How Did You First Hear About Geocaching?

[+844Bryan]

Hello Everyone!

 

We have only been caching for about 3 months, and my girlfriend and I are pretty addicted to it. We began wondering how everyone first heard about geocaching. Since we are finding out more and more, that not many people out there know what it is.

 

We first heard about geocaching, on Law & Order: Criminal Intent (believe it or not). It was an old episode, and one which we had seen some time before, but this time for some reason we were intrigued to find out more about caching.

 

I'm really into the outdoors, hiking, and camping. However, my girlfriend would rather stay away from getting dirty, or encountering insects or heaven forbid a spider! So when she heard about geocaching, she said that is something she would be interested in doing. And that night, we did a seach and found the Geocaching website. The first weekend we did it, we were hooked! And then went out and bought a bunch of gadgets to go along with the hobby. And my girlfriend surprised me by being totally into it and doesn't even care about getting dirty or taking the hard way to the cache.

 

If it wasn't for the Law & Order episode, I'm not sure if we would have come across the activity. But I'm really glad we did, it's something we can both enjoy and do together. Now that we know what caching is, we've started coming across the hobby more and more. I just saw an ad for Garmin in a backpacking magazine promoting geocaching. And it makes me wonder how many times in the past I came across geocaching but never took the time to wonder what it was.

 

So how did everyone else first hear about geocaching?

[+StarBrand]

Just keep in mind that unlike the L&O episode - you cannot bury or dig to find a Geocache - that is against the guidelines. No trowel needed!

 

I first heard about Geocaching by accident while updating my GPS on the Garmin site back in late 2001.

[+Hose502]

I first heard about when I was reading comments to a posting on digg.com. The post was a top ten list of things to do on a first date and it was kind of lame so I was reading the comments for entertainment value instead. Somebody agreed that the list was lame and mentioned how he liked to take dates out on something really different and go geocaching. I was like, what is that? So I looked it up...

 

I was looking for some activity to get me outside more and when I came across this, I knew it was sooooo my thing. I borrowed a really old Garmin from my previous employer to try it out. The only way to connect it to the computer was via an old-school serial port so I just manually entered in the coordinates. After my first find, I bought my own GPS.

[+Knight2000]

Although my wife is a huge L&O fan the show did not turn us onto the activity.

 

I fired up google looking for family friendly activities to do with our kids. I came upon this article of like 10 inexpensive things to do as a family. Geocaching was on the list. (It was about.com ws.) We were all intrigued and within a week we had found our first cache. (A micro- but still fun.) Now thats all the kids ever want to do.

 

After seeing the L&O episode recently i remembered seeing it the first time, but thought nothing of the geocaching reference.

 

I owned a GPS unit for my laptop that i used while traveling for work in 2000 and 2001. But this idea never occurred to me.

[+Too Tall John]

My wife works at a Farm Museum where there is a geocache. After seeing random people hunting for the cache, she asked about what was going on. She knew it would be something I'd get into, but she told me about it anyways. We actually found our first 3 caches w/out a GPSr, Google Maps was all we needed, but the GPSr was soon to follow.

[+kb9zm]

WWW.WHERESGEORGE.COM

[+Sagefox]

An article in Alaska Airlines in-flight magazine. November, 2001. Already had a Garmin eMap so a game to use it in was just the right thing for us.

[+Markwell]

Wow - I haven't answered that question since Oct 26 2004

[+TrailGators]

I stumbled into it while using Google. I got a GPS for Xmas and decided to look for "fun things to do with a GPS." I noticed "geocaching" somewhere in the list and googled that and found Geocaching.com and I signed up. A few days later I went out with my youngest son and found our first cache on a nearby hiking trail.

Edited May 4, 2007 by TrailGators

[+007BigD]

A teeny tiny little Local Newspaper!!! I had it for about 2 months because it had a Discgolfer on the front and wanted to check it out.

 

The paper was just a Day/Night activities paper around here!

 

Sure am glad I found it!

[+Snoogans]

Wow - I haven't answered that question since Oct 26 2004

 

 

It seems I haven't answered it since Christmas day of 2003. But these things need to be brought back up from time to time. Fresh perspectives are fun.

