Geocaching, anyone?

[John]

I've just recently started getting into geocaching. Anyone do this for fun?

For those who haven't heard of it, you basically punch in GPS coordinates on your handheld GPS unit, and they will lead you to within 10-50 feet of a "cache" that someone has hidden (usually in the woods off the trail of a park, but some other interesting places as well).

The "cache" is usually an ammo box or tupperware container, well-hidden, that contains a log book and other trinkets. When you find it, you sign the log book, and take something and leave something if you'd like. Then you post on-line that you found it, etc.

Since I love to hike, and need to learn to use my GPS unit better, it's a good fit. It's like a little treasure hunt. We went out Tuesday, and found our very first 2 caches (in the same park, but almost a mile apart). It was a ton of fun.

And then, I find out that one of those caches was hidden by my next-door neighbor. Literally, the family living next door to me. How strange is THAT?

[OnMyLunchBreak]

That is a really neat activity, I had not heard of it before, but I would certainly like to try it.

Although, since I live in Colorado, they are all probably at the tops of fourteeners!

My Mom has a really pretty picture of a jack rabbit in a field of blue tulips with a cryptic message around the border. She told me that in the 70's some wealthy and witty guy hid a large sum of money somewhere in the U.S. and then put out these pictures (maybe in magazines?). There was an entire series of them and the cryptic messages led people to the location of the money. I think she said someone did find it eventually.

[Ana Bannana]

John that does sound like a pretty cool activity. Can you give us a link to a site (PM me if necessary) that would give more detail about how to get started? I have a couple of teenage boys here in Michigan that would enjoy this activity and hopefully, keep them out of trouble this summer.

[John]

onmy, if you know your GPS coordinates, go to www.geocaching.com and enter them. It'll show you the list of caches in your area. Some of them might be fun!

If you don't know your GPS coordinates, you can enter a zip code for a good start.

[mrdobolina]

Ok, this sounds REALLY COOL!! I just checked out that site, this totally sounds like something I would get into. Thanks for the website, John!

[OnMyLunchBreak]

Cool! There are actually many within 3 or 4 miles of me.

Thanks John!

[PhoneGrrrl]

This sounds like a high tech version of letterboxing, which I thought was a quaint UK kind of thing. Looks pretty cool

[JLuvs]

One of my students loves to to this with his parents. He told me all about it. I might have to try it.

[chrelsey]

This sounds like so much fun! We have a state park within 2 miles of us, so I checked it out and there are quite a few caches hidden there! What a great, inexpensive, fun thing for the us to do with our kids! I got Mr. C a handheld GPS a couple of years ago for the boat, and this will be a great way to get more experience using it! Thanks, John!

[coksy]

Wow!!! There are some within a mile of where I live!!!!!

Now all I need is to buy a GPS