Guide-To-Geocaching.com
| What Is Geocaching? This site will give you an introduction to geocaching and hopefully make you go cache hunting yourself. All over the world, thousands and thousands of treasures are hidden under stones, in trees, in traffic signs, etc. These treasures are called geocaches. To find these geocaches, you’ll need the exact coordinates of the location where they’re hidden. You can get the coordinates from www.geocaching.com. The coordinates can be either downloaded to your GPS unit or entered manually. Your GPS unit will lead you to a location about 0–15 feet from the location of the geocache, depending on the GPS reception. When you reach the destination, it’s time to look for a possible hiding place. Maybe the geocache is hidden under some twigs or under a rock. Maybe it’s magnetic and placed on a metal surface like a lamppost. When you find the geocache, you can write your name in the logbook inside as proof you found it. When you get home, you can register your find at www.geocaching.com as well. Some geocaches are so tiny that they only contain the logbook or a roll of paper. Others are much bigger and contain nonexpensive items like keychains, toys, stickers, old coins, etc. You can take an item if you like—just make sure you leave something in return. Beware of Mugglers If the cache is located in a place where you may be spotted by nongeocachers (called mugglers), you have to be very careful when retrieving/replacing the cache. Some people think it’s funny stealing or destroying the caches, so wait until nobody can see what you are doing. How did it all begin?Geocaching was “invented” by Dave Ulmer on May 3, 2000. He hid a bucket containing a logbook and some other stuff in the woods and wrote about it in the newsgroup sci.geo.satellite-nav. He called it Stash Hunt. Some weeks later, the word “geocache” was suggested by Matt Stum. The hobby grew rapidly, and today there are more than 1.1 million geocaches and 4–5 million geocachers around the world. Getting started with www.geocaching.com To get the coordinates for a cache, you need to be a member of www.geocaching.com. (Don’t worry, it’s free.) Just click on Create a Membership and then Get a Basic Membership. After that, just follow the instructions. The username you’ve chosen is what you will be using when signing the logbook inside the cache. Now you can search for caches in your area or anywhere else. Go to Hide & Seek a Cache and enter your city, country, or one of the other alternatives. You will now be presented with a list of available caches. Click on a cache to go to its detail page where you can read the necessary info about it and send it to your GPS. Tips - You can also search for caches on Google Maps - Premium membership costs $30 a year and offers you a lot of advanced features. You can upgrade your membership at any time, so it’s no problem if you start out with the free membership. |