Sunday, December 6, 2009

Evelev Reviews a Geocaching Documentary

From time to time I search my DirecTv guide for all things Viggo Mortensen.



Seriously, how can you not love him? If I could go geocaching with anyone living or dead, it would be him. That's not a slam to the people I have already cached with, it's just a fact.


Anyway, one of the items that popped up was an interview with him on some PBS show...but it was on a PBS I don't have. So I went to the PBS I do have, to see if I could find it there. I did not achieve Viggo-glory, but I did come across a geocaching documentary, aptly named, Geocache. Here's the website. And here's the trailer.


Let me first say that throughout the course of this documentary I repeatedly uttered the words "I'm not like that...I'm normal" while rocking back and forth. Brian laughed, a lot.


They interviewed:
-Geocachers at GeoWoodstock IV
-Jeremy Irish (Groundspeak)
-Park rangers from Larimer county, Colorado (where Brian and I got married...some of you were there)


The geocachers scared me, probably because I could have given the exact same interviews. First, they all mentioned their screen names (as they should); unfortunately, screen names used off-line are the epitome of dweebiness. Second, they were hardcore, and not in a good way. One of the interviewees was a lady with the most finds (16,000 in 2007). She said (paraphrased), "I have a business, but my husband runs it so I can do this...I miss my kids, they lost interest a long time ago." Yikes. And then, there was the on-going debate between geocachers and park rangers. It went something like this:


Geocachers: We have a right to do this.
Park rangers: We're sick of rescuing your asses.
Geocachers: Geocaches are not litter.
Park rangers: Your crap is bad for the wildlife.
Geocachers: We promote awareness and appreciation of state parks.
Park rangers: So called "geotrails" destory flora and fauna.


I was thoroughly surprised at how much park rangers dislike geocachers. It makes sense. Geocachers aren't always seasoned hikers. We (I) don't usually plan out where I'm (I mean we're) going. I just want the blue dot to match up with the green dot. But by the grace of god I haven't come across poison ivy, or been stung by a scorpion, or disturbed a hungry bear. Yet, the geocachers were completely unapologetic. Can we just admit that we're kind-of a nuisance? Not all of us, but enough to cause trouble.


Other highlights included a Canadian geocacher who dresses up like Batman (yes, he caches in a cape), and a guy who found himself without a pen and signed the log in blood. I signed in pink highlighter once...


I thought I was a geo-dweeb, but it is not so. I'm average. Mundane, even. It's ok, I'd like to think of myself as the friendly, unobsessed face of geocaching that muggles can relate to. I'm positively nerd-chic.

1 comment:

  1. I love the mystery caches. My favorite one so far was Napoleon's Prison (GC118QM). It was a combination of a fun research assignment and a great cache placement. Hope to geocache with you soon...

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