Being Incospicuous

[+KC Illini]

I've noticed in several cahce listing that you need to try to be inconsipicuous, avoid muggles, etc. I understand, you don't want to be caught in the act of pulling a large tupperware container out of a pile of rocks in plain view of someone.

 

My questions is what is acceptable to do when you do find a cache in a high traffic area and want to spend some time looking through the trades and / or log book. Like a cache that is less than 5 feet off of a hiking path in a busy park.

 

My thought is that it is OK to temporarily (less than 5 minutes) take the cache to a very nearby (less than 100 ft) resting spot, even if in plain view. Like a picnic table in a park or sitting on a nearby rock. Thumbing through a pile of stuff out in the open looks more natural than stooping in the woods and hurredly scanning through a cache and hiding from pasers by. I think it looks like I am just going through my personal belongings on a rest from a hike.

 

As long as you remove and hide the cache discreetly, am I correct in my thinking that it is OK to take some time out away from the immediate cache area to peruse or should the entire find, peruse, hide cycle be done under cover?

[+briansnat]

Sure its acceptable, in fact its the smart thing to do.

[+smullis]

The idea is to not alert muggles to the presence of the cache. As long as the don't see you uncovering/covering the cache while looking around all conspicuously like your in a 007 movie, you should be fine.

 

I typically carry a bunch of gear (camera gear, 1st aid, water, etc.) so I sit my gear all around the area where I'm going to look through the cache and make it look like I'm sorting through stuff in my backpack. This happened to me recently with a cache in a busy park. The muggles had no idea what I was doing and never saw me take it or put it back.

[+TotemLake]

You're on the right thought process. I routinely move away from the location of the cache hide to peruse through the box. The distance differs from cache to cache.

 

There's only one time I got caught pulling out a cache before I could do that and had a nice chat with two people about orienteering, letterboxing and geocaching and how they're kind of related with each other, and then the discussion turned to some of the animal species they've been monitoring at the park.

 

Generally, you don't want the location "seen" so moving away to look through the box is a good thing.

[+BlueDeuce]

As long as you remove and hide the cache discreetly, am I correct in my thinking that it is OK to take some time out away from the immediate cache area to peruse or should the entire find, peruse, hide cycle be done under cover?

Yep, perfectly fine.

 

Sometimes, I'll set up a camera on a tripod. That gives me a reason for standing off trail (shhhh, I'm nature photographer, please be very quite), the gps in my hand is a light meter and the open container at my feet is my equipment.

 

Obviously you can't always carry one around, but it can be useful!

[+tirediron]

What they said...

[+The Leprechauns]

Stealth is a matter of practice. Key secrets:

1. Don't look like you are a suspicious person by making furtive glances. Be deliberate and confident.

2. In high traffic areas, once you spot the cache, try to walk by, grab it and move away all in one quick action - do not linger. Log it at a safe distance.

 

Last weekend at a timed event, thirty teams dashed around a small town in Ohio looking for 20 caches, many of them being micros. At one point, there were three teams -- about 15 people -- all looking for a micro that had been hidden near the front entrance to a church. We had all been searching for a good 15 minutes when I was lucky enough to be the person who first spotted the cache. I put it in my pocket, whispered to my team mates that I had it, and told them to create a diversion. I then slipped around the side of the building, signed the log, and copied down the clue information for the contest. By the time I returned, my absence had been noticed, so I palmed off the cache to another team member. I pretended to re-hide the cache in the wrong location while my teammate quickly left it off in the correct hiding spot. Our team then quietly left the area and went to the next cache, leaving the remaining ten searchers in the dust.

 

When you can retrieve and replace a micro right under the noses of that many geocachers who *know* what you're doing, and not get caught, you've mastered stealth.

[Agent N.]

when I went letterboxing for the first time someone was haveing a wedding next door to the LB so I droped a pen in the bush ware it was so I could look for it and if anyone asked I would say "oh I droped my pen" and then "find" it and show them its a classic

[+rusty_tlc]

I usually move far enough away that I can still see the cache location. That way if another cacher happens by I can save them from a fruitless search.

