geocaching.

[anonymous-user]

Does anyone here do this? I've just read about it and wonder if it's something fun to try with my kids. Do you ever find anything 'a bit odd' in the caches?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching

[Plotloss]

Will be doing a multipoint one this weekend strangely enough.

[anonymous-user]

So plotters it's a kind of treasure hunt where you find little containers with a notebook inside and trinkets, which if you take one, you replace with your own similar value items?

[Plotloss]

As far as I can make out, yes.

This will be our first go at it.

[Curry Burns]

el stovey said:

So plotters it's a kind of treasure hunt where you find little containers with a notebook inside and trinkets, which if you take one, you replace with your own similar value items?

I did one on Boxing day with a few folk. It was a good laugh trying to find this tiny container.

I'll post up pics this evening, but I think it's a grand thing to do, also it gives you a good excuse to good some excercise.

[Don]

As far as I can work out it's a good excuse to play with GPS gadgetry and to have a nice walk. People I know have had fun doing it. I'll bet it's great for the kids.


http://www.geocaching.com/

I think that the above is the "official" site...

[Mojooo]

done quite a few
they can get very difficult

but the quality of the cache depends on the err quality of the cache and the thought the person put into making it

[anonymous-user]

I like the idea that people put in tags that they then can track going around the world. I'm amazed how many there are around me.

[Zeek]

My brother does this. I found a few near me. There's a great one stuck with magnets to the underside of Blackfriars Bridge - painted to blend in and everything. I found two free tickets to the London Eye in that one.

At one point they took the London ones off the site because of the security concerns!

There's one close to my house, and I often see strangers poking around in the bushes so it is pretty popular. GPS ruins the original point of it though.

[anonymous-user]

Found my first one today

It was a film canister with a paper 'log' and small pencil inside. My son was a bit disappointed at the lack of any actual treasure in it.

Edited by el stovey on Monday 8th February 21:31

[fadeaway]

el stovey said:

So plotters it's a kind of treasure hunt where you find little containers with a notebook inside and trinkets, which if you take one, you replace with your own similar value items?

Yip. Spot on.

The containers vary in size (from big, to very, very small!), and in how difficult they are to find. Usually you just hunt around the spot your GPS took you to, but sometimes there are cryptic clues to work out etc...

Gives a purpose to a nice walk, and often take you to lovely spots that you wouldn't normally have found (one of the best bits about doing it).

So for I've only done a few (got friends who are very in to it though, so I now the score!). There's a nice iPhone app you can get, but the iPhones limited GPS can, erm, make it even harder than it should be! (you end up searching an area several times larger than if you had a dedicated GPS!)

You're also not supposed to let other passers by see what you're doing - ie giving away that somethings hidden there.

[RRS_Staffs]

I thought I was the only one

The kids love it - its like a treasure hunt

And more importantly for me it gets us out to places wed never have otherwise visited

Our own cache is in some local woods by a bridge over a stream with some rope swings
The usual comment in the log book is how much our visitors have enjoyed the spot which they never knew existed

[lord summerisle]

went out today for the first time to have a play.

visted 3 caches close together near home. good fun finding the boxes

[JimNotJon]

A friend of mine at work has done this several times had has found some very quirky items in odd, otherwise dismissable hiding places. There seems to something mysterious about it that intregues me. Perhaps shear noseyness on whats found.

[VR6time]

Just got back from our first outing using the android app. Worked a treat, and was an ace excuse not to sit on my a$$ after overconsuming at Christmas.

Good fun, and found a park just round the corner from our house we never knew existed.

[smifffymoto]

It's brilliant,we have geocached in the USA,Canada and Thailand as well as at home.It is a cheap day out in places that you ordinarily wouldn't go to and you get to see the real country not just tourist things.
just changed gps from our trusty Garmin to the new Magellan geo,specifically designed just for geocaching,its main advantage is it's 100% paperless.

[Penny-lope]

I just checked my area...there is at least 4 hidden caches near me, the closest is just across the road

Could be a bit of fun once the weather gets a tad warmer

[VR6time]

The App on my HTC worked flawlessly, although if I am going to try any more difficult or multi caches, might need a 2nd battery, as the GPS chewed up my juice.

[Ferg]

There's a brilliant one at the bottom of our road. I was walking past it the other day and a couple were prancing about in the road scrutinising their Garmin, whilst the bloke was near to tears about losing their 100% record!!! LOL!

[MikeGTi]

I've just loaded a couple into my GPS for finding tomorrow

All near to Derwent Reservoir... Should be a good crack.