Other Hobbies That Are Caching Compatible

[+DaveA]

Later this summer I will be placing a cache in an area I found while canoeing last year. Canoeing is something I like to do outdoors. Had it not been for canoeing I would never have found the location and thus there would be no cache there.

 

Likewise while out caching recently I found some nice looking rocks which led to my getting a polisher which has led to my becoming an aspiring rockhound and polished stones will likely become a trade item in the future.

 

So in some cases I am doing some hobby/sport/pastime and find it has an impact on my caching and in others I am caching and discover some new hobby as a result of an experience.

 

All 3 of these hobbies have become more or less intertwined to a degree because they are so compatible. A canoe gets me to rock spots and it also allows me to place river/lake type caches. Rockhounding gets me out into nature, sometimes remote areas, but that is exactly where one might expect to find a cache nearby and if there are none it might make a good spot to put one.

 

What hobbies have you started as a result of caching and which hobbies do you find influence some aspect of your caching?

[+geobc]

What hobbies have you started as a result of caching and which hobbies do you find influence some aspect of your caching?

My wife loves going for walks so Geocaching is a great way for me to keep from being bored silly. Now that we have a toddler, going for walks is also something we can all do together w/o worrying about him getting into too much trouble.

 

Last year we bought a camper van which also ties in well with Geocaching, since we've found some cool places in the areas we've traveled to, thank to Geocaching.

 

And finally, I'm an amateur photographer so Geocaching is also a great way for finding new locations and subjects. Having a camera around my neck also provides a good cover for those time when passersby see my skulking around an old stump or something.

 

GeoBC

[+Team Tayjam]

These are all great suggestions so far (canoeing/kayaking, rock hounding, photography, camping).

 

I'll add cross country skiing and orienteering.

Edited June 20, 2005 by Team Tayjam

[+The Jester]

How about SCUBA diving and climbing, for the 5* terrain caches?

[+PlasteredDragon]

That's easy! Birdwatching!

 

I've been a birder for years, and caching often leads to great birding opportunities. Just remember to bring your optics!!!

[atroxatrox]

Fishing is extremely compatible.

So is snowmobiling in winter.

[+Yamahammer]

Four Wheelin'. Going to the Kiamichi Mtns in OKLA a couple of times a year. I also found some trails through some public land while I was caching not far from my home. Picked a TB there. So GC lead me to another set of trails!

 

[+briansnat]

Hiking, visiting historic sites, canoeing and backpacking are all hobbies that I've combined with geocaching.

[+cchur]

How about just vacationing. I thinks it's a great way to "see" the area that you are vacationing in. I guess that assumes that your traveling for your vacation. javascript:emoticon('')

smilie

[+DaveA]

Lots of great ideas, but how about some stories of what *you* actually do rather than ideas of what might be compatible?

[+reveritt]

My granddaughter and I sometimes collect plants while geocaching, then look them up when we get home. She has also learned how to use a topo map and compass to navigate in the woods--not bad for 8 years old.

[+david g]

I, not being old enough to drive, placed my first cache along a bike trail near our house. Our family also plans to go camping a lot this summer and we hope to do some caches then.

[+fishingfools]

Fishing, of course!

[RandLD]

We love walking and have done some hiking (on "easy" trails). Geocaching ties in well with that. We do the "vacationing" thing also (in fact, all but one of the caches we've found are over 50 miles from our house!) We also enjoy having picnics, if you consider that a "hobby". Geocaching has led us to quite a few new parks to picnic in.

 

One thing I use a GPSr for (that doesn't exactly tie into geocaching) is astronomy. I use the GPSr to mark where we are going to be observing from so I can get an accurate view of what the sky is going to look like from that location before we go out. I have yet to find a cache while stargazing, though ...

[+tntyz]

Bicycling.

 

Although, it is hard to be inconspicuous when you're wearing biking shorts and a hi-vis yellow jersey. Talk about a muggle-magnet!

[+CW Iams]

Canoeing is something I like to do outdoors.

Is that becuase it is hard to do indoors?

 

 

Just kidding--

 

I enjoy anything outdoors-- offroading in my Wrangler, hiking, rock climbing, biking, etc-- you name it and if it is out side and involves playing / getting dirty, I am there. Thus geocaching is great because it can introduce me to new areas to play.

 

I also really enjoy caching while vacationing because it will often introduction you to areas you normally would not see.

[+Booknut]

I enjoy many of the above pursuits--camping, canoeing, hiking, pondering nature's majesty, etc.

