http://www.geocaching.com 

I've been wanting to get into this for some time now. Get out, exercise, see wildlife and parks. So, finally picked up a GPS unit last night and plan to go on my first hunts this weekend. Very cool.

Yes. Our team is only at 100 though we have been cachers for 3 years. My parents are Trudy and the Beast out of Wisconsin (www dot wi-geocaching dot com) They hit 1000 late last year, I believe. Lots of fun, exercise.

If you have questions, email me.

Debbie dot priebe at yahoo dot com

I've been waiting for this thread.

Anybody cacheing cigars?

Have you come up with a handle yet? For Geocaching, that is.

Love it! Into it off and on for a couple of years now. My fav's are the ones that get us out into some moderately remote area I've never visited before, but lately I've checking out some of the local urban caches. Great fun no matter what, and probably the best thing Clinton ever did for us!

I'm just using cexshun as my handle. Kind of formed a team with my wife and 2 brothers. 1st find today was quite intersting. I climbed a 30ft tree before seeing that the cache was actually roped off and tied to a post in the ground.

^LOL! (to keep the bears way)

When I was in the Scouts, we called it picking up trash.

It was my first merit badge (civic duty?).

Mr. Trash Picker-upper, er, I mean Geocacher.

(c;

We are Priebe's Pride. My daughter (12) and son have their own GPS's, and I have mine of course. Wisconsin has a big following (relatively) and have campouts and picnics every year. Tank can be found at the base smoking a cigar. No, you can't hide cigars in the caches, because of the chance that minors will be the ones to find them, HOWEVER, if the big herf campout happens, we could probably set up a few caches also(they would not be available to the general public)

Always a possiblity.

We consider ourselves more of fair weather cachers. Usually hit a couple during summer vacation. Sometimes we go out with the folks.

I am thinking I may need a new GPSr before too long, or a new transfer cable. It sucks having to type in everything. I have even given talks to the cubscouts about caching. We have a cache hidden in the park where the boys have Winter camp. We have split the boys up in groups and let them find it. Lots of fun.

Gamelover was in to geocaching....

Ok, had to do the research on him. Just remember, don't judge all geocachers by the reputations of one. Besides, imagine what could happen in the woods if certain people met up with him.

Deb

I've never heard of this before and spent like four hours last night doing research....this sounds like its right up my alley...now I just gotta find a GPS device

Ouch. 2.5 hour hike last night hurts really bad today. I'm out of shape!

Lukin, if you are just going to use the GPS for caching, any cheap unit will work. However, I spent the extra cash on a Garmin Etrex Legend. It has built-in base maps including all highways and interstates, 8mb memory, PC cable to transfer, and a compass. All these features makes it a much more versatile unit and WELL worth the extra $$$!

My parents have two of the color units that came out in the last year or so. They really are cool. Last year, we were on a flight with them from Miami to Wi. They turned that baby on and we could tell how fast the plane was going what states we were currently over and our altitude. That was SOOOOO cool. Mine is a Magellan Map330. It has most of the major roads, but like I said, several years old already.

How many caches have you found so far?

Geocaching is actually how I came up with this screen name that I use everywhere now. My dad got me into it, he has two different GPS units (one for his car & a Garmin Legend handheld). He is in Ft. Worth, Texas and loves to hide new caches. The one that you did that was in a tree sounds like one that he put out this past winter. It didn't happen to be in the DFW area did it?

It is something that I only have time to do during the summer, but it sure is fun.

-Chris

The one in the tree is in NW Indiana.

So far, I have 3 found caches, and 1 "did not find". Just started this weekend though, so I'm sure that number will grow very quickly. The not found was not our fault as the corrodinants were off and took us in the middle of a parking lot. We were supposed to look at a plaque, but were in a parking lot... I guess it shows that GPS units aren't perfect.

My mistake, I misunderstood the term- meant no disrespect brother.

Still not sure what the purpose of the "event" is, cexshun.

Is it a treasure hunt of sorts?

Ah, bloddy. It all makes sense . I understand your previous statements now.

Here's the abridged version of geocaching. Someone takes a waterproof box, and puts a piece of paper and a pencil in it. Then, they hide it in their favorite place, i.e. a park, monument, woods, etc. A place that the person would love to share with other people that love the outdoors.

Then, they note the location on their GPS and post those on the website. So, I go online, punch in my zip, and it gives me all of these boxes within a certain distance. I then use my GPS to find the locations. After getting close, you have to hunt a bit because they are hidden really well. You find it, sign the log book, then put it back.

Since geocachers love the outdoors and nature, they have dubbed a special event coming up. On that day, geocachers will all go to their favorite areas, and clean them up while/before/after doing the hunt. This is a regular practice, but somebody decided it would be nice PR to make an official event out of it.

Thanks, cexshun. It's beginning to make sense now. Sounds like fun.

One of the problems cachers have is the individual states have different rules regarding geocaching. In Minnesota, I believe it is a banned activity for their parks. I don't know if that has changed, but I hope it does.

Many park services are afraid that more people will lead to more trash/damage to natural areas. Sadly, this has happened alot. That's why the cache in, trash out policy is suggested. The national clean up day is another way to build up the idea that more traffic does not have to lead to more trash.

In Indiana, you have to have a permit to place a cache on DNR property. The permit is free, but they just want to keep track of the caches to make sure they are not in any fragile environments.