We're baaaaaack! We've now spent one week back in town after one of the most fun work-cations ever. Over 9 days, we hit up Denver, Boulder, Park City, Salt Lake City, and Chicago. Our days were PACKED!!
So why am I starting off with a goofy picture of Ben?
So why am I starting off with a goofy picture of Ben?
Well, it's exciting to discover a new fun activity... So this post is allll about geocaching! But wait wait wait - hear me out! Just as I once knew only that cross country had something to do with running and trees, I previously (as in roughly 2 weeks ago) thought geocaching was about compasses and hiking. Yawn.
During our work-cation in Utah, Tom, Ben, and I went to the Open Air Demo at the Outdoor Retailer (OR) trade show - basically a crazy fun day full of trying out and demo-ing outdoor products like the ElliptiGo, SkiMotion, SUP, and Magellan GPS units. The idea is for us (the retailers) to like the product so much we'll bring it into the store to sell to customers.
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| SkiMotion |
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| SUP |
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| Tom on the ElliptiGo |
To show off the Magellans, they set up a geocaching demo. AND NOW WE ARE HOOKED.
But since I'm still a geocaching beginner, I'm going to have to borrow some description from Geocaching.com to begin to explain the awesomeness that it is.
What's Geocaching?
Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.
Where can geocaches be found?
Geocaches can be found all over the world. It is common for geocachers to hide caches in locations that are important to them, reflecting a special interest or skill of the cache owner. These locations can be quite diverse. They may be at your local park, at the end of a long hike, underwater or on the side of a city street. Look how many there are all over Bloomington!! You can search here.
And there are different types of geocaches, too.
Yes. There are currently over a dozen "cache types" in geocaching, with each cache type being a different variation of the game. Like the ones here.
So how do you find a geocache?
Well, you can go old-school and print out coordinates and directions to take you to the spot.
You can use a handheld geocache GPS device like the ones we had made by Magellan.
Or, you can do it for free! If you've got a smartphone, use the c:geo (free) or the geocaching.com app ($9.99). On iPad, I use L4C - Look 4 Cache (free).
The apps give you the option of figuring out what's nearby, looking in a particular area, logging your find, etc. Once you choose one you want to find, you can use the satellite GPS signal to direct you towards it -- my phone takes me to the location with an error of 2-6 meters, usually. But once you're there, you're not done. The biggest challenge is not just getting there, but finding the thing. We spent hours looking for one in Brighton in Utah and still never found it.
Yeah, there are rules and other things to know, but you can learn it from Google.
- If you take something out of the cache, you trade with something of equal or trade up (they're trinkets... of no huge value). In Bloomington, we've found coupons, tiny jars of play-doh, marbles, geodes... you know, fun little things.
- If you visit a cache, you can choose to log your visit online at geocache.com and write comments. There's all sorts of lingo and acronyms. Like, TFTC = thanks for the cache!; and get this, a DNF in geocaching is still just as disappointing as a DNF in running. DNF = did not find.
- If you visit a cache, you should bring a pen and sign your name (handle) and date that you found it. (BYOP - bring your own pen(cil))
- Some of them contain travel bugs. They're like wheresgeorge.com for tracking dollar bills around the country back in the day. You go online when you find a travel bug and log it in-- I just found one in the cache near our house that originated in Texas. :) I'm taking it with me to drop it in a cache in PA next week.
- There are live events, people go by their online names, there are geocache teams, get-togethers... you name it! It's like an underground world we didn't even know existed!
- Caches are rated by size. Some can be as small as your pinky nail, and others as big as a 5-gallon bucket. In Bloomington, we've found a few ammo boxes and tupperware containers, but some are sneakily small.
- Always return the cache and the trail/area in the same or better condition than you found it. That means rehiding well, but also sometimes picking up trash you find on the trail.
- Geocaches are rated first by difficulty to find, then by terrain. The level 1 = wheelchair accessible, while the hardest ones (level 5) might require going through water or scuba gear. That's for reals.
- Geocaches are given unique names that are funny, describe the location somewhat, or have some meaning to the hider.
They're all over the place. Chances are, you've seen one and didn't even know it was hiding in plain sight...
First, you use the GPS (or smartphone app) to get you within probably 5-10 feet (depending on GPS accuracy and accuracy of the hider's coordinates).
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| Using the Magellan eXplorist GC handheld GPS |
Then, once you're in the vicinity, start looking! High and low... we looked for this one for about 15 minutes.