 

I am also a letterboxer, which is extremely compatible with geocaching and gives me an outlet for my creative and artistic side as well.

[+tabulator32]

Exercise (pardon me for stating the obvious).

 

 

If I can plan on hitting several caches within a few miles of each other and I can make a day of it, I'd rather hike to them then try to drive to each separate area, park, log it, and drive to the next one.

 

I find whenever I plan my cache hunts as such, they are much more enjoyable.

 

Fresh air and all that!

 

[+Marcie/Eric]

Checking out gold-rush and pioneer-era sites, towns, and cemeteries coincides nicely with some virt hunting..

 

Too bad I now have to go back to all those places I visited before I discovered caching.

[+Fergus]

I’m in the SCA. While talking to a fellow geocacher at a baronial meeting I got two other members of our barony to start geocaching. Sense then, almost a third of the people in my barony have gone geocaching at least once.

[+Team Snoopy]

We have started coin collecting. Since my son (age 5) loves to trade for the foreign coins people leave, we have gotten a couple books on coins and when we get home we try to figure where they came from and how much they would be in American money.

[+Cache us Clay]

I find that we do things a little opposite of what's described. For example, last weekend a "Highland Games Festival" was held in a suburb of Chicago. We went to the festival and picked up a few caches afterwards. A few months ago, we went to Springfield, IL to see the Blue Angels and picked up a bunch of caches. Our find numbers aren't as high as if we cached all day, but we have fun nonetheless.

[+calipidder]

I'm into a lot of outdoor sports - backpacking, skiing, snowshoeing, mountaineering, etc. Caching is secondary to those hobbies, but I usually tie them together. I actually started caching when i was trying to learn how to use my GPSr before taking it out into the backcountry. A friend recommended caching as a fun way to learn how to use my GPSr, so I thought I'd just 'go out and find a few'. That was a little over a year ago and I'm still here.

[nobby.nobbs]

suffer from chronic fatigue so it's a great way to get some exercise.

likewise for birdwatching/photography/geology (earthcaches etc)/walking and just generally giving me an excuse to play with technology!

[+halffast]

Ive always enjoyed the out doors.Geo-cacheing just takes me to new places for my enjoyment..Just doing the same thing but seeing other peoples cool places.

[+Byron & Anne]

We too like doing all the outdoors stuff. Was hiking, backpacking, canoing, photography, general nature study, etc. etc. before geocaching came along. We were also carving, creating wooden objects of wonder. Wondering why they turned out looking somewhat close to what was imagined. Since geocaching fit in well all the other outdoor activities how make it fit in with the carving. I know.... create a "Famous Stump Pin". So done, now I seem to spend a bit of time carving "Byron's Famous Stump Pins". Which is OK. They're small and can be carved anyplace I can carry a knife.

 

Byron

[+KC0GRN]

I'm suprised nobody's mentioned this one yet.

 

Actually the way I got into geocaching was from a local newspaper's annual medallion hunt (they post clues everyday for a week and a half, and the prize is 10,000) as a way to familiarize myself with the local parks more. Just so happens I'm now participating in some city sponsored medallion hunts now. Basically it's like going out and DNFing a cache, except you spend more time on it, but the potential payoff is very nice, plus just hunting treasure has always been an interest of mine.

[+Munin]

I've started to do some benchmarking while I'm out caching. Particularly if the cache is in a medium/large park - looking for benchmarks in the same park gives me a nice excuse to go wandering around and see more of the area. Several times I've ended up at a spot with a great view of the surrounding area, but a little ways off to the side of the main trails where I might not have gone if I were just pleasure-hiking. In my area, a lot of the benchmarks in parks and conservation lands were set back in the 1930s, so it's also just kind of neat to come across a disk that's been sitting out there for 70+ years.

[+Melrose Plant]

Alas, most of my other pursuits are not caching compatible. I used to do a fair bit of hiking and camping, but I married and non-camper and seldom-hiker. My son seems a lot more interested in the outdoor pursuits, we'll have to wait and see.

[+tabulator32]

I’m in the SCA. While talking to a fellow geocacher at a baronial meeting I got two other members of our barony to start geocaching. Sense then, almost a third of the people in my barony have gone geocaching at least once.

Are you truly authentic and choose to use falconry as opposed to GPS when seeking your leather satchels hidden in yon forest?

 

[uber_bike_geek]

Can you guess what I do??

