— geocaching —

12 Things Only Geocachers Do | The Geocaching Junkie

March 8, 2016
Share
Tweet
Pin

1. Point out the location of geocaches as they pass them in a car

My long-suffering muggle family and friends might humour me for the first few times I declare ‘there’s a cache just over there on that railings,’ almost taking their eye out with the sudden point of my finger, accompanied by an air of triumph, as if I have just pointed out an A-List celebrity getting out of a Range Rover. Much eye-rolling will ensue after the fourth or fifth GZ declaration.

2. Linger for an unreasonable amount of time in the Tupperware aisle of the supermarket

You know it’s time to go when the store manager approaches you and whispers in a soothing tone, “I’m sorry miss but we’re closing”, ever so gently ushering you towards the car. It’s definitely a problem if you’re in a 24 hour supermarket. But look at all the Lock & Locks! So pretty….

Containers

3. Give directions to other geocachers using caches as points of reference

“Turn left after Art Deco Dublin: Archer’s Garage and then it’s around the corner on the right after Kristian’s Cache. If you get to the Merrion Square cache, you’ve gone too far.” It really is the most effective way to give directions to a fellow geocacher. That, or GPS coordinates 😉

YMg6gH1457082097

4. Run out the door wearing pyjamas to be the first to write on a piece of paper

First of all, plenty of people now leave the house wearing pyjamas. Personally, I prefer to change out of the clothes I wear in bed before leaving the house, but all rules and sense of dignity go out the window when there is a blank logbook crying out for your geocaching username.

FTF.jpeg

5. Care less about whether their vacation hotel is close to the beach/restaurants/shops and more about how many geocaches there are in the area

“Honey, I found a great deal on this 5 star hotel right on the beach.” “Ok, let me check it out.” Immediately opens geocaching map and sees a tumbleweed rolling across the screen but no geocaches. “No…. This isn’t right at all….I think we can find a better deal somewhere else.”

EJTq351457082342.jpg

6. Randomly check trees/guardrails/lamp post skirts just in case there’s a cache hidden there

Nothing to do while your muggle half is shopping? Why not check out this railing outside just in case there’s an archived/not yet published nano stuck on it?

7. Not know the actual real names of many people they count as friends

Muggles might think it’s a bit odd but it’s really not. What’s more odd is when you hear geocachers’ real names. “Dave? Who’s Dave? Oh, you mean FrostyMcFruitLoops! Yes, we’re very good friends.”

8. Put the prefix ‘geo’ on far too many words

“Do you have a pen?” “I have this geopen.” “Where are you going on vacation this year?” “We’re going on a geovacation to Portugal.” Where there’s a word, there’s a ‘geo’ to be added to it.

0KmlAC1457080063

9. Shout at the TV “there’s a cache there!” when you see a familiar GZ

Refer to initial humouring and subsequent eye-rolling in number 1 above.

10. Set up elaborate photo shoots for metal dog tags attached to keyrings/soft toys/plastic figurines

Many of us have shed a tear for a travel bug we have watched leave home only to never return home again, condemned to the bottom of someone’s geobag forever. So, when we find someone else’s bug that wants to be photographed in specific locations or with specific items, we are only too happy to oblige. Completely normal behaviour and don’t let any muggle tell you otherwise.

11. Find pens/pencils all over the house and car, as well as in the pockets of every coat and bag

The number one rule of geocaching is to sign the logbook. To do this, you need a writing implement. Best to hide hundreds of them absolutely everywhere “just in case”.

bag contents

12. Buy particular food brands just for the container

Altoids? No, I actually hate the taste of them. Empties entire contents in to the bin and goes off in search of a logsheet and some magnets.

 

Can you think of anything else geocachers do that muggles don’t? Let me know in the comments!

Happy caching!

Sarah

© 2016 | Sarah Murphy | All Rights Reserved

 

Share
Tweet
Pin

118 thoughts on “12 Things Only Geocachers Do | The Geocaching Junkie”

  2. Pretend to talk into their mobile when it’s really a GPS just because muggles are passing GZ and you’re still not any closer to finding the cache!

    Crawling through shrubs in public parks arousing suspicion among muggles.

  4. I would also add:
    #13 – sees sticks and leaves laying around the yard and thinks they would be good camo.
    #14 – has a stock pile of camo duct tape.
    #15 – “flips off” railway cars which are generally points of interest in public parks (tanks too).
    #16 – has a caching friend whose non-caching significant other is blessed with an uncanny ability to find tricky hides.

    1. Or in my case, I just take along my son who is an actual photographer. No more having to explain what we’re in weird places. He’s a photographer and I’m not letting my 15 yr old son go to strange places by himself. Works out great.

      ***LilVyper***

  8. Goes and finds a couple of caches at midnight on the way home from a family Christmas dinner because “hopefully there won’t be too many muggles around”
    Lurks around in grotty alleys/at the sides of roads under bridges in the wee small hours of the morning
    Stops on the way home from a quilting/etc meeting and walks up a hill and climbs a tree in the dark, while it is raining – because the listing said there was a trackable in there and you want one to take to and upcoming event 🙂

  10. Tying shoelaces 5 times in front of a park bench (and definitely not sitting on the bench), or “accidentally” dropping a pen or a coin on the ground.

