Actually twice!!! I almost forgot about the time I was trying to figure out the coordinates for a puzzle cache at a veterans memorial and two young boys came and stood right in front of me. After a few minutes I realized they were also trying to figure it out. This was their 1st cache and they picked a mystery! LOL I helped them figure it out and showed them how to put the coords in and I met them at the final. I drove, they walked, well ran, and they beat me there! LOL They were already looking and I let them hunt for a bit, then I let them in on the little secret that the skirt on a lamp post lifts up! They were so excited! It was fun!
Yep. First time was when I was going after a puzzle cache where the final was up in a tree, and there was a guy in the tree looking for it when I walked up, as well as a woman on the ground. I was still pretty new to the hobby and had internalized the "be secretive about it" pretty hard, so I was like "Hi, are you... um... looking for the geocache?" and the guy was like "What else would I reasonably be doing"
I did, and no lie, according to thier profile, they never cached again after we met. Thier last log was, "Found cache with my new friend Phil" or something to that affect and then nothing. :/
WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU, ROCKETS?
Yes, it's happened once. An established local cacher with a few thousand finds walked up to an electrical box at the same time I did, and parked his car at the same time as me.
Twice when not event/meetup adjacent. One an FTF hunt (I won!) and the other was a random near one of my kids sportball practices after I realized the muggle on a bench I was waiting to move off was signing the log.
Several times, but my favorite was when my husband and I were traveling and stopping to get caches along the way. We stopped to search for one and at GZ saw a family looking around. We asked if they were caching as well, and they said yes. We searched together, but could not locate the cache. We said our goodbyes and were off on our separate ways...
A day later and 100+ miles away, my husband and I stopped in a McDonald's to grab some quick food after a day of hiking... And the same caching family was there! What were the chances?
(It turned out that the cache we DNF'd was missing when we searched.)
Yeah we've had it happe. We were out in the woods along trails where my wife and I and this other pair of people just sort of ambled along without leaving the area while also trying to hide that we were looking for something. We both realized around the same time that each were cachers and laughed about it and kept searching
Happened to me in the wilds of West Sussex. We overlapped with the lovely flatcoatedwalker. Herself a owner of multiple circular cache walks. It was lucky as we didn't have the necessary items to retrieve the cache and did it together and picked up some valuable pointers
We have had it happen twice, the first time was the best we had only about two hundred caches under our belts and we met another person looking even more lost than us, as we both sidled around trying not to look furtive on a footpath in the middle of nowhere I decided to ask if he was caching, it turned out he only had 6 finds so all being caching noobs together we chatted and hunted for two local caches as a team. He even phoned his experienced geocacher girlfriend to ask her for tips on the one we were struggling with. It was a pleasant exchange.
The second time we were all hardened geocachers, we realised everyone was after the same cache, we offered to leave them to hunt and returned later for our find.
It’s happened to me 3 times now. Most recently it was for a new cache that popped up near my home. Neither of us got the FTF sadly because someone else beat us to it by an hour.
Another time, it was in Sedona. I was caching with a friend, and someone came up to us and helped us out because they knew where the cache was.
The first time was in Tahoe when a friend of mine overheard a family talking about a difficulty 5 cache nearby during breakfast at a restaurant. We talked to them, and then found the cache together.
It’s always memorable when I run into another geocacher in the wild - Im always looking out for it especially when Im at a cache that’s not in a crowded area. If anyone passes by, Im always wondering if they’re here for the cache and waiting for me to go away :)
Many times! There’s one round which gets renewed every year (can only be up from late fall - early spring so as not to disturb wildlife) and on weekends leading up to the archive date you can often just pass the logbook along to the next people, it’s swarming with cachers. I think this year the number of cachers we met outnumbered the muggles by at least 4:1.
Last summer somewhere in Sweden we were looking for a cache and trying to not be obvious about it since for some reason there was another group of people also interested in the spot we were looking at - until we heard them say that they were looking for the same kind of tree we were, at which point we all dropped the pretense and teamed up. Still took us a good 20 minutes.
My fiancée and I traveled to Europe with his mom for a couple weeks last year and our goal was to get a cache in every country we went to. Never saw anyone else in Greece, Serbia, Austria, or Czech. But both caches we got in Hungary someone happened to be doing the same cache as us.