 

Seriously, though, I've done all but 3 caches on my bike... I've only got 28 finds, but they were mostly semi-difficult either terrain-wise getting to the cache or just the simple distance from my house to the cache(s)...

 

I enjoy just about anything outdoors... see my profile

 

Happy Caching

Jeff

[+wandererrob]

If you travelling by car, finding a few easy more-or-less roadside caches is a fun way to break up the drive a bit.

[+ZillahBillies]

For us, camping & geocaching are synonomous. We camp every weekend from spring to fall. Geocaching has become as part of camping as roasting marshmellows. A typical day usually goes as follows: Fishing-Breakfast-Geocahing-Lunch-Swimming/More Geocaching-Dinner-Campfire. Hey man, life just doesn't get any better then that!

[JohnX]

I’m in the SCA.  While talking to a fellow geocacher at a baronial meeting I got two other members of our barony to start geocaching.  Sense then, almost a third of the people in my barony have gone geocaching at least once.

Wow!

 

Geocaching AND the SCA! Talk about spelling geek with a double E!

[+Enspyer]

I'm suprised nobody's mentioned this one yet.

 

Actually the way I got into geocaching was from a local newspaper's annual medallion hunt (they post clues everyday for a week and a half, and the prize is 10,000) as a way to familiarize myself with the local parks more. Just so happens I'm now participating in some city sponsored medallion hunts now. Basically it's like going out and DNFing a cache, except you spend more time on it, but the potential payoff is very nice, plus just hunting treasure has always been an interest of mine.

They are very compatible, I've found. The last two years I've gone Winterfest medallion hunting in Syracuse, NY, and I've combined it with finding caches and cache maintenance. Very convenient! (The closest I got was being at the right park too late two years ago...I found the cache there though!)

 

Another hobby that works with geocaching is Amateur (Ham) Radio. We even have the Ham Radio and Geocaching forum here! Caching in groups can be simplified with handhelds, and the general atmosphere of discovery works well throughout ham radio. I'm still pretty new, only having been licensed last winter, after I'd already started geocaching, but I'd recommend both activities!

[+Sonoran Privateers]

I've found that pretty much everything I do outside of my house is compatible with geocaching.

 

This weekend, my wife and I participated in a 24 hr bike race....but we found time to grab a cache.

 

I work it into:

Camping

Hiking

Biking

Rockhounding

Astronomy (I take my scope to dark sky sites....near caches)

Road Trips

Air trips

Driving to work

Driving home from work

Lunch Break at work

 

Whatever the hobbie, GCing can add something to it.

 

--Chino

[+Sonoran Privateers]

 

Geocaching AND the SCA! Talk about spelling geek with a double E!

 

No kidding! We're talking full-up, living in mom's basement and never having a girlfriend!

[+Sonoran Privateers]

For us, camping & geocaching are synonomous. We camp every weekend from spring to fall. Geocaching has become as part of camping as roasting marshmellows. A typical day usually goes as follows: Fishing-Breakfast-Geocahing-Lunch-Swimming/More Geocaching-Dinner-Campfire. Hey man, life just doesn't get any better then that!

I can't stand reading posts like this in while sitting in cubeville. Makes me want to be at work even less than before!

 

Life does not get any better than that.

[+PlasteredDragon]

01010100011000010110101101100101001000000111011101101000011000010111010000100000

01111001011001010010000001100011011000010110111000101100001000000110011101101001

01110110011001010010000001101110011011110111010001101000011010010110111001100111

001000000110001001100001011000110110101100100001

 

01001001011001100010000001111001011011110111010100100000011001110110100101110110

01100101001000000110111001101111011101000110100001101001011011100110011100100000

01100010011000010110001101101011001011000010000001111001011011110111010100100000

01110111011010010110110001101100001000000111001101101111011011110110111000100000

01100100011001010111000001101100011001010111010001100101001000000111010001101000

0110010100100000011000110110000101100011011010000110010100100001

 

Edited June 21, 2005 by PlasteredDragon

[+Colorado Cacher]

Hiking, Fishing, Camping, Letterboxing, Exploring old Colorado History.

[+ZillahBillies]

For us, camping & geocaching are synonomous. We camp every weekend from spring to fall. Geocaching has become as part of camping as roasting marshmellows. A typical day usually goes as follows: Fishing-Breakfast-Geocahing-Lunch-Swimming/More Geocaching-Dinner-Campfire. Hey man, life just doesn't get any better then that! 

I can't stand reading posts like this in while sitting in cubeville. Makes me want to be at work even less than before!

