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Why do you Geocache COINTEST!


ArtieD

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Hey gang...with Thanksgiving passing us by a mere few days ago and many people giving thanks for what they have, I thought a cointest was in order that was kind of similar. CastleMan ran a cointest similar to this in the geocoin chat and it was a great way to get to know each other, so I'd like to try it here.

 

You're playing for my VERY LAST copper trade-only LE personal of mine.

 

The rules are simple:

 

Post why you geocache and what positive things or experiences you have gained from caching.

 

I'll begin...

 

For the longest time, I used to drink quite a lot. I mean a LOT. Well, it made me into a complete rear end (some would argue I got that naturally, but hey! :blink:) and I was not a good family man at all. Well, I'll quit beating around the bush. I was an alcoholic in the worst way.

 

Anyway, one night I was thumbing through the Subaru "Drive" magazine and found an article on geocaching. I read it with my wife and we decided that it would be a fun thing to try. We checked the GC.com website for the first time and lo and behold, there were caches in our own town! ;)

 

Anyway, we bought our first GPSr...a Garmin Etrex Yellow...and the rest is history. We, and I most especially, were hooked in the worst way. From then on, geocaching has been my very positive outlet for energy I would have devoted to more destructive activities. Without it, I really don't know where I'd be.

 

I will let this cointest run until 10:30 P.M. Central Time. The winning post will be chosen via random number generator. Depending on my mood, I may also give away another item to another poster. :D

 

I hope you enjoy this chance to get to know one another. :D

Edited by Arthur & Trillian
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Geocaching was introduced to us by a good friend of mine! She took me out one day and from that day forth I was hooked! She gave me my first gps and I have enjoyed caching with my friends and family ever since! Now we try to get others involved and talk about it everwhere we go. It is a lot of fun and has let our family have some good laughs! We have gained so many fun memories while on our geocaching adventures and we love sharing our stories!

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I started geocaching because my husband hot a GPS for Christmas. The reasoning for the gift was this: "He's always in the woods, I figure he might as well have one of those things." (The GPS was from his father.) I also enjoy a nice walk in the woods, so I simply just started looking around for the caches once we'd get to the right spot. As I sure others know, it didn't take long to get addicted. When summer hit, my husband made a list of things to do - clean out garage, fix flower garden - and GET LOTSA ICONS! (I'm not kidding - this was on the list). So, much of the summer was spent hunting down coins and caches. Besides, geocaching is always a good excuse to get outside!

 

That's why I geocache!

Edited by surteb
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Micke and I met on the net way back in late 1998. It's only natural that we'd have 4 computers in the house and he would work with computers at work. We still spend a lot of time on the computers.

 

Problem is, we were spending too much time. We'd actually occasionally IM each other, even though we were sitting 15 feet from each other. Kind of funny, in a sad sort of way, but then you consider that there were kids involved. Pappa was on his puter all the time, mamma on hers, and Hanna... well... she did her own thing. Which is really sad considering she's only 7 at the time we discovered caching.

 

Anyway, I had read about Geocaching a couple of years ago and thought it sounded really neat and like something I'd enjoy doing. Then I came into a little money over the summer and bought a TomTom ONE car navigator. I didn't even think about caching when I bought it, I bought it because I like to drive and I like to drive to places I've never been or don't go to often, and I was sick of printing maps that weren't always right and getting lost.

 

An acquaintance from another forum I go to mentioned caching and I remembered it. I got to looking around a bit, found my own coords, put them in and WOW! There were 30 caches in my area, some just a couple of miles away, and we live in BFE! So, we figure out how to put the coords in and pack the kids and the dog up and give it a shot and discover WOW! this is fun stuff, and Hanna is loving finding treasure, the dog is loving being out in nature, we're not in front of the puters or tv and we're out as a family...and we were hooked! Took us just a couple of weeks to do our first cache hide, we've now got 8 hidden with one more coming, and even though our find numbers are low, it's only due to the fact that we live in the country and there aren't so many, we still get out when we can and find the occasional cache when we go on road trips or to the big city!

 

Caching has made a big difference in our lives. Hanna loves it and asks when we get to go out again, she's learning about different places and we've seen some really incredible sights!