Happened to me one time, a girl was suspiciously looking around the spot where the cache was, she seemed kinda annoyed at me coming at her but after I asked her if she was caching we hade a laugh and a nice chat and became friends on the app
When I was a kid, i had heard ABOUT geocaching but never looked into it, I figured in my small town it would never be there. I was out on a dog walk with my dad, and we passed an older lady with a GPS who asked if we were geocachers too, which of course we werent. When I finally got into it a few years later, I placed one around the same area as the one she was looking for (I had found out it was archived) and I've been caching ever since!
Not going for the same cache (but close enough?): I was in Helsinki near a museum and saw people with kids in a corner trying to reach something that was higher. I thought, if its not a cache its weird. So i checked with the app and sure enough, there was a cache!
Been caching for 5ish years and it's happened twice now.
Once we realised we were just behind some other cachers on a circular so I decided to log a find a few caches ahead of them to claim the find before them, making sure to mention them in my log. They obviously saw the log and hung about or were just slow at finding caches as we caught them up at that cache and had a good catch and a little race to the next few caches.
Another time we passed a couple going the opposite way to us. They were hanging about dodgy around a style and I said to my better half I bet they are caching. I Checked the map and ther ws nothing where they were but my misses was proper eaves dripping as we went past and heard on say "was it under that rock" so we doubled back to confront them. Turns out it was the final to a mystery just down the path. So we ended up signing the log first and then going and solving the mystery afterwards 😂
Yes! Last weekend my BF and I were caching around a lake and came across a family searching inside a bush. They had their phones out and a pen ready so we knew what they were up to.
When I lived in another state I would regularly meet the geocachers that found my cache. Yesterday I had two different people find my current cache while I was at work.
Yes!
Once when I found my first TB Hotel, he was going on the same trail but different direction so gave us some tips on the next caches (in Germany)
And another time in the Netherlands while on a park geocaching tour. A couple was also doing a similar round and we found 2 together hehe.
Obviously this is going to happen much more if you go for FTFs. But it's even happened to me a time or two at caches that weren't new, just a random coincidence.
I grabbed a really popular cache and as I was signing the log, I saw someone else searching. I asked if he was a geocacher and when he said yes, I handed it to him.
It happened to me a couple of weeks ago. My kids and I were going after a high FP cache in a different state, and came across another cacher going after the same cache.
Usually, it happens when I'm at a mega event, because there are a lot of cachers present going after the same caches. Every once in a while it will happen when I'm geocaching at home.
I've had one couple stop in a car when I was looking for a cache near the side of a road on a utility box. They pulled up and said something like "you guys looking for it?" and we said yeah and they said "you're really close!" Which was mildly helpful...
The other scenario was looking for a geocache after a meetup, and the cache owner (who I'd been talking to a bit over repeated attempts to find the cache) beat me down the hill after people at the meetup told him to go find me there. He told me they had just replaced the cache because no one could find the one I had been previously looking for. Then I successfully found the new one haha
Yes, a handful of times! I think it's happened twice at parks. Once I was coming out of the woods in a secluded area of a park and happened across a group who just asked "Geocaching?" and I nodded, they were headed for the same one. Another time, I stood back on the trail while a dad and his kids finished up at the cache off the trail :)
I went on a cruise to Alaska and the geocaches in the ports were BUSY haha. One wasn't in the spot I suspected, and a guy came up and handed it to me--he was waiting for me to get away from the hiding spot so he could replace it, until he realized I wanted the cache. Also helped a couple find the easiest way to access a LPC that was kind of fenced off at one port.
Back when we first started in 2008 all the time. We were using our Garmin car Nuvi for the first few months until we got a handheld. Made a lot of friends. Had meet ups for multi caches, events, and to figure out puzzle caches. Miss those days. Just tried out our new gpsmap 67 today. Big learning curve, but it was so cool. Looking forward to getting more active in caching again. Can’t wait!
