You've found all the caches in a 50-mile radius of your home, and no one has been placing new caches. What do you do? What do you do? One solution, though not a quick fix, is to introduce muggles to geocaching, thereby ensuring that new caches will eventually be placed for you to find. What a novel concept; instead of avoiding the eyes of muggles, you actually want them to find out what those strange people with "cell phones" have been doing in the woods. What a novel concept; instead of avoiding the eyes of muggles, you actually want them to find out what those strange people with "cell phones" have been doing in the woods.

Consider contacting your local television station or newspaper; tell them about geocaching and ask if they'd be interested in sending a reporter to go caching with you. Take them to a relatively easy cache; you don't want to intimidate prospective cachers (or the reporter), but explain that cache difficulty and terrain ratings can vary from a micro hidden beneath a park bench to an ammo can hidden miles up a mountain trail. The media will effectively reach a wide audience of outdoor enthusiasts and give you your 15 minutes of fame, to boot.

If you're good with words, you might consider creating a flyer describing what caching is (and what it's not). Include information on how to get started and the benefits of caching. List the reasons you enjoy it. Explain how many cachers have lost weight and are healthier since they stopped sitting in front of their television sets on the weekend and hunt for that illusive Tupperware box hidden in a park, instead. Describe how you've discovered new locations of which you were previously unaware prior to your introduction to geocaching. Inform families that caching is a wonderful family activity. Likewise, let would-be hermits know that caching is an excellent solitary activity, as well.

If you're not good with words, or don't have the time to make your own flyer because you're too busy looking for said Tupperware, consider downloading and printing CYBret's tri-fold brochure, Let's Go Geocaching! or folding business card. "I think the beauty of the brochure is in its versatility. You can just hand it to someone and they'll get the gist of it. You can walk them through it and it's like a guided tour of the geocaching process. Or you can point them to the links on the back and even provide them with your own group or personal contact info and they've suddenly got a way to gather more information and get back in touch with you later," explained CYBret.

Once you have your flyers, brochures, or business cards printed, you're ready to distribute them. Think about where prospective cachers might hang out. Of course, any location where a cache is hidden is good place to start. State and National Parks, as well as smaller neighborhood parks, are ideal. People who frequent these locations may be cachers; they just don't know it yet. Ask them if they've heard of geocaching, and, after giving them a cursory explanation as to what caching is, give them one of your printed resources. Another good location is any merchant that sells GPS receivers, two-way radios, and other caching equipment. Ask the manager if he or she will allow you to leave a few brochures on the counter nearest the GPS units, or post a flyer in the store window. In addition, many parks, libraries, schools and universities, churches, community centers, the YMCA, gyms, and other establishments have a bulletin board where people can post various information. This might be a good place to post your flyer or brochure. Ask your local law enforcement agency if they have a place to post information. Not only might you recruit new cachers here, but you'll also create an awareness of the positive aspects of caching, such as CITO, as opposed to many of the negatives that non-cachers associate with caching.

How about an event? Write an open invitation to prospective cachers and post it at the locations above or place a small ad in your local newspaper. Submit it to a geocaching web site so that other cachers will attend; the more experienced cachers who can answer questions and explain the activity, the better. Teach attendees from the start how to avoid pitfalls such as placing a cache on private property or hiding an easily muggled cache. Show them an example of a properly-dressed cache container that doesn't look like a threat to a non-cacher. Hold the event outdoors where newbies can search for a cleverly hidden cache in a worthy location. A micro hidden in a lamppost probably isn't the best candidate; you want a new cacher's first find to be top quality so they will treasure the experience, not think to themselves, "How lame is this?"

Of course, if the above is too time-consuming, or if there's too much work involved, something as simple as a well-placed bumper sticker on your vehicle is a subtle, yet effective, advertisement. Choose something humorous such as Geocaching Club Gear's "I'm not lost...I'm following the arrow" bumper sticker. Or the vinyl decal designed and created by the husband and wife caching team, Sissy-n-CR that reads, "CAUTION! Geocacher on board - Expect frequent and erratic stops!" If you're reluctant to put such a sticker on your vehicle, try wearing a tee shirt that tells people you're a geocacher. MIGO (Michigan Geocaching Organization) offers a tee shirt that reads, "Get a life...Go Geocaching!" And, the tee shirt that perhaps most cachers will readily recognize is the one available through Groundspeak. Not only will it identify you as a participant in the activity, it gives curious bypassers a URL to check out for themselves, and perhaps discover a whole new way of life filled with neato gadgets, trinket-filled boxes, and secret geocachers' handshakes.

Let the recruiting commence!

Editor's note:Read Torry Stiles' sequel to this article next month, which will focus on sharing caching with family and friends.