Are there any Geo-Cachers in the forums? For those who aren't familiar, Geocaching is a sport, game, whatever, where you use your GPSr to find caches hidden by other users. It's good practice for you and your GPSr and incorporates excersize for your body and your mind. www.geocaching.com We go under the name "Team Geo-Yontz"

yeah and if you are in CA area tad gear hides their gift certificates and you can geocatch for prizes...

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Matt

I've found a few, and also couldn't find one. It's a good excuse to go for a hike. For survival skills, it might be more valuable to do it without a GPS, and just use a topo map and compass. If I do it more, I'm going to train my dog to help sniff it out. I'm sure with a little practice, she'll figure out the game and will detect the scent trail of other visitors and go right to it.

That would be cool. I am below you on the East Coast though! Diablo, the one who makes walking staffs (staves?) has been known to place certificates for a free staff in a cache here and there. I haven't found any really awesome "prizes" yet. I do it mainly for the hunt. My daughter loves the trade though.

You mean having my GPSr and a backpack full of batteries isn't good enough survival practice???? <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I'm not saying I've done it without a GPSr. I'm just suggesting it might be a good exercise in orienteering, which is a good skill to have when you run out of batteries, or want to preserve your batteries when you have to hike out of trouble. I'm not sure if the topo map will get you close enough though.

I started this winter. We have to use a map, a compass and The Force to find some caches too. Many caches are in wooded areas were you have difficulties to get any reception at all. We have a monthly meeting for the regional adicts. It tought me a lot about the use and limitations of the GPSr. Apart from that it´s great fun and an easy way to find beautiful and interesting places. In some cities geocachers create a sightseeing tour. A fellow cacher tried one and found it much better than tourist guides.

I had a prize hidden inside the statue once and police came running up thinking I'm planting a bomb but the officers were cool about it. It was a 8 foot statue that had an empty 2 inch pipe running thru it as a support. Since it was elevated you could reach underneath and just grab a film container that was inside the pipe. It only had few marbles and a sign up sheet so when cops saw it they just laughed. But it is addictive and fun.

Matt

The topo maps are frequently not accurate enough. Features like streets and streams are usually out of proportion. It could be a good practice to go by the topo as close as possible and then use the GPSr when you think you´re there.

I received one of El Diablos hiking staffs as a prize for finding my 100th cache, customized with my geo-name(JoeyBob), date, and name of the cache. He also made one for my oldest son. Great work, I highly recommend his work.
I recently found #200, definitely a low profile cacher!

You can get the UTM coords from the search page so it would be possible to do it with a UTM compatible map. From what I hear that is actually more acurate than a GPSr anyhow. But since I am map stupid, all I can do right now is follow the little arrow on my old beat up Garmin!

That is an awesome prize to be sure! #200!!! Wow, I haven't hit 15 yet let alone 100 or 200!

Greetings from the Utah Association Of Geocachers
I have over 100 finds not enough though.

Leemann <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

The accuracy would depend on the scale of the map. For most scales it´s less accurate than a GPSr. The primary problem would be the difference between the coordinates obtained from the map or via the GPSr. The cumulated errors can easily be 30 m or more. That would make the search really difficult for many caches.

Just saw this lisitng on Ebay regarding Geo-Caching supplies. Pete

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...43&rd=1

Here is a link to a picture of the staff.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?IID=2646c30b-6383-41b0-b526-691fb1e46510&LID=548846
Jerry used to have it on his web page, but mine is pre "geocaching.com" markings on the staff. I think he has to include that now, and pays royalties.
If you have time, read all the early logs for this cache, there was some serious "smack" talking going on!

Yep. My son and I do it frequently and have a cache hidden.

Been doing it for about a year & a half, now, but low-priority. It's a lot of fun with the kids--searching for hidden treasure really lights up my 5 year old!

David

ive heard about this before but never got active on reasearching it yet.

so i have a few questions.
1. what is the best and most affordable unit to get into gerocaching?

2. aside from the statue and pipe incident has anyone aroused any suspicion in public using one of these or placing a cache?

3.aside from signing up on the sheet of whos found this particular cache, what are you supposed to take or leave in return? (i didnt understand the part about marbles).

hopefully theres some good offers on the east coast as well.

im a NY boy just like polak.

Pretty much any GPSr will do. If the unit doesn't have a moving map, it helps to bring along an accurate map, preferably a topo. I have an eTrex Legend, and MapSource Topo, and I download the topo maps for the area into it. WAAS helps, but only if the person who placed the cache also has WAAS.

There are usually toys or trinkets inside the cache. You're supposed to take one, an leave one of your own. There are also markers with a code on them, you're supposed to take it out, enter the number in a web site, and then put it in the next cache you come to. You can then track these markers on the web to see where they've been.

EDIT: Any more questions, go here: http://www.geocaching.com/faq/

I've been caching for 2 years or so. Only about 30 finds so far, just too busy to go look. Since I travel with my job some, I've got find all over the US and one in Canada.

Good cheap fun once you have a GPS. My weapon of choice is a Garmin Rino 120. GPS and radio all in one.

Indeed I have Geocached. Too many now to list, but suffice to say well over 100 and closing in on 200. In my area of Idaho we have about 250+ Geocaches with new ones appearing every week. Extend that out to about 150 miles and the number easily exceeds 500.

Since I don't list the city I am living in in my profile, I will say I live near the city of Twin Falls. I am quite literally on the edge here. We are surrounded by 3 major canyon systems and lots of open space. I am about 5 miles from the infamous Evel Kneivel Snake River Canyon jump site and there is a Geocache located in the canyon across from the jump site. Due to these remarkable canyons placing a Geocache here is no problem.

Some are easily found, some are a skunk (not found) and some are trashed after the owner (like mine) have taken effort to place them. No one I am aware of has been seriously injured, but a few cuts and bruises have been the result. A few of us are proud to say we drew blood while Geocaching and others would rather not say. Kids seem to enjoy this hobby as well as adults in fact I hear it is the largest family sport in the US today!

I carry my EDC+ stuff with me while I Geocache and because this is a desert area, I carry water as well. Nothing seems to stop people from finding caches around here on lunch breaks, after school, after work, or what have you. In fact if you don?t check the Geocache website daily you may miss out on a FTF (first to find), which has its own vicious little bunch of us always trying to beat the good doctor and his evil twin brother the computer geek! In the end though it is always good clean fun!

I will mention the GPS I am using is the Garmin GPS II plus, okay laugh if you want, but the fact remains this older unit has literally outperformed both a Magellan and some of the E-Trex series GPS units. <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

One question I have from these posts is ?What the heck is a GPSr? I may be somewhat geeky myself, but cannot seem to figure that one out!

Take care,

Stargazer

ASAP = Always Suspicious, Always Prepared

GPS= Global Positioning Satellite. Everybody refers to the earthbound unit as a GPS, including me until recently, but I guess that's not a satelite is it? So it's a GPS reciever, or GPSr.

Sounds like that is the place to be for caching! Around here you can get into some mountainous areas, but nothing that would be too bad unless you were to get hurt to the point you couldn't walk out. GPSr = Global Positioning Satellite Reciever. And hey! <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />I use a Garmin GPS II Plus also! Old maybe, but works very well. With a good signal will get my EPE down to about 12 feet. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

A nit to pick: GPS = Global Positioning SYSTEM. The system comprises the satellites, the ground control system and the receivers.

US Air Force GPS Fact Sheet