Geocaching

This sport/hobby is something that I bumped into my accident. I was downloading a software upgrade for my new Garmin 860 GPS, and I noticed on Garmin’s website, that my new GPS supported uploading of Geocache information. I spent a little bit of time looking into it, and then did some research at http://www.geocaching.com which is the official geocaching website.

According to their front page, “Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment.”

I registered on their website and did a quick search to see if there were any geocaches close to where I live. To my surprise there were 15 of them within 5km of my house (over 700,000 worldwide). I put the co-ordinates of a cache that was very close to my house and on my way home from work, and thought I would give it a try. I think when I actually found it I was more shocked than anything else, as this little film canister (the cache) was in the middle of the parking lot of a busy shopping centre. Trying to retrieve the cache undetected is half the fun and after signing the log book and placing the cache back in its home, I was hooked. Once you have found a cache, you can log it on the geocaching website, and it will be stored in your profile. Your profile also allows you to watch caches to see if other people find them. This is useful if you decide to hide your very own cache, and want to know when people find it, and how often.

Another really fun aspect is buying yourself a travel bug. These are like the metal dog tags you would wear around your neck in the army, and each one has a unique serial number. You can then place your travel bug in a cache and give it a mission such as going from London to New York. Someone who finds your travel bug is allowed to remove it from the cache and help it on its journey. This is not to say they have to fly it New York, but they have to get your bug that little bit closer to its destination. Once they have placed it into another cache, they log it’s travels on the website and you can follow where your bug has been and how it’s progressing in its mission.

My wife and I have gone geocaching quite often since and it always results in a great day out, and we get to see places that we would otherwise not have discovered or seen. I also travel a fair amount worldwide and I’m always sure to get the co-ordinates of some caches close to where I will be staying. This is a great way to force me to get out and about in a strange place, and on my last trip to a small place called Cirencester in South West England I even bumped into a fellow geocacher who I chatted to for a while (it’s not every day you see someone with a GPS looking in the same place as yourself).
Geocaching can be done with almost any GPS that can accept co-ordinate input, and a lot of the GPS’s on the market even allow you to plug your GPS into your computer and download the geocache information directly from the website. I have recently downloaded a piece of software for my Nokia N95, which has a built in GPS, and with this nifty piece of software my phone will go onto the internet and inform me of geocaches that are close by to me, no matter where in the world I happen to be.

So in conclusion, if you’re looking for something fun to do outdoors, and you want to meet new people and discover new places. I highly recommend geocaching.

Website: http://www.geocaching.com

City: Worldwide

Country: Worldwide

July 9th, 2009 | Category: Adventure |  Email This Post | Other articles by Jay
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