Ever heard of Geocaching?

[okarol]

My sister is hooked on Geocaching - which I wasn't really familiar with. She says it's a lot of fun.
Ever hear of it?

What is Geocaching?

Geocaching is an entertaining adventure game for gps users. Participating in a cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the wonderful features and capability of a gps unit. The basic idea is to have individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the internet. GPS users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches. Once found, a cache may provide the visitor with a wide variety of rewards. All the visitor is asked to do is if they get something they should try to leave something for the cache.



Here's the website she uses http://www.geocaching.com/

[Chris]

My GPS unit sucks in the city. I can't get a signal no matter where I am walking. Not going to even try to drive in downtown Chicago traffic unless I can do the chase scene from the Blues Brothers
Just don't have me drive that Dodge Monaco

[Sluff]

Some mysteries are better left unsolved.  All this new stuff, I don't understand none of it.

[flip]

I've tried it and found it to be lots of fun.

[Mizar]

   Have done it on and off four about Four Years. It's Fun.

[jbeany]

Yup - lots of sites around here.  It's fun, great for getting the kids in your life to get out from in front of the TV and outside.

[Romona]

I have a map! That is as high tech as I get.

[mcjane]

 

[CW]

I have a map! That is as high tech as I get.

I don't think you can Geocache with a map Romona  maybe if you had enough  or 

[kimcanada]

I guess lots of people here Geocache, I would like to try it this summer

[Sunny]

You need a GPS to Geocache, no doubt about it.
We got my husband a Garmin GPS for his birthday a few years ago, and now we like to use it for Geocaching.
For me, it's like hunting for pirate's treasure or searching for archaeological sites. Lots of fun. When you find
the "box", you can sign your Geocache name on a journal with a date. It's fun to see who and when others
were there. One time our Geocache led us to "Snowshoe Thompson's" headstone. Another time it led us
to an airplane crash sit up on a mountain top with debris from the plane and crosses in memoriam. Another
time, to a circle of redwoods growing corkscrew-like. Much fun to be had.

[monrein]

Just trying to understand how this works....so you drive to these sites using gasoline and cars with a GPS??  Or is it a walking thing??

If it's in a car and I pretend to be an alien I'm mighty confused about the whole business given the price of gas and all.

Perplexed in Toronto.

[okarol]

You can walk or drive. Down in the arroyo near me there are many walking trails, and apparently there are some cache's along the way.

[monrein]

The treasure hunt on foot idea sounds pretty cool.

[jbeany]

The caches exist all over. The website lets you put in a zip code, and it will list the sites closest to your location. The most cost effective way to do it is to find ones near your house, or close to routes that you are going to travel anyhow.   A lot of the geo-cachers I have run into around here are up in northern Mi on vacation.  They geo-cache as inexpensive entertainment while they are on their vacation.   Most of the cache owners all give some kind of hint (in an easy to solve code)to help you locate the cache if you get close but still can't find it.   The caches themselves are some kind of waterproof container.  Inside you will find an assortment of "treasures".  You must leave a prize for every prize you take.  These don't have to be expensive tokens - just fun stuff.  Pens, stickers, little toys, pins and badges, etc.  (No food, please - it attracts bugs and critters!) There is usually a log book, so you can see who else has been to the cache.  People leave comments about the day, the hike, where they are from.  Sometimes the cache owner puts in a disposable camera and asks everyone to take a pic of themselves. 
Sometimes there are "travel bugs" - these can fancy electronic ones or simply notebooks with a "bug" attached.  The point of these bugs are to see how far they have traveled.  If you find one, and are going to geo-cache somewhere else any time soon, you log where you found the bug, take it with you, and log it into another cache site.  Some of the travel bugs have made it to multiple countries.