Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is an widely popular, high-tech treasure hunting game that has taken off in popularity, especially in the past few years. Many adventure seekers throughout the world are finding caches of treasure (called "geocaches" or "caches") that have been left for them to find by fellow Geocachers. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, usually a Tupperware or ammo box containing a logbook and treasure. You hunt and locate geocaches with your GPS device, and inside you find treasures that other people have left. You can even leave your own treasure for the next person to find and share with a their friends.
Don't think there are any geocaches in your neck of the woods? That's because they are not in plain view but hidden, so you need to hunt for them. You also need the longitude and latitude (coordinates) of their location to be able to find them. There are over 800,000 active geocaches around the world and they can be found on all seven continents, including Antarctica. With that number growing rapidly, you are sure to find them in your own neighborhood, on vacation half way around the world, in urban locations and even way out in the woods on your next camping trip. Don't forget to mark your car or campsite as a waypoint to ensure you find your way back.
The typical cache treasures are not high in monetary value but may hold personal value to the finder. Aside from the logbook, common cache contents are unusual coins or currency, small toys, ornamental buttons, Cd's, or books. Also common, are objects that are moved from cache to cache, such as Travel Bugs or Geocoins, whose travels may be logged and followed online. Cachers who initially place a Travel Bug or Geocoin often assign specific goals for their trackable items. Such goals might include a destination like to visit all seven continents or certain country's. Occasionally an item of higher value is included for the first person who find's the geocache, or in locations that are harder to get to or find.
How to know where to look for Geocaches
The GPS coordinates of the caches are published on Geocaching websites like Geocaching.com (also known as "Groundspeak") and the original site Groundspeak.com. You can find the locations (coordinates) of geocaches, along with the details of their location's so you know what to look for and how hard it is to find before you get there. After you find the cache you can share your adventure and photos with the rest of the geocaching community online. There are also many local geocaching chapters that cater to just a state or even city that have information on caches in that particular area. Most Geocaching associations and chapters hold annual functions or outings, much like a high-tech Easter egg hunt. That is a great way for the whole family to get out and have fun together. There are many blogs and forums that are dedicated to Geocaching where you can read about other Geocachers experiences, events and functions that are in your area as well as in other countries all around the world. They are also a great way to keep in touch with the Geocaching community and learn the In's and outs of Geocaching.
There is also a invitation only Geocaching community (TerraCaching.com). This isn't so much to keep people out, but to delegate much of the responsibility for ensuring high quality, legal and appropriate caches to the community itself. They use a complex, dynamic rating system which learns from members and actively encourages a focus on the quality, not quantity, of caches that members post to provide more fun, memorable and challenging cache hunts. To become a member you need two existing members to sponsor you. To start you just register a "starter account" and their system will automatically look for potential sponsors in your area, also you can post a message pleading your case to the "Applications for Sponsorship" section of the forums. They say that most new members who post here get sponsors within a few hours depending on time of day and the day of the week.
Caches come in all shapes and sizes. From a small vial the size of your pinkie that is only big enough to hold the paper with the log on it, to a five gallon bucket and even larger. Geocaches vary greatly in difficulty and location from simple caches commonly referred to as "drive-bys," to much more complex multi-staged geocaches with points containing the coordinates for the next stage along the way. The final stage contains the log book and trade items. There are even underwater caches and caches that are located 50 feet up a tree. There are even night time caches where you may need to shine a flashlight in a particular direction and fallow the reflectors to the cache. There is really no limit to how you can hide a cache, the only limit is to the imagination and that adds to the fun of the hunt.
Geocaching Guidelines and Etiquette
You want to be aware of local laws when hiding or hunting for that cache on public lands. You can get this information from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) at (blm.gov). Be sure to go to the state and county that you are interested in. As for National Parks and National Monuments, in most cases you just need a permit for Geocaching from the National Park Service (nps.gov). Each National Park and National Monument has their own website, most of them have dedicated a page of that site to information on Geocaching in their park (if you can't find it just call). Of course the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management are charged with the care of our public land, and as you can imagine they would need to know where these caches are located as well as how many people are hunting for them because of the delicate ecosystems they need to protect.