 

Best of all, that low self esteem that we probably contributed to that Hanna has is being built back up. Every cache she finds, every treasure that she herself gets to pick out and also replace, each one builds her up just a little bit. You can see the pride in her eyes shining, and that makes mamma and pappa proud and we all benefit from that as a family and individually!

 

I'm grateful to have found caching! It may have actually saved our marriage and our family!

 

Naomi :blink:.... a little embarassed, but hey....

 

e112af42-bf38-43d3-a7e3-1bb26e56ac93.jpg

 

One of the favorite caches we found!

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Here's my story.

 

I used to be in a not so healthy marriage and I got depressed (although I didn't realize it). During this time, my then husband and I were at an astronomy star party in Florida and some of the folks there were talking about geocaching. He thought it would be fun to check out. When we got home we looked up the website and pretty much forgot about it from there. One day near Christmas, I was sitting at work and decided to look at the website again. I looked at the caches in our area and looked at the map for each. I found one within 2/10's of a mile from our house in a park we passed everyday. Christmas Eve we decided that we would look for that cache. After some mishaps with not setting the coordinates right, we found it and were hooked from there. And even with the mishaps, we had a great time looking for it. We didn't even have an account at the time we found it and wound up signing our first names to the log.

 

We started Christmas Eve 2004 and have met some great people. My now ex and another geocacher started having an affair which led to our divorce and I really considered giving it up then. But I was hooked. Plus, some of the people we had met through geocaching were very supportive when I needed it and I decided that it wasn't geocachings fault. There will always be one or two bad apples everywhere you go.

 

I have continued caching and seen so many wonderful places that I never would have gone to without caching. I have also made some great friends and look forward to events where I can interact with them again. I have also gotten a few other people hooked to the addiction that is geocaching. So I guess the reasons that I continue are the wonderful people you meet, the great outdoor sites you see, the exercise you get, the ability to interact with nature and just the fun that I have whether I look for an ammo can or a micro.

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We began caching as a way to get out of the house and get more activities in after I had Back Surgery. The state of California only gave me 1 month of physical therapy and I had to find a way to increase my exercise and strengthen my muscles. Geocaching became that outlet and we have been caching ever since. Unfortunately I broke my ankle after a few months because of the Strength was not fully there in my right leg, but as time goes on and we get more than 2500 caches under our belts the strength has been returning and we haven't had to get back into surgery. Let's hope I wont have to do any more surgery since there is now no way to geocache at home when you cant get outside.

 

Thanks Geocaching.

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Thanks for the contest...

 

 

We had heard about geocaching from my brother who lives in California. He'd never tried it, but it sounded kind of interesting. We soon forgot all about it, until my Dad who lives in our area asked my oldest son if he'd like to go find a cache near the Snake River. Dad had never gone before either, but he did have a GPS that he used for flying.

 

 

Anyway, I said that I wanted to go too, and the next thing you know, there were six of us looking for that cache. We had so much fun, that the next day, we went out again and found another 10 or so. After that we were hooked, and bought our own GPS.

 

 

On our second day of searching, we were wandering around in circles, looking at the GPS like typical newbies, and we heard a voice say, "Are you looking for the cache?" We looked up, and much to our surprise, was a man, looking much like Spiderman, clinging to the wall, about six feet above our heads. His caching name is Elvish Archer, and we joined him up on the wall, and eventually on of us found the cache. We stood and talked for a while, and he invited us to a group night caching expedition that was going to occur in a few days.

 

 

We had such a great time on this group hunt, and met so many of the most amazing people we've ever met, that we were totally hooked for sure. There is no bonding experience like wandering around in the desert in the middle of the night with a group of people you've never met before! We took the totally long way to the cache, scaled some totally unnecessary rock faces, and a cache that should have taken about 15 minutes took about 2 hours. What a blast!!

 

One upside to caching is that it's one of the few family activities that two teenaged boys were willing to do with their parents! That in itself was a great reason to keep going!

 

We have continued to cache because of the wonderful places caching has taken us that we never would have experienced before. We have seen so many of the coolest places, and we just never would have gone there on our own accord. Another reason we've continued is the events we go to, just to hang out with the great people we've met along the way. We plan to hit our 1000th cache in the next couple of weeks. Cachers really are some of the best people we've ever known.

