You’ve read my last two posts, What is Geocaching? and Getting started with Geocaching, and now you’re ready to learn some of the terms used by geocaching participants.
You certainly don’t need to be proficient at these in order to start geocaching, but it certainly helps if you have an idea what is being said or written in logs.
Here are some of the more popular phrases found in Geocaching.
Cache
The actual container that you’re looking for. These can be anything from Mont Tins, to fake rocks, to Ammo cans, plastic containers or other watertight items.
Cacher
Someone who hunts geocaches.
Camo
Short for camouflage, a popular method of helping to hide those caches.
DNF
Acronym for ‘Did not find’. It’s worth logging your DNF’s, as it helps the owners understand if there are potential issues with a cache of theirs.
FTF
Acronym for ‘First to find’. As your geocaching developers, you’ll start wanting further challenges, by being one of the first to find a new cache. This adds an element of speed to the game.
GC
An acronym for ‘Geocoin’. These are specially made coins that feature a unique code that can be logged on the website, and moved form cache to cache. They are not designed to be kept, but rather moved to another cache.
GZ
Acronym for ‘Ground Zero’. The GZ is the listed final coordinates for a cache.
Muggle
A term used to describe non-players of geocaching, ie: the general public. Muggles are a blight on the game of geocaching, as they’ll unexpectadly pop up when you’re hunting for a cache.
Q&E
Short for ‘Quick and Easy’. This often appears in logs, if you find the cache within a few minutes of looking.
SL
Acronym for ‘Signed Log’. This is often used in the phrase TNLNSL (see below for TNLN).
STF or 2TF
Acronym for ‘Second to Find’ – see FTF above, you’ve won Silver, not Gold.
TB
Short for Travelbug. These are other not-to-be-kept trackable items, similar to Geocoins, and can be tracked on the Geocaching website.
TFTC, TFTH or T4TH
A short way of saying ‘Thanks for the Cache’ or ‘Thanks for the Hunt’. This is a nice way of thanking the cache owner for placing the cache you’ve just found.
TNLN
This is short for ‘Took Nothing, Left Nothing’. This means the finder literally only signed the log, and didn’t swap any of the contents of the cache.
TTF or 3TF
This means ‘Third to Find’. A bronze place in the art of chasing down new caches. See FTF or STF above.
Waypoint
These are recorded coordinates, possibly in a multi-cache or used to show good places for parking, etc.
It may all seem like secret code, and in a way, I guess it is; Geocaching is a secret handshake kind of hobby, and these terms make it easy to write quick logs or have codewords for the general public, etc.
Now that you’ve become familiar with some of the terms used in Geocaching, I’ll next post about ‘Finding that first cache’.
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