Geocaching Anyone??

[MonacoMama]

I am curious if anyone here happens to have the "geocaching fever" while they are traveling or even while they are at home?

I am interested in learning what websites you normally use for geocaching - along with if anyone does it without a handheld GPS...or do you using a GPS in your vehicle just to get in the general area.

I am finally getting interested in this hobby...and more than likely..it was a fad and is now going out... (...and...Guess what.. I don't care ..it seems to be a great way to get extra exercise!!)

[Route 66]

I recall quite a bit of discussion on this.

A search turns up quite a few threads.

[VI Roamers]

I take our tiny Garmin Nuvi 250 and put in the cache coordinates and it takes me to within a few feet of where it is.

I thought I might need a handheld too, but other than running low on battery power in about 4 hours instead of 20 for a set of double A batteries it seems to work quite well.

There is a hidden cache near here I haven't looked for yet. The hidden cache can only be located by following a series of tiny reflective strips. The strips only show up at night when a flashlight is shone in that direction. Clever...

regards, Mike

[GoneFishin]

Hi MM,
How are you and Sacs?

Rick and I have done a little Geocaching with our Magellan CrossOver (aka Connie), mostly in the Thousand Trails parks. I remember at Lake Minden they gave us a list of coordinates and at each location we'd find a small stash of trinkets in a container and a log to write our name. I think we were supposed to make note of the location to prove we'd completed the course to claim some other small trinket from the activities director. At one time I started collecting small trinkets like rally pins, keychains, etc., the type of items that clog a junk drawer, to leave in the geocach stash containers.

One of the reasons we decided on the Megallen Crossover is because it is portable, made for vehicles and hiking, and they have maps for lakes, as well as hiking trails.

It's not to late to get interested in geocaching. I think it's still popular and could make a hike even more challenging. Go for it!

[Tom and Patty]

MM,

We just started. Patty and I had a great time on our first outing with the owners of Wishson Village last week. We were 2 for 2 on Sunday. We purchased a Garmin Colorado from Costco for $249. They now have a Garmin touch screen for $200 dollars off. We had fun and got excercise.

The website we are using has been the one my brother has used for 4 years. geocaching.com

Of course our GPS's were new and being men we didn't read the directions. Patty took a photo of us trying to figure them out.
Which way do we go!!
When we got near the caches the girls found them!! We figured the GPS's were going to be like witching rods and point right to them. Instead they will get you about 10-20 feet away.

We are up this weekend and are going to find more. Maybe hide one or two and record them on the geocache website.

[MonacoMama]

Mic.. I am looking forward to trying my hand at it..I am trying to decide how hard it will be to geocache without GPS. I was looking at a cache map a bit ago - there looks to be 12 of them within a short distance of our current location!

Tom... I know which one you are talking about...It is WHY I started thinking about "caching"
MM

[Dick & Pat]

We have been Geocaching for nearly two years now, and enjoy it immensely. As for this sport being a "fad", there are sure no signs of it going away. The number of caches placed worldwide is around 800,000 and growing by leaps and bounds.

Yes, MM, you can probably find a few caches without a GPS device, but that would take a lot of the fun out of it. Buy an inexpensive one, get started and you'll learn the fun of letting the device lead you to Ground Zero (the general area where the cache is hidden).

Go to www.geocaching.com , get registered and take time to read the FAQ's and information at Geocaching University. No need to be in a hurry; I studied the site for a month before choosing a GPS and getting started. The Forum is also very informative, but a word of advice....don't be intimidated by some of the "hi-tech" subjects discussed, as there are a lot of Computer Geeks involved in the hobby who I believe get more of a thrill out of the GPS device than the actual hunt for a cache.

BTW, our username at GC is RV'n Iowans

Dick

[BZam]

Originally Posted by MonacoMama

I am curious if anyone here happens to have the "geocaching fever" while they are traveling or even while they are at home?

I am interested in learning what websites you normally use for geocaching - along with if anyone does it without a handheld GPS...or do you using a GPS in your vehicle just to get in the general area.

I am finally getting interested in this hobby...and more than likely..it was a fad and is now going out... (...and...Guess what.. I don't care ..it seems to be a great way to get extra exercise!!)

I have been at it for about 2 years. Not a serious geocacher but it does make for fun and a challenge when I am bicycling or walking.

There is only one real site for all and that is nice. Subscription is well worth the money.

Bob

[Boris and Natasha]

Mama --
Try it. You'll like it!
We've been at this for three years and just found our 500th cache this week. It's the perfect activity for RVers. There are caches everywhere!
Have fun,
Natasha

[EvTech]

I've been doing it for about three years. Lots of fun and it adds motivation to take a hike. I live in the Pacific NW and I'm about an hour from where the first geocache listed on the internet is placed. There's actually a bronze marker there. Of course, it's hidden so you need your GPS receiver to find it! BTW, rumor says that if you place your GPS receiver on the bronze plaque that you will get increased battery life and enhanced accuracy. It doesn't work!

[nevred]

I'm not a avid geocacher, but have done it several times with the grand kids and really enjoyed it. I have a small meridian color portable from magellan.

[Greg from Almanor]

Hello Mama, I've "caching for years and love it. At first it was all about the "numbers". Like how many finds, or how many "First to Find". But now I am discerning. I only look for the interesting or hard to find caches. Experience will tell you what to look for. But, here's the real benefit of caching while traveling. It gets you out into areas that are not on any brochures. Only the "locals" know about these sites. Places like an oasis in a NV desert complete with petroglyphs in the rocks. Another was a wetland in TX that came with a warning: Watch for alligators! I found one in a slave only graveyard on Antigua that definately wasn't on the official list of things to see. And even near to home. I saw a still working wooden flume in my own county just ten miles from my house.

My unit (second one since I drove away one time with the first one on the roof of my Jeep) is a Magellen 100. No bells and whistles which means longer battery life. And the technology used in computing location is the same in all units, I don't need more.

I also travel with a laptop so I can look up sites where ever I am. That website is www.geocaching.com.

p.s. Didn't meet you in Quartzsite because I wanted to stay only a couple of nights but the BLM person said that it was a two week minimum stay.

Greg
2007 Cayman 36 with a '99 Wrangler Cache mobile

[MonacoMama]

Greg in Almanor... I am sorry we missed you-but I bet the fee for two weeks of BLM was still cheaper than the few nights in town! You would have enjoyed meeting a bunch of the gang here

Geocaching... I am bound & determined to start soon... I will not be as discerning as you are once I get started (there are probably over 25 caches within a 2 mile radius of where I am located now! ) ...I want to get my "feet wet" with the process first...so I will try to get as many caches as I can.

I am such a gadget person...and I think once I get a GPS that I will be hooked and then want the "bigger & best" one to use...but I would want to use it for all things too. (I tend to go overboard sometimes)

I look forward to meeting up with you sometime in the future...

[sknight]

We use a Garmin GPSMap 60CSx or an eTrex Legend. They have routing and handheld capability. The wife uses a Palm Tungsten PDA so we can have notes and record finds paperlessly.

On geocaching.com I'm Orpheus and she's Danelady. Incidentally geocaching is how we met.