Edited by 4BOWS
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One day when visiting my brother we went for a walk in the hills near his house. We stumbled upon a suspicious container and being a Haz-Mat Tech, I opened it without hesitation. After finding the log book, I realized what it was and remember having seen something about this on tv some time ago. A couple of days later we were on our way to McCall for a family visit and stumbled upon another cache in Hagerman Fossil Beds. After our visit to McCall we checked the internet and bought a GPSr (Magellan Sportrak Pro) and we were hooked.

On our first anniversary of caching we went to the Original Stash and celebrated our 600th find.

I am now into geocoins and aiding with events. The Mrs. has about 400 more caches than I do at this point.

We have made some great friends and have seen alot of interesting places over the past 3.5 years.

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I am, therefore I geocache! :blink:

 

I first found out about geocaching 4 and 1/2 years ago from my brother-in-law, and the idea intrigued me. What a way to combine all the things I like to do - space technology, computers, photography, hiking, geography, and a lot more. I also found it a great way to spend time with my son, to get him out of the house, and break his avoidance of anything that takes longer than 3 minutes to accomplish. It has really made a difference in both of us.

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Interesting post A&T - thank you.

 

I guess I can reiterate many of the things you have mentioned here are well. I posted last week what I was thankful for and geocaching and my family top the list. I've not been the greatest Dad and wasn't around much over the years but geocaching has given me the chance to hopefully change all that. I also found out about geocaching by reading an article in the newspaper. I was looking for ways to get to know my kids again and they weren't liking too many of the ideas I was coming up with. After I read the article, I talked to my wife about it and then the kids. They liked the idea of a treasure hunt so we gave it a try.

 

I was very excited on our first trip. We picked a 1/1 to go for...Well we couldn't find it. We went again, and still didn't find it. I was devastated because I thought the kids were hating this. To my surprise however, they were loving it and they were bound and determined to get that first find. I contacted the cache owner for some hints and with a lot of help from her we found the cache on the third try. We had no idea how we missed it those other times and we all had a great laugh of how blind we are. We seemed to be hooked after that and I'm so glad. It's been great for our family and it's given me some things to think about especially around getting my life back in order.

 

We've slowed down a lot for various reasons but I think it is something that will always be part of our lives and we are looking forward to getting our own caches out there too. So I geocache because for us, it's all about family and being together and what else could be better?

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We started caching in 2005, when a friend finally convinced us to go with him... Since then, we haven't stopped for a bit.

 

If we had to sum geocaching to one idea, it would be "Quality time". Quality time in family, with the kids or simply alone. While geocaching we've been through fantastic experiences, most of them memorable and some caught in camera, have a look on our gallery.

 

Besides being there, on those spots, regions and different countries geocaching, we've also managed to "meet" great persons, for instance, through the GPS Forums (just have a look on the "Thank you" link on our signature).

 

We know now what would we lost if didn't go along and tried geocaching... Glad we did! :blink:

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I geocache for the fun, exercise, fresh air, and to get away from the terrors of school and everyday life. Geocaching has strengthened existing friendships and created new friendships for me. It has also brought me closer to my dad.

 

Lastly, Geocaching has become a part of my Boy Scout troop, and we have started checking out caches every time we go camping. At least 10 ro 12 people in our troop have bought GPS's, and i have run several meetings teaching the younger kids how to use them. Geocaching has been a great experience for me and my troop, and i hope it continues for a long time.

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I had been seriously working on losing weight and looking for some new hiking areas to keep the kids amused also. My weight loss site had an article on geocaching and I had heard of it a few years earlier so I decided to check it out. We used a borrowed GPS for the first 8 months.

 

It's been exactly a year now and we're completely hooked. I love all the fun places we visit and the kids enjoy following the mystery coins and finding their locations on the map. We're more active and I've lost over 115#.

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One day I read a newspaper article that talked about finding a cache in a park near my home. It sounded fun so I started researching. Soon I had my first unit and then went after the cache closest to my house which just happened to be a puzzle cache in the library. I found that one and then went on to look for more. I was hooked.

 

Geocaching came a dark period in my life. I needed to get out and caching was the "excuse" I gave myself to do that. It has taken me to places I never knew existed even though I drive by frequently. I never would have seen that fawn nursing unless I was searching for the cache. I no longer cringe at a half mile walk and look forward to those caches in the woods. Caching has also brought many new friends into my life that I am thankful for.

