Geocaching

Joined
Jul 12, 2009
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So some friends came down from Austin and showed me this geocaching thing. Not sure if anyone else has heard of this but it is a great way to check out a new place when visiting...Basically you use a gps system and search for caches that people have hidden. Although not directly on point with knives, I do take my new RAT with me when I go out searching!
 
I like geocaching! my friend introduced me to it last semester after I found my first one I was addicted....the only problem is my friend is the one with the GPS.
 
I like geocaching! my friend introduced me to it last semester after I found my first one I was addicted....the only problem is my friend is the one with the GPS.

I go quite often. Its a lot of fun and is a fun way to explore and practice with a GPS unit.

It has made for MANY a fun hike on a weekend afternoon!
 
what kind of stuff do you find? anyone do it in an urban environment?
 
Yepper's,

City parks, buildings, all kinds of urban places can have mini-caches. You just have to be more patient and act nonchalant so someone doesn't think you're a terrorist placing a "package" ~;-P
 
Sounds fun. Going to look into this more as it may be a good tool to get some friends and family outdoors with me.
 
I like geocaching. I have no GPS device, so I sort out a cache in the area I plan to visit for hiking or just an easy walk and then simply search it just with the map and cache despriction, it's quite fun. In Prague, in the area of about 15 x 15 km there are some 1400 caches. There's even an underground one in the city sewers...
 
love geocaching whenever i visit somewhere. gives you a lot of history of the area and helps you get around!
 
I tried it last week, and it was pretty cool.

The only problem I had was that I felt like a dork walking through the bushes in front of the mall. :o
 
Just googled it and came up the main site. This is awesome. I can’t believe I haven’t seen anybody doing this.
 
Anybody have a recommendation for a small GPS, or is anyone using their Blackberry/Iphone?
 
Just googled it and came up the main site. This is awesome. I can’t believe I haven’t seen anybody doing this.

You probably have, a lot of geocachers think of it as a secret club and act nonchalant when there's other people around.
 
We used to do it with the kids. It is a good activity to do with them and they get all excited about the 'gift' exchange. I can't say I'm too fond of doing it on my own...I'm just more simple and would rather whittle a stick or something.

One thing to note in the wilderness areas is that you should take usual precautions with gear and bring a map and compass. The 'as the crow flies' GPS heading can get you into trouble fast with hilly/swampy terrain. Best to locate trails on the map and work your way to the position. Then it becomes a good training exercise in orientation and map reading.

I do get the urge to snap a branch back at the folks who walk around with the eyes glues to a little 2" x 2" screen and completely ignore the beauty that is around them. Then again, if it were a mall, I'd prefer to watch a little screen too!
 
No joke about the paying attention thing. A bit off topic but the past year or so I’ve noticed the most NYC cabs have GPS on the dash but recently they’ve been asking me for directions when I get in. They have no clue where they are going anymore and if the device gives them multiple options or god forbid you need to go to a named street in Brooklyn or Queens and your not sure of the spelling your out of luck.
 
The surveying/engineering company that I work for is often contracted by federal, state, local agencies and utility companies. These are often large projects and using geodetic control markers (benchmarks) as set by the National Geodetic Survey is a must. These markers serve as our primary control points. So, we often get to have fun geocaching for these points. In more recent years we have found that more and more recreational geocachers have been finding the markers and report the finds to NGS' database. We always appreciate their efforts. It saves us a lot of time.

Of course we have some tools for finding the markers too. Pictured below is a Leica system 1200 RTK (Real Time Kinematic) GPS unit. This unit is configured to use the North Carolina Geodetic Survey's VRS (Virtual Reference Station) system. Basically NCGS has around 100 base stations spread all over the state that can provide network corrections to a rover unit such as this Leica unit. There is a cellular modem in this unit that is used to dial into NCGS' VRS server via the internet and we can receive real time corrections. The unit pictured regularly acheives accuracies of 1 centimeter horizontal and 2 centimeters vertical. It is a priceless tool to us. The picture below this one, is of a geodetic survey marker as set by NGS.

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_____Rat Pack #106______
 
I'll never forget my first geocaching experience. My friends and I were hiking up Mt Baldy here in southern california and at the time none of us has heard of what a geocache was. Two of my friends went ahead of us and decided to rest off the trail next to a fallen hollowed out tree waiting for me and my friend to catch up. My friend felt compelled to look inside the tree and there it was... a semi-hidden tupperware with a note explaining the whole geocache thing and random objects people have left. In it was also a notebook where we wrote down a personal story of ourselves. To find one is cool, but to find one randomly and unintentionally is just awesome. No gps, no knowledge of its existence, just random luck. I left my lighter. Maybe it would save someone's life one day.
 
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