+marknhelen Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 I purchased one for use when I was in the army - never really used it much (about once a year). Still kept it when I left and stumbled across the web site and the rest as they say is history. Quote Link to comment
+soreyes Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 A coworker showed me the GC site during the spring of 2002. Like many others here, I was pretty interested, but I didn't have a GPSr. At that time, I had a lot of other items on my 'to buy' short list. We were both laid off in Jan 2003. One day while being unemployed... I got an ICQ message from him asking if I wanted to go out and check out this Geocaching thing with new GPSr that he bought. I had forgotten all about Geocaching, but now that he mentioned it, heck yeah! We were hooked the first time out and cached until dark. Within a few weeks I had my own GPSr. Since then I have had a few caching lulls. Buying a house and getting married have chipped into the caching time here and there. My wife is not too fond of geocaching. She likes the places that I find during cache trips, but she doesn't like the finding part at all. Quote Link to comment
+M&DofKJE Posted June 11, 2005 Share Posted June 11, 2005 Well... here goes. My wife was cruising along a section of the Old Dixie Highway with my daughter. They were studying some of Florida's history. They stopped to get pictures of an old sugar mill site. The goal was to have my daughter do some web research on the site. My wife previewed what links would pop up when my daughter ran the search, and one of the links linked directly to a cache page. SHe tried to find t a few times with my then 6 y.o. daughter. A little over a week later, (a week after my daughter's birthday) my wife took me and all 3 kids out to find this "cache" thingy. She brought me out due to my experience with ... well, my dad makes topographical maps. She needed me to help find this thing. I thought the entire idea seemed silly. My opinion remained unchanged by finding this cache. I helped her find 9 more before we finally broke down and bought a GPSr: a Garmin Geko 101. It appeared my wife liked this new hobby. I liked finding a couple of those weirdly placed film canisters. One night (about 10:30 p.m.) I got home from work, and my wife met me at the door GPS in hand. She said there was a new cache that had popped up on the screen, and she wanted me to go get it. I grudgingly consented to go find it for her. Yes I knew the area far better than she did, but I was tired. I arrived there, and found the container in short order. I opened it up to find... a blank log! I had shown superiority in finding skills and area knowledge over all others in the area! (Naw, I'm not the slightest bit competitive...) That was the one that got me hooked. My daughter just had her 8th birthday in April. She hit the 500 finds mark just 2 weeks ago at GW3. We have 600+ and Our family has a combined 120 caches planted with more on the way. BTW.... with our income tax refund, we did upgrade to a Garmin ETrex Legend. My wife is indeed hooked on this sport, but not as nearly as much as me and my daughter! Quote Link to comment
Stony2008 Posted June 11, 2005 Share Posted June 11, 2005 Well my dad heard about it through a magazine and next thing you know im getting a gps for my birthday. we both love it and are tottaly hooked. Quote Link to comment
+bpratt Posted June 12, 2005 Share Posted June 12, 2005 I really do not remember where I first heard about Geocaching but it had to be either TV or an article in a magazine. Quote Link to comment
+2LuknF8 Posted June 12, 2005 Share Posted June 12, 2005 My obsession started with a phone call from a college buddy a couple of years ago. This call led me to the web and GC.com. Now some would think that what transpired supports the premise that I may have OCD because, by day's end, I had ordered my first - and not my last - GPS (Magellan Sport Track Pro). By the time it had arrived, I had already become familiar with the available SW. As it turned out, I was visiting my parents and two of my siblings were along when I went searching for my first cache (this is where I learned the importance of zooming in on the GPS...). We were all bit by the bug and me a little more. Now, with more than 1K finds and 103 hides, I can admit that perhaps there may be some credibility to that OCD accusation or you could just say that I enjoy having fun... Quote Link to comment
+vidivici Posted June 13, 2005 Share Posted June 13, 2005 Ever since I saw Humphrey Bogart and Tyrone Power in The Treasure of the Sierra Madres about 60 years ago I've wanted to hunt for treasure. Quote Link to comment
+yogiabb Posted June 13, 2005 Share Posted June 13, 2005 About a year and half ago I read an article about it in Scientific American. I knew that I had to try it. I had a Garmin 12 so the next day me and my son went out. He was just 5 and pretty excited about it. He dressed like a pirate since we were going on a treasure hunt. We didn't find the first one, the second one, while I was floundering about in the woods wondering why it didn't work, son announces here it is. Quote Link to comment