 

Why do I continue to cache? For more of the above and many other things....

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I started geocaching while I was out of work recuperating from surgery (lefty went to live with my brother). Was only supposed to be down and out for 2 weeks but the recovery turned in to 6 weeks and I was going crazy sitting at home. My sister Melissa, who had recently moved back to state after being gone most of our adult lives ,told me about this thing called geocaching and their was one in a local park. I fell in love with it that day and took full advantage of the next 4 weeks out of work.

 

Why I keep geocaching is the bond my sister lissie and our other sister Ms.Kitty developed as adults through geocaching. Yes, sometimes I'm by myself caching but there is no better day than when the three of us make a cache run. Theres always laughing,sometimes maybe even a little cussing at those hard ones and an occassional "sister down" when one of us ends up in the horizontal position. Those are the priceless and unforgettable things in life.

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We cache because we love the places it takes me and the people we get to meet. The people we have met over the last couple of years have been great. Very friendly and helpful. We've lived in Indiana all our lives and thanks to Geocaching, we've actually gotten to see the 'True' Indiana and the beuaty that we've only took for granite before.

 

Hope everyone has a Very, Merry Christmas this year!

 

501

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Great question :blink:

A very dear friend of mine (Treasure Hunting Family) introduced us. So, we bought a GPS & met up with them on April 1st; what better day than April Fool's Day to start caching. We were hooked from that time on. Caching has helped us build some great family memories. Our oldest will be leaving for either college or the service (he still hasn't decided) in just over a yearand the other kids are still in elementary, so getting those memories in are very important to me. We have met some neat people, seen some beautiful sights & always have fun.

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We are the Skylark Four. We are a dad, mom, 7yr old girl and a 5yr old boy. We are from Nova Scotia, Canada and started caching almost 2yrs ago. Dad Skylark was watching an episode of Law & Order and in the opening scene, the body this time was discovered by a cacher. Interest was peaked, a GPSr was purchased and off we went. What we take from geocaching is a great family time together in the great outdoors. Many, many interesting places have been discovered and enjoyed. Lots of these places were close to home and would have been overlooked if not for this wonderful hobby. Oh yeah, dont forget the joy of geocoins.

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A few years ago, I learned about Geocaching on an "All Things Considered" radio segment on NPR. I printed out a few cache pages and took them over to my neighbor, who had a wife and little girl. I didn't think I would enjoy it by myself . . . :blink:

 

More than a year later, I got the money to buy a Garmin Vista, and after spending six weeks here in the Forums :D, learning everything I could, I finally set out one day, as if for an expedition, and found my first cache, "Hollenbeck Canyon Cache" on January 17, 2005.

 

I was instantly hooked . . .

 

Geocaching, and in particular hunting caches on long hiking trails, has been very good for my health, helping to put the chronic illness I have suffered with for many years into the background. Somehow, when I am on the "hunt," I feel healthy.

 

The people I have met in these past few years have been fantastic. As I told one couple after a great day of hiking and finding bunches of caches, "This is the first time in my life I've been able to play with the 'cool kids'."

 

Geocaching is wonderful!! ;)

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Thanks for the cointest.

 

I read about geocaching in the local newspaper and thought it sounded like fun. Of course, at the time I was busy with my other 100 hobbies and just kinda let the idea fall to the way side. About a year later some friends were talking about it at a BBQ and I started grilling them about it. They had only done a couple but I went out the next day and bought a GPS. My family laughed at me and thought it would be one more of those things I would do for 6 months and then move on because I would get bored with it.

 

I'm pretty selective about the caches that I will do because I like to incorporate backpacking/kayaking/flyfishing into my trips. I don't do numbers, I do scenic caches and I try to do just a few here and there so I don't burn out and I have time for all my other stuff.

 

I continue to cache because it's fun to plan adventures around some of the caching trips and I am always hoping to stumble across a great piece of swag. I love the feeling of being on top of a mountain where there are incredible views, complete solitude and a ammo box hidden somewhere :D I also continue to cache because I'm always hoping to run into Bigfoot while on the trail. I'd rather not see a Grizzly or aliens (I'm afraid of being abducted and becoming a research project, I like Earth) :blink:;)

Edited by tsunrisebey
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I can trace my interest in geocaching back to two points.

