Geocaching

[// / yardo]

Got into it with some friends for a while. Was really fun but lost interest.

[Mount-n-Groan]

Al, there are some other sites, but I don't think they're as big as geocaching.com and I haven't tried any of them. For the most part, I think they're all geared for GPS use.

navicache.com
earthcache.com
opencaching.com
terracaching.com
gpsgames.org

About using the GPS... With the one that I couldn't find I literally got my GPS to match the exact coordinates as best as I could (down to the thousandths of minutes) and still couldn't find it. The other two that I found I noticed that my GPS displayed slightly different coordinates than what was posted in the geocache location. I don't know exactly why that is - maybe the devices involved weren't getting a good signal at the time or maybe the coordinates were altered on purpose to make it more challenging. But, once I was in the general vicinity I ignored the GPS altogether and focused more on the hints/clues.

I think that most of them could be found without a GPS and there are many that search the old-fashioned way with a compass and a map. But, some of the more backcountry / out-of-the-way ones would be extremely difficult and take more time than what most of us can allot.

I've got a major geocaching jones going on right now (thanks to this thread). I think I'll take the family out this weekend and try to find a few. I need to work on creating my own too. Fun stuff...

[Alastor]

Apparently they're not into the "Go to these coordinates, then solve the riddle to get a prize."

They just want the coordinates. This was a sad discovery to me, as any fool can follow an arrow. Especially one made by a computer that flashes on your screen. They're not much into the riddle aspects, apparently.

Maybe different geocaching communities have different rules? Does anyone know of any other geocaching communities besides Geocaching.com?

[jetrazor74]

My unit is an older GPSer, so I'm easily frustrated in tree cover as I tend to lose signal easily. On a few hunts I've had to get within about 50 feet, outside the trees and then just walk in, estimate, and start looking.

I try to stay away from the more difficult ones as my two little girls love it as well. If you like finding treasure as an adult, imagine being a kid and finding real hidden treasure! The hardest part in the beginning was convincing them that you could only take one piece and that you had to replace it with something else.

Now they are starting to grasp the fun of just finding the cache itself. A few weeks ago we found one and my oldest daughter found it in a spot we had already "searched" and moved away from. Apparently we didn't look very well. She hasn't let us forget that "she found it and she was right and we were wrong."

Someday I'd like to go out looking for some harder to get to and more out of the way ones, but for now I just love being in the outdoors with loved ones.

It's a great hobby for the whole family.

[Mount-n-Groan]

I've only searched for 3 (found 2), but it's a lot of fun and something I plan on doing more. My parents are geochachers as well and I actually got the coordinates for the first one from my dad. I found it fairly easily and so I decided to challenge myself a bit. I noticed one nearby with a difficulty of 4 and a terrain of 3.5 that hadn't been found since last summer. Well, I've only looked for it once - on limited time - and I didn't find it, but I'm hooked. Planning on searching for it again soon.

There are many here in town, but I don't plan on looking for many of those. I like the ones that are out of the way and located in a place that takes a little effort to get to. For that reason, the GPS is a MUST. There's no way I would've found the ones I did without it. One clue was something like "in a log in a forest, lol". I found it, but it's one of those places where the nearest "main road" is actually a 4WD road off of a back road off of a back road off of one of the least used highways in the state.

I highly recommend this activity!

[jetrazor74]

I've been geocaching for a couple years now. It's awesome. There used to be a thread here a few years ago, but I would guess it's impossible to find at this point, or was archived.

My parents are geocachers as well, and since they ATV a lot, they have the chance to find lots of them all over. They've even gone international, did some on their vacation to Australia a year ago.

I can't imagine doing it without a GPS, at least in some of the ones in rural and wilderness areas. Most are hard enough to find even WITH a GPS. lol

I don't have much experience in urban areas, so that might be different.

I think it defeats the purpose to do it without one, though.

It's free to sign up on their site, and you can get used GPS units for cheap.

[Alastor]

In my experience, you don't even need a GPS unit. It's really taking off in urban areas, and you don't even need a GPS for most of those. Look around Denver on the cache sites. They're all over the place and without the need of a GPS. Literally anyone can play now.

I think that's a good thing.

[DenFanNPckrLand]

Geocaching is a blast! What a great excuse to get outdoors! The treasure hunting aspect appeals to all, and the only thing you need is a GPS unit. One of the most fun hobbies I have!

[Alastor]

Yeah, there's a bunch. And oddly, they seem to keep their caches up pretty well. Most I've encountered are just your basic "Go here, find the item, sign the log, leave" kind.

Some have riddles though, and others have prizes. Mine has both (naturally).

I've also already met one other person while hunting for a cache, and he was pretty cool. So it's kind of a social endeavor as well, and I do like me some attention.

[FLBroncFan]

That's very interesting, Al......didn't even know Geocaching existed until you posted this thread....wow.

http://www.geocaching.com/

According to this website, there are over 5 million geocachers world wide.

[Alastor]

Does anyone do this?

Essentially, you go out and hide something. A small container of some kind. Some are very creative, others are as simple as a film container with a note inside of it.

You then post coordinates to the location or near the location. Sometimes a clue or a riddle leads you to the hidden item.

When you find it, you sign the log and put it back. Some of these hidden containers have prizes in them that you get to take, though you're expected to put something back in most cases.

The underlying goal of these treasure hunts is that you're supposed to be conscientious of the environment, and most Geocachers I've met so far carry a small grocery bag with them to pick up trash as they walk along hunting for the prize containers.

The first one I ever found had prizes in it. I got a Wolverine Pez dispenser out of the cache, and put in a bouncy ball with a map of the world on it. I think I got the better end of that deal, but lots of people like balls too and it was a pretty cool ball.

It's sort of a modern day treasure hunting game, played mostly for bragging rights, requiring little to no investment. It's very inexpensive - essentially you're just walking someplace and looking around until you find an item, sign the log book, and then post about it on a web site, but even that's not required.

It's really just kind of a fun hide and seek game, or a riddle game of some sort.

I was recently introduced to it and have found five hidden caches so far. I was stunned to discover that there are three hidden items within 500 feet of my house!

If I expand to the list of things within 1 mile of my front door, there are 28. All within a mile of me.

Soon there will be 29, because I've built my own cache that I intend to add to the list. I have an additional cache that I'll be adding in the next couple of days to bring that total to 30.

Apparently, these things are all over the damned place.

Does anyone here play this game?