There are two parts to geocaching: 1) hiding containers, and 2) meeting the challenge of finding them.
While there are guidelines to each of these two parts, there are also many nuisances to geocaching that can easily get overlooked, making either the cache hider or cache finder appear to be poorly behaved, or worse. Fortunately, there is a lot of information available through a simple web-browser post that can help.
Geocaching.com even made a video: Geocaching Etiquette
- Bring a Pen
- Leave No Trace
- Write a Great “Found It” or “Didn’t find It” Log
- Put the Geocache Back Where and How You Found It
- Move Trackables Along
Geocaching Etiquette 201: Finding and Logging
- Caches can be logged online as “Found” after the geocacher has visited the coordinates and signed the logbook.
- Appropriate logging when you can’t find a cache
- Preserve the cache experience for others to enjoy
- Be a great representative of the geocaching community
- Trackables
- Before retrieving a trackable from a cache, be sure to confirm that you can help with its mission/destination. This information is available on the trackable page.
- Try not to hold a trackable longer than necessary. In most cases, trackables want to travel.
- Do your best to place trackables in caches that are least prone to muggles. This is often more art than science.
- If you find a trackable that has just recently been dropped into the cache, you might find that it has not been logged into the cache just yet. Give the last person a day or two to properly log it into the cache before “grabbing” it from them. Or message that person to remind them to log the trackable.
- Don’t share trackable codes without the trackable owner’s permission.
- Other things to remember when finding and logging caches
- When caching with a group, the original finder should replace the cache, since they know exactly where the cache was located.
- If you damage or lose a cache, contact the cache owner and let them know. Accidents happen!
- When logging a cache online, use the date you attempted the cache. This helps to provide a more accurate view of the cache’s current condition.
- A cache page is not a discussion forum. If you need to have a conversation about the cache, then email, Message Center, or the Geocaching Forums are among several options.
Geocaching Etiquette 201: Cache Ownership
- Don’t damage the environment to place a cache, or place the cache in a way that finders will damage the environment to find it.
- Proper use of the Owner Maintenance log.
- Vacation cache? Think long and hard about it.
- Proper use of attributes.
- Other things to consider about cache ownership
- Give your cache accurate difficulty and terrain ratings so that finders know what they’re getting into.
- If you must delete a finder’s log, communicate with them about it. Most of the time, the reasons for log deletion (ex. including a spoiler in the log) are innocent mistakes.
- Don’t add content to your cache page after publication that doesn’t comply with the guidelines. If it is brought to a reviewer’s or Geocachging HQ’s attention, the cache may be archived.
- Don’t maintain an archived geocache. In many cases, a cache is archived because it caused a problem or a property owner didn’t want it there. By maintaining an archived cache, you could be unwittingly exacerbating a problem. Instead, submit a new cache page for review.
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- Log that you have retrieved the Trackable from the geocache as soon as you can. This way the Trackable owner, cache owner, and anyone who may be searching for the Trackable knows that it is moving.
- Check the Trackable’s goal by inputting its tracking code here before placing it in another cache. The idea is to place it in a cache that will move it closer to its goal.
- Drop the Trackable in the next geocache and log that you have done so. If you need to keep the Trackable for more than two weeks, please email the Trackable owner to inform them.