darwinmay Posted June 13, 2005 Share Posted June 13, 2005 Heard about it in my main IRC channel from a guy in Germany. Took off from there. Simple. Quote Link to comment
+GeoTeam Maggi Posted June 13, 2005 Share Posted June 13, 2005 In 2003, an article on geocaching appeared in the FMCA magazine - a magazine for motorhome owners. Geocaching fits perfect with RV owners/users. Pretty much anywhere we go, there are caches Even better, there are caches along the way which helps to breakup the drive, especially for the geokids. Quote Link to comment
+MorningWhisper Posted June 13, 2005 Share Posted June 13, 2005 Word of mouth. My fiance's co-worker mentioned it to him and he went to the Website to learn more. He printed out a site or two near his home, and went looking. I can't remember if he got lucky or not. Then he printed out a site in my town and took me out on my "virgin" seek. A REALLY virgin seek. We didn't even have a GPSr.....just relied on the clues. Found the cache though. Maybe it was too easy. Or beginner's luck. We have since picked up an Explorist 200, and an addiction for the outdoors. If we're not working, we're geocaching. Rain or shine, any chance we get. He goes out more than me though - different work schedules - and the Explorist lives with him. But when we're together......... Quote Link to comment
+slapshot52 Posted June 13, 2005 Share Posted June 13, 2005 I remember reading a short news article in National Geographic Explorer Magazine a couple of years ago and scribbling down the web site. I didn’t do anything for some time and then one lousy day at work I was sorting though a pile of notes for web sites I had collected and logged onto to geocaching.com and poked around. The rest is history… Like most people I know how who this, it is now an addiction worse than crack! I bought a new GPSr, a premium membership and wife says that if we stop at another cache along the interstate while we are traveling she is going to leave me. I told her if she will email the coordinates for her new location, come looking for her! Seriously, it has been a great time over the last year. I have found places in my own backyard that I would never have known existed and met some wonderful people along the way. I’m hoping as that as more people join us, our reputation as a group and word of mouth will be our best advertisement. Quote Link to comment
+JEMiller Posted June 13, 2005 Share Posted June 13, 2005 I had read about it in an article in a magazine, it may have been National Geographic Adventure but I cannot remember which outdoors mag it was. It peeked my intrest but All I did was come to the Geocaching website and look around. I did that a few times before I actually started caching. At the time I was working on a hyrdographic survey crew, and I owned three GPSrs. So one day last December, roughly a year after I had read the article and lurked around the geocaching site, I struck out. Needless to say, I was hooked on my first find. Quote Link to comment
+wandererrob Posted June 13, 2005 Share Posted June 13, 2005 I was pondering a GPS for hiking/paddling. Then I learned about geocaching from a friend in my local XTerra club. It sounded like an added element of fun for those shorter hikes. That pushed me over the edge on the decision to buy a GPS. The first few years I only cached sporatically, but this year alone I've doubled my finds and have really gotten into it. I'm now seriously contemplating a few hides of my own. Quote Link to comment
+bigdog999 Posted June 13, 2005 Share Posted June 13, 2005 Well in my case, I've always has a GPSr for hunting purposes. In December, I was injured on the job (minor strain), and apparently wasn't going to be allowed back for some time. I needed a hobby to help me lose weight and not vegetate in front of the TV. I've always read about Geocaching. So I investigated into it some more, upgraded my GPSr from a Etrex vista (which I understand was a smart move) to a Garmin GPSMAP 60C, and been having fun for the past few months. It has been very beneficial for my health. Quote Link to comment
+KC0GRN Posted June 13, 2005 Share Posted June 13, 2005 actually I got into it due to other forms of treasure hunting. Here in St. Paul, Minnesota, they hold an annual winter carnival, complete with a Medallion Hunt worth $10,000 to the finder. So originally I got into caching because geocaches were A. much easier to locate and B. Got me out in the parks so I could familiarize myself with landmarks or whatever might help me with the clues. So really I'm an all around treasure hunter, geocaching is just one of the various ways I do that. Quote Link to comment
Swordmaster7022 Posted June 16, 2005 Share Posted June 16, 2005 I first found out about geocaching through the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal. They ran an article about a lady and her son who found a lot of caches. My mom showed it to me and after reading it I was instantly hooked. Quote Link to comment
