View Full Version : Geocaching
Hi
Been reading up on something called 'geocaching' and though that a thread to get it highlighted might be of interest to the community and see who does it, how it works etc.
It sounds fun and interesting but will ask if Adi007 can enlighten us all in more detail!
Cheers
Hi
Been reading up on something called 'geocaching' and though that a thread to get it highlighted might be of interest to the community and see who does it, how it works etc.
It sounds fun and interesting but will ask if Adi007 can enlighten us all in more detail!
CheersI'm called on to explain geocaching quite often so this is what I say:
Put simply, Geocaching is a modern day treasure hunt!
Geocachers hide caches (eg. tupperware box, ammo box, film canister) containing a Log book, sometimes a camera and items for swapping. Check out this map of all caches in the UK http://stats.guk2.com/caches/flash_map.php?q=25036 Caches are hidden in both remote places as well as urban areas - so you may be surprised to find they're hidden in virtually plain site very near to you -and there are caches hidden in countries all over the world!
To find hidden caches near you, register at http://www.geocaching.com/. Print out the details of a cache and using a GPSr (Global Positioning System receiver) off you go to find it. Once you've found it, write your name (or your caching handle) in the logbook, take your photo with the cache camera (if there is one), take photos of your own, and if you desire swap an item from the cache. Then to complete the experience you log your visit online on the webpage for that cache and upload any pictures you've taken of your visit. The more caches logged, the more kudos you have as a cacher (but most people aren't in it for the stats :wink:).
Now that's perhaps oversimplifying it too much. Certainly the GPS coords will get you into the vicinity of the cache (say 20m depending on a number of factors), but this is where skill with a GPS comes into it. Cache hiders can be very cunning :evil: and there are different kinds of cache as well as different grades of cache and terrain to make it harder. So, it can be quite a challenge. :o):
I enjoy geocaching mostly because it's a great way to find new haunts (because caches are usually placed by people who are familiar with the area you get to see the place from a local's perspective. I've certainly found a lot of places that don't appear in any tourist guide books! :-)) Plus it's a family-friendly hobby. Kids really enjoy the hunt because of the 'treasure' aspect but also because it's 'undercover' (it's important that non-geocachers don't observe you visiting a cache! :wink:)
There are several caching events each year ranging from meets in pubs to weekend camping trips. Cachers are a fun bunch of people.
(And of course Geocaching is a great way to disguise a bushcrafting trip for those who would otherwise be reluctant to set foot outdoors!)
:camp:
Sounds really good fun Kathie.....do you need to use a gps or can you use good old fashioned OS maps and a grid co-ordinate (not that I am a luddite (FAR from it), just that I havent yet got the money together to get a gps system yet)?
Have you any recommendations on gps' at all?
Cheers
Types of caches also vary. Most are tupperware box/ammo box sized. These sound easy to find but they can be very well hidden! Some are well spray painted to blend in.
However it can get even harder ... try finding a 35mm film cannister hidden in a knot hole in a tree or under a rock! :twisted: Or even somewhere urban like on some railings at a tourist attraction - unseen by hundred, if not thousands of people every year!!!! :shock:
Or a container hidden inside a plaster cast rock!
Sounds really good fun Kathie.....do you need to use a gps or can you use good old fashioned OS maps and a grid co-ordinate (not that I am a luddite (FAR from it), just that I havent yet got the money together to get a gps system yet)?
Have you any recommendations on gps' at all?
CheersThere are some caches that could be done with only a map or even without (especially urban caches), but unless there are some place name clues in the name of the cache, or some prominent landmarks to triangulate by, generally you're going to need a GPSr to get close enough to the exact area of the cache.
For example here are two of the caches we've hidden:
This one could be found without a GPS, using only the encrypted clues: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=111628
whereas this one probably couldn't (actually don't think I could find the cache myself again without a GPSr!))