 

First one was in college (1995ish), civilian GPSs were under $300. So, I ordered a Magellan GPS 4000. I played around with it for a while, but it seemed not to be accurate enough for much, and it took FOREVER to get a satellite lock.

 

Second one was when i got a wheresgeorge.com dollar in change at our christmas tree farm. I was instantly hooked on WG, and spend countless hours at work surfing the net. I read a news article about WG, but it also mentioned geocaching. I checked out geocaching.com. I decided that since it was almost Christmas, i would get myself a new GPS ;) . My wife and I took the dogs to a local park and found three caches.

 

All down hill after that...... :blink:

 

Thanks for the contest.

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My husband had been hounded by some of his coworkers to give geocaching a try for the longest time. Of course he just laughed at them. Last year he was sent on a 6 week TDY to Guam and a lot of time to think about how much he missed us. When he got back he asked his coworkers what would be a good thing to do as a family. And they replied with Geocaching. So we borrowed a guys GPS loaded with coords and went out that following weekend. Right away we were hooked! It's really brought us closer as a family and we've also made some good friends along the way. :blink:

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Thanks for the cointest AT!

 

Well.. Ill play in three parts. How did we get in, and why, and also what effect it had!

 

HOW we got in was interesting. We are photo volunteers for 'Find a Grave' which sounds morbid I know, but what we do is if someone out of the area would like a photo of a Family members gravesite for personal, or genealogical reasons we volunteer to go take it. We have helped several families even find family members they did not know they have - as we always take photos of all graves with that family members name.

 

We were googling a local cemetery for some research on a family for a request we had gotten, and I found a letterbox listed at that cemetery. So.. we got into letterboxing - which was great for me, as I could express my artistic side by carving stamps. We letterboxed for about 2 months before we heard about geocaching. By this point - we had gotten all the Letterboxes, and was by then also a member of the local LB groups - and on those forums, they spoke of Geocaches.

 

We checked it out, and did some with Google before we happened onto a lucky circumstance where we got our first GPS. Long story short - we were quickly hooked. It was free, outdoors, and got us outside and moving around. (And the little guy liked it!)

 

We have met some of the most wonderful people through caching and our local groups. (And even more through the forums, and have also built some GREAT close friendships through our Geocoin Chat room)

It was great to go to GW5 and put so many faces to the names we know, and many of those people have become closer friends than before. All of our friends are Geocachers it seems - we all have so much in common on so many different levels, families, hobbies, etc. Its been a blast to see our whole world open up due to a hobby.

 

We now exercise more, have lost a LOT of weight, and enjoy more social time with other people and friends.

Hosting events is a favorite thing of mine, and we always enjoy meeting the new folks who attend.

 

But for those coins....

 

Believe it or not - I at first had no interest in the coins. :blink: But.. a local cacher dropped a Geocoin at our cache, and then followed up at our first event by giving us our own coin. We got hooked. (Jim first.. I reluctantly followed.) A couple months later, I was designing... and now? Well... alot of you know the rest of the story. :D

 

Sniff sniff... I love you guys. ;)

 

THANKS AT - for being one of those above mentioned close friends... and the rest of you know who you are too. (Right off the bat theres two favorite traders that come to mind!)

 

Oh.. wanted to add... WHY do we cache? For all those listed reasons. Friends, family, creating memories, for laughs (when I climbed a pine tree 18 feet for a pill bottle.) Mostly for the friends.. oh, and the cointests. j/k

 

~P

Edited by CinemaBoxers
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Well, back in 2005, I decided to buy an eXplorist 200. It was a good deal I thought as I perused the local Costco. The device did not have all the roads on it, but it had the major ones. I used it and marked key places I'd travelled to, even used it to find my way out of Virginia Beach (easy to get in, more difficult to leave! IMHO). For the price, it did what I wanted it to.

 

Fast forward a year later.... So, I'm looking on a famous online auction site for collectable coins. I believe at the time I was looking for commemorative coins. Well, while searching the website, it indicated there were lots of different kinds of coins for sale, and one that I had not heard of appeared, called a "geocoin". Having just purchased the Columbian Exposition quarter of 1893, I decided to see what worldly coins these might be. I found there were more than just a few out there of these. I saw the descriptions and saw mention of a website where the coins were trackable and then in short order (probably with the help of Google & Wikipedia :D ), I learned they were used in a sport that utilized the GPS. And I already had a GPS!

