Some observations about geocaching and I am going to go geocaching again today.

[+Team_Vod]

Based on my pleasant experience of gecaching this past Sunday I am going to go out and do so again today. Only today I am going to drive, instead of ride my bike, to the cache sites in my city, park and then walk to where they are to locate them. There is public parking within a city block or less of the cache sites I have picked out for today.

 

One observation I noticed is when I did this on my bike the past Sunday gecaching can be very time consuming. I left my house between 1:30 and 2:00 pm CST and did not return until after 5:00 pm CST. Round trip I rode about 8.12 miles, my ride time was about 1 hour and 22 min. The rest of the time was spent geocaching. I am not complaining but I am going to see if driving to the cache sites will take less time. Call it testing a theory. I would rather ride my bike but today the weather is not as nice and after my commute to work yesterday on my bike in the strong cool wind I need a break. Really sore muscles.

 

Another observation is how much battery power the geocache app uses on my android smartphone. I do run two other apps at the same time when I ride bike. One is called Map My Ride. It is literally my bike computer for speed, distance and elevation, etc. The other is Rhapsody. I have my phone connected to an Altec Lansing bluetooth speaker to listen to my tunes. With these three apps running, and even with a external battery connected to my phone to help the battery last longer I almost completely drained all the battery power I had.

 

I also noticed how non-geocachers look at me when I am searching for a cache. I think they are called muggles. I assume that is from the Harry Potter series and means one who does not participate in the same activity. Most of them said hi or hello to which I responded the same. One even asked if I was shooting photos. I told him I am geocaching, to which he stated "cool, have fun treasure hunting". With one group I waited until they were gone before I grabbed the cache to open it. I found it, knew where it was but they looked like they would have grabbed it after I left and may have done something illicit with the container. They are part of the city transient population and this was not that far from the homeless shelter. They were nice and we said hello to one another but I did not want to take any chances on someone other than a geocacher finding the container.

[+TeamRabbitRun]

Based on my pleasant experience of gecaching this past Sunday I am going to go out and do so again today. Only today I am going to drive, instead of ride my bike, to the cache sites in my city, park and then walk to where they are to locate them. There is public parking within a city block or less of the cache sites I have picked out for today.

 

One observation I noticed is when I did this on my bike the past Sunday gecaching can be very time consuming. I left my house between 1:30 and 2:00 pm CST and did not return until after 5:00 pm CST. Round trip I rode about 8.12 miles, my ride time was about 1 hour and 22 min. The rest of the time was spent geocaching. I am not complaining but I am going to see if driving to the cache sites will take less time. Call it testing a theory. I would rather ride my bike but today the weather is not as nice and after my commute to work yesterday on my bike in the strong cool wind I need a break. Really sore muscles.

 

Another observation is how much battery power the geocache app uses on my android smartphone. I do run two other apps at the same time when I ride bike. One is called Map My Ride. It is literally my bike computer for speed, distance and elevation, etc. The other is Rhapsody. I have my phone connected to an Altec Lansing bluetooth speaker to listen to my tunes. With these three apps running, and even with a external battery connected to my phone to help the battery last longer I almost completely drained all the battery power I had.

 

I also noticed how non-geocachers look at me when I am searching for a cache. I think they are called muggles. I assume that is from the Harry Potter series and means one who does not participate in the same activity. Most of them said hi or hello to which I responded the same. One even asked if I was shooting photos. I told him I am geocaching, to which he stated "cool, have fun treasure hunting". With one group I waited until they were gone before I grabbed the cache to open it. I found it, knew where it was but they looked like they would have grabbed it after I left and may have done something illicit with the container. They are part of the city transient population and this was not that far from the homeless shelter. They were nice and we said hello to one another but I did not want to take any chances on someone other than a geocacher finding the container.

 

Stop the Rhapsody app and turn off your Bluetooth radio. That transmitter's the bulk of what's eating your power. Enjoy the outdoors without bringing the 'indoors' with you!

