Geocaching

skittledoo

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#1
Does anyone on here do it? I'm curious to learn more. Trying to get into hiking more now and stumbled across a site where people post geocaches.

I know you use a GPS and you find containers... but what are in these containers? Sounds like it would be a fun treasure hunt adventure.
 

Airn

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#2
I have a teacher in high school who loved doing it. He told us a lot about it.

As far as I understand you use a GPS to find the cache and it's usually filled with little trinkets. I think you take what you find, while leaving something in return. Then you go and hide the trinket you took and post the coordinates. It's basically pass along, see how far something can go. I could be wrong, though, since I haven't actually done it.

It sounded like a lot of fun but I'm not much of an outdoorsy person. And it really depends on your area. I would browse some sites to see how common it is in your area. It would suck to get into something and only have like three 'treasure hunts'.

Let us know what you find if you decide to try it out!
 

Dizzy

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#3
I've been a few times, and it's quite good fun! I've never really got into it, more gone along with other people.

There is usually tat in the containers. Like toys out of crackers! You take something and leave something. Write in the little log. Then log online you've done that one.

The best finds are the bugs (I think they're called??). They have a proper log, start place and often a destination :) so, say you wanted one to travel around the world, you can set it off, then track it as it travels to far off places. Or if you find one, you can help it along its journey. I've also heard people setting things off like keys to cars, and the first one to get back to a certain person wins the car... Or something!!

It's just like a grown up treasure hunt.

And make sure the muggles don't see you!!!!!!!

And for those who don't like the outdoors, there's tons hidden in cities too :)
 

skittledoo

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#4
I've been a few times, and it's quite good fun! I've never really got into it, more gone along with other people.

There is usually tat in the containers. Like toys out of crackers! You take something and leave something. Write in the little log. Then log online you've done that one.

The best finds are the bugs (I think they're called??). They have a proper log, start place and often a destination :) so, say you wanted one to travel around the world, you can set it off, then track it as it travels to far off places. Or if you find one, you can help it along its journey.

It's just like a grown up treasure hunt.

And make sure the muggles don't see you!!!!!!!

And for those who don't like the outdoors, there's tons hidden in cities too :)
muggles? haha that's AWESOME!

Ok this is honestly sounding like more and more fun to me. I just need a GPS.
 

RBark

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#5
I geocache once in a while. I did it a lot for a while, but now it's just something I do for fun while I'm out hiking.

http://www.rei.com/product/805907/garmin-gpsmap-62s-gps

That's the one I use. It is awesome and a lot of fun. Be careful though, some geocaches are in areas near people's houses. People have gotten in trouble for prowling around people's homos and making neighbors suspicious.

I personally only do it while out hiking.
 

Zhucca

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#6
I love geocaching! I haven't gone all winter, but it's starting to becoming the season. I think I've found 110 caches or something. I don't usually take anything from the caches, they're little childrens trinkets or bugs and coins. I have a little baggie of stuff I got from the sally ann and I more often leave stuff than I do take.

It's fun and a good excuse to go outside. I highly recommend it.
 

GoingNowhere

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#7
I love geocaching :) I haven't found too too many, but I've been casually hunting them since 2008 and placed my first a few years ago. It's pretty cool, and there are varieties for everyone.

Traditional Caches are the ones that most people think of when they first consider geocaching. These are usually a container (varies in size, from "nano" or "micro" which can be tiny enough that only a small logbook to log your visit can be included all the way up to extra large caches. Typically, I've found caches that are about the size of an ammo can (like a large lunch box size) or tupperware container. Multicaches will take you from one cache to the next to the next until you finally gather the coordinates for the final location. These are typically less traveled than the average traditional cache because it can take several trips until you find the final cache and can log your visit. Virtual caches are "locations" that people have found to be of interest, but may not be suitable for a physical container (such as a historic or government site, etc). Earth caches typically require that you visit some sort of physical feature (for example, there is an Earth cache for completing the Old Rag hike if you take a picture of yourself at the top with your GPS and answer some questions).

I prefer to cache in the woods, because I feel really self conscious wandering around in a public area looking in storm drains and under lamp shades while people are watching. But beware of ticks in the spring and summer! Most geocaches are hidden off the beaten trail so they don't get "muggled" which can lead to some bushwhacking and creepy crawly bugs if you're not prepared.

For the caches that do contain "swag" (i.e the trinkets inside), it's usually just cheapo stuff you mind find in a McDs happy meal, etc. Once I found a dollar bill, though :) More often than not, I don't take anything because I find it to be junky. But if you go to a newer cache, the owner may have started it out with some nice swag. Unfortunately, because people don't seem to understand the value of trading equally (that is replacing what you took with something of equal or better value), the swag in containers tends to go downhill quickly. I've seen straight up trash in some that I've found.

www.geocaching.com is a great source to check out both to find out about the hobby and to find caches in your area. There are TONS in NoVA including the one I placed about 2 years ago now! It's probably getting kind of ratty now, though - I need to check up on it and do maintenance.
 

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