 

I then checked out the gc.com site, searched the local area and realized there were geocaches in the area, and decided to take the plunge and register with the site. It sounded interesting, plus the curiousity got to me since it looked like one of the caches was right where my mom worked at! So, I went to look for that one and could not find it as it was in a prickly bush (not quite holly, but itchy nevertheless). So, I went to look for one or two more... still no luck. Who knew a "geocache" could be a hard to find flat refrigerator type magnet? Of course, at this point, as frustrated as I was, I still wanted to find at least one of these geocaches, I mean, there were a bunch near where I live! Finally, I went to K-Mart and finally found a medicine bottle with a log in it; "Blue Light Special" was my first geocache!

 

Since then, I have met an incredible group of other geocachers, been to both events and mega-events, travelled the entire state that I live during the completion of the NC DeLorme Challenge (and saw places and things I've only heard about even though I've lived here my entire life), and have been caching on ever since. Plus, I like the fact that it gets me out of my house and enables me to see more of the world around me (especially a whole bunch of parks I never knew existed! :blink: ). Oh, and as far as geocoins go.... I think I wound up buying one from the big auction site just so I could see one, and finally, 6 months after starting to geocache, I finally found my first geocoin!

 

Thus, due to the big auction site, my affinity for coin collecting, and that economical GPS I happened to buy, that is how I got into geocaching. The outcome has been seeing more of the world around me (instead of just staying inside), meeting lots of new great people, exercise (3+ miles for a geocache? Yes! More than a few times...), sharing the cool activity with some of my muggle friends, and obtaining a geocoin or two (or more). ;) Thanks for the opportunity to share my story!

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Well, I'll tell you why we started as a family.

 

A year or more ago my husband bought a GPS, and it was expensive!!! He didn't do ANYTHING with it, andwe argued about him buying a new toy. So, one day, I was at work and googled something like "What do you do with a GPS?" and up came the geocaching website. Well, the next day or so I soaked in a LOT of information from the forums, and from "searching" in our area. I was shocked and amazed, and didn't really "get" it until we went out and found our first cache. The rest is history. Now we go out 2 or 3 times a week, are getting our own geotag (I know, I knon, not a real geocoin). I'll tell you I'm truly thankful for Geocaching and the online community because it gets our whole family out and about and off our couches.

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My brother-in-law introduced us to geocaching and geocoining. I am totally addicted to both. Mrs derschlings jokingly refers to them as my "mistresses"... not that she minds as the family that caches together gets to enjoy 4 mile hikes to vistas like this:

742151b6-ae91-4cd2-8ab4-7e7676772384.jpg

I can't begin to thank all those who have hidden caches in such fantastic places that otherwise we probably never would have discovered. Geocaching has provided our family with adventure, intrigue, excitement, fascination, togetherness, wonder, amazement, laughter, tears, frustration, scratches, burrs, ticks, and more memories than any MasterCard could ever buy.

Thanks for letting us share. :blink:

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I started geocaching last Christmas. My sister got me an Etrex yellow, expressly (I'm assuming) for Geocaching. Once I got home with it, I logged onto gc.com and found there were six or eight caches in the park across the street. I was hooked.

Over the past year, I have found many caches, met many new friends, and explored parts of town I didn't even know existed! I love it so much, I upgraded my GPSr to a mapping one, and gave my sister the Etrex, so maybe she'll start caching; she seems to enjoy it when I take her and our mom out.

I have a hard time deciding what I like best about caching - the exercise, the thrill of the hunt, meeting new people, or exploring new places. How many parks have you discovered in your town that you wouldn't have even supposed existed? How many new friends have you made? How much fun have you had?

We even get to give back to the community. CITO is a great way to help. One local park had been turned into a dumping ground. It's still real bad, but with one CITO event, and a CITO cache there now, it's getting a lot better.

Since I started geocaching, I've travelled over 5000 miles cache-to-cache (please don't ask me how much that's run me in gasoline!). I've been to places I wouldn't have even thought about exploring without this (open space land, four normal hours driving? No sweat!).