    Transforming the GPS into fancy technical equipment for “measuring magnetic fields” or “locating the source of electrostatic noise” at grey power boxes in the street.

    Posing for an imaginary photographer 200 metres away, just to explain the awkward position standing on the toetips at a lamppost or hanging in a roadsign.

    “Shooting artistic photos” from silly underbridge angles or from behind a mailbox – until the mugglers finally leave the place.

    Finding the most boring answer to a curious kindergarden group passing by: “Oh, you mean up here in the tree? I’m studying the life of aphids.”

    Parking the car at the road in the country side in the middle of absolutely nowhere and open stormy fields, just to visit that small white 12.2 km mark stick.

  11. When a pair of high heeled shoes has no interest in the shoe store and you just aim towards the shelves containing walking boots and shoes.

    When only heavy rain can stop you from going outdoor and when muggles tells you it has been a cold and awful summer you look at them and says” What! It was lovely weather – no rain!”

    When you visit a new town as Dublin or London and only sees the places where a cache is hiding. Last I visited London I went to several places where Jack the Ripper killed his victims. Not the usual sightseeings I think.

    By the way I think I can relate to at least 10 of your 12 things.

    And I’m Hap.dk part of Jimbo+Hap.dk from Denmark

  12. Go out to get a cache at lunchtime and come back with sticks and leaves in your hair, dirty and dishevelled. Happy yes, but everyone at work cannot guess what you have been up to.

    2. Actually, since people at work know about my caching “habit”, they ALL know why I come back from lunch looking that way!

  14. Oh what fun. I’m new to caching but not so new that I don’t see the truth in all your points.

    Best wishes from Nova Scotia

    “Pad_foot”

    1. Thanks for your comments and welcome to the wonderful world of geocaching. Check out my Geocaching 101 section for tips and feel free to ask me anything 🙂

  15. LOVE this post–and the comments are phenomenal! I have these moments when I describe geocaching and people give me this look like “Sure, there are really hidden boxes all over the place that I’ve never seen” and then walk quickly away to someone who looks saner!

  16. Talk about distracted driving! Think “That’d be a great place to hide a cache.” As I’m driving down the road.

    I once drove from Washington to Alaska with a non-cacher . Uh, I have to go to the bathroom in 1.34 miles:-)

  18. I actually have a cache log on one of my caches. “joking about there being a cache under every light pole. Opened this one at random. Found a cache”

  19. When taking a vacation, choose a location that : a) is virgin territory for counties/DeLorme squares, b0 map out a route that will zigzag through as many new states, counties and Delorme grids as possible doubling the length the trip, c) has a challenge cache power run for most of which you have already qualified or d) is a power run mecca.

  20. OOPs!, chubby nubs at work here. bo should be b) and c) should read “has a challenge cache power run most of which you have already qualified for. (should have reread before hitting send.

  22. meet their future wife at a geowoodstock, ask her to marry me at the end of a mega event in front of over 2500 fellow geocachers, make the wedding a geoevent while making my dogs (who both have geonicks – myheine and 2themaxx,) the best geomen….and lest i forget, the wedding ceremony was performed by a fellow geocacher !

  25. As you drive by, you comment “That would be a good place for a cache.”
    And
    You keep a Baggie of geo goodies in each car.

  28. I admit I got given a brand new handbag once that I thought was hideous. The first thing I did was extract the little sachet of silica gel so I could use it to keep a log book dry for longer. I then gave the bag to charity and sent a thank you letter to the giver. “I will put this to great use”, referring, of course, to the silica gel.

  30. Pointing out every bird house you see and say: oh look a cache! Just for fun because most bird house are way too high ?

  33. Whenever I’m going somewhere I’ve never been before I check to see what caches are in the area. When my boss told me our office was moving the first thing I checked was what caches were nearby!
    And yes, I related to all of your list!i

  34. I’ve just come here from @gogeocaching posting the link on Twitter. My wife and I have just cracked up! How very, very true. We can say yes to all but one of them. These are funny. We planned our non-caching honeymoon to Croatia last year around some really cool caches (but we weren’t going to cache…well except in the countries that bordered Croatia and the most favourite ones and any we happened to pass!!!)

    I’m a coach for young people in schools. Last week after seeing one of them, as I was finishing typing up my notes on my ipad I ended the note, to myself, with TFTC…
    …idiot

  35. 1. Ask neighbors of a large senior community to leave empty mid-to-large sized, screw-top medication bottles in my newspaper box.

    2. Figure out how to stop neighbors from leaving empty mid-to-large sized, screw-top medication bottles in my newspaper box.

    3. Take cartons of cammo-taped mid-to-large sized, screw-top medication bottles to Geocaching Event for prizes.

    4. Throw cartons of cammo-taped, mid-to-large sized, screw-top medication bottles into trash bin after Geocaching Events.