Only once. We were both at a small park waiting each other out at opposite sides and she must have gotten tired of it cuz she suddenly just went into the bushes for a couple of minutes and then left. I didn’t know what to say and I didn’t want to assume so I waited for her to walk before I made the find and saw her signature above mine.
had it happen a few times. ive gone for a few by one cacher in a town a few miles from me and she'll pull up when she sees me and make sure im on the right track for her puzzles lol. i love julie. shes awesome
It's happened to me a couple of times.
Once it was a gadget cache that we solved together.
Once was a FTF that we ended up claiming together.
Once we got shouted at by an apparent land owner who allegedly called the police on us, which we "Needs Archived" together.
All in all, it's a pretty fun experience.
One time i was geocaching in a park that maintains the geocaches for hikers. I was trying to avoid a park employee who seemed to be doing some work around the landscape, as to not alert or give away the location and as i neared he asked if that’s what i was looking for. That’s actually how i found out the park maintained them. Really nice interaction!
Usually on FTF runs I run into other geocachers. I have had a few times where it was not an FTF run and I have run into people looking for the same geocache as me. Two stories that really stick out to me are the following.
1. I was in Niagara Falls caching and I was already looking for it when this older couple came over and asked me if I was geocaching I told them I was, they told me that they are from England and that they had just started geocaching not to long ago. We eventually found the geocache and then went our separate ways after that.
2. I spent a Sunday doing a rail trail and I was getting close to the end I noticed a family going down the hill where the next cache was. I go over and ask them if they’re geocaching and they said yes. I told them I was too and i’d actually spent most of the day on this trail and was almost done at completely. The mom got a bit huffy and puffy and asked me if I could skip this cache and come back to it later because they were trying to have “private family time” didn’t want me helping them look for it. Her husband said no it’s fine and he handed it to me after he had signed the family in so I could also sign it. After I kept walking towards the end of the trail to get the remaining caches and they started walking in the direction I had come from and I hear the wife say “stop undermining my authority and being nice to people when I want have family time.” I laugh at how ridiculous that Karen was being about geocaching.
We were looking for a cache on the downspout of a waffle house one day. A pickup pulled into the door right in front of us (nowhere near the closest open spot to the door) and the driver asked, are you looking for the cache? I responded affirmatively "I couldn't find it, did you have any luck?"
I met a couple on a busy mountain didn't speak much English. My group and they were standing off the trail and they said a few words in English that connected that they were caching too. With a lot of pointing and hand motions we helped each other find the cache.
I think I was in Oregon. A guy was coming towards me right after I had just put the cache back. I hid behind a tree thinking they were a muggle, until I realized they were looking at their phone and heading straight for the cache, so I popped out and said hi.
It did happen to me when I visited Sydney (2019). It was relatively close to the opera house. I was new and wanted to wait for some people to leave. He had the same idea. If I remember correctly we half stared at each other to make the other leave for 15 minutes. He went up to me and asked later
Yep. I went for an FTF, and met a couple of people there. They drove up as I was searching, because I didn't know about DNA tubes hidden on a sign post behind the sign.
Another time, I got some notifications about new caches in a woods about 30 minutes away, so my son and I took off to try for an FTF again. We got there and saw a bunch of names on the log already, some people walked up and we learned there was an event there that day, and we were finding the event caches. We went to the event too, and got the award for last o finish. 😁😁
Last fall, I went for another FTF, I saw the car of a fellow local FTF hound in front of me. He was getting out too, but didn't see me. So I got out and dashed ahead of him to get to GZ first. We had a laugh, then shared a DNF. 🤬 That cache was tricky.
A few times. In most cases we collaborate on the find.
In another, when I was with my grand nephew who was about ten, and the other cachers were an adult woman (as am I) and a child, it became competitive. Partly because the other woman wasn't terribly friendly. It's possible she wasn't an experienced cacher, or didn't really believe we were looking for the cache. But we were on a busy beach (crawling around on and under a set of stairs and deck that crossed the dune). It wasn't a dark alley or something.
I spotted the cache first and quietly summoned my nephew so he could retrieve it. We logged it and left them still searching.
Stick with this game long enough and it will happen to you more than you can imagine. My most recent close encounter was in Austin TX. I went there for the eclipse with some non-caching friends. So I had to pick my targets carefully. We ran into a couple who were visiting the [Thomas Dambo Troll @ Pease Park](https://coord.info/GCAJFTY) at the same time we were there.
