Most likely there’s one or a few people in your geocaching community that everybody knows. Some names that keep popping up, that are always there. You could be one of those names. Enjoy our guide which will make you locally famous among other geocachers!

What famous people have in common is a reputation. Either a good one because they always show up friendly at events, or a bad one because they rant endlessly on forums. For the sake of everyone, we’ll assume that you want to belong to the “good” side.

Building up a good reputation is essential to your future fame, and on paper it’s easy. The hard part is time. It takes a lot of time to establish yourself among the community. There are, however, several approaches to it.

Place Quality Hides

If you have many caches in the area, you will be known. And this is easily fixed: all you have to do is get out there and place some! Then time will do the rest of the work for you as more and more people log those caches.

However, you’ll want to stand out and build your rep based on quality. Select interesting locations, only use quality boxes and be creative. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but if you google “creative geocaches” or check out our list of 15 Creative Hides you’ll get tons of ideas. As long as no one else has already done it in your area, you’re all good.

Remember though that a single bad hide can ruin the overall experience.

• Place many caches.
• Make each cache count – don’t place a single rubbish hide!
• Reuse creative ideas to stand out.

Build Your Social Presence at Events

To really be “that guy”, you need to give people a face to go with your nickname. And what better place to do so than at events? Whenever you attend, you’re building your social presence. People will soon recognize you as a regular and remember you from previous events, and you will recognize them. Also remember not to just “be there”, but to be active. Socialize, talk to others, make friends and contacts.

No events in your area? Be the host! This is actually a lot better than just participating in events hosted by others, as being the host means that everyone else comes to you. You get to stand there and talk in front of everyone, and if you pull off a good event people will thank you for a good time. Host several and you’ll be the social center of attention.

• Participate in all local events.
• Be active – talk, greet, have fun!
• Become the center of attention – be the host!

Make Friends

If you cache alone, no one will see you. Make friends, meet up and cache in groups. Your name will be mentioned to friends of those friends. “I was out caching with Mr. X,” they’ll say and perhaps share a story from the trip, and the next time that friend of your friend sees one of your caches or a forum post by you he’ll go “hey, that’s that guy”.

• Cache in groups.
• Shared experiences mean that when people talk about their trip, you’ll be mentioned too.

Show Yourself Online

Since geocachers don’t usually meet in real life as often as they do online, your online presence is essential. There are two paths here. Both are long-term, but one is quicker than the other. The quick one is to stay active on forums, comment on blogs and simply “be there”. The slower one is to start up your own local geocaching blog.

It takes ages to build a good readership on such a blog, but as long as you keep writing the visitors will come. But don’t just focus on yourself and your adventures. Try to give it a local spin, making it a community any local cacher should know about and visit.

• Be active on local forums and websites.
• Be nice, happy, friendly and write good and helpful comments.
• Really want to make a statement? Start your own local geocaching website.

Summary

Sound easy enough? It is! You don’t have to apply all of the above, but the most important is to be present and visible both online and offline. Time will do the rest. You want people to associate your face and nickname with good things. Good hides, good comments, good spirit. But above all, simply remember to have fun and be active. Then the rest will come automatically 😀

Want A Shortcut? Be The Bad Guy

And finally, in case you don’t like any of the above, let’s say that you do take the “bad” side after all. Here are some quick tips that are guaranteed to put your name on everyone’s lips:

• Steal coins and TB’s.
• Write hate-comments on all local caches.
• Rant on forums.
• Destroy caches.

Seriously though, we believe you’re better than that.