  36. Explaining to muggles that you are helping to improve the Global Positioning System by conducting tests on finding test objects previously placed by other testers and that they can expect to see more people like myself because we have to test every type of device and make adjustments from time to time.

  37. When you’re in search of a geocache and muggles are walking by, you pretend that your trying to figure out what type of tree/plant that is.

  41. …this read has me doubled over in hysterics! I would add batteries to #11. Not long ago a bunch of cars were broken into in our area. I knew something was wrong the second I walked out the door to find dozens of AA batteries tossed all over my lawn (just about every brand out there…you know how you need a few sets of backups just in case the original few sets of backups die early?!?!!!) lol

  42. My granddaughter was looking on a bank in a country lane in Devon for a cache , when a tracter stopped and turned in to the gate next to where she was looking , the drivers asked her if she wasok and what was she doing , she politly replied “I am looking for a time box that I buried here many years ago I want to add things to it ” the two men said there is nothing here as this ground was flat last year and we dug it over and built up the bank , but my granddaughter said it must be here as I put it here myselve . The men started to help her look , we were sat in the car waitong for her wondering what she was going to say next and laughing our heads off ,.in the end the men said , oh I think we will leave you to it .

    It was even funnier when we realized we were in the wronge lane .

  46. My daughter is a pro at #6. She has an eye for them and has found them on random trips with friends. We have also been known to do #10 also. Hey, if someone’s going to go to the trouble of putting a travel bug in there…

  48. While searching for a geocache off a walking trail, I had my young son, then age 4, pretend he was going to go pee in the woods, so muggles would stop watching us and pass by, so we could get the cache.

  53. And my personal favorite…having to sheepishly explain to my mate how I twisted my ankle (hit my head/walked into a branch,got muddy all the way up to my knee) because I was typing a “Found it!” log on my phone and didn’t see the gopher hole (tree/puddle/pedestrian)

    🙂

  57. Doctor says as, he prepares to set a broken wrist, “Tell me again why someone your age was in the woods looking for tupperware”

  58. Have a stash of potential items to leave in exchange of the treasure you might nab from a cache. Marbles, small action figures, and small charms come to mind…

  59. Lift random lamp post skirts looking for caches.
    Hang out in the party section of the dollar stores looking at all the potential swag items.
    Tell other parents how they should check out geocaching for their kids, gets them out of the
    house and some exercise.

  60. Woohoo!! Geocaching is so cool… It makes us different persons and with strange habits hahaha

    PS. Portugal is an excelent country to visit, you can have a great geovacation in Portugal, there´s a lot of funny caches to find…

      1. Portugal is a beautiful country, there are a lot of beautiful places to visit, big cities like Porto and Lisbon, but some rural places which are so so beautiful and they have caches too.

        1. I was once in the Algarve many years ago, pre- caching but I will endeavour to see more of what look likes a beautiful country 🙂

      2. If you plan carefully, you can get Portugal, Spain, Gibraltar and Morocco in one trip. (There are day excursions to North Africa from Spain).

  61. Then there is the situation where 2 geocachers start talking in a ‘business’ meeting about their latest finds and completely confusing everyone else!

  63. Yes all apply to us, great hobby, used to run out the door with my daughter for first time finds, but best one we ever got was a first time find in Norway, that was with my husband, great place to cache in Norway, best thing is they are set by local people, so always great places of interest

  64. Looking at a area and thinking “That would be a great spot fior a Cache !” And checking to see if there is one there.

  65. What Only Geocachers Do: When suddenly approached by a muggle they pretend that they are looking for a „lost“ key. How embarrassing when the muggle joins you searching. But how nice that you have met a helpful person.

  66. Guilty! 10 out of 12 (if you don’t count gym trousers for no. 4)!

    However one to add to your list:
    Give sophisticated explanation of a certain rock type to an astound muggle, cause you know that from a previous Earthcache.

  68. Agree to drive for summer vacation from MD to UT and back because you have bartered for a stop to get Mingo and at least one cache in every state you drive through!

  70. As an elementary Secretary, you claim all leftover trinket incentive prizes from the recent fundraiser as well as the unclaimed lost and found box at the end of the school year for the gallon plastic jug of swag in the back of my van.

  71. I carry a baggie full of magnetic micros around in my coat (just in case I find a good spot). I dropped one accidentally at work and the boss thought it was someone’s secret cocain container until he opened it and found the tiny log inside. So then I had to explain what geocaching was. Now I’m that weird employee that geocaches

      1. Will see after next weeks food shopping… There is a possibility malnourishment may be a side effect of snazzy new cache containers.

  73. Ignore a million emails that come through but the minute you get one that says Geocaching you drop everything to open it and read it’s contents.

  75. Stopping to pick up random pieces of driftwood/small logs along the road when walking the dog, to see if they would make good ‘natural’ caches.

  76. Coming home from ‘running errands’ looking like I’ve wrestled a cat and lost, from looking for a geocache that required some bushwacking.

  78. Carry a clipboard and pretend you’re actually inspecting the trees, bridge, park bench or lamppost when a muggle walks by.

Leave a Reply to Sarah Cancel reply