Anyone here into this? I've never done it myself, but I'm thinking about trying it out. Seems like kind of a fun family activity for us.

I'm just curious if any of you have ever done this and if so, what your thoughts are. Is it fun? Worthwhile? Boring? A colossal waste of time? Any info is appreciated.

 

What are you talking about?

 

Let me Google that for you





I myself have never done it but it seems pretty cool and looks like it could be a blast.

 

This.

Or what Jim said.

 

mmm... seems kinda cool!

 

An acquaintance of mine did that with his kids. They all had fun and since they're not hunters, it got the kids out in the woods.
As for me, being old school and raised hunting and fishing, I'd rather do it with a contour map and compass. So that when GPS fails, one knows where one is at. Plus the gov can't backtrack a compass!
Seems like the old phrase was 'orienteering'.

 

I've been Geocaching since March. It's a ton of fun, but you can't really do it with an automotive GPS, you'll need a hiking GPS.

I'd recommend going to geocaching.com and creating an account, then go to geocaching.com/map and see how many are in your area. You'd be amazed, they're everywhere!

I've heard it called "hiking with a purpose", but it's basically a treasure hunt.

 

I actually did just that last night, Todd. And you're right. Even here in sticksville, there are a ton of these things. Some within minutes of home.

My GPS is ancient, and I have yet to figure out how to use it. It's a handheld Garmin eTrex (the original unit, from like 2003 or something.) It was actually provided to me at work a few years back to be photographed in the studio for a giveaway promotion we were doing. After that, it basically just sat in my office until now. It's extremely basic, but it should be more than sufficient for this activity. Heck, just viewing the Google maps provided with the cache details on Geocaching.com and paying attention to the descriptions and clues ought to suffice if you're familiar with the area.

Thanks for the info so far. Much appreciated.

 

An eTrex H is what I started Geocaching with. They're very durable and accurate. If anything the original eTrex is a bit less accurate, but once you get to within about 4 meters, a consumer-grade GPS is about as good as it's going to get.

Start with a cache that has a low difficulty and terrain rating. Nothing worse than being turned off to the hobby by attempting a really difficult one and not finding it. The only other suggestion I'd give if you're going to do a lot of caching is to invest in at least 4 AA rechargeable batteries. (One set for your GPSr and another as a backup set for when yours get weak in the field.) Everything else you have to pretty much learn by doing.

If you have any other questions about Geocaching you can look me up on Geocaching.com, obsidianspider is my handle there as well.

 

Cool, thanks!

This one is less than ten minutes away, and looks like the perfect "starter" cache.