The 10 Types of Geocacher

Which type* are you?

1. The FTF Hound

Everyone knows at least one. That person who drops everything when a new cache is published so they can be the one to claim “I found it FIRST, before all you amateurs!!” This person will gladly sell their granny to get their name on the logbook first and have been known to rugby tackle geocachers they might meet on their way to GZ for a newly published cache.

2. The Stats Addict

How many counties have you cached in in a day? What’s the fastest you’ve found 100 caches? How many months in your longest FTF streak? These are just some of the things that the Stats Addict actually care about. The fact you found one cache while on holiday in the South of France and the scenery was amazing means sweet FA to them. They need facts, figures, STATISTICS!! They thrive on the stuff. These people are keeping Project-GC in business.

3. The Mountaineer 

This cacher is not one for numbers and doesn’t care for park & grabs. They want a long walk in the mountains or else, why bother? They have more than likely climbed every mountain in the region, often several times and laugh at a cache being rated T3 when it’s up a slight bank.

4. The Old School Cacher

This person has been around since the dawn of geocaching itself and probably still goes geocaching with a map and compass, without any GPSr and certainly without a smartphone. Similar to the Mountaineer, the Old School Cacher sticks with long walks in the mountains or the countryside and believes that finding urban caches is simply not real geocaching.

5. The Challenge Cacher

This person bases all their caching practices around challenge caches. Their logs will be filled with phrases like ‘I needed this D/T for my Fizzy Grid’, or ‘I needed this month for the Jasmer Challenge.’ They believe there’s no point in aimlessly finding caches, you need to have a set goal. They will have either already finished or be in the middle of completing every challenge available. The day the challenge cache moratorium was announced they sat in a corner rocking back and forth and weeping inconsolably.

6. The Hider

This person likes to hide caches more than find them. The thrill is not in finding the cache but in someone else finding theirs. They live for logs and favourite points. They are likely to have boxes full of new geocaches to hide somewhere in their house. Everyone loves a hider, as they keep the rest of us in business!

7. The Numbers Junkie

It’s all about the numbers for this geocacher. They will gladly get up at 4am to get 200 caches in one day. They run through the milestones like they’re going out of business and will laugh hysterically at the notion of setting foot out of bed for less than 50 caches.

8. The Non-Conformist 

This person was born to break the rules. Maybe they take swag but don’t leave anything. Maybe they don’t write their names in the logbook. Maybe they prefer to take a photo log instead. I hear you say in shock ‘but you have to sign the logbook?!’ Not this person. “It’s only a game”, is their mantra.

9. The Cache & Dasher

Why walk for 14 miles to find a lunchbox when you can just slow down the car, lean out of the window and grab a nano off a crash barrier? Life’s too short for long walks in the countryside, according to this geocacher. The maximum walking distance to the cache will be 200 metres but containers accessible without leaving the sanctuary of their vehicle are best.

10. The Reluctant Participant

Someone who reluctantly accompanies any of the above nine types, and is basically a muggle who opened a geocaching account under duress. Usually seen looking tired and bored in the company of any other type.

This is not an exhaustive list. Don’t see your type here? Let me know your type in the comments!

Happy caching!

Sarah

© 2016 | Sarah Murphy | All Rights Reserved

*Any similarity to real persons living or deceased is entirely coincidental.