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Any Blind Geocachers?


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I have actualy thought about this for a while now, but a recent thread got me thinking abou it again. I work with a blind person and the stuff they have out there for the visualy impared never ceases to amaze me. I was just woundering if anyone knows about any blind cachers. yet again I am being serious about this no matter how silly it sounds.

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I figured there had to be some out there thank you for confirming my theory. I am curious what she uses for a GPS, probably through a laptop somehow.

 

I know of a guy here in Copenhagen who caches with a Bluetooth GPS and his laptop in a backpack. Then he has headphones on and a program on the laptop that can give directions (similar to a car navigation system). Though he's not blind, that's a setup that would work for the visually impaired.

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There's a geocacher here in Pennsylvania who is legally blind. Caching with a partner, they've racked up more than 2,000 finds. I will never forget a group caching caravan one night where we were having trouble locating an evil microcache. He found it first, out of about 20 people searching. Sometimes you need to use your brain more than your eyes to find a cache.

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There's a geocacher here in Pennsylvania who is legally blind. Caching with a partner, they've racked up more than 2,000 finds. I will never forget a group caching caravan one night where we were having trouble locating an evil microcache. He found it first, out of about 20 people searching. Sometimes you need to use your brain more than your eyes to find a cache.

I have had the privilege of meeting several times the PA cacher whom Lep has mentioned. He is indeed legally blind, and I believe that he has been all his lifetime, due to a genetic condition, and yet his caching skills are impressive; I suspect that he uses some kind of intuition plus subtle senses that most of us sighted folks have never had to develop. I have seen him willingly crawl into tiny stoom drain tubes to find an informational stage for an underground multistage cache, I have seen him walk into large storm drains filled with glass and debris, and I have seen him tackle tough backcountry caches that require long hikes over rough terrain. I have even seen him tackle our notorious and "hot" Psycho Urban Cache #9 - Hot Glowing Tribulations with no complaints.

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I few years ago - I was emailed from a pastor that was helping a blind man discover caching. He wanted to know a few more terrain details before trying out one of my caches. Had some special equipment to help the guy "follow" the GPS arrow. The pastor was his safety person and lookout.

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I am legally blind and have been all my life. I use a magnifier to see my gps and a hand held monocular and sometimes use my hands to feel around to actually look for the cache. Others usually find the cache before me but not always.

 

This is an interesting question that I've wondered about. I thought about asking it before.

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I am legally blind and have been all my life. I use a magnifier to see my gps and a hand held monocular and sometimes use my hands to feel around to actually look for the cache. Others usually find the cache before me but not always.

 

This is an interesting question that I've wondered about. I thought about asking it before.

 

I think Geo Dee might be legally blind, but he drives, so maybe not. He's proud of his DNFs. He has hundreds. :laughing:

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Could someone give me more info on GPS for the blind?

I tried to help someone find info on them a while ago but the info seemed sparce.

If any of you have more info I will go back through my email and pass it along.

Thanks.

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My job is entirely doing adaptive/assistive technology for individuals with disabilities. (I work for Easter Seals.) I have often thought about working on caches designed with blind and visually impaired folks in mind.

 

Here are a couple of links to a two of the many text-to-speech enabled GPS units. Some are stand-alone. Some require a PDA. All are pricey.

http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/StreetTalk.asp

http://www.humanware.ca/web/en/p_DA_Trekker.asp

 

However, I've thought about this and in many caching situations, visual cues are very important and I can imagine that in a lot of cases, it would be very frustrating for the person with the vision impairment. This, of course, depends highly on the nature and level of impairment, the nature of the cache, etc.

 

Anyway, it's an interesting point and I'm always in favor of increasing recreational activities for folks who have disabilities.

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It makes me wonder why more (optional) audible clues couldn't be added as default to regular handheld GPSr... clicks every few seconds while on the arrow navigation page, for example, which increase in pitch as the arrow gets more pointing towards "straight on".

 

PS OP, I'd keep it open so people can add more info in the days / weeks to follow.

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One time at a gas station, a guy saw my "GPS" bumper sticker and asked me about it. I told him about geocaching, and he said his job was selling GPS systems for the visually impaired. I think he did say that there were special prompts to provide a sort of verbal "follow the arrow."

