Geocache
Well, I'm sitting here watching the Reds bullpen blow another game and figured I'd make that geocaching post I've been meaning to make.The picture above gives the general idea of what a cache looks like. Many are in old ammo cans like above, but some are tupperware, buckets, or really any kinda container.
The idea is to find a cache on the web (www.geocaching.com), load the coordinates into a GPS receiver, and then to go find it - in the woods, countryside, or even in the city. It's a pretty nerdy thing if you think about it, but I like the outdoors and I like toys (ie - GPS) so it works for me. It gets me out to different parks or places that I didn't really even knew existed before. It's also an excuse to get some exercise, assuming I'm walking about as fast as I can to each cache when hiking, which I normally do.
Some caches you can drive right up to, some I've hiked over 3 miles for. One day I did 20 caches in a day and hiked between 8 and 9 miles that day.
Here is the link to the Getting Started guide for geocaching.
Here is a list of all the caches I've done.
Here is my geocaching.com profile
That's sorta a general starting description of what it's all about. But you've also got things like multi-caches, virtual caches, earth caches, travel bugs, etc. But those are for another day if anyone is interested. I'm sure there will be other nights that I am sitting here watching the Reds blow ass and killing time before bed.
posted by TJ @ 6:53 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Can you go and just take everything and leave the container? I would think you would have people stealing that stuff or park rangers throwing it away because they consider it refuse. I'm gonna have to check this out. Hiking can be fun. As long as its not 8 or 9 miles and as hot as it has been.
It sounds like fun for sure. How much does a GPS run? You need that to get started.....don't you?
I was reading up on the Travel Bug....that's pretty sweet.
You could take everything and leave the container, but most of the stuff in it is shit - like McDonalds toys and things, mostly for kids, so there's really no point in taking everything. I do it more for the hiking / finding new places, as opposed to finding the loot.
But, if there's a travel bug, I'll usually take that and help move it along, or a couple times I've found dollar bills, or batteries that I took once when my GPS was low.
Usually if you're in a state park you have to get permission of the rangers to hide it. So, they'll know about it and not throw it away. But, they're usually well enough hidden that they wouldn't just be stumbled on accidently also.
GPSs can be any where from ~$100 (Garmin makes a yellow eTrex, or at least did, but you can still find it) up to probably $600.
They don't make mine anymore either, but it's a Garmin Vista C, which has a color screen and ran around $240 when I got it, but hell, I still see them selling sometimes now for $400 or so, which is a ripoff.
The more expensive ones have better features like color screens, hold more waypoints, or come with cables to automatically transfer caches from the computer to the GPS without having to type them in.
The one I have also has a compass, so when you get within 100 feet or so you know which direction you need to go that last 100 feet, or at least a general idea.
The cheaper ones don't have the compass, and can only tell you the direction if you're moving. When you get close enough to the cache and not moving much, that's when the electronic compass comes in handy.
But, if you have a regular compass, the cheaper ones work fine too. It'll just say the bearing to the cache, and you have to use a compass to find that bearing, instead of having the GPS arrow point to it.
But, alot of times, the variation in the GPS can be anywhere from 20-40', so you take 20'-40' feet on your GPS, plus 20'-40' on the person hiding GPS, and you could be at the cache when your GPS says 80' away.
I think the most distance I my GPS said I was away when finding one was about 96' - which could be a bitch if there's a creek or river or something, and you don't know which side you're supposed to be on.
Anyway, don't know if any of that makes sense or not.
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