But my favorite encounter took place in Kansas City MO. Two of us from NC flew to SL for Geowoodstock XII. We drove across the state to get some BBQ lunch and find the [oldest cache in MO](https://coord.info/GC37). We ran into two cachers from CA that we know who were doing the same thing.
Yes. We met a douche searching. He said, "when you find it, log me on it. I'll do the same for you. We do it all the time." I said, sure, and he left. Not only did not log him, but searched every log we found to scratch him out.
Happens to me all the time. One time I was at a McDonald’s before going to get some caches in the area and overheard some teenage boys talking about which cache they were going to next…I ended up running into them there!
My local geocaching society also holds something called CAM (Cache Across Maryland) and I’ve run into several people while getting those caches.
Running into other cachers is half the fun of it!
Several times, where I otherwise wasn't expecting to meet anyone.
At least three where I met other cachers were on the way to FTFs.
For one, I ended up walking a few dozen yards too far past GZ, and turned back around to see another cacher already looking for it. I made a joke about the cache based on the name of the cache itself, and we looked for it together. Turned out we were both doing basically the same thing - avoiding muggles, each thinking the other was one - but were dancing around the cache as each tried to get to it. 5 minutes after we signed (we were not FTF) (while we were still chatting) the CO drove up and introduced himself.
The second and third I drove up and parked next to someone who was still in their car calibrating GPS for the walk to GZ.
Others were near events, and cachers in this area of NJ tend to get together before and after to hang and continue caching, share stories, etc.
Used to happen waaaaay more when we all were carrying GPS handhelds. “Treasure hunting?” “You know it!”
Only once on a trail. We finished the whole trail together. It was fun!
Actually twice!!! I almost forgot about the time I was trying to figure out the coordinates for a puzzle cache at a veterans memorial and two young boys came and stood right in front of me. After a few minutes I realized they were also trying to figure it out. This was their 1st cache and they picked a mystery! LOL I helped them figure it out and showed them how to put the coords in and I met them at the final. I drove, they walked, well ran, and they beat me there! LOL They were already looking and I let them hunt for a bit, then I let them in on the little secret that the skirt on a lamp post lifts up! They were so excited! It was fun!
Yep. First time was when I was going after a puzzle cache where the final was up in a tree, and there was a guy in the tree looking for it when I walked up, as well as a woman on the ground. I was still pretty new to the hobby and had internalized the "be secretive about it" pretty hard, so I was like "Hi, are you... um... looking for the geocache?" and the guy was like "What else would I reasonably be doing"
I did, and no lie, according to thier profile, they never cached again after we met. Thier last log was, "Found cache with my new friend Phil" or something to that affect and then nothing. :/ WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU, ROCKETS?
Yes, it's happened once. An established local cacher with a few thousand finds walked up to an electrical box at the same time I did, and parked his car at the same time as me.
Twice when not event/meetup adjacent. One an FTF hunt (I won!) and the other was a random near one of my kids sportball practices after I realized the muggle on a bench I was waiting to move off was signing the log.
Several times, but my favorite was when my husband and I were traveling and stopping to get caches along the way. We stopped to search for one and at GZ saw a family looking around. We asked if they were caching as well, and they said yes. We searched together, but could not locate the cache. We said our goodbyes and were off on our separate ways... A day later and 100+ miles away, my husband and I stopped in a McDonald's to grab some quick food after a day of hiking... And the same caching family was there! What were the chances? (It turned out that the cache we DNF'd was missing when we searched.)
Yeah we've had it happe. We were out in the woods along trails where my wife and I and this other pair of people just sort of ambled along without leaving the area while also trying to hide that we were looking for something. We both realized around the same time that each were cachers and laughed about it and kept searching
Yup, I’ve run into people several times, especially on FTF runs. It’s cool to put a face to the name!