My worst fear is that muggles will set up thier picnic right next to the cache location while I'm doing my log signing thing!

 

Edit: Bigfingers

Edited September 16, 2004 by rusty_tlc

[+SixDogTeam]

Slowly wave your hand in an arc in front of you and say: "You don't see anybody here". They should respond by saying "We don't see anybody here". May the Force be with you.

[Jeremy]

Carry a big black trash bag and pick up trash around the cache (or if there is none, simulate). When you find the cache, grab it and purposefully walk some distance away.

 

I also move the cache to another location. Most of the time people just think you're stopping to rest or have lunch, since most of the containers are Rubbermaid anyway

[+Team Perks]

Well I'm not one to disagree with what Jeremy said!

 

My two cents: Even if nobody is around when you find the cache, there's no guarantee that the area will stay empty. One time I had just removed a cache and taken it to my car (in a completely deserted parking lot) to sign the log, when a landscaping crew made a surprise attack on the shrubbery the cache was hidden in. Had I been there, I'd have been totally busted.

 

The down side: If muggles come in and you're far from the cache site, replacement can be a problem. In the case I mentioned above, I actually had to carry the cache around in my car for the next several hours until I could get back and replace it properly.

[+WalruZ]

I don't consider the common comment, "I've raised the difficulty level for this cache because it's a well trafficed area" to make any sense. Heck, it's not my cache. If you want to leave it somewhere where people will see me searching, that's your problem. I'll do what I can to be reasonably circumspect, and yes, I examine regulars somewhere other than the cache site, but let's get real - if you jam a film canister behind a pipe on a busy downtown street, I'm going to walk up to it, take it out, sign the log and put it back. If I get seen by someone walking down the other side of the street, too bad.

[+briansnat]

One very effective method is to wet your pants and lay on the ground near the cache. People will ignore you and you can make the grab.

[+CompuCash]

One very effective method is to wet your pants and lay on the ground near the cache. People will ignore you and you can make the grab.

is that the voice of experience?

[+briansnat]

One very effective method is to wet your pants and lay on the ground near the cache. People will ignore you and you can make the grab.

is that the voice of experience?

Open a can of beef vegetable soup and spill it next to you for added effect.

[+The Jester]

I'm not sure the pink dress will help that scenerio...

[+KG7JE]

That works great for some caches. Then there are the ones where you sit down on the bench, reach under the table, remove magneticlly held box. Why go anyplace further? You are already sitting at a table. Probably already have some of your stuff strewn around anyway. Just proceed to take notes (sign log), etc. Reach underneath to scratch leg and replace cache. Get up a few minutes later, gather your things and move over to the next table where the real cache is (sigh -- it was a multi).

[+CompuCash]

One very effective method is to wet your pants and lay on the ground near the cache. People will ignore you and you can make the grab.

is that the voice of experience?

Open a can of beef vegetable soup and spill it next to you for added effect.

ewe.... you're baaahhhd!

[+CompuCash]

I'm not sure the pink dress will help that scenerio...

that's not a dress - thats a

 

toto

tootoo

tuetue

tewtew

twotwo

 

2-2

 

not that it matters much for your note - just thought I'd toss it in -

[+Smitherington]

One thing to be careful about when you move away from the cache spot is putting it back where it was. Sometimes there are several possible locations. When I come back I want to know which spot I took it from. Mark it with sticks or something.

 

The CITO idea that Jeremy mentioned works wonderfully. I sometimes stuff a plastic bag or two (grocery trip, Xmart, etc.) into my back pocket and pull one out and start filling it up. Great cover.

