Geocaching

[icowden]

Anyone do Geocaches while they are out and about?
I was in Wemouth this weekend (roadie for my Brother in Law who did his first half iron man.) and there is a great bike related one on the sea front (In Plain Sight).

For those who have no idea of what I speak, it's sort of treasure hunting with a GPS.

 

[Big John]

Did some the other weekend with our 10 year old granddaughter. I'd never heard of it until my daughter told me about it. It was great fun and it gets the kids out into the fresh air even though they ARE using their phones 👍

 

[AlanW]

I did it a few years ago, great fun and some truly epic finds. Don't know why we stopped to be honest? Good excuse to go to new places and explore the countryside. We used my old Garmin Oregon 450 and to be fair it worked really well

On the flip side its dam frustrating when you cannot find the cach

 

[Archie_tect]

What sort of things do people hide for others to find?

 

[icowden]

What sort of things do people hide for others to find?

It's usually a container. They can be anything from "nano" sized where it is just a log book, right up to ammo boxes or tupperware. Sometimes its just trinkets and tat. You are supposed to put something in if you take something out. People also buy trackbale items (travel bugs) that then get passed from cache to cache in an attempt to travel the country or the world. Occasionally someone will put stuff in that is actually worth having (usually for really hard to find ones). For me, the fun is in the really creative ways that people find to hide caches and the fact that looking for them is a great way of going somewhere you wouldn't otherwise have gone.

For example my wife and I went to Venice about 4 or 5 years ago and followed a geocache trail that led us around all sorts of interesting areas that as tourists we just wouldn't have wandered into.

 

[chriswoody]

I've found a few here and there, found it a good way to hoodwink the kids into a long walk!

On a related note, does anyone know why the hell Garmin don't use geo cache software on their bike GPS units? I'd love to be able to use it for geo caching as well as navigation, but only the walking specific ones have the relevant software. (I know the etrex units will do both, but I prefer the more detailed mapping and routing of the Edge units.)

 

[matticus]

, but only the walking specific ones have the relevant software. (I know the etrex units will do both

You know it makes sense Chris. Join us!

 

[chriswoody]

You know it makes sense Chris. Join us!

I have seriously pondered it, there is a lot to recommend them and a lot of people do use them successfully. I really need to actually look at one or test one though, because I have quite finicky demands and from what I've read I'm not sure they meet my needs, but I could be wrong.

 

[numbnuts]

Yes I've got two of my own caches "Yakdiver", not been out for a while, but must pick it up again

 

[Saluki]

I used to love it but a friend of ours was obsessed and kind of put me off a bit. Everywhere we went it was caching here and there.