 

Life does not get any better than that.

Sorry bout that Sonoran. (We have a S'more with your name on it if you're ever up this way). But, if it makes ya feel any better, I grew up in the Sonoran Desert region...and now live in Eastern Washingtion. Your desert makes our desert look like a parking lot with weeds.

[+Sonoran Privateers]

But, if it makes ya feel any better, I grew up in the Sonoran Desert region...and now live in Eastern Washingtion....

Interesting,

We just bought land in western Washington...so that we can get out of this desert.

 

It's 105 today at noon...it was 109 yesterday.

ugh

[+Sonoran Privateers]

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01111001011001010010000001100011011000010110111000101100001000000110011101101001

01110110011001010010000001101110011011110111010001101000011010010110111001100111

001000000110001001100001011000110110101100100001

 

01001001011001100010000001111001011011110111010100100000011001110110100101110110

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01100100011001010111000001101100011001010111010001100101001000000111010001101000

0110010100100000011000110110000101100011011010000110010100100001

 

01010100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110100 01110010 01110101 01100101 00101100 00100000 01101001 01101110 01100100 01100101 01100101 01100100 00100001

 

[+PlasteredDragon]

01010100011000010110101101100101001000000111011101101000011000010111010000100000

01111001011001010010000001100011011000010110111000101100001000000110011101101001

01110110011001010010000001101110011011110111010001101000011010010110111001100111

001000000110001001100001011000110110101100100001

 

01001001011001100010000001111001011011110111010100100000011001110110100101110110

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01010100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110100 01110010 01110101 01100101 00101100 00100000 01101001 01101110 01100100 01100101 01100101 01100100 00100001

 

The Sonoran Pirate amassed great finery,

For he was quite handy with sabres and guns,

To his trusted mates he spoke only binary,

For he was equally fascile with zeros and ones.

 

He kept his dagger at hand and his blunderbuss loaded,

And put those he mistrusted to the plank or the lash,

And kept the map to his treasure all ascii encoded,

So that none would plunder his personal cache.

[JohnX]

 

Geocaching AND the SCA!  Talk about spelling geek with a double E!

 

No kidding! We're talking full-up, living in mom's basement and never having a girlfriend!

Be careful there Privateers,

 

Your signature line is written in binary. (Insert smiley here.)

[+Sonoran Privateers]

 

Geocaching AND the SCA!  Talk about spelling geek with a double E!

 

No kidding! We're talking full-up, living in mom's basement and never having a girlfriend!

Be careful there Privateers,

 

Your signature line is written in binary. (Insert smiley here.)

I am guilty of throwing stones from my glass house at someone else's

 

[+Sonoran Privateers]

01010100011000010110101101100101001000000111011101101000011000010111010000100000

01111001011001010010000001100011011000010110111000101100001000000110011101101001

01110110011001010010000001101110011011110111010001101000011010010110111001100111

001000000110001001100001011000110110101100100001

 

01001001011001100010000001111001011011110111010100100000011001110110100101110110

01100101001000000110111001101111011101000110100001101001011011100110011100100000

01100010011000010110001101101011001011000010000001111001011011110111010100100000

01110111011010010110110001101100001000000111001101101111011011110110111000100000

01100100011001010111000001101100011001010111010001100101001000000111010001101000

0110010100100000011000110110000101100011011010000110010100100001

 

01010100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110100 01110010 01110101 01100101 00101100 00100000 01101001 01101110 01100100 01100101 01100101 01100100 00100001

 

The Sonoran Pirate amassed great finery,

For he was quite handy with sabres and guns,

To his trusted mates he spoke only binary,

For he was equally fascile with zeros and ones.

 

He kept his dagger at hand and his blunderbuss loaded,

And put those he mistrusted to the plank or the lash,

And kept the map to his treasure all ascii encoded,

So that none would plunder his personal cache.

Truly...a thing of beauty.

[+glowstick]

I, not being old enough to drive, placed my first cache along a bike trail near our house.

I usuallly bike to the cache and bike around the surrounding aera because I can not drive.

[+Mudinyeri]

Anyone who's 'cached with me knows ... Jeeping, of course! The two are highly compatible. We recently 'cached our way along the Gemini Bridges trail in Moab, UT. What a blast.

 

 

 

 

[+treasure_hunter]

Canoeing is something I like to do outdoors.

So thats what I been doing wrong all these years.

 

j/k I enjoy hiking, and boating, and all sorts of other activities that allow for placement of caches.