 

 

I already posted this in a different forum, but it belongs on this thread too:

 

On a personal level I have ALWAYS been a cacher. I was putting "treasures" in a box under my bed when I was in preschool.

 

When I got a bit older I was really into the idea of hidden things and buried treasure. I drew treasure maps endlessly and was wayyy into Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts.

 

A bit older and I had a "Secret Stash." A bit older than that and I had another "Secret Stash" etc. None of my stashes was ever found. I was THAT "good."

 

So I grow up and get out on my own and the need for secrecy diminished, but I still had all this G.A. (Geocaching Aptitude)

 

I started hiking in the Sierras whenever I could afford to go home.

 

I hid my first cache in 1989. It was/is just some useful junk in a waterproof metal first aid box. (I always had an attraction to a good container.) It had/has: A lighter, some pictures, some change, an old pocket knife, a mini maglight, some other stuff, you know, things I could use. I hid it in a place that I like to go and hang out and think. (Yes, ala Alvin York for the obligatory obscure reference.) It's still there as are about a dozen other caches. One wilderness cache is just a nice Arkansas whetstone and an extra jar of Pautski's Green, (Salmon eggs.) which I replace with a fresh one every year.

 

I was a geocacher and I just didn't know it until a happened upon the link at the Vermilion Valley Resort website on 2/28/03.

 

I already had a GPS and there was a cache listed less than a mile from my house as the crow flies, so I was after it the next day. I got SKUNKED! I went again the next day. SKUNKED AGAIN! I had spotted a geocacher on that second trip, (Lvispelvis) but I didn't want to be shown where the cache was, so I waited until he got outta sight and I never saw that dude again that day. Almost two hours later and I had decided that geocaching wasn't any fun and I wasn't going to do it anymore. (Actually I was a bit more colorful in my thinking about the activity.) I went home to watch Jeff Gordon blow away the competition at whichever track he had won on countless times before.

 

So I'm sittin there and it's just eating me that I couldn't find that (expletive deleted) CACHE. I had a friend read me the new log from Lvispelvis over the phone and I was OUT THE DOOR. I was pretty sure that Gordon could win the race without me watching.

 

When I turned on my GPS this time I decided to look at some of the other features other than just the numbers. Hey, what's this "goto" thingy? OOOooooooOOOooo, an arrow pointing thataway. 10 minutes later a true geocacher was born.

 

Sn gans

Edited May 4, 2007 by Snoogans

[+ke6n]

I honestly can't remember how I first heard about it.

[+simplyred]

Had an old magellan GPS since the late 90's, upgraded last year to a 60CSX. The 60CSX has Geocaching features built in. After about 4 months using the GPS, I decided to see what this geocache thing was about. Went to geocaching.com, downloaded a page of caches close to home postal code. Went out and got a cache close by, Well the rest is history.

[+Totem Clan]

I had to replace my GPSr. (It seems they don't do well after falling almost 50', bouncing off a rock, and then landing in a glacier fed stream.) Info on caching came with the new unit.

Edited May 4, 2007 by Totem Clan

[+egami]

I heard about from a Muggle. Googled it and had a great excuse to buy a new toy. I got into more for tech aspect than the outdoors, but I really enjoy both so it was a natural fit.

[+halffast]

There was a story in the Spokane Wa. paper about treasure hunting.After reading the story I tried it and me and my grandson who was 2 at the time started caching every sunday.He is 5 now and things have slowed down because any cache is a long drive for us now.He still gets exited if we get to go caching on a sunday.

[+The Jester]

The May (or maybe April) 2001 issue of Backpacker magazine had a short side bar that mentioned both Letterboxing and Geocaching. At the time I could find only one Letterbox listed anywhere close to me, but a cache was on a trail that I used a couple of times a week for training. As I had a GPSr for climbing/hiking it was a natural fit. Thus started my obsession!

[+ToGoKo]

Geocaching on L&O???? How did I miss THAT??? I am a huge fan of that show!

 

Anyway, I spend a lot of time on a garden forum and someone made a post that mentioned letterboxing. I looked that up and thought it would be a great way for DH and I to do something together. He agreed and we started with that. After lurking around the AQ forums for a while and seeing lots of references to geocaching, we looked it up and found GC.com, borrowed an OLD gps'r from my Dad and gave caching a try. Now we do both! DH seems to like caching better, I think I like *gasp!* LBing better. We have currently found more caches than boxes, but we have planted 2 LBs and have yet to plant a cache (hopefully that will change soon!)

