Geocaching Made Easy

I was asked to do a presentation for the Western Slope Adventures last night about Geocaching and since I had already typed this up for them I thought I'd share it with you!

Geocaching is a free worldwide treasure hunting game with over 1.9 million active caches and over 5 million geocachers worldwide. Using latitude and longitude people place cashes ranging in various types from:

• Traditional which range in size from a Nano, to a Large
• Virtual asking you to complete a challenge or question prior to logging a find
• Multi which give you clues to several locations before you find the actual cache
• Letterbox which gives you a special stamp to log your visit
• Earth which take you to special locations like petroglyphs
• And many more! You can find a complete list and info at geocaching.com

Traditional cache sizes:

• Nano-Size of your pinky nail, log only, usually magnetic containers :

• Mirco-Size of your thumb, might fit small trade items-also chapstick tubes, bottle cap lids, small pill containers:

• Small-Sandwich size, large pill containers also.

• Medium-Large plastic locking containers, ammo cans, etc.

Geocaches can be placed anywhere as long as you have the property owner’s permission and it abides by law & land policies. They can also never be buried or in:

• Airports
• Government buildings
• Hospitals
• Railroads
• Military Installations
• Areas like the Colorado National Monument except the Earth Caches
• And the like, they are however allowed in space

They can be easily found under a rock cairn or camouflaged with various means see mystery caches below:

Every cache contains a log of some sort see below:

And if size permits trade items and/or travel bugs (more info below).

When you find a cache you want to record the date, your caching handle, what you took and left and any other pertinent information, then log your visit at geocaching.com- see below, membership is free unless you’d like access to premium benefits then it’s only 30 bucks a year.

Nov 25^th 2010 74th Find Happy Thanksgiving! 19 degrees at 10 in the morning, headed back to Grand Junction, CO. Didn't think my 5 mo pregnant butt should be hiking across the gorge so watched as hubby scrambled to find it! Great location wish I'da remembered the film for the camera :O( L-Christmas Ornament & Party Popper

Trade items can be anything, just remember if you take something you want to leave something of equal or greater value.

Travel Bugs and Geocoins are favorite items to find. These are not items you keep however, they are a trackable tag attached to an item or “hitchhiker”, each travel bug has a goal set by it’s owner such as to travel from coast to coast. They can also be stickers on the back of vehicles, or tattoos.

When you find one you need to log it just as you do the geocache then help it fulfill it’s mission and send it on it’s way by placing it in another cache as soon as possible so the owner can follow it’s travels.

I encourage everyone to try geocaching at least once. When you have a smart phone or a GPS, and a little gas in the vehicle, the rest is free family fun! Kids of all ages will be challenged by the treasure hunt. You won’t believe the areas of the world you’ll find, that you’d never have seen otherwise, some right in your own backyard. It’s a great history lesson with caches being placed at historical markers all over the world. Plus you’ll meet some people that have traveled all over as well.

Some sites to check out:

Geocaching.com
geocachingcolo.com

Smart phone apps

geocaching.com
my favorite is CacheSense