UKC

Just wondering.
Thought it would be cool for my daughter so we've been out looking for the last few weekends - and now I think I'm getting addicted!

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In reply to Enty:

Mr TC's been out a few times with his kids - I think there's a smartphone app that makes it all a bit easier to find out what's round you.

In reply to Enty: i have no idea what a "geo" is or how you catch one!
is it short for "geofrey" ??

In reply to Enty: I've been known to do it occasionally, although not owning a GPS makes it a bit harder as I end up translating to OS grid ref, plotting this on a map and then heading out to find where X marks the spot. Not done it for quite a while now though.

In reply to skarabrae:

http://www.geocaching.com/default.aspx

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In reply to owlart: I forgot to add, it's a great way to encourage kids outside, as they're going ona "treasure hunt" and there's plenty to keep them amused finding the route, hunting in the undergrowth etc. and making a swap in the cache itself. If you plot your route carefully you can do quite a few on a short walk!

In reply to Enty: You'll be surprised at home many caches there are aound the country. I travel a lot for work, and stay away a lot, and Geocaching is a good way/excuse to get outside in the evening. I know I shouldn't need an excuse though!!

Whenever you're going somewhere new, be it urban or countryside, have a look at the website and you're pretty much guaranteed to find a few caches nearby.

In reply to Enty: Hadn't heard about it till I listened to a good 'Scotland Outdoors' podcast and it seemed like a good family thing to do.
Will try it soon.

In reply to Enty: Have done it for a couple of years now, also have a few caches hidden around, looking at the journeys of some of the trackables is great as well. We had a penguin put into one of our caches that had travelled from antartica!!

I have a website which contains league tables for geocaches and waymarks which are hidden on summits. (summitcaches)
http://www.summitcaching.org.uk/
from Charlie

In reply to Enty: Agreed, kids love it and it adds additional interest for walks. Have used a map plus grid ref. in the past, should really get a GPS. Any recommendations folks?

In reply to Removed User: I've only used Google maps on a phone, seems to work.

In reply to Removed User:

The Garmin eTrex H is a nicely sensitive, sturdy GPS at a good price.

In reply to Enty:

Found 3 more this morning. Little Ent placed her own cache 2 weeks ago, it was published this week and had it's first visitor on Friday - all very exciting!!!

By the way, we're finding these without GPS - just good old map co-ordinates and a bit of common sense. Only failed on one so far becuse there was a private land / no entry sign across the path.

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In reply to Enty:

Got 7 finds so far. My son loves finding the ones where he can swap the treasure. We managed the first couple without GPS but for some you do need a the accuracy.

Though on my first hunt I disturbed a wasps nest and got stung

In reply to ranger*goy: Have you had the awkward moment someone is near your cache!! They know what you want, you know what they want but neither is sure what to say, tis funny

In reply to Enty: Over 200 finds here

Often plot my routes on the moors around them. Adds something extra to go on

In reply to Enty: My mum thinks its great! There are plenty of geocaches still there but my mum has never found quite a few and I refused point blank to look for one after finding used needles and empty beer bottles near the supposed location of one. Outdoor locations, not urban ones, are better and cleaner to be around.
Its great for kids as it gives them a target to look for when out in the hills, or park, rather than just the top of the hill (my son's opinion).

In reply to owlart: It also works with a satnav

In reply to Enty: Not done it, but stumbled on the odd cache by accident. This one is in Cave Crawl at Froggatt

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=ede06996-20b0-4bbd-a...

In reply to EeeByGum:

Yep I've encountered some people trying to find that one (without success).

In reply to Swig:
I did that one for my 2000th cache . . . :

In reply to Enty:

Our kids love it. laways have a pocket full of rubbish for when we go out for long walks.

In reply to Enty:
. . . and yes, it's addictive!

In reply to Enty:

Just started this weekend, after reading Country Walking while waiting at the barbers. I have downloaded C:Geo and NeonGeo for my phone and been out once for a single cache over the road from my house but failed to find it. Hopefully I will find my first one this coming weekend.

In reply to Enty:
We've introduced my sister-in-law to it and she's out all the time with her kids. I think she's more into it than them. Some have been devishly concealed.