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=111653
The cheapest (new) GPS reciever is the Magellan GPS 310 ... under £80 from GlobalPositioningSystems.co.uk and will work just fine. The more you pay just adds features (such as the ability to hook it into a PC and so on) and doesn't really improve accuracy unless you go for one that is WAAS enabled which allows slightly better accuracy.
Have you any recommendations on gps' at all?
think I may have found another hobby.....looks like a great excuse to be out and about (not that I really needed one!). Better start saving fro that gps then hadnt I!!!
Thanks for all the info
Where are you in Dorset ... I can check to see if there are any near you there. :-D
just had a look through the map and there are a few near me (Cerne Abbas and Ham Hill to name 2), so will probably go and see if I can find them without a gps and go from there.....I was looking for something to do this Saturday - I have just found it!!!
Here's another at Milton Abbas:
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?pf=&ID=19358&decrypt=y&log= :-D
Great fun.
Hopefully we'll be putting some of our own out in the Dales. Going to doing some of them that via Green Lanes that way I can kill 2 birds with 1 stone.
We found that it is also a good way of hidden gems / classics spots of an new area ie when on holiday.
Don't forget its global as well.
giancarlo
17-02-2004, 15:40
..... there's 1 in Jersey... ho hum :(
just had a look through the map and there are a few near me (Cerne Abbas and Ham Hill to name 2), so will probably go and see if I can find them without a gps and go from there.....I was looking for something to do this Saturday - I have just found it!!! :super: Hope you have a great time!
Did you have any luck caching at the weekend, Jamie? :-)
Hey Kathie
I did go but didnt find anything. Think that using an OS map, although doable, isnt ideal as you have a much bigger area to cover and it truly is a needle in a haystack. Am now saving my pennies to get a gps and am thinking of the garmin legend....any thoughts?
Cheers
The garmin Legend is a superb choice because it gives you a PC cable that you can use for transferring waypoints to and from your PCand GPS.
Functionally, as a GPS, the whole range from the Legend to Vista are the same, all that differs are the additional features. The basic yellow eTrex (also the camo, which is just a yellow in a case that makes it easier to lose!) is also the same except that it doesn't have a PC cable port.
Similar to that is the Geko 201.
Well done!
I'm told that it gets easier after the first 500 or so!!!! :-D :-D :-D
Another bit of fun you can have is placing a few geocaches out for others to find ... :-D
I found two !! :-D
Yes I tried seting a "virtual" cache up but the geocache police wouldnt go for it
Have to do it properly I suppose :lol:
MartiniDave
25-02-2004, 09:23
Wow, this is incredible!
I had a look on the map aand picked the dot I though looked near where I live. It turned out to be about a mile down the road from my house!! Even more startling, by reading the clues and the username of the cacher, I've worked out who the cacher is!!! :shock:
Even more bizare the chap helped with location filming for Ray's Real Heroes of Telemark series!!!! :shock: :shock:
I need a lie down now, but I'll give this a propper go later on.
Dave
We used geocaching in the mob, for TOTALLY different reasons. This looks a whole lotta fun :-D I never thought whilst digging for ammo and food in the battering rain that someone would think.... Hey this would make a great sport and social activity.
Mad as a box o frogs !! :-D
You don't have to be, but it helps!!!!
:-D :biggthump
Mad as a box o frogs !! :-D
We used geocaching in the mob, for TOTALLY different reasons. This looks a whole lotta fun :-D I never thought whilst digging for ammo and food in the battering rain that someone would think.... Hey this would make a great sport and social activity.
Mad as a box o frogs !! :-DOf course ammo and food wouldn't be allowed in a sporting geocache. :wink: Though we do still use ammo cans as cacheboxes.
Our first attempt at caching.
Here we are on Easter sunday morning and not a lot on, so I thought lets have a look on the web and find some local caches, Bingo, two within a two mile radius of home, that will do for starters, I grabbed the GPS and punched the cordinants in, plugged it into the landy and off we went, elxplaining to the other half and kids what todays supprise was and then that I was not suffering from some horrible insanity.