Do you see it? (We didn't really know what we were looking for, so hopefully my explanation helps narrow it down for you!)
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| SNEAKY- can you figure out what it is? It's the electrical plate. |
...we actually rehid the electrical plate in a better place after finding it a few feet away, so the photo above was taken after we found it and logged our visit.
Meanwhile, the Magellan was really small and easy to use.. slightly more accurate and far less battery-hungry than our phones.
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| The handheld unit was really easy to use! |
Natural caches can be disguised, and containers can look like anything. This one was a plastic tupperware container hidden in some cracks in between rocks.
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| Ben and Tom found the geocache. |
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| more creative/evilly tiny containers |
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| a FAKE PINE CONE. TRICKY!!!! |
And for the purposes of winning our prizes at the Open Air Demo, we had to describe the geocache we found, or use the stamp inside the container to prove we'd found it. Here's the booklet-
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| Stamps to prove we were there. |
After this little exercise, we caught the bug. We wanted to find some true to life, not demo, geocaches!
Tom, Ben, and I went geocaching at the demo in Park City, Utah, but were unsuccessful. We still hadn't mastered the art of being discrete, so people were wondering what we were doing as we searched the trail and some of the rock formations.
The next dya, in Salt Lake... after a long day at OR, we decided to go out looking for one that was nearby. The geocache map led us to a small hospital. We had searched for over two hours the night prior - until it got dark! - and didn't find the geocache we were looking for. This time around, we didn't really expect much either. A short description of it looked like this: "Just another cache name for a hospital."
The hint was coded, which (as beginners) we promptly decoded to help us look for it. We were within a few feet of the waypoint, we searched the grass, runoff ditch, and then Ben or Tom (I forget who!) decided to lift up one of the "skirts" that made the sign look nice. And, what do you know? There was a little container hidden right in there. I'd be lying if I told you we didn't celebrate
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| Ben, in disbelief that we actually found it. |
High fives and "holy crap!"s later, we were addicted. So here's where we successfully found a second one as we headed back to our hotel, in the back of a Lowe's parking lot. [I won't tell you the name of these geocaches so I don't give away the location.] ;)
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| ...hidden in plain sight on a bus stop sign! |
Below: looks like a normal nut and bolt at the base of this bus stop sign, right? Not so.
That's a really tiny magnetic geocache.
That's a really tiny magnetic geocache.
In Chicago... we were still pumped about this, so we invited some friends to come along with us. We were killing time between wedding ceremony and reception, haha - so no, dresses and ties are not standard geocaching apparel! ;) It was raining, but so exciting to introduce other newcomers to our new activity. And they were so enthusiastic about what they'd just discovered, no one really minded getting wet.
Here's one we found in a parking lot.
Here's one we found in a parking lot.
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| Containers can be pretty cool/creative. |
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| With trade-able contents inside. |
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| This light switch geocache is magnetic, cleverly attached to a light pole! |
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| Mary signing the log |
Tonight, we went out with Jose Carlos, Jaz, and Tom and found some geocaches around Bloomington. It was DARK, since we started out at 9:30 pm, but we came prepared with headlamps and flashlights on our side. (Umm, still not ideal. Remember? I'm kind of afraid of the dark.) On the search for our second geocache, "Frat Walk," we decided to try to cut through a field to get there quicker. As we approached the tall grass to look for an opening to walk through, I saw a light-colored fluffy (?) baby pine tree with my headlamp. I looked at it directly, and then realized that there were two eyes starting at me from the base of the tree. Then, I realized that said pine tree was so much a light color, but more black and white. And that I was actually looking at a raised tail. Of a skunk. And then... we ran.
But I digress!
To tie it all together, go geocaching. It's fun, FREE, and a good excuse to get out of the house on a nice day! Lots of people go hunting with groups of friends, families, kids, dogs... everyone can do it. And, we're going to adapt this to running somehow.
Find some where you live--- Search at Geocache.com. Or, learn more at these sites that lays it all out - you know, geocaching for beginners:
And why not? How about the geocaching.com 2-minute video about everything you need to know? Go here.
More about our new experiences at OR and vacation coming up next!!
So, did you know what geocaching was? Have you ever tried it? Where would YOU hide one??
Geocaching--very cool. We do that a lot in Girl Scouts. I'll have to show you my stamp that I carved sometime.
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