Posted: 3/23/2010 7:19:49 PM EDT
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Tried it with a guy from work for the first time today. He's been doing it for a while he showed me around, and I drove the Jeep off into the forest and down some pretty nasty jeep trails for some neat cahes. Pretty fun, and a load of fun bouncing around in the forest in the Jeep.  Any of you guys doing this too?
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It's pretty much somebody stashing a box of trinkets (or sometimes nothing) out in random locations, and providing lat/long via a website. Others punch in the coords in their GPS and follow it to the location, then try to locate the goodie box. Sometimes it's easy to find, sometimes not. When you find it, you sign the log that you were there, maybe take something, maybe leave something. |
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It's like a modern treasure hunt. You use a GPS, or a smart phone, or if you want a challenge a compass and topo map. The game is made up of two distinct challenges. First one is navigating to the general area where the cache is placed. And there are over a million active caches in the world today. This navigation can be a walk or drive down a rugged wooded area, or in a park, or in a metro area. The journey is meant to bring you (Hopefully) to an area worth seeing. The second part of the game, since GPS' usually have some degree of error, is finding the cache itself. They generally are concealed or camouflaged, and some are just pure evil. Either way, it's an interesting sport that gives you another reason to get outside.
There are two rules to Geocaching. #1 is the sign the log when you find it. #2 is that if you take something from the cache, you leave something. They can be like grandma's junk drawer, in that you never know what you're going to find. |
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Quoted:
It's pretty much somebody stashing a box of trinkets (or sometimes nothing) out in random locations, and providing lat/long via a website. Others punch in the coords in their GPS and follow it to the location, then try to locate the goodie box. Sometimes it's easy to find, sometimes not. When you find it, you sign the log that you were there, maybe take something, maybe leave something. Hopefully they aren't random locations. Those end up being about as fun as finding a cache in a WalMart parking lot. A cache should be placed with the hope that it is an interesting place. |
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Quoted: I think you'll find a lot of hostility about Geocaching. I'm not sure why, but everyone I ask about it seems to HATE the idea. A lot. I can't figure it out.  I can't imagine why. Hell, I got to go walk in the woods, play in 4WD, and get some exercise, and had a lot of fun doing it. I don't think you can beat that. Quoted: Hopefully they aren't random locations. Those end up being about as fun as finding a cache in a WalMart parking lot. A cache should be placed with the hope that it is an interesting place. Some are pretty random. I noticed some caches seemed like somebody threw the box out while driving down the road and called it done. Very few of those, though. Others were hidden, some very well hidden. |
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Quoted:
I think you'll find a lot of hostility about Geocaching. I'm not sure why, but everyone I ask about it seems to HATE the idea. A lot. I can't figure it out. I have never run into that attitude, at least thus far. I have no idea why there would be any hostility toward it, it is a great outdoor activity. I go by "MT CatRancher" there. |
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Quoted:
I think you'll find a lot of hostility about Geocaching. I'm not sure why, but everyone I ask about it seems to HATE the idea. A lot. I can't figure it out. I've never encountered anyone that would act hostile towards me, but I've busted 3 people stealing or destroying caches. 
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I would try this if I lived someplace cool. As it is I would just end up wandering around a swamp or in a field of planted pines getting misquitto bit and trying not to sweat to death. This is one of the things that makes it interesting. Even if you live somewhere you have been for a long time you will be lead to cool areas you didn't even know about. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I would try this if I lived someplace cool. As it is I would just end up wandering around a swamp or in a field of planted pines getting misquitto bit and trying not to sweat to death. This is one of the things that makes it interesting. Even if you live somewhere you have been for a long time you will be lead to cool areas you didn't even know about. Very true. |
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Quoted: Quoted: I would try this if I lived someplace cool. As it is I would just end up wandering around a swamp or in a field of planted pines getting misquitto bit and trying not to sweat to death. This is one of the things that makes it interesting. Even if you live somewhere you have been for a long time you will be lead to cool areas you didn't even know about. Very true. I've lived in this area my whole life, yet today I was led to a beautiful clear sinkhole with a spring at the bottom. I've driven literally within a few hundred yards of it multiple times and never knew it was there until today. |
| If you like tracking down single boxes, look for the multi caches in your area. Multis only give the coords to the first box in a series. The best ones are ones that don't just give you the coords to the next stage, but a riddle or puzzle to solve to get the coords. |
I think it is great fun - as long as you don't expect real treasure, the thrill is the hunt. 
I've only done about 100... some are kinda lame, but they are all over the place - a great excuse to grab the dog and the s/o, friend, whomever, and go explore around a bit. The ammo cans yield the most junk, but some of the micro/nanos are insane. Some very clever folks out there! |
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Quoted: The ammo cans yield the most junk, but some of the micro/nanos are insane. Some very clever folks out there! I spotted a very well-hidden ammo can today under some palmettos and bushes. The owner had gone through the trouble to make a burlap ghillie suit for his ammo can.  Spent some time looking before finding that one.
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Quoted: It's pretty much somebody stashing a box of trinkets (or sometimes nothing) out in random locations, and providing lat/long via a website. Others punch in the coords in their GPS and follow it to the location, then try to locate the goodie box. Sometimes it's easy to find, sometimes not. When you find it, you sign the log that you were there, maybe take something, maybe leave something. Important to note if you have the right GPS/Phone all you have to do is download the cache to your unit with one click and all the info is transferred. I have found about 150 since June and I really enjoy it, I like all the different types amd I actually enjoy the variety of different types of hides. |