What kind of cacher are you?

Recently I went out to Dieppe to do Tiger Tracker’s Dieppe trail series. In the process of hiking about 8.5K, I started thinking about the different kinds of cachers that are out there. When you really sit back and look at the sport of geocaching, there are many different kinds of cachers who play this game for far different reasons. So in pondering the many different ways in which this game gets played, I came up with what I think covers most players. Keep in mind that these are general categories. Many cachers would fall under more than one of these. Here’s what I came up with:

The Traditional Cacher

Traditional cachers are generally the kinds of cachers who have been in the game for a long time and tend to stick to the original premise of geocaching. Back when the game first started, there were far fewer caches out there so cachers then would go on long hikes and place/find caches that were in really spectacular locations. The point of caching at that time was to show off some great locations to people who might not otherwise know about them. Traditional cachers are big fans of hiking, the outdoors, and nature in general. They see geocaching as an opportunity to go out and explore wooded and other non-urban areas. They’re not fans of micros, and try to do trades whenever possible. They usually avoid most city or urban based hides and many of them are part of other outdoor organizations and hobbies.

The Competitive Cacher

Competitive cachers are geocachers who see their find count as a score, and to them, the idea is to get the best possible score they can. They typically do cache runs that involve obtaining as many caches as possible in the shortest amount of time. To them, it’s a game of “How many can we get this time?” or “I need my find count to be X”. They typically “compete” with other cachers who have a find count similar or higher than their own and use power-caching as a means to increase their numbers so that they can match or exceed someone else’s score. Friendly competition between cachers results in one competitive cacher having a find count that another cacher feels the need to beat. Competitive cachers can sometimes be a bit reckless in the way they sign logs, and sometimes do not take the proper time to replace caches in the same place they were found. Some competitive cachers have been known to use unethical tactics (such as logging finds for caches they were not present at) in order to inflate their numbers. Traditional cachers typically are not big fans of competitive cachers.

The Social Cacher

Social cachers are geocachers who have really no preference for the type of container they find/hide, nor do they care where the find caches, as long as they are with someone else when they cache. For these cachers, geocaching is all about the social interaction with other geocachers. They attend every event that they possible can simply because they are very interested in interacting with other cachers, and meeting new people. They typically are not very shy and very friendly and open to other geocachers. They rarely go caching by themselves and prefer to have at least one person with them when out caching. They thrive in small to medium group cache outings. Social cachers might also be active in geocoin trading and discovering of coins and bugs as this also gives them a means to meet other geocachers.

The Casual Cacher

Casual cachers are geocachers who enjoy the sport of geocaching, but do not make it a regular hobby of theirs. They typically learn about the sport from someone they know or something they have read and decide to try it out. They usually find interest in it but typically do not pursue it as an active hobby. They will typically not go out on large geocache hunts, but instead might go find a cache or two when there is a low-point in some other activity. They may for example go on a camping trip and bring their GPS with them and then realize there are caches nearby and grab one or two. Another example could be an urban activity where they need to kill some time so they grab a few park and grabs for something to do. Casual cachers typically do not participate in power-caching or large groups of cachers going out together. They see the sport as something interesting, but they only seek out caches when they are convenient or when they have nothing else to do. Casual cachers typically are not seen at many caching events. Casual cachers do not typically have high find counts but they may have been active in the sport for a very long time.

The Urban Cacher

Urban cachers are geocachers who do not like to go on long hikes. They are not big fans of the woods and prefer to stay within the city limits. They do not have preferences on container type, but because they are restricted to the city limits, they typically find a lot of micros. Urban cachers typically do not want to veer too far from their car when caching. They typically park the car near the cache location and then walk no more than 50M to a cache. Any cache that requires any amount of exercise or real legwork is not a cache they are interested in finding. Terrain levels above two are likely off limits to an urban cacher. Urban cachers may on occasion travel to another city to obtain caches but stay off trails and wooded areas. Urban cachers might also be known as the “Park and Grabber” Cacher.

The Abandoned Newbie Cacher

Abandoned newbie cachers are geocachers who learn of the game and become very interested for a short period of time. These cachers typically get very excited about finding geocaches and start off very strong. They initially go out and find a bunch of different caches in their area and get very excited about the sport but the interest typically dies off within a few months. After a few months or so of finding many caches, they tend to slow down in their finds until eventually they stop finding caches entirely and abandon the game for something else. Many of these same cachers get so excited in their first month that they decide to hide a few caches of their own. Many times these caches are hidden in poorly chosen locations, with questionable containers. Since they typically quit the game within a few months, their hides typically remain un-maintained and eventually turn into geo-trash.

The Camo’d Cacher

Camo’d cachers are typically cachers who seek out and hide caches that are extremely hard to find due to their unique camo. In many cases, the caches they seek are found in urban settings but have higher difficulty ratings because the caches have been camo’d in a very clever fashion. Whether it be in the form of bolts, fake trees, or other types of unique camo, these caches are very unique and thusly an attractive hide/find to the camo’d cacher. Camo’d cachers find regular park and grab micros a waste of time and very unoriginal. To them, the idea of hiding a cache is all about making the cache visible to everyone around them, but still hidden well. Finding extremely well camo’d caches gives them a great sense of accomplishment. They also get a bit of a thrill receiving DNF logs on caches they have hidden knowing full well the cache has stumped another finder. Camo’d cachers may enlist the use of urban camo clothing when looking for some of these unique hides. Hardhats, orange vests, and other “official” looking apparel is sometimes used to thwart muggles.

The Hybrid Cacher

This is the most common form of geocacher. A hybrid cacher is someone who takes on the personality of two or more of the previously mentioned cacher types. They may enjoy caching along a nice trail in the middle of the woods, but also enjoy going to events and doing some park and grabs. They might hate micros but love finding well camo’d caches. The hybrid cacher might also change their combination of hiding/finding styles depending on their personality and various other situations. Some cachers will spend a great deal of time in the woods getting caches and doing long hikes and avoid urban settings but then turn around and decide to snag a pile of micros within the city. Hybrid cachers usually have one or two “major” categories they fall under and the rest they might do from time to time. They also tend to either be competitive or non-competitive but rarely both.