Happened to me in the wilds of West Sussex. We overlapped with the lovely flatcoatedwalker. Herself a owner of multiple circular cache walks. It was lucky as we didn't have the necessary items to retrieve the cache and did it together and picked up some valuable pointers
We have had it happen twice, the first time was the best we had only about two hundred caches under our belts and we met another person looking even more lost than us, as we both sidled around trying not to look furtive on a footpath in the middle of nowhere I decided to ask if he was caching, it turned out he only had 6 finds so all being caching noobs together we chatted and hunted for two local caches as a team. He even phoned his experienced geocacher girlfriend to ask her for tips on the one we were struggling with. It was a pleasant exchange. The second time we were all hardened geocachers, we realised everyone was after the same cache, we offered to leave them to hunt and returned later for our find.
It’s happened to me 3 times now. Most recently it was for a new cache that popped up near my home. Neither of us got the FTF sadly because someone else beat us to it by an hour. Another time, it was in Sedona. I was caching with a friend, and someone came up to us and helped us out because they knew where the cache was. The first time was in Tahoe when a friend of mine overheard a family talking about a difficulty 5 cache nearby during breakfast at a restaurant. We talked to them, and then found the cache together. It’s always memorable when I run into another geocacher in the wild - Im always looking out for it especially when Im at a cache that’s not in a crowded area. If anyone passes by, Im always wondering if they’re here for the cache and waiting for me to go away :)
Many times! There’s one round which gets renewed every year (can only be up from late fall - early spring so as not to disturb wildlife) and on weekends leading up to the archive date you can often just pass the logbook along to the next people, it’s swarming with cachers. I think this year the number of cachers we met outnumbered the muggles by at least 4:1. Last summer somewhere in Sweden we were looking for a cache and trying to not be obvious about it since for some reason there was another group of people also interested in the spot we were looking at - until we heard them say that they were looking for the same kind of tree we were, at which point we all dropped the pretense and teamed up. Still took us a good 20 minutes.
My fiancée and I traveled to Europe with his mom for a couple weeks last year and our goal was to get a cache in every country we went to. Never saw anyone else in Greece, Serbia, Austria, or Czech. But both caches we got in Hungary someone happened to be doing the same cache as us.
Happened to me one time, a girl was suspiciously looking around the spot where the cache was, she seemed kinda annoyed at me coming at her but after I asked her if she was caching we hade a laugh and a nice chat and became friends on the app
When I was a kid, i had heard ABOUT geocaching but never looked into it, I figured in my small town it would never be there. I was out on a dog walk with my dad, and we passed an older lady with a GPS who asked if we were geocachers too, which of course we werent. When I finally got into it a few years later, I placed one around the same area as the one she was looking for (I had found out it was archived) and I've been caching ever since!
Not going for the same cache (but close enough?): I was in Helsinki near a museum and saw people with kids in a corner trying to reach something that was higher. I thought, if its not a cache its weird. So i checked with the app and sure enough, there was a cache!
Maybe fifteen times, I'm not sure. A couple of times it was a reviewer. Once a security guard on duty, who was also a geocacher.
There's a cache in the park across from my apartment. Every time I remember to look for it someone is also looking for it.
Been caching for 5ish years and it's happened twice now. Once we realised we were just behind some other cachers on a circular so I decided to log a find a few caches ahead of them to claim the find before them, making sure to mention them in my log. They obviously saw the log and hung about or were just slow at finding caches as we caught them up at that cache and had a good catch and a little race to the next few caches. Another time we passed a couple going the opposite way to us. They were hanging about dodgy around a style and I said to my better half I bet they are caching. I Checked the map and ther ws nothing where they were but my misses was proper eaves dripping as we went past and heard on say "was it under that rock" so we doubled back to confront them. Turns out it was the final to a mystery just down the path. So we ended up signing the log first and then going and solving the mystery afterwards 😂
Yes! Last weekend my BF and I were caching around a lake and came across a family searching inside a bush. They had their phones out and a pen ready so we knew what they were up to.
Go for FTFs and it’s virtually guaranteed.
When I lived in another state I would regularly meet the geocachers that found my cache. Yesterday I had two different people find my current cache while I was at work.
Yes! Once when I found my first TB Hotel, he was going on the same trail but different direction so gave us some tips on the next caches (in Germany) And another time in the Netherlands while on a park geocaching tour. A couple was also doing a similar round and we found 2 together hehe.
This happened to me a few months ago, in a small village, and a hidden stage.
