Leisure Activities - Geocaching Treasure Hunt
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Leisure Activities - Geocaching Treasure Hunt |
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What is Geocaching all about then?We enjoy Geocaching - a pastime using Sat Nav and the internet to find hidden items around town and country.It's best described as a fun and educational recreational activity; a treasure hunt that uses a GPS receiver or smartphone + app to find, typically, a box with goodies in. See the entry on Wikipedia for a full description.
Geocaching can be environmentally friendly - 'cache-in trash-out' - where participants clear rubbish from the geocache area (like The Wombles?). It's a family friendly pastime and healthy for both mind and body, what with all the walking/searching/thinking that's required. And it's highly educational - knowledge of navigation, topography, land use, GPS, mapping and the grid system is gained (oh, and where the local pubs are!). As an environmentally responsible pastime, accepted practice guidelines are published by the geocaching community. Geocachers monitor PMR channel 2 or 8 to listen for other cachers who may happen to be in the area.
So how do you go Geocaching?
The final stage is to log your find(s) on geocaching.com: log in, browse to the relevant geocache page and add a sentence or two describing your find (try to make it interesting) plus upload your photo if you took one. And you're done! So who places geocaches in the first place? Why, other
geocachers of course! Here's some we've placed: Let's look at one of our geocache finds...
Now, if we haven't put you off(!), read on for more on Geocaching... Cache types Other geocaches require the solving of simple - or involved - clues such as noting dates on, say, a building, notice or gravestone then using these numbers to work out the coordinates by following a given formula. Now this may sound like too much trouble, but once you've tried one you'll find it's quite straightforward and a lot of fun, especially for the kids. Some can involve a trail of many caches!
Other types of geocaches include: Container types Muggles – what are they then? Look out for the (usually) helpful cachers trail when within spitting distance of the geocache you're searching out. This provides tell-tale evidence that the geocache is nearby, such as downtrodden vegetation or unnaturally positioned stones. But also be aware of a false cachers trail, indicating others have been looking... in the wrong place! Let's look at some unusual geocaches we've found...
Geocache equipment and software A small digital camera is handy to take an interesting picture in the cache vicinity which can be uploaded when logging your find. Be careful not to create a 'spoiler' and reveal the cache location though! Other useful items to take are gardening gloves (for rummaging around all those prickly plants) and a poking stick as you'll never find one nearby when needed of course!
Post caching we like to look at our finds and breadcrumb trail by loading these from our Sat Nav device onto a user generated Google Earth overlay. Looking at some typical cache hidey holes...
Geocaching has a social aspect too. Apart from the social network provided by the website, many local groups of geocachers get together, say, once a month in a pub; automatic notification of upcoming local meets are given when logged into the website. It's an international hobby with many overseas travellers finding and logging caches in countries they're visiting. Expect to see log entries from visitors from abroad, particularly in popular tourist areas. We've searched out some rather scenic caches in recent years while visiting Gower, the Cotswolds, Cornwall, Isle of Wight and Wiltshire. Here's some 'guardians of the cache'...
Terminology GPSr Global Positioning System receiver (AKA a Sat Nav device) Here's some Geocaching resources
you may find useful:
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Fundamental to geocaching is owning a handheld Sat Nav
receiver (details later), or smartphone with a suitable app, and having
internet access to view Groundspeak's geocaching.com, the geocachers
gateway website! Although you can view geocache details and
previous finders' logs on the site, registration as a basic member
(free) is required to see cache coordinates. Caches can be
searched for by area, viewed in a list and located on the integrated
Google Maps overlay. Once you've read and noted some juicy caches
you'd like to attempt (they have difficulty and terrain ratings) in
your chosen area, just put the coordinates into your GPS receiver (or
app) and you're off! It's probably best to start with
straightforward rural caches approached on foot or cycle as there's
less people about (called muggles in geocache speak!) to contend with.
Follow the electronic compass on your Sat Nav device,
keeping in mind that, unless you have wings, you can't always navigate
'as the crow flies'. When you get to within, say, 10 meters,
start looking around for any clues as to where the geocache might be
hidden. It helps to keep in mind the cache container type you're
looking for, description, previous finders' logs and, if needed, the
additional hint. This often gives it away with clues such as
'bottom of fence post', 'under seat', 'hole in wall', etc, so be
careful not to spoil the fun!
When you've (hopefully!) found the cache, open the
container and fill in the paper log with the date and your geocaching
name. Larger caches contain small items you can swap if you
wish. Seal the lid and carefully replace the geocache back where
you found it, covering with sticks, stones, etc. ready for the next
geocacher. If you wish, take a photo of something interesting
nearby, taking care that it doesn't give the hiding place away.
The most popular is the micro-cache, a 35mm
film pot placed as a stand-alone cache. An advancement on this is
the multi-cache which necessitates finding a number of caches each
giving a part GPS coordinate to note for the final cache coordinates.
The larger lunch box caches
contain small items to swap, the idea is one item is taken and one left
which is noted in the cache and website log. Items thus travel
from cache to cache, often great distances and overseas too. The
next stage on from this are Travel Bugs where particular items are
tracked as they travel around the country - or the world! Now,
where's that tiny tatty teddy auntie gave me all those years ago...
One term you'll often come across is that of
the dreaded muggle, a term derived from the Harry Potter movies.
A muggle is an innocent non-caching member of the public who may
unknowingly thwart your attempt at locating a cache. Most cachers
try to avoid raising the suspicions of the public at large when looking
for caches as there's a chance they may think a geocacher is up to no
good. A persistent muggle is the worst, one who just won't move
from the location you wish to search, such as someone sitting on the
park bench right where you suspect the cache may be. Most
frustrating!
An increasingly popular option is 'paperless
caching' using a 
