vw_k

Hi Akash, welcome to the forums I'm not a Gecko user so can't help you there, but as for geocaches, if you are thinking of hiding your own try looking at tupperware boxes in Tescos, the "lock & lock" boxes are quite cheap and are robust and waterproof, you should also be able to find small notebooks for logbooks there too, or if you want to spend more money on a "write in the rain" weatherproof notebook, try outdoors shops like Cotswolds, Blacks and Snow & Rock. Dave

I wish people would replace my caches and write a note when they destroy them! Actually, I wish the idiots who destroyed one of my caches would try to smash a bomb if they found it!

Welcome to the sport Another way of doing it is by clicking on the "trackable Items" link on the left sode of the geocaching.com home page you can enter the tracking number (a number stamped on the coin or travel bug tag) and it will take you to the page for logging that item. Have fun!

Hi kraushad, welcome to the wonderful sport of geocaching! I would have done the same thing, alot of people will just log the find as "found it" and add in their log something like "logbook is full and needs replacing" Dave

Im my opinion, calling cards (like geowizerds) are fine in caches, although I don't see much point as you can just sign the logbook, that's what it's there for. Business cards on the other hand don't belong in caches, I don't hike miles on a cold day to uncover hidden adverts for psychic services, upvc window frames or drain cleaning companies, that's what the yellow pages is for! Some people need to know when not to mix business with pleasure, I bet these are the sort of people you'd meet whilst your kids are playing football, and then they'd insist on telling you how much they could save you on wooden flooring!

Not a stupid question at all! As has already been mentioned, there are links to maps on the cache page, I'd recommend always caching with a paper map, especially in areas you are not familiar with, even if I am caching in suburban areas a few miles from home I take a computer print out from Google map, they come in useful for finding parking areas, footpaths etc. Welcome to the sport!

I wouldn't necessarialy say wait until you've found 100 caches, but certainly find at least 10 of varying types and locations to get an idea of what is a good and bad placement/idea. The most important thing I'd say, as well as following geocaching.coms guidelines is to take some time to think carefully about what you're doing, could it be discovered easily? Will it attract attention if people are searching in the area? Cachers may well drop TBs and geocoins in your cache, would you be happy to have one of your TBs or geocoins in that cache? do you think it would be safe? If in doubt abouot anything, either ask on the forums or email your local reviewers.

Late twenties seems to be quite a popular age! I started when I was 27 and I've just turned 29. But then again I look and act like I'm about 16!

If the cache is easy to get too and not too inconvenient, that's what I would do. I'm glad to see you took someone along and hope he enjoyed it, geocaching is a great hobby to share with others and a great way of enjoying the outdoors. I always carry a pen in my pack, not just for caching but so I always have something to write with! But in the past I have torn off the corner of the cache page print out that says "you are logged in as vw_keychain" and left that in with the logbook as proof I was there. Happy caching. Dave

I actually found a cache that looked like litter once, I dont think the appearance was deliberate, but the owner had wrapped the cache in a small black plastic bag (some people wrongly believe this will protect caches from moisture!) and it was placed under a bush in a park. Now in public parks in England there are thousands of small packages under bushes in black plastic bags, 99.9% of them are dog waste left by irresponsible dog owners! I looked at that black bag 3 times whilst searching, and it was only by luck that I noticed it had square edges under the plastic wrapping. I'm surprised it hadn't been cleared by council litter pickers. I'd hate for caches like these to encourage any children to look in genuine litter for caches, just because they've found one before.

I find that melons are best kept slightly refrigerated, when buried underground they decompose too quickly!

Just the one for me today, near the highest point in Southern England, so quite possibly the 2nd highest cache in Southern England. That kind of justifies going out up into the clouds in the pouring rain for a micro!

If you have children or dogs then you have it easy, as has already been mentioned, nobody thinks twice about a kid being curious and looking in all sorts of places, and people generally pay little attention to dog walkers, you can look for caches in parks/woodland and appear to be looking for your dogs ball. For more urban settings I know some people put on a yellow reflective tabard and hold a clipboard to make them look official, this way they can "inspect" items of street furniture and buildings without looking suspicious. One trick I use quite alot is to hold my mobile phone against my ear and wander round nodding occasionally, (don't think I'm mad just yet!) Nobody has ever looked twice at me when I look like I'm on the phone, I can walk about in the same area, kicking leaves at the bottom of trees, looking up behind signs, sitting on a bench to sneakily check under it then getting up again a minute later. If anyone's within hearing distance I just say "yeah" or "ok" every few seconds to make the "phone call" sound legitimate!

Can people not see that a cache is something that someone will be handling and opening? At least this can't happen with micros, There are irresponsible dog owners of course, but that's another rant for another topic!