Woodland Hiker Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 RECENTLY I encountered two guys looking for something along one of my favorite hiking trails. I went on my way, and on the return they were just finishing up and getting ready to move to their next cache. Since I knew the trail fairly well I answered some questions, then invited myself along. Found three caches, hiked way harder than I expected to. Got rained on. Climbed steep hills. Had a great time. Next day I invested in a GPS, learned how to use it, and within a couple days found some local caches, BOUGHT A MAP!, drove around to find trailheads for future haunts, and have been telling everyone I know about it. Here’s what I like about it…Life is impossible to get good coordinates for, and hard to navigate to any worthwhile destination. When geocaching , you can plan, navigate, hike, find, and report your victories at the end of the day! That’s success! Quote Link to comment
+Kllr Wolf Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 I got into geocaching from school. I was in Cal I class and the teacher was working through some examples. On one problem he mentioned that it was like how the GPS system worked. I was interested and asked him about it at the end of class. I didnt have the time then to get into it. This last semester I had him for Cal II and started talking about it with him. GPS system ahd also come up in my Physics II class, and even had homework on solving location like a GPSr would. Well at the end of this summer I got my legend and have been enjoying it ever since. Quote Link to comment
+entropysedge Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 Someone on the SVRider mailing list (an email list for owners of the Suzuki SV motorcycle) mentioned geocaching and included a link to geocaching.com. I was curious and went there. got the waypoints for several caches close to me, loaded them into my Garmin Quest (which I had gotten to help keep from getting lost riding to places) and went looking. Since I just started, I've only found two but hopefully the eTrex Legend that I just got (yesterday!) wil help as the Quest is designed to be used for street application. Quote Link to comment
sporkboy Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 Several years ago, it must have been shortly after SA was removed I saw a short bit on Tech TV about it. This guy with a reciever went down a hill and found an abandoned car that had a cache in it. It looked neat but I couldn't afford a GPS device at the time. In 2004 I was going to Target and in the parking lot saw a white SUV with a geocaching sticker on it. I checked out the website and have been caching ever since. Quote Link to comment
+Evil's Keepers Posted June 18, 2005 Share Posted June 18, 2005 Back around April 2002, I was logging in a Wheres George Bill. I looked at the George profile for the person who stamped the bill, and in their profile it said that they enjoyed Geocaching and had a link to the geocaching web site. I spent a long time looking over the geocaching link and a long time absorbing all the information about it that I could. Right after I got off the computer, I went to read the weekend newspaper and lo and behold... there was an article in it about Geocaching! Was it fate?! But, with no GPS, I couldn't do much. I had to wait it out for 4 months until my Birthday when I got my GPS (I got the GPS 2 weeks before my Birthday though because the very first geocache was placed in my county then-- that day, I got my GPS -- we were the second to find on that one but only by 20 minutes. Quote Link to comment
+Cool Librarian Posted June 18, 2005 Share Posted June 18, 2005 (edited) I came across the link for GC.com while on the Book Crossing site. I had heard of GPS, but didn't know anything about it. I did a zip code search and found that there were about 7 caches in my small town! I literally printed off some cache pages and maps and ran out the door for my first find. I did my first few caches w/o GPS just to see if I would like it enough to pony up $100 for one. I have a habit of buying gadgets for activities that I lose interest in quickly, so I was being smart. Twenty months, 765 caches, 1 boyfriend, and several new friends later, it is the best $100 I ever spent! Edited June 18, 2005 by Cool Librarian Quote Link to comment
+Marcie/Eric Posted June 18, 2005 Share Posted June 18, 2005 (edited) I think i've posted this in a similar thread before. I love the mountains, I love looking at maps, I love historical landmarks. So I was surfing one day, looking at maps, and searching historical information about a certain area of the El Dorado Nat'l Forest. I was surfing along, looking at maps, and one of the pages that came up in my search was a geocache (Near Leoni). I looked at it, but brushed it under other IE windows. Later as I finished looking at all of the ones I had opened, I came upon it again, and this time read it more thoroughly. Then I went to the main site. Then I searched for them in my zipcode. I must have had about 10 within one or two miles of my house. I kept reading, and a couple weeks later I ordered a GPS, and got my girlfriend hooked as well. Edited June 18, 2005 by Marcie/Eric Quote Link to comment
