05 June 2010

What is geocaching?


(above picture found here, the rest below are mine :D)
I have seen this question come up a lot in my comments so I thought that tonight I would write a little post about it and try to explain it in the best way that I can :)
Geocaching is a high-tech version of treasure hunting.
What you will need to be a geocacher:
1. A GPS for plugging in coordinates and leading you to the cache.
Instead of a GPS, I use the Geocaching iPhone app.

It is 9.99 for the app but totally worth it because GPS's can be like hundreds of dollars.
(For the app just search geocaching in the app store and it's there)
2. A free account at geocaching.com

That is it!!

So, here is the down-low in the simplest form :)
1. You go to geocaching.com (or the iphone app but for the purpose of this tutorial, I am going to base the rest of this on the website) and search for nearby geocaches in your area. BTW- there are geocaches placed all over the world, millions of them. I heard that there is even one in one of the Great Pyramids :)

I usually just search by my zip-code and what is out there.
2. Check out your search results:

This is just a little snippet of what shows up in my area. There are literally hundreds of them within about 20 minutes from my house.
So, with this visual, you can see the size of the geocache, the name, when it was placed, and the last time that it was found. The check marks indicate that I have already found them.
3. Click on a cache that you would want to find :) I will use my geocache as an example. You can click here to see it.
This page will give you the coordinates of the cache (once you have an account) and a more detailed description of what you are looking for.
A geocache is usually a Tupperware container or an old film canister or really anything, hiding in disguise. I was blown away by the ones that I have found that have literally been right in front of my face every day and I never knew they were hiding there!!
Here are some pictures of different geocaches that I have found, to give you a visual of what I am talking about.









See, they can be litereally anything. Some are hidden soooo well it's crazy. Today my dad found one attached to a bridge that was just a magnet the size of a fingernail. He opened it up and BAM, a geocache log.
4. Load the coordinates into your GPS and follow it to your destination!! (The iphone app, has a map too and a lot of good visuals to get you there, plus all of the caches are already on there and so you can just click on the one you want and go!)
5. Ok, so depending on the size of the geocache you will find different things in them. Each geocache, no matter the size, should have a log book in it for you to sign that you were there. Sometimes they are sooo tiny that it's just a little rolled piece of paper and no writing utensil, so I always carry a pen with me just in case. In the bigger caches, you will find the treasure :)
Now when I say treasure , I don't want you to get your hopes up!
Usually, there are tokens, little toys, buttons, etc. from people inside. Here are some treasures that I have collected:

I am sooooo motivated by the swag, it's hilarious :)
The important rule is that you must leave something if you take something. I alway leave either a little plastic suitcase (my profile name is Ms. Wanderlust on there) or I leave one of my iheartrunwithscissors.com buttons :)
There are trackable items that you can purchase like a geocoin. These are cool because people register the number on them and then you can watch where they travel to.
6. Sign the log, trade swag, and head to the next one!!
7. When you get back home, you can log which geocaches that you found!! There are little tokens that you can earn for different incriments that you find. I loooove prizes so I am definitely striving to hit 100 geocaches found really soon so that I can order a little geocoin that commemorates that for me :)

So, that is it. It's my newest obsession. I have found so many neat places in my own city that I have never been to before and it gets you outside, excercising, enjoying life :)
I love it!!
If my explanation was too wordy or whatever here are two little videos that I took off of the geocaching.com website that explain it more visually :)

and

Both great :)
Oh my goodness you guys, I adore this hobby and I hope that some of you decide to try it out yourselves. If you do, you must tell me!!! If you have any other questions, please ask and I will try to answer as best as I can :)
Adventure is out there!!
Have fun!
xo
janel

17 comments:

  1. Hope you can do that thing at the Boone Home! Miss you.

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  2. Love it!!!! Let's go soon.

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  3. Yay! I LOVE geocaching! Soo much fun! I love that pic of you in the polka dot top! Cute! : )

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  4. Cool, i might actually do this.

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  5. sounds so cool! I wonder if they have it here too? would be so much fun! :)

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  6. thank's for all the tips, i've done 3 attemps with no succes...il sure hope to succeed with your explanation.
    catherine xxx

    and sorry for my bad english ;)

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  7. I am really wanting to try this!!!!! Maybe Ill take the kiddos on an adventure soon!
    xoxo,
    Lindsay

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  8. This is fantastic! I never knew there was such a thing. ;) How interesting and fun.

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  9. Yay Geocashing is so much fun. Sadley it's not that big in Sweden but hopefully it will get bigger. THanks to the iPhone app I think it will.

    Happy hunting
    Ami

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  10. Okay so we went geocaching yesterday in our hometown and LOVED it! We did five and scott found three of them! He was on a roll. We are hooked. We can't wait to do this on our vacation this summer. I have learned to bring bug spray with me for the next adventure!
    Thanks for your suggestions. Love the app. It was great!
    XOXO
    Amber

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  11. My moms boyfriend has done geocaching for years. The last time he went was on a canoe trip.

    I told him about how you are crazy about geocaching.

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  12. this is soooooooooo awesome Janel! Thank you! You know I love geocaching :) I love all the family photos!

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  13. I love geocaching! Definitely going to have to do more this summer! xoxo

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  14. The first time you mentioned this my interest was really peaked and then I kinda forgot about it. I think my husband and I are going to check out some in our area this weekend!

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  15. How cool!
    We've been Caching for Four Years now! (;
    LOVE IT!
    Will meet the Three groundspeak guys Next weekend - they'll Be Special guests @ our MEGA Event here in Germany!
    And I Hope they Bring the OCB!!! (;

    lovely greetings from over the Ocean
    Katharina
    from the BlackForestRegion/Germany

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  16. I am always sooo happy to find other people who geocache....I always get the weirdest look when I try and explain it to muggles.

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  17. Hey, I just wanted you to know that i linked to your blog in my last post. I used your post about geocaching. I thought you did a great job explaining what it was. Thanks for getting me into geocaching, your an inspiration!

    xoxo
    Christine

    http://ckscribbles.blogspot.com/

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Thank you so much for commenting!! xo