 

I gave him my contact info., but never heard back from him. :huh:

 

Also of interest, here in Pittsburgh there is a nature trail specially adapted for use by the visually impaired. There are sturdy cables to hold onto, a smooth wood chip surface with no sudden changes, and lots of sensory opportunities. The trail parallels a stream, and there are lots of birdhouses to attract songbirds. There are two caches placed beyond the nature trail. When we found the second one, my daughter and I pretended we were blind, by navigating the trail with our eyes shut:

 

1ae65bc2-ceb0-4d27-9b9e-3b4ae832b98c.jpg

 

This is a cool, special trail that sure made us appreciate our vision. If there was a demand for it, I would love to place a cache on this trail that a blind person could find. A fake birdhouse would be well-suited. Are there trails like this in other areas?

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Hmmmm... I am a geek, and I just dreamed up a cool way to make a cache for the blind.

 

Go bribe a radio geek to build a transmitter to transmit a low-power AM signal, right at the bottom or the top of the AM band.

 

Put transmitter into cache box. Hide box.

 

Blind geocacher is to bring a transistor radio with a long antenna.

 

Figure it out from there. :huh:

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Hmmmm... I am a geek, and I just dreamed up a cool way to make a cache for the blind.

 

Go bribe a radio geek to build a transmitter to transmit a low-power AM signal, right at the bottom or the top of the AM band.

 

Put transmitter into cache box. Hide box.

 

Blind geocacher is to bring a transistor radio with a long antenna.

 

Figure it out from there. :huh:

 

This begins to sound like T-hunting, a game the ham radio people play.

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My job is entirely doing adaptive/assistive technology for individuals with disabilities. (I work for Easter Seals.) I have often thought about working on caches designed with blind and visually impaired folks in mind.

 

Here are a couple of links to a two of the many text-to-speech enabled GPS units. Some are stand-alone. Some require a PDA. All are pricey.

http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/StreetTalk.asp

http://www.humanware.ca/web/en/p_DA_Trekker.asp

 

However, I've thought about this and in many caching situations, visual cues are very important and I can imagine that in a lot of cases, it would be very frustrating for the person with the vision impairment. This, of course, depends highly on the nature and level of impairment, the nature of the cache, etc.

 

Anyway, it's an interesting point and I'm always in favor of increasing recreational activities for folks who have disabilities.

 

Thank you for the links.

I will forward them to were they are needed.

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I'm legally blind and a friend just got me into caching so I'm doing research about it. It seems that unless you want to spend a TON of money on gear, the best choice is to go with a partner/group. Besides, adventuring is more fun that way.

 

I do a lot of things for myself (including running a business) but my limited caching experience leads me to believe that it would be just about too hard to enjoy caching alone, even if the equipment was affordable. But I'm sure the responses would be about the same to a blind cacher as they are to a blind juggler.

 

And for the record, legally blind people don't get to drive. If you live someplace where they get to, I'd advise moving or investing in a tank.

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There's a geocacher here in Pennsylvania who is legally blind. Caching with a partner, they've racked up more than 2,000 finds. I will never forget a group caching caravan one night where we were having trouble locating an evil microcache. He found it first, out of about 20 people searching. Sometimes you need to use your brain more than your eyes to find a cache.

I know this same cacher to whom Lep refers, and he is amazing! I chalk it up not only to intelligence but to intuition as well. I watched with amazement one dark and cold Saturday morning at the site of my Psycho Urban Cache #7 - A Good Day to Die while he waded in knee-deep mud along a muddy storm drain outfall "creek", lifted himself up to the tiny storm drain pipe above which was emitting a waterfall of dirty and very smelly wastewater, climbed into the tiny pipe and crawled on his belly for forty yards to successfully read the coordinates for the next stage!

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Vinny, since that last post of mine, I had the pleasure of tagging along on a caching roadtrip with the World's Number One Blind Geocacher. The most vivid memory of that trip was when our group of five geocachers (with more than 30,000 combined finds) was having trouble at a guardrail cache. The cache turned out to be a nano hidden inside a guardrail bolt, in a hole that had been drilled *sideways* through the shaft of the bolt.