Big up to anyone out there who sets up caches

In reply to daveyw:

When you find one, what does it look like?

In reply to Enty: There is one above reservoirs opposite Troy Quarry, which we "found" , when we visited again to show one of by Daughters friends some cretins called some thing like "the burnley cahe trashers" had been and looted it, sad.

In reply to Enty:

Sounds a lot like Orienteering but without the running and involving the use of expensive modern electronic gadgetry.

I can see why it would be attractive to modern youth -- however to make it really popular someone would have to develop a virtual version so they could do it from the comfort and safety of their own bedrooms without having to get wet occasionally.

In reply to jon: They can look like all sorts, ours are tupperware pots, some are tobacco tins, old film cases, you can also buy little cache pots, that have magnets and are disguised, there is even a fake rock near me that is a cache.


Apparently there is a cache on every continent

Everyone should practise CITO (cache in, trash out) its a good way to keep our outside spaces clear of rubbish

In reply to Enty: And they go in difficulty levels of 1 which is easy, and can be walked up to, all the way to 5 which is specialist gear is needed, abseiling, climbing or wet weather gear.

The next one I create I would like to be waterbased, was thinking along the lines of having it in a small stream with a piece of fishing line tied off to a tree or such like..

In reply to jon:

http://www.geocaching.com/guide/default.aspx

Just done two today with lula - great excuse to visit the old chateau in Gigondas.

E

PS - The Dentelles is riddled with them - there's lots close to the crags and one under a big rock at St Christophe. There's even on on the top of St Julien which you need to do the via ferrata or one of the long routes to get to - but that's "extreme" geocaching!!

In reply to jon:
Commonly, a waterproof plastic box with a logbook, a "stash note" (a card that explains what it is) and sometimes some swaps in, usually with "Geocache - contents harmless" written prominantly on the outside. However, it could also be:

- a tiny magnetic container the size of your fingertip
- a "bison" (small waterproof capsule)
- a film can (for cliche purposes, hidden in an ivy-covered tree)
- a fake rock
- a fake dog turd*
- a fake snail
- a fake leaf
- a drilled-out fir cone

. . . and anything else limited only by the owner's imagination. :

(*Ok, I'll admit it . . . I was the perpetrator in that case. Only had one find so far, I think I made have made the puzzle a bit too hard.)

In reply to Enty:

I don't want to sound too cynical, but why not just go bird-watching, or botanicising or geologising; why the need for the man-made stuff and gadgetry? Ok, I am cynical....

In reply to Robert Durran:

She's 5 and doesn't get the same buzz finding a green finch or an orchid as she does a box full of small toys - one of which she can take with her.

And we haven't been using GPS.

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In reply to Enty:

Quite.

In reply to Robert Durran:

Actually the same goes for me - I like finding fossils but wildflowers are somewhere just below other peoples dreams on the world's most boring things list

Actually the whole point of geocaching is it's an excuse to go to places you normally wouldn't. Which is good isn't it? see my post from 16:03

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In reply to Enty:

Ok, fair enough if it gets kids active and outside and away from electronic gadgetry.


Yes. Just like climbing!

In reply to Robert Durran:


But far less dangerous for the "I've just got some kit from Argos, how hard can it be" brigade...

I didn't know about this but it sounds fun. I could argue that it could end up being a crude substitute for the subtler pleasure of exploring new places... but that would be churlish.
I set up an elaborate treasure hunt in Oxford ten years ago and some of the clues (in glass phials) are still in place - unfortunately (as in Treasure Island) the treasure itself has long been dug up!

In reply to Wingnut:

Wouldn't want my little one picking up a fake-fake turd in th hope of finding something!

In reply to caseyfather:

I've had to lurk a couple of times for dog walkers to pass. A dog walker came across me stamping on my fleece with muddy trainers when the wasps attacked me :P

In reply to Enty:

Just back from our first "extreme" geocache - it was located at the bottom of an old mine about 100m along an old 1.5m high gallery hidden at the bottom of a pit. With a fox's skull hiding it for good measure. Very exciting with a 5 year old!!
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=f25517a4-fbe7-4ccc-8...


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