 

The bike app may be doing something, too.

 

'Location Services' runs a receiver only, so it probably doesn't eat much, but you could always switch it off when you're not ACTIVELY following a trail. I find that I let my gpsr get me close, then I put it away and have fun searching. Shut down LocSvcs when you're right there.

 

If you're out in the woods with lousy cell coverage, go into 'airplane mode' to shut off your phone radio - you won't get any calls, but with a lousy signal your phone will run itself into the ground constantly 'pinging' for a tower.

 

These are some things you can do to extend your battery life.

 

Please come back to this thread and let us know if any of it works.

 

Cache on!

[+Team_Vod]

First I am geocache hunting in my city, an urban environment, not in the woods or country side. Second when I stop and park the bike I do pause Rhapsody but keep the Bluetooth turned on. I keep the Map My Ride app running because it tracks my route when I am walking along with when I am riding.

 

I do not ride without my tunes, especially in an urban environment.

[+Pork King]

You could try carrying a small powercell or recharging device with you. I have a Galaxy S6 Active, which has an awesome battery life, but even after a little while caching and playing tunes, the battery level drops a lot. If I'm going out for more than a quick cache or two, I forgo the phone app and use my dedicated GPS receiver, though I understand that may not be an option for some.

 

Now, I don't do very much urban caching, so I don't get the luxury of being able to ride a bike to very many caches (unless I load the bike up, drive out to an area, then ride my mountain bike to the cache), but lots of people find the extra exercise that Geocaching affords them to be a perk. Then again, many like to just drive from cache to cache.

 

As far as the muggles, (I prefer "non-geocacher". "muggle" just sounds...silly) I usually pay them no attention. I would be willing to bet that you are more aware of them watching you then they are aware that they are watching you. Just go about your business like you're supposed to be there, and you'll blend right in.

 

Happy caching!

[+Team_Vod]

I do use three external power cells and all three were expended. I do tend to look like I belong there, but I have a feeling when I am kneeling behind a bench, not sitting on it, and reaching under the frame searching for and removing something tends to get the attention of others. I am not going to worry about it unless a police officer asks what I am doing.

 

In fact I have a question about that. When searching for a cache on public property, put there with the permission of the city or governing body of the property have the police ever stopped and inquired as to what you are doing? To what extent? Did they go as far as asking for your ID, running your plate number? If you had a box or container of cache items did they ask if they could search it? What did you do? Did you comply or decline to allow them to do so?

[+niraD]

When searching for a cache on public property, put there with the permission of the city or governing body of the property have the police ever stopped and inquired as to what you are doing? To what extent?

I've had a few rangers ask me if everything was all right. I've just told them that everything's fine, and that I'm just geocaching.

 

Did they go as far as asking for your ID, running your plate number? If you had a box or container of cache items did they ask if they could search it? What did you do? Did you comply or decline to allow them to do so?

I've never had an encounter go that far. But I wouldn't hide what I'm doing from rangers, police, sheriffs, etc.

[+noncentric]

In regards to 'muggles' - I generally try to avoid searching for a cache if there are muggles around, especially younger ones. On trails, I'll just wait for people to walk past and be out of sight. In urban environments, I'll usually avoid these areas during busy times and come back to them on weekends and/or evenings.

 

I don't try to hide my activity because of concerns about being 'allowed' or not, but instead because muggles might become curious and remove/destroy the caches. I'll sometimes search for the caches with muggles in sight, but not make the grab or replace the cache until no one's looking. Once I have the cache in hand, then I don't worry about muggles seeing me signing a piece of paper or looking through a cache container. My main concern is with muggles knowing the hiding spot and then messing with the cache later.

[+Crow-T-Robot]

I do use three external power cells and all three were expended. I do tend to look like I belong there, but I have a feeling when I am kneeling behind a bench, not sitting on it, and reaching under the frame searching for and removing something tends to get the attention of others. I am not going to worry about it unless a police officer asks what I am doing.