Of course you must follow all legal laws like Trespassing laws, so always get the permission of the land owner. Although each website has their own specific guidelines for acceptable geocache publications, in general once Geocachers find a cache, they follow these four simple and basic rules:
(1) Fill out the logbook.
(2) If you take something from the geocache, leave something of equal or greater value in return.
(3) Return the cache to the exact position and condition in which it was found.
(4) Be mindful of the environment, practice Cache In Trash Out. Believe it or not, the bomb squad has blown up a few caches. Yes we live in some crazy times. Someone not familiar with you or the sport of Geocaching might think something suspicious is going on and call the authorities. Even though hiding and hunting Geocaches is not illegal (provided you get permission of the land owner) not being aware of your surroundings and/or being stealthy could result in a perfectly good cache getting blown up.
What to look for in a Geocaching GPS receiver
All you really need is a GPS that can point you to a specific Longitude and Latitude position, something that most GPS devices can do. Though there are some basic features to look for that will make your Geocaching experience much more enjoyable. General features to look for when purchasing a GPS unit to geocache include:
(1) Lightweight and compact, makes it easier to carry especially on long hikes and when you need to negotiate through rocks and trees (look for a wrist strap too!).
(2) Waterproof, caches can be hidden under or near water and you never know when you might slip crossing a creek or river.
(3) Long battery life, a must for those hard-to-find, remote caches.
(4) Waypoint storage, that will hold more cache locations (don't forget to mark your car as a waypoint to ensure you find your way back.)
(5) Screen readability, should be easy to read in daylight and at night.
There are some more advanced features to look for that will make it even easier for you to find that big cache that include:
(1) WAAS-enabled [http://www.gpsfrontier.com/waas/gps], that means your GPS unit will give you better position accuracy, within 3 meters (10 feet) 95% of the time.
(2) Built-in digital Compass, they are convenient and come in handy when you get within 100 feet of your cache (you'll need to stand still for a few seconds to get a direction reading).
(3) Altimeter, shows how high up you are for those vertically hidden caches.
(4) Mapping Capabilities, makes it easier to navigate when you can download maps to your unit and are able to see the terrain you will be trekking through, as well as when looking for places to cross rivers and things. Garmin's Colorado and Oregon GPS receivers come with topographical maps already pre installed.
(5) External antenna, for use under heavy tree cover or difficult terrain where it may be difficult for the GPS to maintain a strong lock on the satellite signal.
There are, what are called "Paperless Geocaching GPS receivers." Garmin has worked with Groundspeak to enable their Colorado and Oregon handheld GPS receivers to be compatible with the ".gpx file." This allows you to download cache data including descriptions, hints, waypoint information, and cache logs directly from Geocaching.com to your Garmin GPS unit via a USB connection to the computer, so you can eliminate printing out paper cache pages. In addition, Geocaching data can be transferred wireless between two Garmin users in close proximity. This make the Garmin Colorado and Garmin Oregon handheld GPS receivers truly a "Geoaching friendly" GPS receiver.
Groundspeak has also created a interactive Geocaching experience with their "Wherigo player" that combines adventure games with GPS technology. Imagine playing Zork, Secret of Monkey Island or Myst, but in the park around the corner, or on the beach during your family vacation. Rather than clicking the mouse and selecting a location to move your character, you physically move from one location to the next to advance the story. Rather than searching for puzzle clues on a screen, you look for them in the real life. Garmin is the first GPS manufacturer to include the Wherigo player already installed on their Colorado and Oregon handheld GPS receivers. Using Wherigo, you can create interactive tours, adventure games and puzzles that give you endless possibilities of adventure.
Jeff Sanders
Paperless Geocaching GPS receivers [http://www.gpsfrontier.com/garmin/geocaching/gps]
GpsFrontier.com