The biggest reason I do this, I think, is to get outdoors, walking in the woods, relaxing, enjoying the company of good friends, and seeing so many new things.

 

Thanks, Geocaching community Friends!!

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This'll sound fairly dopey, but...

 

When I started staying home with mightyzinn, it was a pretty drastic change for me. Most of the things I was involved in stopped, most of the people I knew where connected to those things or work, etc. I also really didn't feel like I fit into my new life very well. I was a stay at home dad who liked making really strange music and had a deep interested in somewhat unusual bits of history. The transformation into soccer mom (um, dad) of the year just never really took ;-)

 

Over the past few years that really started to take its toll on me and my family. I'd became more withdrawn and disconnected, never did anything, became really despressed. More recently, I really started living up to my username and all was not going too hot here.

 

Caching has since really made a huge difference for me, and in turn, a huge difference in the lives of those closest to me. Its hard to be a good husband and father if you're not happy, and caching really has helped me be happy :-)

 

I get to be challenged as much or as little as I want both physically and mentally, the obsessive collector in me is getting very coins, a few individuals who have been extremely kind and made me feel very welcome have opened me up to being social with other cachers, etc etc.

 

Plus, some of the best times I've ever had with my son have been out caching. How could I stop after that!

 

So, thank you hiders of caches and makers of coins. I'm sure if it wasn't for all of you great folks who make caching what it is I'd otherwise be sitting on my butt, miserable, complaining about nothing ;-)

 

Although, I have to admit, I want to see Bigfoot too.

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wow what a neat cointest, I am really enjoying reading the posts!

 

I consider us newbies since I am almost at my 100th cache. The thing that got us started was a posting on an email list I belong to. I homeschool my children. When this person posted about geocaching; about 20 posts immediately came back, "yeah we do that too". One person posted she lost 20 lbs , ok that's for me!

 

So what was this geocaching?? Pulled up our zip on geocaching.com and wow there are these things all over the place around here. Already had a portable "car" gps, so had to learn how to put co-ords in it. Took us a few misses, but then we met some other cachers one day and they helped us learn what we were doing wrong.

 

Why we keep doing this? We can meet interesting people who like the outdoors as much as my family does. We have found new parks and places we never knew existed. It gets us out and away from housechores, computers, TV etc.

 

AND MOST OF ALL: My husband, myself, and two sons age 7 and 17 where out caching and ENJOYING each other's company the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Priceless.

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Back in January I met a lady in a church bible study who had not been in our area for long and was looking to connect and make some new friends. As we got to know each other she told me about geocaching, which she had been introduced to by a friend from her hometown. I was intrigued and a couple of months later she took me out to hunt a couple of local caches with another newbie. A month or so later she took me out again, this time with some diehard cachers. I was hooked and things haven't been the same since! I've lost weight, gotten healthier, made a best friend, and generally had a blast!

 

Thanks for the cointest!

Edited by ShmilyNMe
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In 2003, my old college buddy called me up and told me about geocaching. She had already purchased a GPS (Magellan) - and we were successful in our first hunt. I ran out and purchased a Garmin. It gave us an excuse to hang out and do something fun. We were discovering new places and having lots of "Over The Edge" fun - always looking for ways to take it to the next level. When we discovered "paperless" caching, it was like discovering geocaching all over again!! I continue to find geocaching exciting, but she has moved on, although she joins me from time-to-time.

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I read about geocaching in one of our timeshare magazines. I looked into it and it sounded really interesting to me, but it took me a while to get my husband on the bandwagon. He got me a GPS for Christmas and away we went. Constantly getting out of the house and caching helped me to lose over 30 pounds- even while I was pregnant!!

 

Now I can't wait to get my son involved. My husband and I are both on the heavy side, but I want my son to grow up being active so he isn't in the same boat we are. What better activity is there than geocaching?! :blink:

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My muggle brother told me about caching. He had a GPS and took the twin girls to a cache and sent a picture. So I called him to discuss caching and searched the internet. As the story goes, borrowed a friends GPS for the camping weekend. I get bored sitting around, so the adventure was something to do. Oh, cachegolly, was I hooked!

 

Had to learn how to use the GPS because the owner had no idea how it worked! Printed papers and maps, and drove and drove, walked and walked with the geodog buddy!