 

Guess who disassembled the nut and bolt and found the cache, because "something didn't feel right about that bolt"?

 

I am truly not worthy to even ride in the same cachemobile with this legendary geocacher. Especially if he's driving. :unsure:

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Vinny, since that last post of mine, I had the pleasure of tagging along on a caching roadtrip with the World's Number One Blind Geocacher. The most vivid memory of that trip was when our group of five geocachers (with more than 30,000 combined finds) was having trouble at a guardrail cache. The cache turned out to be a nano hidden inside a guardrail bolt, in a hole that had been drilled *sideways* through the shaft of the bolt.

 

Guess who disassembled the nut and bolt and found the cache, because "something didn't feel right about that bolt"?

 

I am truly not worthy to even ride in the same cachemobile with this legendary geocacher. Especially if he's driving. :lol:

Wow! Thanks for this tale! His feats are legendary -- Lynn often tells me amazing stories of how a team of eight or ten highly experienced cachers will be totally stumped after searching for a cache for a while, and he will simply walk to the hide spot and pull out the container with the greatest of ease!

Edited by Vinny & Sue Team
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One time at a gas station, a guy saw my "GPS" bumper sticker and asked me about it. I told him about geocaching, and he said his job was selling GPS systems for the visually impaired. I think he did say that there were special prompts to provide a sort of verbal "follow the arrow."

 

I gave him my contact info., but never heard back from him. :lol:

 

Also of interest, here in Pittsburgh there is a nature trail specially adapted for use by the visually impaired. There are sturdy cables to hold onto, a smooth wood chip surface with no sudden changes, and lots of sensory opportunities. The trail parallels a stream, and there are lots of birdhouses to attract songbirds. There are two caches placed beyond the nature trail. When we found the second one, my daughter and I pretended we were blind, by navigating the trail with our eyes shut:

 

1ae65bc2-ceb0-4d27-9b9e-3b4ae832b98c.jpg

 

This is a cool, special trail that sure made us appreciate our vision. If there was a demand for it, I would love to place a cache on this trail that a blind person could find. A fake birdhouse would be well-suited. Are there trails like this in other areas?

 

There is a trail like this near Casper, WY called the Braile Trail - provided by the Lions Club. It is up on Casper Mountain within some decently rugged terrain, but the trail itself is made to be accessible by the blind. There is even a geocache near this trail, however, the cache itself is about 400 feet up a fairly steep incline above the accessible trail.

 

Also, there is another hiking trail one mountain over that is a handicapped interperative trail. It is not really set up for the blind, but the walkway is designed for those in wheelchairs or minimal walking ability to navigate themselves through the forest. Not paved, but pretty darn close. I'm sure it could be navigated by a blind person as well as a city sidewalk though, but it doesn't have the blind specific extras the braile trail has.

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Vinny, since that last post of mine, I had the pleasure of tagging along on a caching roadtrip with the World's Number One Blind Geocacher. The most vivid memory of that trip was when our group of five geocachers (with more than 30,000 combined finds) was having trouble at a guardrail cache. The cache turned out to be a nano hidden inside a guardrail bolt, in a hole that had been drilled *sideways* through the shaft of the bolt.

 

Guess who disassembled the nut and bolt and found the cache, because "something didn't feel right about that bolt"?

 

I am truly not worthy to even ride in the same cachemobile with this legendary geocacher. Especially if he's driving. :lol:

Yup, it's a good thing he found that one. I might have developed a reputation otherwise. :lol::(

But we did DNF the one that had as a hint-"even a blind person should be able to find this one." :laughing:

The Number One Blind Cacher in the world wasn't happy there. I bought him a grape Nehi to calm him down though. ;)

Edited by wimseyguy
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I'm a volunteer ski guide for blind and visually impaired skiers through the B.O.L.D. program of SE Wisconsin, so this thread is interesting. The blind people I know through the program are active physically and have more ambition to to take on challenges than most sighted people I know. I think some of them may be interested in geocaching, so I'm going to check out some of the links provided by previous posters. Thanks!

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