 

So that's our story in a micro ...er uhhh ...nut shell!! LOL

[+Miragee]

Several years ago, I heard a segment on "All Things Considered" on NPR (National Public Radio.) I went to the web site, printed out some caches in my area . . . and took the pages over to my neighbor. I thought he, along with his wife, and little girl, would like the activity.

 

I didn't think I would like doing it by myself . . .

 

Several months later, I got a GPSr. After six weeks of reading these Forums , I finally got out of the house to find my first cache. I was instantly hooked . . .

[+wandererrob]

I learned about it from a frined in the New England Xterra Club back in early 2001. He ws talking about geocaching and I asked him about it because I was intrigued having recently gotten a GPS for various other outdoor interests. And so it began.

 

There may still be an old XterraMatt cache or 2 around here in MA that got adopted when he moved south. Not sure he's involved in geocaching much anymore though.

[CacheNCarryMA]

Somehow, I found out about The Degree Confluence Project, and in surfing around I found GC.com. It was around Christmas time, so I put a GPSr on my Xmas list.

[+DudleyGrunt]

I originally heard about it from the colonel (McMasterC), that ran the program office where I work. I think that was sometime back in 2002 or so. It sounded interesting, but it didn't click with me. I don't think I really had a good grasp of it.

 

Then in April 2006, my uncle (Rookie49) read an article about it and started doing some. It really sounded like a fun thing to do, especially with my son (JuniorNimrod). I did my first with Rookie49 on 30 May 2006. JuniorNimrod did his first with me (and my first with R49) later that week.

 

Rookie49 has also gotten a coworker (Mother Wolf) and another of his nephews (MyQuest13) into caching.

 

In December, me and R49 did our 100th together. It was JN's 50th. I plan on doing a cache later this week that will be my 200th and JN's 100th.

 

Happy trails,

 

Dave

[+Markwell]

It seems I haven't answered it since Christmas day of 2003. But these things need to be brought back up from time to time. Fresh perspectives are fun.

 

Amazingly, I agree.

[+TreeSqueezers]

I had just purchased a Handspring PDA right at the end of their production run. Within a month every plug in accessory was on clearance everywhere. I picked up the Magellan GPS module for it for next to nothing. I thought it would be pretty cool to navigate with it in the car. I googled gps and found geocaching. I never did hook it up in the car.

[+simpjkee]

I live in Mesa, AZ, USA, PE, MW. I heard about Geocaching from my mother. I started geocaching because I just had to see what one looked like and what was inside of them. Furthermore, the thought that there were hidden "treasures" around my city and state and I didn't know about them absolutely had to change. I continue geocaching because I have found that it is great exercise and leads me to locations in my city and state that I find to be very beautiful, but never knew existed. I'm new to this sport and have yet to try to find the more challenging caches along hiking trails, etc. If anyone would like to recruit me to be part of a team or whatever, please let me know.

[+Machuco]

Well, my brother and I spread my mothers ashes up in the sierra's way back in 1987 and we have been going up there every year to pay our respects. In 2005 my brother on his yearly trip up to the area stopped to pay his respects and happened apon this ammo can sitting not 10 feet from our sacred spot. He opened the ammo can and read the geonote and wrote a short note in the log. When he returned home he looked up the web site, got some information and sent away for his first GPSr. After about a month or so, after he had found a few caches on his own, he called me up and told me the whole story and thought I might enjoy this new sport/hobby. The rest is history and he and I have been caching ever since.

 

In my view, this was an attempt by my mother, from beyond the grave, to reunite my brother and I. Thanks Mom!!!

[+wordnerd]

About 3 years ago, I was totally bored with my life and googled for a good hobby. I looked for something similar to a scavenger hunt and came up with Geocaching. At first I didn't get the whole "Geo" part of it. What the heck was a portable GPS? I knew what a GPS was, but couldn't imagine that they had handhelds. Surely I couldn't afford one. But the sport sounded very cool. So I told my husband about it and said wouldn't that be a cool thing for us to do together, a way to get out and have some fun. And he made a sour face and said "Not really." Spoilsport. So I went back to college instead.