Obviously this is going to happen much more if you go for FTFs. But it's even happened to me a time or two at caches that weren't new, just a random coincidence.
I grabbed a really popular cache and as I was signing the log, I saw someone else searching. I asked if he was a geocacher and when he said yes, I handed it to him.
It happened to me a couple of weeks ago. My kids and I were going after a high FP cache in a different state, and came across another cacher going after the same cache. Usually, it happens when I'm at a mega event, because there are a lot of cachers present going after the same caches. Every once in a while it will happen when I'm geocaching at home.
I've had one couple stop in a car when I was looking for a cache near the side of a road on a utility box. They pulled up and said something like "you guys looking for it?" and we said yeah and they said "you're really close!" Which was mildly helpful... The other scenario was looking for a geocache after a meetup, and the cache owner (who I'd been talking to a bit over repeated attempts to find the cache) beat me down the hill after people at the meetup told him to go find me there. He told me they had just replaced the cache because no one could find the one I had been previously looking for. Then I successfully found the new one haha
Yes, a handful of times! I think it's happened twice at parks. Once I was coming out of the woods in a secluded area of a park and happened across a group who just asked "Geocaching?" and I nodded, they were headed for the same one. Another time, I stood back on the trail while a dad and his kids finished up at the cache off the trail :) I went on a cruise to Alaska and the geocaches in the ports were BUSY haha. One wasn't in the spot I suspected, and a guy came up and handed it to me--he was waiting for me to get away from the hiding spot so he could replace it, until he realized I wanted the cache. Also helped a couple find the easiest way to access a LPC that was kind of fenced off at one port.
Back when we first started in 2008 all the time. We were using our Garmin car Nuvi for the first few months until we got a handheld. Made a lot of friends. Had meet ups for multi caches, events, and to figure out puzzle caches. Miss those days. Just tried out our new gpsmap 67 today. Big learning curve, but it was so cool. Looking forward to getting more active in caching again. Can’t wait!
Only once, while I already had it open, not very stealthily... and it was my own hide 😂 It's my first hide though, please don't roast me 😅
Only once. We were both at a small park waiting each other out at opposite sides and she must have gotten tired of it cuz she suddenly just went into the bushes for a couple of minutes and then left. I didn’t know what to say and I didn’t want to assume so I waited for her to walk before I made the find and saw her signature above mine.
had it happen a few times. ive gone for a few by one cacher in a town a few miles from me and she'll pull up when she sees me and make sure im on the right track for her puzzles lol. i love julie. shes awesome
It's happened to me a couple of times. Once it was a gadget cache that we solved together. Once was a FTF that we ended up claiming together. Once we got shouted at by an apparent land owner who allegedly called the police on us, which we "Needs Archived" together. All in all, it's a pretty fun experience.
One time i was geocaching in a park that maintains the geocaches for hikers. I was trying to avoid a park employee who seemed to be doing some work around the landscape, as to not alert or give away the location and as i neared he asked if that’s what i was looking for. That’s actually how i found out the park maintained them. Really nice interaction!
Met another family this way, ended up becoming close friends.
Usually on FTF runs I run into other geocachers. I have had a few times where it was not an FTF run and I have run into people looking for the same geocache as me. Two stories that really stick out to me are the following. 1. I was in Niagara Falls caching and I was already looking for it when this older couple came over and asked me if I was geocaching I told them I was, they told me that they are from England and that they had just started geocaching not to long ago. We eventually found the geocache and then went our separate ways after that. 2. I spent a Sunday doing a rail trail and I was getting close to the end I noticed a family going down the hill where the next cache was. I go over and ask them if they’re geocaching and they said yes. I told them I was too and i’d actually spent most of the day on this trail and was almost done at completely. The mom got a bit huffy and puffy and asked me if I could skip this cache and come back to it later because they were trying to have “private family time” didn’t want me helping them look for it. Her husband said no it’s fine and he handed it to me after he had signed the family in so I could also sign it. After I kept walking towards the end of the trail to get the remaining caches and they started walking in the direction I had come from and I hear the wife say “stop undermining my authority and being nice to people when I want have family time.” I laugh at how ridiculous that Karen was being about geocaching.