Just feel like sharing some anger with you guys, I've just had this picture posted on one of my cache pages with a DNF log, it looks like it's the remains of my caches magnetic "keysafe" container that has been forcefully snapped into pieces! The cache in question is placed near to and named after a tree that is estimated to be 1000 years old and has an interesting history, earlier this year the tree (which is completely hollow) was set on fire by vandals, and now this. Why can't these vandals do something more constructive with their energy, like geocaching? Has anyone else had their cache or cache location vandalised?

Even with no leaves on the trees my GPS sometimes acts like that. It will be accurate to about 6 metres on a good day but alot of other times it will bounce about like that once I get to ground zero. The GPS co-ords should get you to a general area and then it'll be up to you to search for where the cache could be, unless I have a specific clue or very good accuracy I'll usually be searching an area 20 to 30 ft across. Don't be disheartened, even with this amount of accuracy you should be able to find most caches, for example if you know the cache is an ammo can or something similar, and you are in woodland, you'll know to look at the base of large trees or under fallen trees in the area.

Rangerchuk and I always go ouot for a Christmas morning walk/cycle and this year I'm going to get info on local caches printed out, so wherever we decide to go I'll have the cache page for at least one cache that's nearby

Welcome to the wonderful sport of geocaching! I hope you will have read all the getting started information on the home page at www.geocaching.com by now. If not, it's a GPS based treasure hunt game, the geocache you found is one of thousands hidden all over the world, in all sorts of places, some with mental puzzles or physical challenges required to find them. Find the cache using the GPS co-ordinates, sign the logbook, and if you want to take someting from the cache, swap it for someting of your own. Then you can log your find and your experience on the cache page on geocaching.com. Have fun! Dave

I wouldn't archive it. I actually like finding caches that have been undiscovered for a long time. Give someone that chance. It's much more fun than opening the logbook to discover someone has already been there that morning!

I don't see DNFs as demerits or signs of failure, they don't take away from your found it score. The most important thing about a DNF is that it indicates to other cachers and particularly the cache owner that there may be a problem with the cache. Logging a DNF is actually doing a good thing for the caching community. I'd be really angry if there was nothing untoward on the cache page, I spent time trying to find a cache I didnt know was missing, then later found out that other cachers had failed to find it but not notified anyone via the cache page!

This shouldn't stop you from finding regular caches in the dark, here in the UK in winter it's dark by 4 or 5pm and I've done alot of evening caches by headtorch. Night only caches are good fun, but with a decent headtorch and a friend you should be able to most caches in the dark.

I'd create an account for your 2 girls (either a shared team name or a personal account each). If at some point in the future they decided they wanted their own accounts it would be alot of work to re log all their finds, it's much easier to start now. You can simply sign 2 or 3 names under one log in the physical logbook when you find a cache together.

I click on "geocaching.com on google map" which is on any cache page, near the large map just above the logs, then once I'm on google map I simply pan the map to wherever I want to go, this way I can even follow roads I plan on taking and can easily see if there are any caches along the route of my journey!

1. How did you first hear about geocaching? I worked for a company that sold GPS, one of my colleagues mentioned Geocaching during a GPS sales training session and i thought it sounded interesting. 2. Tell me about your first cache? My first cache was the nearest to my house, I went out to find it without a GPS using my local knowledge and the hint, I couldn't find it in the dark, so went back the next day in daylight, I was thrilled to find it and have been caching ever since. 3. Have you had any bad/scary experiences caching? My scariest experience was being stopped by an off duty police officer who thought I looked suspicious! I explained caching to him and he thought it sounded like an interesting, if unusual sport. 4. What is the #1 reason you geocache? Simply because it is fun! 5. Do you prefer to hunt or hide? Both, I enjoy the mental and physical challenges that come with both. 6. What was your favorite cache place? Why? Either on top of Snowdon, the highest mountain un England and Wales, because of the night time hike it took to get there and the sense of adventure. Or on an island in the River Thames near London that was only accessible at low tide, because I liked the fact that you could have such an adventure so close to urban areas, and nobody else was there. 7. What was your worst cache? Why? Any cache that hasn't been well thought out, in uninteresting areas with no enjoyment in the hunt. 8. Have you ever attened a cache event? No, but I would very much like to when there is a local one and I am available. 9. Tell me your best caching story? Looking back on it now, the police officer story was quite an interesting one, other than that I've just had alot of enjoyable adventures with friends.

Now this is my kind of caching! I was already into urban and rural exploration when I started caching, and have explored abandoned quarries, hospitals, asylums, factories etc. Some interesting caches from the UK include: The only known one in England Tyneham Village a village abandoned during WW2 and Cold War in Oxfordshire a Cold War underground monitoring station.