I was around three years old and I would be playing outside and my mom, (God, rest her soul), would step out the door, and call me. I would close my eyes and think if I couldn't see her, she couldn't see me.

2.3k · December 21, 2003

I put on a full bio-hazard suit with a large glass hood and respirator pack and use my GPSr like a detector, sweeping it around in large arcs...

People seem to leave the area very quickly when I do this....

Edit: Just noticed Johnny Stalkers has mentioned my idea.... Darn!!!

Edited December 21, 2003 by Doc-Dean

3k · December 21, 2003

I have always gone to great lengths to make sure I was not spotted while attempting caches placed in especially conspicuous locations; many times I put off snagging a cache until late at night/early in the morning so as not to compromise the cache location.

But I have discovered that this practice only encourages people to place ever smaller microcaches in ever more conspicuous locations. So for now on, if I want to seek a conspicuously placed cache, I'm not going to worry about being especially discreet. The purpose of the game is to find the cache, not avoid detection.

December 21, 2003

Having kids definitely helps... For urban hunts when alone I would try the "I lost my key / glasses / wallet / cellphone etc. etc.

Gives you a reason to be hunting through bushes, just hope you don't run into a good samaritan who offers to help you look.

One other one I tried while wandering throught bushes surrounding a city park in the middle of the day was.....

"Here boy!.. :whistle: " "Have you seen my dog... its a pit bull about this big :motion with your hand about 4 feet off the ground:. Oh yeah, if you do see him don't look directly at him, just stand very still and call me!"

That gets rid of most people pretty quick, just hope they don't call the cops. LOL

Scott

Edited December 21, 2003 by McKenzie Clan

1.1k · December 21, 2003

I put on a full bio-hazard suit with a large glass hood and respirator pack and use my GPSr like a detector, sweeping it around in large arcs...

People seem to leave the area very quickly when I do this....

Edit: Just noticed Johnny Stalkers has mentioned my idea.... Darn!!!

Mentioned YOUR idea eh? I was thinking I could point it up and down the muggle, look at the GPSr in shock and then back away slowly. Muttering.."that can't be right, just can't be. She'd have to be.....dead by now." and then RUNNING like heck.

I may do this anyway.

24.7k · December 21, 2003

Yesterday I did a cache right at a 5 way intersection. There is a triangle lot wedged in right at the intersection.

The only way to retrieve the cache is to get on your hands an knees and bend over reaching into a hole.

The cache says "Be Discrete" however there is nothing about a butt in the air that has ever slid under the radar. Anyone with siblings knows this.

1.1k · December 21, 2003

...there is nothing about a butt in the air that has ever slid under the radar. Anyone with siblings knows this.

OMG.

1k · December 21, 2003

Just use your GPSr as normal. Turn to your caching partner and say "The radiation levels are REALLY spiking here. Shouldn't we be wearing the suits?"

This would really work if you were caching alone.

December 21, 2003

I just ignore the looks from those around. It's amazing what you can get away with when you -act- like you belong (for official business, etc.). I used to walk directly into the operating room area at a local hospital without ever showing the -required- id badge. No one ever stopped me.

I really like the 'radiation' idea though.

December 21, 2003

Oops. I meant to explain that I -did- have a reason to be there, BTW... and NO, security didn't know who I was, either.

December 21, 2003

If anyone seems to be paying too much attention to you, just gesture with one hand (the one not holding the GPS) and say, in your best Alec "Obi-Wan" Guinness voice, "You don't need to know what I'm doing here. You never saw this film canister under this rock."

December 22, 2003

sometimes I just pick up trash like I'm a volunteer cleaning the park.

December 22, 2003

Ah, thats a good idea--CITO as a good disguise. Like it!

We really as new cachers don't really know what the protocol is about being inconspicuous. I need to look up a thread on that. A cache we visited, we were last to see it, and as new cachers, I feel terrible. I hope we weren't the ones to give it away

December 22, 2003

Cabbie, don't feel bad about the cache coming up missing. I've been the last to find on a few caches, maybe 3-4. I don't know for sure. Anyhow, I know that on most of them there was not a soul around to see me. So it happens.

Anyhow, I like the CITO idea. I also think it is interesting, like was mentioned, how much one can get away with as long as one acts like they are supposed to be there. One time when I was younger, before caching, I was in an area that I knew I wasn't supposed to be in. I was just interested to see what all was there. Sure enough when I was exiting the area, right next to a no trespassing sign no less, a police officer happened by. She slowed down, looked at me, I gave her a nod and a wave and she went about her way. I think that if I had acted suspiciously or looked concerned about the situation then it would have ended up with her stopping to question me at the very least.

Edited December 22, 2003 by Mr. 0

4k · December 22, 2003

Cabbie, don't feel bad about the cache coming up missing. I've been the last to find on a few caches, maybe 3-4. I don't know for sure. Anyhow, I know that on most of them there was not a soul around to see me. So it happens.

Anyhow, I like the CITO idea. I also think it is interesting, like was mentioned, how much one can get away with as long as one acts like they are supposed to be there. One time when I was younger, before caching, I was in an area that I knew I wasn't supposed to be in. I was just interested to see what all was there. Sure enough when I was exiting the area, right next to a no trespassing sign no less, a police officer happened by. She slowed down, looked at me, I gave her a nod and a wave and she went about her way. I think that if I had acted suspiciously or looked concerned about the situation then it would have ended up with her stopping to question me at the very least.

I tried this same approach at a bank the other day.....walked right into the vault like I was supposed to be there. Ended up funding all my caching trips for the next 30 years!

