I’m not a born again Christian vegan activist hipster marathon runner who drives an El Camino. I hate El Caminos.
You founded and run Geocaching.com, the oldest and largest geocache listing site. How isn’t geocaching like other kinds of treasure hunting?
Geocaching doesn’t require a very large investment and the treasure itself has no real monetary value, so it is a very low risk and low reward activity for those looking for financial gain.
The rewards are in the journey and the eureka moment you have when you find a cache.
What doesn’t make for a successful geocache?
If you want your geocache to be unsuccessful, hide it poorly in a high trafficked area using a flimsy container and submit coordinates that are far off from the actual location.
There are over 5 million active Geocachers on your site alone, with 1.8 million caches listed in over 200 countries. What kind of people don’t geocache?
People who dislike adventure won’t geocache. If you despise the outdoors this game isn’t for you.
Luddites prefer a compass and generally don’t geocache, though some with good navigation skills still find them.
You’ve said before that you don’t like doing interviews. Why not?
I prefer local geocachers to talk about how they geocache. I like the different perspectives people give to the activity.
Any memorable caches you’ve personally been unable to find or reach?
There’s a famous geocache that is the last of the Project APE series in Brazil that I have yet to take the journey to visit.
Only a small group of people have visited it since it was hidden in 2001. Someday I hope to make the journey.
To finish with, a hypothetical. If you could hide one last geocache, what wouldn’t it be and where wouldn’t you put it?
I wouldn’t hide a tiny geocache in a Wal-Mart parking lot under a metal lamp pole skirt. That’s not my idea of a fun adventure for anyone.
To find out more about Geocaching, check out Geocaching.com
