GeoCaching Dopers (aka Dopers that GeoCache)

Well, it’s Memorial Day weekend, where people typically go out and ‘do stuff’ in the out-of-doors. I recently got into GeoCaching and met some of my neighbor’s friends that do it pretty frequently. Anybody else 'round here do it anymore?

I found a few old threads but am curious if anyone still does.

Tripler
I only have hidden one cache, but found two more.

I’ve been GeoCaching a few times and really liked it. It’s hiking with a purpose. I do it in the fall or winter though, not when it’s hot and leafy and overgrown out. I took my extended family out GeoCaching one Thanksgiving and we had a ball. Adults meandered, kids raced around, toddlers toddled and we were so excited when we found the caches. Lots of fun.

I’ve tried a few times - found 7 caches on my second day out…

Hiking with a purpose sees to cover it - it makes you wander into places in your neighbourhood you never knew existed.

It’s a great way to find new hiking trails as well as learn your way around in a new area or places you don’t normally frequent. I haven’t done it for a while now but will get back to it sometime.

It’s getting back “in season” for me. I especially like urban microcaches.

We’ve gone a few times - we live in a great place for it. Haven’t gone out this year though - thanks for the reminder!

I’ve been caching for a few years now, I’ve got 17 finds and four hides. Yes caching in our area is slow what can I say. For the first two years I was caching there were only three Cachers within 400 kilometers of my place and more often than not when one of us hide a cache it was a competition between the other two to find it first. I even managed to find one cache within 75 minutes of the cache being posted, and it was a thirty minute drive to get to it. Yes we were getting rediculous.

I have one cache that’s over 50km from the closest sealed road and recently I’ve been checking out another place that’s over 100km from the highway. Another one that’s only been found twice in three years, it’s been two years now since anyone else has found it, I’ll admit this one is hidden in a nightmare maze of lakes and old hunting trails though it can and should be found without getting wet, you should be able to drive almost right up to it with a Quad-bike. I have another cache just off the highway at a picnic area which everyone seems to be amazed at when the find the cache.

One time I trekked for over three hours to find a cache and after finally climbing this nightmare of a hill I found there was another valley and gorge to traverse even though I was only 90 meters from the cache, at that point I gave up. I went back with a Quad-bike and came at it from the hunters trail rather than the dirt road. I ended up spending something like three days getting that cache, I paid the owner back with the one I mentioned preiously.

I’ve been caching for 3 years now, found 130 caches placed one and set several travel bugs loose. Check my location (not my house but a favorite coffee shop) I just looked at my profile and noticed that is been 6 months since I was out! I’ll need to remedy that. :slight_smile:

I’m GeerWerkz at geocaching.com

Sweet! I didn’t know if it had died out amongst the Dopers or not. . .

. . . I’m trogoswald over there.

Tripler
My Dope nom de plume wasn’t available.

I’m pretty much of a newbie at caching - I started in January, have found about 25 and haven’t placed any.

I got interested in the sport through my sister, who goes with her two boys. I’m just in desperate need of exercise, but I can’t stand walking for the sake of walking. With Geocaching, you get out into the fresh air, often go somewhere cool you’ve never been, and walk to a specific destination. It’s working for me!

My username over there is bunnylady , fyi.

I’ve been caching for almost three years now, though I’ve slowed down a lot in the last year. I’m PaperBlob over at the gc site too. I’ve hidden a couple of caches, adopted a couple of good ones to keep them going, and found 277. My favorites are puzzle caches, where you have to solve a puzzle or puzzles to derive the coordinates for the cache. The toughest ones I’ve done (each as part of a team) are Blood and Guts in Virginia and Choreographed Chaos.

There’s a big social component to caching too. My local geocaching club has many parties and events; a lot of people around here have made some fast friends through this interesting little game.

:smiley: Just to prove I some times remember what other people post.

Me too, I’m GawnFishin’ Just about anywhere that counts.

So you say. :stuck_out_tongue:

Yeah, you scoundrel! That’s just about anywhere I go. :stuck_out_tongue:

I can’t remember why, but when I first signed up, “Tripler” wasn’t available. I think it’s because “TripleR” as in ‘Tripler R’ was being used. Thus I changed it to something more ‘Air Force Callsign-ish’, and left it at “trogoswald” (so the Air Force guy that introduced me to it would know me).

Tripler
Anyways. . . I think I’m gonna start adding Dopers as “friends” over there!

I’ve never done it, but it sounds like something I would enjoy.

Brian

It has the advantage of having a pretty low startup cost . I got my GPSr (a bare-bones Garmin eTrex) on eBay for just over $60.00. That’s all you need. Some “swag” to put in caches is nice, but not necessary, and you can get stuff at the dollar-store that will work nicely, in any case (I like to put bandanas in caches - $1 each @ WalMart).

If you want to get started, just let us GeoDopers know. We’ll be happy to help!

Already have a GPS – although it is designed for aviation (and thus costs N times more than it should), it does have a “ground mode”, and can put street and other info on a SD card if needed.

Brian

I’ve never heard of this, but it sounds pretty cool. I just signed up with Brewha as my user name to see if there are any caches near by for me to try out. But, since they’re are sending my validation code to an email adress I can’t acess from work, I’ll have to wait until this evening to check it out.

I’m a dabbler-- probably done under 20 caches, but it’s fun. Goal oriented hike. One problem is that in the places I prefer to be (woods, mountains) the GPS doesn’t work so well, and the GPS works best in places I don’t care for (plains, flats). Lots of caches near where I live, though, so it’s good for an afternoon’s entertainment.

What kind of units do you guys have? I’d like to start - aren’t there some that download coordinates for you?

My dear Wife bought me a Garmin GPSmap 60CSx for Christmas. I didn’t ask for it or even mention that I would like a GPS. It’s a real nice unit. I did buy the automotive navigation kit for it. - Detailed street maps, a car charger and a mount/moveable base that works very well. That was about $160. Plus the cost of the GPS itselff was $426 But well, well worth it.

And we use it when we travel. It has been a great help.

I’m next.