[+Divine]

I don't consider the common comment, "I've raised the difficulty level for this cache because it's a well trafficed area" to make any sense.  Heck, it's not my cache.  If you want to leave it somewhere where people will see me searching, that's your problem.  I'll do what I can to be reasonably circumspect, and yes, I examine regulars somewhere other than the cache site, but let's get real - if you jam a film canister behind a pipe on a busy downtown street, I'm going to walk up to it, take it out, sign the log and put it back.  If I get seen by someone walking down the other side of the street, too bad.

I've had similar thoughts. What's problematic with this kind of caches is that if you fail to distract the muggles and somebody actually sees what you're doing, you're not the one to suffer from that failure if the cache disappears. It's the next hunter and most likely the owner too, who has to go place a new container. The worst case scenario is a cacher who doesn't give a flying fudge about if people see him/her grabbing/replacing the cache. If there are problems afterwards, it's not his/hers. That's one of the reasons I'm not that fond of urban micros.

 

That said, some of the coolest caches I've found have been explicitly urban micros, which have demanded some evasive maneuvers, so I don't hate them all, and I acknowledge the need for their existence too. I also use all kinds of distractive techniques, some of which have already mentioned in this thread too. I've yet to persuade my wife to flash some meters off the cache so I could grab the container.

 

So in no way I'm gonna be like the worst case scenario I described above, but even when I have used all kinds of distractions, I have been burned.

[+YuccaPatrol]

My plan for when someone asks me what I am doing rooting around in there is to act completely nuts. Since I have gone completely nuts in the past, I have some good material to use.

 

Without explaining the truth about geocaching, I think I can get people to leave me alone simply by telling them that the military satellites are telling me to look for secret things. . .

[+fly46]

I'm not sure the pink dress will help that scenerio... 

that's not a dress - thats a

 

toto

tootoo

tuetue

tewtew

twotwo

 

2-2

 

not that it matters much for your note - just thought I'd toss it in -

And in all those spellings, ewe missed the correct won! Eye Dew Sew hope ewe did that on purpose!

 

And actually, I think that getup would add to the effect... Carry around a beer bottle, people will think you're smashed and stay away from you.

 

Seriously, though, don't act conspicuous and chances are that people will ignore you. Go with another person and then you can make up good excuses that apply.

 

We once did one at a trashcan where we pulled up in two vehicles and discovered someone trying to put their boat in the lake. I walked up to the window of the other car, asked for trash, tossed and intentionally missed with a bottle. Another person tied his shoe to retrieve the cache from under the garbage can, and then we chatted for a few minutes, he reached down to return the cache and pick up the bottle and then threw it away and off we went.

 

Two people work great for paper boxes, too. One of us leaned on the box as the other one read headlines and decided not to buy a paper. Then if there are muggles you say "Hey your fly is down" if someone comes and the person pretends to zip his/her fly while grabbing or returning the cache. Lower places could be tie your shoe.

 

 

 

Edited to add my favorite story thus far..

 

I hosted an event cache last month and one of the people there was talking about how someone caught her trying to find a cache, so she explained to them how her 'bugometer' worked.... She moved her GPSr from tree to tree showing them how the cord number changed and explained that the number was an accurate count of how many bugs were hidden on the tree. He believed her and walked away, she grabbed the cache.

Edited September 17, 2004 by fly46

[+as77]

The hardest part is not to grab the cache and sign the log. When you already know where the cache is then you are out of there in a few minutes, no problem.

 

The real hard part is when you are still searching for the cache. How can you be not suspicious/wierd/crazy-looking when you are crawling under park benches, turning up stones, peeking in various cracks, sticking your hand into trees, looking high, looking low, etc. for 40 minutes in a city park with lots of people around?

[+planetrobert]

I also move the cache to another location.

hide it like you found it... $^&$% newbies

 

when will they ever learn

 

spelling

Edited September 18, 2004 by ralann

[+Right Wing Wacko]

Sometimes the best way to hide is right out in the open.

 

Wear an Orange Vest like a construction worker, surveyer etc would wear. Carry a clipboard, with the cache page on it. You will look like you belong there!