 

In fact I have a question about that. When searching for a cache on public property, put there with the permission of the city or governing body of the property have the police ever stopped and inquired as to what you are doing? To what extent? Did they go as far as asking for your ID, running your plate number? If you had a box or container of cache items did they ask if they could search it? What did you do? Did you comply or decline to allow them to do so?

 

By external power cells, I assume you mean portable chargers? You used up three of those in six hours plus your phone battery? Something seems way off with that. You shouldn't be using up that kind of power even if you have twice as many apps running. I go out for 8-10 hour hikes and let my geocaching app run in the background, plus running MapMyWalk, plus music/podcasts and never put it in airplane mode. I have one of those beast sized portable chargers that I carry with me and occasionally have to recharge my phone, but only because I don't like it to fall below 40% or so. If I didn't recharge it, I'd probably still have some juice left by the time I got back home.

 

As for police encounters, I've had more than a few while caching in urban environments, especially after dark. The most memorable was when I was just returning to my vehicle and a couple of police cars came roaring up behind my parked car and one officer informed me that he had his gun out of his holster and to not make any sudden moves. As it turns out, they were in the area because of an armed robbery and thought I might be a suspect.

 

Another time, a police officer stopped when I was searching for a multicache near a river under a large span bridge. She stopped because they had issues with vandalism. I had just found WP1 and had gotten the info for the final when she pulled up. So, I went over, grabbed WP1 and played her the file (it was an audio clue). She thought it was very cool and asked me for information on how to get started.

 

That's how almost all police encounters I've had have gone. If the police weren't at least curious, they were benign about it and told me to stay safe.

[+justintim1999]

Isn't it great you can enjoy an activity so much you loose track of time.

[+Pork King]

...

In fact I have a question about that. When searching for a cache on public property, put there with the permission of the city or governing body of the property have the police ever stopped and inquired as to what you are doing? To what extent? Did they go as far as asking for your ID, running your plate number? If you had a box or container of cache items did they ask if they could search it? What did you do? Did you comply or decline to allow them to do so?

 

The Geocache Guidelines do state the the hider must obtain permission before placing the cache, but keep in mind that not all of them tell the truth. If it's an area that you don't think you should be snooping around, use common sense and don't.

 

I was out late one night grabbing a couple of new caching in a nearby town. Cops stopped us and asked what we were up to. When we explained (protip: ALWAYS tell the truth), they rolled their eyes and drove on.

 

I've been stopped by a park ranger accusing us of "ginsing hunting" on park property.

 

I've heard tell of policemen rolling up on geocachers just to watch them hunt for a cache the cops knew was there.

[+The A-Team]

When searching for a cache on public property, put there with the permission of the city or governing body of the property have the police ever stopped and inquired as to what you are doing? To what extent? Did they go as far as asking for your ID, running your plate number? If you had a box or container of cache items did they ask if they could search it? What did you do? Did you comply or decline to allow them to do so?

Always comply with law enforcement or security services and be honest. If challenged by anyone while caching, regardless of whether it's a LEO or a civilian, just say that you're geocaching and usually the response you'll get is something along the lines of "oh, that's nice" or "oh, I've heard of that before" and that'll be the end of it. Geocaching isn't illegal, so there's no need to act like you're doing anything wrong.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

When searching for a cache on public property, put there with the permission of the city or governing body of the property have the police ever stopped and inquired as to what you are doing? To what extent? Did they go as far as asking for your ID, running your plate number? If you had a box or container of cache items did they ask if they could search it? What did you do? Did you comply or decline to allow them to do so?

Always comply with law enforcement or security services and be honest. If challenged by anyone while caching, regardless of whether it's a LEO or a civilian, just say that you're geocaching and usually the response you'll get is something along the lines of "oh, that's nice" or "oh, I've heard of that before" and that'll be the end of it. Geocaching isn't illegal, so there's no need to act like you're doing anything wrong.