 

A few months ago -- after moving to a different state with a much better education and very well paying job -- I remembered about geocaching and thought, hey I bet I could afford one of those devices. First, however, I found geocaching.com and looked up my zip code to see where the closest caches were. Turns out there are a number of them that are walkable distance to our house.

 

So I google earthed the closest (called "paperless"), printed the hints and the map and took my husband for a walk. I showed him the map and told him I was looking for that location. Now he was interested (a quest!). It was a multi AND a micro so at first, we didn't find it. And honestly had no idea what we were looking for. So I casually told him that there was another one nearby. We went there and he found that one and he became quite interested after that. I ordered a garmin etrex and we became hooked. We're branching out of town this weekend and I'll be dropping my first travel bug.

[+Skip_]

I first heard about geocaching on an online forum. I immediately thought it sounded interesting, but didn't have a GPSr, so I wasn't able to immediately participate due to the fact I needed money to get one and had been unemployed and under-employed and couldn't spend the money right away.

 

A while later at my job there was a sales incentive points program and one of the items I could get was a Magellan SporTrek Map. I saved my points and got my new toy, and the rest was history. My first find was on Easter of '04.

 

I also used points from sales incentives to get my current unit, a Garmin GPS V. It's a little dated, but does what needs doing and I still haven't paid for a GPSr yet. My next upgrade will probably be cash though, since I'm no longer at that job.

[+Snoogans]

Well, my brother and I spread my mothers ashes up in the sierra's way back in 1987 and we have been going up there every year to pay our respects. In 2005 my brother on his yearly trip up to the area stopped to pay his respects and happened apon this ammo can sitting not 10 feet from our sacred spot. He opened the ammo can and read the geonote and wrote a short note in the log. When he returned home he looked up the web site, got some information and sent away for his first GPSr. After about a month or so, after he had found a few caches on his own, he called me up and told me the whole story and thought I might enjoy this new sport/hobby. The rest is history and he and I have been caching ever since.

 

In my view, this was an attempt by my mother, from beyond the grave, to reunite my brother and I. Thanks Mom!!!

 

 

I'll bite. Which cache was it? I'm wondering if it's one I've visited or one I own.

 

 

I'm quite fond of the Sierras and I bought my first GPSr in 1995 to mark the coords, for my will, where my own ashes are to be spread in the Recess Valley not far (a day hike) from Lake Thomas Edison.

 

 

I have quite a few caches in the Eastern Sierra around Mammoth and spread from Bishop to Lee Vining.

[+Sagefox]

After six weeks of reading these Forums , I finally got out of the house to find my first cache. I was instantly hooked . . .

 

I'm so sorry to hear about this. Without reading the forums you would likely have been geocaching within 6 days.

[+welch]

WWW.WHERESGEORGE.COM

same

[+rmclapp]

Heard about it from my wifes former boss, who took her to her first find. Thanks SBELL111

[vtmtnman]

I got here in Iraq in March '05.My buddy emails me in April that he found a treasure hunt using GPS.Being here and not there,I cared,checked out the website when he'd send me caches he'd placed or found,but didn't really get into it much.I came home for 19 days in June 06 and we found my first.I was hooked from there.

 

I wish I found this game from the begining,as I've never been a charter member for anything,and it would have been great to have a cross country geoventure while driving home from San Diego to Vermont after getting out of the Corps.It would've helped if I had a computer/internet back then as well...

[pippin65]

I actually stumbled upon a cache whilst metal detecting--thought it was really nifty...........

[+ditchmedic]

From my brother who traded me my first gpsr(garmin etrex legend) for an xbox. That didn't sound right. I gave him the xbox, he gave me the gpsr.

[nonaeroterraqueous]

I had had a rough experience backpacking through the snow, trying very hard not to get lost, so I was already thinking of getting a GPSr, when my wife read something to me about geocaching from a Westways magazine. I knew I had to get a GPSr then. Which one to buy? I googled the question and got the geocaching forums, of all things. When I finally got the device, I looked through every feature and read the manual front to back, and I encountered the geocaching function. And that's when I specifically googled "geocaching."

