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Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Captured by Muggles! A Geocache's Adventure

Geocaching is a new subculture to explore.  It's a bit nerdy, but has many fun elements.  Think of it as an organized way to be a "treasure hunter" while getting some exercise.  And of course like all subcultures it has it's own lingo.  Some of it is abbreviations.  When you sign a log it is considered polite to say TFTC, or "Thanks for the Cache".  And then there are the Muggles.

Taking a page from Harry Potter, muggles are the "outside world" that sometimes stumbles across things.  Magic....or more commonly geocaches.   Mind you the muggles who find caches are doing so without any GPS coordinates and without hints.  Just random chance.  Or a bit of curiosity that makes them peer into odd nooks and crannies.  I actually entirely approve.

But when a cache is "muggled" it causes problems for people trying to follow their GPS to the target.  Caches get swiped, moved, the log book gets scribbled on.

I had something along these lines happen with one of the first caches I placed.  I put it out a week or so ahead of it being published, just to see if it would "stay".  A few days later when I checked.....Gone.

Ah well, I replaced it in a somewhat better spot.  But some confusion ensued.  It seems some geocachers were finding the previous "lost" cache nearby.  Eventually I got the initial cache back...it had been hidden elsewhere in the little cave (F.X. Schmidmeyer's).  

The log book of this cache had some interesting entries.  A few of the early ones are legitimate geocachers.  How they found it in the wrong place I'll never know.  The rest are casual finders.  Have a look, here's what happens when a cache is "Captured by Muggles"!


Aw.  These are kinda sweet.  Best of luck in troubled times Cassidy and Jonah!  The abbreviation TDC and the scrawled nature of the lower signatures are harder to explain.  And is that bottom word "covid"?   Moving on....


I've put my thumb over the name of the nice family who were just out for a fun walk in the park.  But the 6/13 entry is almost a slogan for the weirdness that is 2020. 

"BLM  we dont Have The Bong!!"*

* Alternate translation:  "We dont Have The Rona" This is not significantly less weird.


1 comment:

  1. The "Rona" has become common shorthand down here for covid. As well as just referring to current events as "with all the s*#t that's going on"

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