I have a brother in Oregon who started geocaching several years back, and he's always been trying to get me in to it as well, so tonight I ordered a GPS locator and some software off Amazon.

Basically, geocaching is a sort of high-tech treasure hunt, where people go out with GPS locators and hide objects (or caches) in various places, post the GPS coordinates on a website, and then other geocachers go to that website, program the coordinates into their GPS locators and try to find these caches.

More information at this website:

http://www.geocaching.com/

I've gone out with him a few times (and my sister as well, who also has gotten in to it) and it seemed like a lot of fun, and I finally broke down and ordered the necessary equipment. It should get here in about a week and a half and I can't wait to get started.

Has anyone else heard of this or partaken in it?


Once I get up and running, I'll let you all know how it goes.  ;)

I know a couple of people who have gotten into this and they have great fun doing it, and some wonderful adventures.  I think you will love it.  Let us know what "treasures" you are able to find  :)

Good Luck with it Al. :)

Haven't tried it.... but the activity has crept up in several of the crime dramas I watch... so have fun but don't kill anyone and don't get killed  ;D

I heard of it a couple of years ago in a fell running magazine.  There are many sites in the UK you can go to.  One work colleague regularly visited sites whilst on family holidays.

We did went to two sites v near each other at New Year.  A friend of ours had all the gear and locations and it was a way of giving the children a purpose to the walk we wanted to do.  In the UK many of the boxes you find have small toys or gifts in them (like from Happy Meals) so we swapped a few.  My daughter got a neat little electronic game.

Some of the UK people might have heard of the post boxes/letter boxes in Dartmoor and Exmoor (and maybe elsewhere) with a visitors book and a stamp for you to collect.  Geocaching is just an updated version of this.

I got my GPS receiver last week and have been out 3 times now, and so far I'm 6 for 8 in finding caches.

I haven't been taking or leaving any trinkets as of yet, just signing the logs.

But it's been a lot of fun, even more so than I had anticipated. It's been quite a while since I'd gone out and trudged around in the woods and climbed around on rocks and gotten muddy and all that, and I'd forgotten how much fun that can be. Not to mention that geocaching has taken me to some way cool places that I otherwise never would have found.

One of the caches I was looking for today was in this nature preserve less than 5 miles from my apartment and which I never even knew was there. I searched for the cache for about a half-hour but was unsuccessful. I was going to leave and go on to the next cache but instead I ended up wandering around and exploring the trails for a good 2 hours. It was awesome, I found this incredibly beautiful waterfall, plus I spotted at least 6-8 deer and a wild turkey.  All this stuff was practically in my backyard and I never even knew it was there. I need to start bringing my camera along and taking some pictures.

All in all it's been a fantastic experience so far, it's given me a good incentive to get out of the house and into nature, and it's been a great way to explore a city which, even though I've been here 3 1/2 years now, I really don't know all that much about.

The best thing about it is, as I was out exploring those trails today, I swear I almost felt like a little kid again.  :)

It sounds like you had a great time, Al. Sounds like it would be a lot of fun....relaxing and fun.

It's fun.

Have at least one hardcopy printout of a mainstream news website's article on the subject.  In rural areas, it's no big deal, but in post-9/11 America, and especially in urban areas, not every cop has heard of geocaching :)

A polite explanation (preferably bolstered by that printout of a mainstream news article) of the situation, and an invitation to the officer to call HQ and ask them to check it out, usually resolves any misunderstandings.  I'm as paranoid as any civilian out there, but geocachers are extremely careful to ensure that caches don't look like Bad Things, and the vast majority of cops are very capable of quickly figuring out what's going on and concluding that you're a law-abiding (albeit geeky) citizen engaged in a somewhat quirky, but harmless, hobby.  You don't read about those cops on the 'net, because nobody blogs about 'em, but they're the overwhelming majority.  Some of 'em might even be geocachers themselves.

It's fun.

Have at least one hardcopy printout of a mainstream news website's article on the subject.  In rural areas, it's no big deal, but in post-9/11 America, and especially in urban areas, not every cop has heard of geocaching :)

A polite explanation (preferably bolstered by that printout of a mainstream news article) of the situation, and an invitation to the officer to call HQ and ask them to check it out, usually resolves any misunderstandings.  I'm as paranoid as any civilian out there, but geocachers are extremely careful to ensure that caches don't look like Bad Things, and the vast majority of cops are very capable of quickly figuring out what's going on and concluding that you're a law-abiding (albeit geeky) citizen engaged in a somewhat quirky, but harmless, hobby.  You don't read about those cops on the 'net, because nobody blogs about 'em, but they're the overwhelming majority.  Some of 'em might even be geocachers themselves.