Here we are at the first cache, read the clues and as I thought, A GRAVE YARD, nice, my dog licked his lips at the smell of all those free bones, found Issac perry's head stone and worked the rest out and while rumaging in the undergroath for the said tupperware box my son said there is a police man coming over to us, hello, say's I, morning, say's plod, what you doing? geocaching , say's I, what!!, say's plod, I explained, and after he had checked to see if I had escaped from the funny farm he suggested that I went on my way as someone had reported that I was stealing head stones.
OK, kids lets find the other one, not to far away, Chatham dockyard, the GPS bleeps and we're there, out comes the magnifying glass and before long my son call's out got it dad, great I thought, small silver clip with a small green cable tie attached to a chain in basin No2, this is it, lets see what this is all about, haul it up I said to my now eager son, the chain slowly emerging from the murky waters of the historic basin where HMS Victory was built all those years ago, and wait for it ...............some GIT had nicked it.
I will make another visit to the grave yard, dressed in black with my night vision in hand and see if there is anything there, but all in all it helped to kill some time even if it did nearly end up in the police station.
I live. It turned out to be about a mile down the road from my house!! Hey Dave, did you ever go find the cache? :?:
Sounds fun :-D
may have to buy a GPS :wink:
MartiniDave
07-07-2004, 14:07
I've just got back to work after my first geoching trip proper.
A workmate, who is also a cub leader, is a keen cacher, and in actual fact placed the cache "I" just found. I must say it seems good fun, the area this particular cache is in is right next to a brook I sometimes kayak, but I've now seen the area from a different perspective.
Now to convince my wife that I need a GPS!
Dave :-D
P.S. - I didn't find the cache I mentioned in an earlier post, but its going on the list!
Hi Dave!
Well done! Glad you enjoyed your first cache. It's great fun isn't it?
We just came back from geocaching too - although it should be called geocaving for the one we did though - had to dive into a little hole in the ground then go 200 metres underground! What a blast! :cool: All because somebody said on the internet that they'd put an ice cream tub down there (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=2c772e 4f-40e0-499f-9470-3c15865743b8)! We didn't know if it was supposed to be underground or not, but did it anyway! :sulk: OK so there is something weird about that ...
But hey we earned an FTF on a 5/5! :-D (BTW for those that don't know, that's a "First to Find" on a grade 5 out of 5 for difficulty and a grade 5 out of 5 for terrain.)
I LOVE this sport!!!!!!!!
:D :o): :D :o): :D :o):
Lucky we always carry torches! :lol:
I LOVE this sport!!!!!!!!
:D :D :D :o): :o): :o):Even if it's THE most irresponsible thing you've done in your entire life !!!! :yikes: ;) :uu: :claping:
Wanted to add a note, Dave, that they're not all like that cache. There's only half a dozen caches like that (in the UK anyway) so most of the time it's a much more sensible activity! :cop: :naughty:
Just in case we scared you off already ... :icon_lol:
MartiniDave
08-07-2004, 08:40
You didn't scare me Kath, as I get older less things seem to do that.
Dave
You didn't scare me Kath, as I get older less things seem to do that.
Oh that's good! I wasn't suggesting that you were easily scared :wink: but I realized later that my post gave kinda the wrong impression of geocaching and I didn't want to put anyone off the sport. :shock:
So how's it going? Have you done any more caches? Do tell us more about your first cache - was it rural or urban? Did you find it easily? Did you log it online? Were there any travel bugs in it? (Nosey aren't I? :-) )
MartiniDave
13-07-2004, 09:14
Hi Kath,
I'll try to answer your questions, and no I don't think you're nosey, just like they say on the discovery channel, you've got to know! :wink:
My first cache was in Hinchingbrooke Park, in Huntingdon. The cacher is actually my workmate, who had the idea that we should do a lunchtime cache to show me the ropes. He also was very aware that the cache was quite close to where we had found the body on my canoe trip, and had warned me of this. I decided that going back there on foot would probably not be a bad thing, and I knew that I'd have a good mate with me if I needed any support - which it turned out I didn't thankfully!