I know what you mean but being " challenged by a civilian " might make me tell them to mind their own business. You're right re the LEO.

[+The A-Team]

Always comply with law enforcement or security services and be honest. If challenged by anyone while caching, regardless of whether it's a LEO or a civilian, just say that you're geocaching and usually the response you'll get is something along the lines of "oh, that's nice" or "oh, I've heard of that before" and that'll be the end of it. Geocaching isn't illegal, so there's no need to act like you're doing anything wrong.

I know what you mean but being " challenged by a civilian " might make me tell them to mind their own business. You're right re the LEO.

I guess I should clarify that it all depends on the type of "challenge". If it's a muggle walking by with mild curiousity, I may give them a more deceptive response to avoid having to spend a bunch of time explaining what I'm doing or potentially giving up the location of the cache to someone who may do something untoward to it later. However, if an angry landowner asked what I was doing, I'd be completely honest and try to defuse the situation by allaying their concerns as much as possible. I can't think of a situation where I'd ever just rudely blow someone off, but that's just me.

[+TeamRabbitRun]

Always comply with law enforcement or security services and be honest. If challenged by anyone while caching, regardless of whether it's a LEO or a civilian, just say that you're geocaching and usually the response you'll get is something along the lines of "oh, that's nice" or "oh, I've heard of that before" and that'll be the end of it. Geocaching isn't illegal, so there's no need to act like you're doing anything wrong.

I know what you mean but being " challenged by a civilian " might make me tell them to mind their own business. You're right re the LEO.

I guess I should clarify that it all depends on the type of "challenge". If it's a muggle walking by with mild curiousity, I may give them a more deceptive response to avoid having to spend a bunch of time explaining what I'm doing or potentially giving up the location of the cache to someone who may do something untoward to it later. However, if an angry landowner asked what I was doing, I'd be completely honest and try to defuse the situation by allaying their concerns as much as possible. I can't think of a situation where I'd ever just rudely blow someone off, but that's just me.

 

In this day of "See Something, Say Something", if you piss someone off, ESPECIALLY a challenging civilian who has a sufficient sense of responsibility for an area that he's willing to challenge you in the first place, he's likely to call the authorities and report a 'suspicious person'.

 

There's a significant difference between explaining yourself to a LEO who happens across you and explaining yourself to a LEO who's been called to your location for a possible threat.

 

Bottom line - just tell everybody what you're doing. Unless you're caching where you shouldn't be, you're not doing anything wrong.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

If you ARE caching where you shouldn't be, leave! Even if a cache has been hidden where you shouldn't be, don't go after that cache! The judge won't care why you're on someone's property without permission.

 

To quote my kid, "This ain't Pokemon - you don't gotta catch 'em all!"

[+The A-Team]

If you ARE caching where you shouldn't be, leave! Even if a cache has been hidden where you shouldn't be, don't go after that cache! The judge won't care why you're on someone's property without permission.

Yep, "...but Your Honour, the CO said we could cache there!" won't carry much weight in court.

[+cerberus1]

If you ARE caching where you shouldn't be, leave! Even if a cache has been hidden where you shouldn't be, don't go after that cache! The judge won't care why you're on someone's property without permission.

Yep, "...but Your Honour, the CO said we could cache there!" won't carry much weight in court.

+1

One of biggest issues I have with some of these borderline private property hides, is someday, someone dumb enough is gonna try to explain to the authorities that, "shivermetimbersjobobthingamajig said it was okay".

[+JL_HSTRE]

Even when explicit permission is given for a hide that doesn't mean local LEOs are aware of it.

 

I was caching at a FL state park seeking a cache under an elevated park building. A ranger questioned me; it turned out that while he knew the park staff had placed about a dozen caches around the property under their account he was not aware of this particular cache. The cache I was seeking was placed as part of the state park system's statewide geotour so it was probably getting more traffic than any other cache in the park.

 

Don't be surprised when a local police officer has no idea what geocaching is or that a cache is at your location.