Not a bad idea.

I haven't hidden any caches yet, but I have been told by experienced geocachers to stay away from any type of infrastructure (dams, bridges, etc) that could be a potential terrorist target.  So far my explorations have been in relatively remote areas, but I will keep that in mind as I cache in more urban areas. Thanks for the tip!  :)

(BTW...have you been doing it very long?)

Not a bad idea.

I haven't hidden any caches yet, but I have been told by experienced geocachers to stay away from any type of infrastructure (dams, bridges, etc) that could be a potential terrorist target.  So far my explorations have been in relatively remote areas, but I will keep that in mind as I cache in more urban areas. Thanks for the tip!  :)

(BTW...have you been doing it very long?)


You've got the right idea -- think like a bad guy for a few moments.  Then think like Murphy.  If you can come up with any diabolical schemes, and if the answer to "what could possibly go wrong?" involves being run over by trains, planes, or automobiles, it's probably not a good place to be a cache.  Anyone with brains thought the same thing you did and didn't set up a cache there, and if by chance, someone was dumb/lucky enough to put a cache there, it's not worth your trouble to find it. 

I've been doing it for a few years, off and on.  It's a sport of opportunity for me -- whenever I'm planning a trip, I'll poke around with the Google to see if there are any caches within (driving/walking/easy-hiking) range.  It's a great way to see places you wouldn't ordinarily see.  There's no rush to set up a cache of your own; I'm not such an experienced hiker that I can sniff out where the most interesting view in the relevant square mile is... but I can sure appreciate the work of the people who know the land well enough to guide me to it.

bumping this thread because I am totally into this now. I heard about it in the past..but just started doing it with my family. We like to go out on a Saturday or Sunday and take a few hours and find treasures. Last weekend we went hiking in the woods for about 2 hours....it was great bonding time. It's such a cheap and fun activity! :)

My father in law takes my nieces and nephews all the time and they love it.  We've been a few times with them down in Southern Utah and it's been really fun.

I haven't done it in about a year or so but I need to get back into it.

There's this one cache that's about 6 blocks away from my apartment that I CAN NOT FIND. 

It has been the bane of my existence.  >:( >:( >:(

We are thinking about doing this with the girls - we had an awesome time on an Easter "shed" hunt (antler sheds of deer) - that is hosted by the local conservation service.  We all love tromping around through the woods, which I always knew as we all love morel mushroom hunting as well (and now the eldest daughter also goes deer hunting with dad).  The park is also having a geocaching event in a month or so.  My question, what equipment is needed?

We are thinking about doing this with the girls - we had an awesome time on an Easter "shed" hunt (antler sheds of deer) - that is hosted by the local conservation service.  We all love tromping around through the woods, which I always knew as we all love morel mushroom hunting as well (and now the eldest daughter also goes deer hunting with dad).  The park is also having a geocaching event in a month or so.  My question, what equipment is needed?



all you need is a GPS...you can go to www.geocaching.com and put in your zip code, and it will show you caches all around you. You plug in the coordinates into your GPS...and that's it....follow it to find the cache.  Some are REALLY well hidden, while others are out in the open. Gather some trinkets from around your house, because when you find a cache..you take a trinket and always replace it with something in return. Also...take a writing instrument with you, as you will have to sign a log that you were there. Have a great time! :)

We are thinking about doing this with the girls - we had an awesome time on an Easter "shed" hunt (antler sheds of deer) - that is hosted by the local conservation service.  We all love tromping around through the woods, which I always knew as we all love morel mushroom hunting as well (and now the eldest daughter also goes deer hunting with dad).  The park is also having a geocaching event in a month or so.  My question, what equipment is needed?


Ask if the park will be loaning out GPS units.

I've gone in Wisconsin and here in South Dakota... I've gotten some real treasures. Like a Shaun Cassidy pin and a watch with a pufferfish on it.  :D

Ask if the park will be loaning out GPS units.
nope - have to bring your own ...  BUT I did find there is an app for that on my iPhone 8)