Geocachers? How does one "cheat" ??

Delphinus · #1 09-07-2006, 07:44 PM

I don't geocache myself but have heard of this activity where you look for certain coordinates and then go find what's there.

On vacation recently, I was kayaking on the west coast, and I did a channel crossing across a bay then landed and explored the tip of a peninsula. On a trail that I found, I found some graffiti which read:

"Off to the next location to cheat, X-terra cacher? Shame, shame. :-("

Which to me, begs the question. How, exactly, does one "cheat" at geocaching? What, the guy used a sextent instead of a GPS handheld??? Ok I'm sure THAT's not it, it must mean something else.

PS. Maybe the fact that I drive an X-terra made me notice the graffiti even more. But as I have never ever geocached myself (don't even have a GPS toy), I can honestly claim that I *think* I have never cheated at it.

EmilyB · #2 09-08-2006, 12:28 AM

I can't find them usually, would love to cheat ! Sometimes reading too many of the comments will provide a little too much information.

Tarolisol · #3 09-08-2006, 10:06 PM

Could someone explain what geo chacheing is? Im very confused and intrigued at the same time.

Delphinus · #4 09-08-2006, 10:15 PM

Ok maybe someone who actually plays should answer, but here's my attempt.

If you have a GPS toy ..er .. tool, you obviously have the ability to know what geographical coordinates you may be standing at, at any time you want.

So geocachers have some fun with this, I guess they'll have coordinates posted somewhere, and if you're ever near such a spot, you have to look for a secret "cache." Maybe it's just a guest book that you sign, maybe it's something else. Maybe you're supposed to leave something of your own for the next person to find. This is kinda muddy to me.

But it basically involves finding "secret" locations.

It kinda sounds fun, if I ever pick up a GPS toy ..er .. tool .. It's something I could see myself playing around with.

Here's the wikipedia page, maybe with a better description (I'm only just reading it right now myself): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching

Delphinus · #5 09-08-2006, 10:18 PM

As far as "cheating", I cannot fathom how reading comments to help lead someone to a spot would be judged "cheating" enough to motivate someone else to commit an act of vandalism in a form of protest (that sort of defeats the purpose of "leave no trace" in itself??). That's just .. well.. plain odd to me. Guess there's some story behind the spot where I was, but I guess I'll only be able to guess.