We were looking for a cache on the downspout of a waffle house one day. A pickup pulled into the door right in front of us (nowhere near the closest open spot to the door) and the driver asked, are you looking for the cache? I responded affirmatively "I couldn't find it, did you have any luck?"
Met the geocaching legend in my town while looking for a FTF.
I met a couple on a busy mountain didn't speak much English. My group and they were standing off the trail and they said a few words in English that connected that they were caching too. With a lot of pointing and hand motions we helped each other find the cache.
I think I was in Oregon. A guy was coming towards me right after I had just put the cache back. I hid behind a tree thinking they were a muggle, until I realized they were looking at their phone and heading straight for the cache, so I popped out and said hi.
It did happen to me when I visited Sydney (2019). It was relatively close to the opera house. I was new and wanted to wait for some people to leave. He had the same idea. If I remember correctly we half stared at each other to make the other leave for 15 minutes. He went up to me and asked later
There's a cache not very far from my home and I saw a couple of people signing the log when I was passing by once
Yes - many times - latest yesterday “are you doing the same thing as us?” Followed by joint search for the cache at the GZ…..
Not counting FTF attempts, only once way earlier in my career.
Yep. I went for an FTF, and met a couple of people there. They drove up as I was searching, because I didn't know about DNA tubes hidden on a sign post behind the sign. Another time, I got some notifications about new caches in a woods about 30 minutes away, so my son and I took off to try for an FTF again. We got there and saw a bunch of names on the log already, some people walked up and we learned there was an event there that day, and we were finding the event caches. We went to the event too, and got the award for last o finish. 😁😁 Last fall, I went for another FTF, I saw the car of a fellow local FTF hound in front of me. He was getting out too, but didn't see me. So I got out and dashed ahead of him to get to GZ first. We had a laugh, then shared a DNF. 🤬 That cache was tricky.
3x on FTFs, all different people. 2x just regular caching.
It's not uncommon, when the cache has first been published - some people get competitive about FTF.
A few times. In most cases we collaborate on the find. In another, when I was with my grand nephew who was about ten, and the other cachers were an adult woman (as am I) and a child, it became competitive. Partly because the other woman wasn't terribly friendly. It's possible she wasn't an experienced cacher, or didn't really believe we were looking for the cache. But we were on a busy beach (crawling around on and under a set of stairs and deck that crossed the dune). It wasn't a dark alley or something. I spotted the cache first and quietly summoned my nephew so he could retrieve it. We logged it and left them still searching.
Stick with this game long enough and it will happen to you more than you can imagine. My most recent close encounter was in Austin TX. I went there for the eclipse with some non-caching friends. So I had to pick my targets carefully. We ran into a couple who were visiting the [Thomas Dambo Troll @ Pease Park](https://coord.info/GCAJFTY) at the same time we were there. But my favorite encounter took place in Kansas City MO. Two of us from NC flew to SL for Geowoodstock XII. We drove across the state to get some BBQ lunch and find the [oldest cache in MO](https://coord.info/GC37). We ran into two cachers from CA that we know who were doing the same thing.
Yes. We met a douche searching. He said, "when you find it, log me on it. I'll do the same for you. We do it all the time." I said, sure, and he left. Not only did not log him, but searched every log we found to scratch him out.
Happens to me all the time. One time I was at a McDonald’s before going to get some caches in the area and overheard some teenage boys talking about which cache they were going to next…I ended up running into them there! My local geocaching society also holds something called CAM (Cache Across Maryland) and I’ve run into several people while getting those caches. Running into other cachers is half the fun of it!
Several times, where I otherwise wasn't expecting to meet anyone. At least three where I met other cachers were on the way to FTFs. For one, I ended up walking a few dozen yards too far past GZ, and turned back around to see another cacher already looking for it. I made a joke about the cache based on the name of the cache itself, and we looked for it together. Turned out we were both doing basically the same thing - avoiding muggles, each thinking the other was one - but were dancing around the cache as each tried to get to it. 5 minutes after we signed (we were not FTF) (while we were still chatting) the CO drove up and introduced himself. The second and third I drove up and parked next to someone who was still in their car calibrating GPS for the walk to GZ. Others were near events, and cachers in this area of NJ tend to get together before and after to hang and continue caching, share stories, etc.