+Miragee Posted June 18, 2005 Share Posted June 18, 2005 I think i've posted this in a similar thread before. Ditto . . . More than a year ago I heard something on NPR about Geocaching. I went right to the website and printed off several pages for the Geocaches near my home. I took the pages across the street to my neighbor who has a little girl. I thought he and his wife and daughter would enjoy it as a "family" activity. It never crossed my mind that I would enjoy doing this alone . . . Finally, last December, using some Christmas money, I bought a GPSr. It took me more than a month to finally get out and find my first cache, but I was hooked. Now, just five months after finding that first cache, I have found 286, placed six and started a Geocaching blog. I won't mention my post count. Quote Link to comment
+WizCreations Posted June 19, 2005 Share Posted June 19, 2005 I had to do geocaching as a school project. Isn't that a fun one. We set up a multicache at school, and turned it in, and then we tried doing another groups' cache. Quote Link to comment
+WhatsRNutts Posted June 19, 2005 Share Posted June 19, 2005 i got into it a few days agin when I overheard 2 of my coworkers talking about looking for something... I was imediately hooked... i have found 9 so far! my old as dirt GPS isn't working right just yet but I might have a fix for it that I willl work on tomorrow. but for now I borrowed my coworker's GPS garmin venture for the weekend... I'm loving it! Quote Link to comment
+The Waldo's Posted June 19, 2005 Share Posted June 19, 2005 I found a cache totally by Accident last August and have been hook ever since. See My log 1942 B-18 Quote Link to comment
+monimoni Posted June 19, 2005 Share Posted June 19, 2005 (edited) Fall of 2004, Parade magazine had an article about geocaching. I'd been taking my grandkids out hiking, and adding a "treasure hunt" as a destination to some of our hikes seemed like fun. I bought the least expensive GPSr, which (I found out) is more difficult to use. My grandkids are still pretty young, so I still have to spend considerable time (and attention) on our hikes making sure they're safe, teaching them the essentials, kissing booboos, chatting about "stuff" and getting to know them, etc. Like when we saw a turtle on a log, and a snake swimming toward it, we debated whether the snake would eat the turtle or vice versa...... So fussing around with an additional gadget didn't really add anything to our hikes other than an added stress and distraction. So, I still have the GPSr, I dust it off once in awhile, and use it when there are other adults along to share the work (of balancing the "technical aspects" with the "kid watching" aspects). When they get a bit older, maybe this is something we'll learn together. And maybe I'll also invest in a better GPSr, that's more user friendly (or in my case, idiot proof). Edited June 19, 2005 by monimoni Quote Link to comment
+glowstick Posted June 19, 2005 Share Posted June 19, 2005 before I quit the boy scouts I was selling popcorn and ran into a geocacher. he told me all about it and just recently I got a GPS, now I love the game!!! Quote Link to comment
+Jhwk Posted June 19, 2005 Share Posted June 19, 2005 Brother-in-law. He always starts something new and exciting about once every two years. Let's see... High Power Rocketry - yep Potato Cannons - yep Geocaching - yep Harley - nope, too much $ and not enough skin Quote Link to comment
Nudecacher Posted June 19, 2005 Share Posted June 19, 2005 Two years ago I read an article about geocaching.com on slashdot.org. I looked to see if there were any caches near home and found that there was one 10 feet from the trail to the nude beach that I had passed several times earlier in the week. I wondered if I could combine the hobbies. Costco had the Magellan SporTrak package for $179 with a $50 rebate and I was off caching. Early on my grown daughter and I invented The Case of the Woeful Woodpecker and the Nudecacher Detective Agency, dragging my wife Detective Elizabeth along and she was hooked. It's been all fun since. Nudecacher Quote Link to comment
+Marcie/Eric Posted June 19, 2005 Share Posted June 19, 2005 I must pause go off topic and say Nudecacher, your profile is great, and your cache names are hilarious. Quote Link to comment
outrigger3 Posted June 19, 2005 Share Posted June 19, 2005 working in the construction field and running machines I kept knocking over the little flag markers that are all over the job site just couldn't turn the corners without hitting the flags so the foreman and I got talking and he said there must be away to mark them and put them back in the same spot they came up with a gps unit asigned it to me works great for the job now I walk the site mark each flag so when I hit it i can put it back I was playing with the unit when it went into geocaching mode got home that night found it the pc and been caching ever since even got the family going now but it's time to up grade to better unit Quote Link to comment
+halffast Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 There was a big artical in the news paper.Sounded fun.Found my first 5 caches before I got a gps. Quote Link to comment
+ZillahBillies Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 (edited) Some aquaintances on a camping forum kept talking about it. We already had the GPS, just never had any reason to use. Looking back, it's kinda depressing thinking about all those waisted months that the GPS sat in a drawer going used! Edited June 21, 2005 by ZillahBillies Quote Link to comment
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