The cache itself is cunningly laid so that if you set of following the gps you will get quite close to it, about 30 feet, but it will suddenly occur to you that you are on the opposite side of the brook from the cache! :banghead: You then have the choice of 2 bridges to cross the brook and resume the hunt.
The actual cache is reasonably easy to find, although I allowed my very basic traking skills (read VERY VERY basic) to lead me away from the hiding place to a different tree, which I was later told was the original hiding place of this cache, before it went missing and was replaced in its present location!!
Anyway,
On saturday I went out with Michael and my wife Elaine to do a bit of family caching. We did one that is about a mile from home, with Michael in charge of following the gps and doing the searching. A pretty straight forward cache but he was delighted to find it. Then being a bit devious, I got him to do the Hinchingbrooke cache, with me and Mum just following him, thinking that it might help him to visit that area again. He had almost found the cache when he realised that "this is the place where....". He took it well in his stride, just asking me to show him and Mum "exactly where it was", then going on to find the cache quicker than I had. What a result for him!
On gettng home I had to show them both the geocaching web site, Elaine then appeared with the postcode of the place we'll be staying on holiday so I could print of some cache sheets!
So it appears there are now 3 more geocachers! Etrex ordered on saturday night!
Cheers
Dave
MartiniDave
13-07-2004, 10:46
Forgot to say in the post above that I've registered on geocaching.com, same username as here.
Dave
Way to go! Good on yer Dave! Glad to hear it's helped you both after your kayaking experience too.
I'll look out for you over on the UK forums then! :wink:
I take the kids caching in the hols , nice cheap outdoors type activity !
Harmonica
04-08-2006, 09:01
Thought i'd give this thread a bump as i bet there are a few people who wont have seen it. I have been involved in geocacheing for a year or two now - same username as here - its great fun and can be combined with other outdoorsy stuff like driving green lanes in battered landrovers!
I'm off to place a new cache today that we plan to be very hard to get too - spotted a steep hill with a lake near the top on the map so off to check that out for potential!!
www.geocacheuk.com
Cheers for this bump. It was the first time I'd heard about it and today we've been out and bagged two! It's a good idea - we've started doing local ones and you see things that have been under your nose the whole time and you just haven't noticed them. I bet Evan will love the "treasure hunt" aspect of it when he's a bit older.
Harmonica
12-08-2006, 20:43
My pleasure Scanker. My cache placing didn't go so well - we walked 2.5 miles over very rough boggy ground (it took us 2 hours) only to find we had left most of the stuff for our cache - including the logbook - in the car!!! :lmao:
troopermaz
13-08-2010, 14:46
I have recently started doing geocaching (same username as here) only found 6 so far but took the grandchildren out with me the other day and they thoroughly enjoyed it and cant wait to go again. I dont use a gpsr in the normal sense as i have a phone that picks up the gps signal and can also log the find on the site while i am there so you dont need to neccesarily pay out for a gpsr if you have a modern mobile
I think you deserve an extra find for discovering such an old thread!
I love GC too.
In fact have one - log that you have seen my GC patch TPGVKY (I guess you could call it a virtual find)!
http://www.worldcaching.com/bmz_cache/i/images/trackable-camo-coloured-geocaching-patch-TPatchCamo_m-medium-199x200.jpg
Just started doing this myself ,a really interesting pastime that you can do anywhere at anytime.The kids love it and the dog thinks he lives outside now.
naefearjustbeer
13-08-2010, 17:18
I also go geocaching, not much these days but still on the odd occasion. In fact at one point I was involved in organising one of the Scottish Annual Cache bashes. Although that was a few years ago when geocahers were low enough in numbers to warrant an event for Scotland. Now there appears to be many more areas having cache events the annual Sottish event appears to of died out.
I started doing this with the missus a few months ago :) Got a bargain gps on ebay and some stuff to chuck in there for kids to find and found a few to look for (mostly near convenient pubs...). It's been really good so far and we've found a few but even better is just having an excuse to go and explore new places and finding walks we'd never have gone on without it.