December 22, 2003

I don't mind being seen with my etrex in the park, but I've been on hunts where the cache is on or way to close to private property. I always think to my self that if I was the homeowner looking out at a man walking along my fence line acting strange I would call the cops. Technical I'm on public land but I could be entering someones comfort zone. I usually beg off quickly and log as a DNF. Personally, I would rather be in the woods somewhere and pass on the urban cache.

1.1k · December 22, 2003

Seems like alot of caches are in parks that border housing developments. In Cincinnati almost no one has privacy fences. Nothing like being 5 feet from someone backyard poking around in the bushes. I always wonder if the cache owner put it RIGHT behind his house just so he could watch and laugh...ahh good times.

December 22, 2003

I always wonder if the cache owner put it RIGHT behind his house just so he could watch and laugh...ahh good times.

I've wondered that too. I think if it's the cache owners house, some mention on the cache page would be a help.

4k · December 22, 2003

I always wonder if the cache owner put it RIGHT behind his house just so he could watch and laugh...ahh good times.

I've wondered that too. I think if it's the cache owners house, some mention on the cache page would be a help.

We have a cache in our area that is on the owner's property, and they even mention knocking on the door to say hello when you come to look for it.....of course, everyone's pretty friendly in Kansas!

9.2k · December 22, 2003

Going Caching in a Populated Area, as viewed from the perspective of Sparky Watts.

4k · December 22, 2003

Going Caching in a Populated Area, as viewed from the perspective of Sparky Watts.

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!! I wondered how long it would be until someone brought that up!

9.4k · December 22, 2003

...of course, everyone's pretty friendly in Kansas!

Everyone's pretty friendly, except for those Smurf Flamers...

1.2k · December 22, 2003

Put on a tin foil hat and keep saying "Beam me up. BEAM ME UP!" into the GPS. people will leave you alone.

December 22, 2003

Ha! Try Geocaching while BLACK!

I tried that, but I just couldn't pull it off. I look too much like a dorky white guy! Which I am! I also tried urban caching in the buff. But then the cops came and the whole thing turned out badly. I am finding some good spots to hide caches while doing my community service. BTW, don't try caching in forest areas in the buff as the thorns can be unforgiving.

9.4k · December 22, 2003

Ha! Try Geocaching while BLACK!

I tried that, but I just couldn't pull it off. I look too much like a dorky white guy! Which I am! I also tried urban caching in the buff. But then the cops came and the whole thing turned out badly. I am finding some good spots to hide caches while doing my community service. BTW, don't try caching in forest areas in the buff as the thorns can be unforgiving.

This guy finds a lot of caches while black

I just don't think he logs them anymore...

1k · December 22, 2003

I always wonder if the cache owner put it RIGHT behind his house just so he could watch and laugh...ahh good times.

I've wondered that too. I think if it's the cache owners house, some mention on the cache page would be a help.

You mean like this one?

Ask SaxSmurf about that one.

9.4k · December 22, 2003

I always wonder if the cache owner put it RIGHT behind his house just so he could watch and laugh...ahh good times.

I've wondered that too. I think if it's the cache owners house, some mention on the cache page would be a help.

You mean like this one?

Ask SaxSmurf about that one.

Scared the bejeezus out of the wife! We even knew this wacko watched cachers find his cache and he caught us by surprise (weekday, he should be at work, right?) It turns out he was the wife's Jr. High teacher, but we didn't know that at the time. If it wasn't for off-topic posts here, we might never have known.

4k · December 22, 2003

And to think, I have to drive 20 miles to find a populated area to cache in!

4.8k · December 22, 2003

It is hardly a populated area, but I hid a cache off of a trail yesterday and some people came up behind me while I was still bush wacking around. I had a bag with me, so I randomly started picking dried milkweed pods off a nearby bush. The people said "hi" and then told me that there was a huge bush with pods further down the trail. I used the same trick two more times when I was wandering around above the cache trying to make sure it couldn't be seen. Both times, the people told me about the bush down the trail. I figure it must be something for all those people to notice it. They also all seemed to think picking milkweed pods was completely normal!

December 22, 2003

I don't know if this has been mentioned or not, but one strategy I use is to go to a heavily populated cache site at a time when there aren't likely to be many people around (EARLY morning is good, Sundays are best, like between 6-8 am... that's when I do a lot of caches...) late Night caching would also be a way to avoid a lot of people, depending on the location, of course-- many urban micros have people around them all the time, so it's hard, I tend not to night cache because you tend to look more suspicious then and it's naturally more difficult in the dark... but it would make it more of a challenge!

2.3k · December 22, 2003

They also all seemed to think picking milkweed pods was completely normal!

That was my first thought....

Step away from the person collecting weeds...

December 22, 2003

If anyone seems to be paying too much attention to you, just gesture with one hand (the one not holding the GPS) and say, in your best Alec "Obi-Wan" Guinness voice, "You don't need to know what I'm doing here. You never saw this film canister under this rock."

LOL...good one! That will get anyone to hightail it out of there fast.

When I first started caching, I was really paranoid about how I was perceived in public. As my skills for locationg caches has improved, I usually find the cache quickly and exit the area before anyone is the wiser. I find that having patience is often the key to success with highly populated areas. Once I have an clear opening, I go gung ho and find and log the cache quickly.

If I ever feel uncomfortable in a certain area, I just leave. No cache is worth putting yourself in danger.

1.1k · December 22, 2003

If anyone seems to be paying too much attention to you, just gesture with one hand (the one not holding the GPS) and say, in your best Alec "Obi-Wan" Guinness voice, "You don't need to know what I'm doing here. You never saw this film canister under this rock."

LOL...good one! That will get anyone to hightail it out of there fast.

My luck I'd unknowingly do this in front of the Star Trek Fan clubs annual picnic and Vulcan Roast.

Headline:

Geocacher Mauled by trekkies after eronious Sci-Fi gesture.

Caching In Populated Areas

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