 

The first cache was a micro on a water pipe, and I thought I was looking for a bigger box, so I figured I had gotten the coordinates wrong, again, after having wandered into the nearby grocery store on my first attempt. Our first actual find was a fake sprinkler, and the log was wet. I loved it. I didn't realize it was going to be this fun. Fake sprinklers? I never would have expected such a thing.

[marnen]

I don't recall for certain, but I believe I saw the word "geocaching" used in a friend's LiveJournal, and I thought it sounded interesting, so I looked up what it meant.

[+bock1e]

sorry first try at forum got it right in next post

Edited May 7, 2007 by bock1e

[+bock1e]

I found out about geocaching searching on the web for points of interest for my holiday in brittany in the summer. Now my wife , four kids and dog go out a least once a weekend.

We all enjoy it. Where as before it was a case of what to do where to go. Now all I do is crank up the gps and search for the next cache not found and we are off driving around for the whole day and seeing sites and places I have never seen in ireland before in my life.

Edited May 7, 2007 by bock1e

[Shiraz-mataz]

I was the den leader for my son's Cub Scout den and was always looking for something interesting to do. One of the den mothers actually discovered this particular activity. She told me one of her friends was into "geo CASH-ing" which was some kind of orienteering treasure hunt. I dismissed the idea at first until I found out that one of my coworkers was into it too. After hours and hours of talking about it at work I was stoked to hit the trails! The rest, as they say, is history...

[+DIDS]

Someone had a thread about it on Speedguide.net and I thought it sounded cool. I checked out geocaching.com and bought a GPS a few weeks later and started geocahing.

 

DIDS

[+pcsfrme]

I'm involved in a local scout troop and we are always looking at ways to have fun on camp outs. So one of the other leaders says well we could go geocaching. I say, "What's that?" He says, "something to do with finding stuff with a GPS." So we agree and I start doing some research. First site to come up in my google search was geocaching.com. Once I started reading about it I was pretty interested and I realized that I had my dad's Rino 120 that we had used a couple times hunting. So I pack up the wife and kids that same day and we go to find a couple. Boy did we get hooked! My kids love going "treasure hunting." I was totally amazed at all of the caches that I drove by everyday and had no idea!

 

Needless to say on the camp out we found 7 caches in the area and hid my first. I've managed to get some of my family members involved as well. My brother is particularly good at staying just a couple of finds ahead of me...

[+genegene]

E-BAY. .was looking up info for a new GPS and read about it on one of the threads there. I think it was a reviewers note

[Mr.Yuck]

Wow - I haven't answered that question since Oct 26 2004

 

And you still haven't since? I'll answer it again, I stumbled on a link to this website on Epodunk.com, which is a website that has all sorts of useless statistics for any municipality in the U.S.

 

This topic has come up too many times to count, but I enjoy reading the responses. And apparently, bumping the thread.

[+niffir]

WWW.WHERESGEORGE.COM

same

 

What welch said!

[+The 4 F's]

An article in our local newspaper, we were intrigued bought a gpsr found our first cache and were hooked.

[+ADKSherpa]

When I bought my GPS, I was reading up on it in a book I borrowed from the library and it talked about geocaching. I looked it up and was amased at all the caches there were around here!

 

Ahhhhhhh ....... It's Only The Beginning !

[+MarjR]

I heard geocaching mentioned on tv ( I don't remember the program) and decided to look it up on the internet. I found geocaching.com and read all about it.

It sounded like fun, so a few weeks later my husband and I ordered a GPSr and started looking for caches. And it was fun, especially when we found the caches.

[+Sand-Man]

Well I can't watch L&O because I don't have a TV..... My wife and I are always looking for means of entertainment. And by reading so much we found a news paper article about it and dove in. I am a avid outdoorsman and my wife is too..... It just added to the list of things that can get us outside... My wife's kids come here from Europe in the summer and they really enjoyed the outings last year and we certainly hope they will still enjoy it this year when they come. My Grandchildren will be old enough soon and I am looking forward to that time with them as well.......

[+baloo&bd]

We have GPSr's mounted on our bikes. After a weekend trip of about 800 miles and the occasional error in the map that caused us to re-route. I was wandering the net for updates and mods to the GPSr's and came across the site. Realized there were a bunch nearby and, as they say, the rest is history.