 

Went to an event 90 minutes away. WOW, amazed at the wide variety of scarry people. Some don't look normal! (Pink mowhawks, purple hair and piercings). Went caching with an absolute stranger because I am way too trusting and loved the day. I was away from the spouse who preferes to do nothing.

 

Hmmm, I am feeling great and getting out of the house.

 

Finally learned the geoname for the pink mowhawk cachers, they gave a lesson GSAK and now they are wonderful friends. THey have allowed me to expand my narrow mind! I have come out of a shell.

 

Caching has brought an introduction to beautiful parks, evil minded puzzle creaters and cache hiders, and most of all new friends and e-friends. Many of the stories hit home in my heart, share a bad marriage, worry about the dollars, and low-self esteem.

 

The new confidence has allowed me to speak up about issues, stand up to spouse who thought I was having an affair with a cacher (Dang should have). Letting go of the past ghosts has helped me mature, strange how being in the 40's helps. Anyway, I see a theme from the above stories, brings families together, creates another social network for those of us who are not socially inclined and leads many on new paths of freedom.

 

I like the freedom of caching! Especially with other cachers.

 

So does this confusing story explain caching? Caching has allowed me to survive and not hide! Thanks to the goverment for allowing caching to begin!

 

Accordiongal

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My wife and I have always enjoyed sharing hobbies and spending our free time with each other. One of our favorites is racing Radio Controlled vehicles. One day while running our R/C boats at a local park, we ran into a couple who were at the park to find a geocache. (That cache has since been archived but we decided to place a cache of our own there. GC1477M ) We had met this couple several years ago at an R/C race and they were as interested in our boats as we were in their GPS. They showed us the basics and we were pretty much hooked from then on. Not only did our chance meeting with the couple rekindle our friendships, we have met countless wonderful people who share our hobby and love of the outdoors.

 

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I heard about geocaching a couple of years ago when there was a special or something about it on TV or maybe even a magazine. I didn't catch the name But it really sounded interesting and something I'd like to do. Then, last year around the end of June, my son, Speeding Element suggested that I buy something called a GPS unit (basically for him) so we could give it a try. I bought him the cheap orange Magellan .Well, we were hooked. I found a couple by the clues alone with my grand daughter- You see, I didn't own a gpser yet.

I looked forward to getting out there to hunt and find the caches. I really look forward to the every other weekends that I have off of work. I really enjoy getting out of the house and spending time with my older son. If it weren't for him prodding me, I'd just vegetate in front of the TV and more than likely gain More weight! I also look very forward to attending events mainly because I get to interact with others.

after a year off geocaching, I finally got one of the cheaper units (yellow Etrex- you know the one) Of course, I had to buy The older son a better GPS unit since he "lost" his orange one.

The only drawback is that he also made a statement about geocoins being just as cheap to get as TBs. Well, I have an additive personality and you know how That goes But then, that's a separate cointest :blink:

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I technically started geocaching during a college GIS course in 2001. My professor took us around the college and we found a few strategically placed items. Much later, I learned about this website and was given the nudge by my aunt, ohjoy! in Washington, to get out and try this sport.

 

Today is the perfect example of why I geocache. I went out to get some caches around Mt. Hood, and wanted to get a FTF at GC17H1C. It was a great day to be out caching, as the sky was overcast, but dry, and I had a day off of work. I set out and nabbed a few other caches, but saved this one for mid-day. It was a .98 mile hike in 1-2ft-deep snow and ice to seek a micro as the first stage of a multi. I didn't think that I had a sure thing with the find, but I had to get out with the dog. The dog and I spent the better part of 2 hours looking around the area and enjoyed some interesting history of th Oregon Trail. There was a spectacular view of Mt. Hood, snow everywhere, and a dog loving the hike and sniffing out animals under the snow. I never found that cache today, but I sure had fun getting out and being in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing but silence to ponder my surroundings. I love the idea that I can go out into the wilderness and enjoy the journey more than the idea of a find. I can always find another cache, but I can't recreate the beauty of today on the mountain.

 

It's been a fun 2 years of official caching, but I love just getting outside. That's why i cache.

 

Cheers!

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I've been caching for about 8 months now. I wish I had picked it up years ago. I've always loved the outdoors, kind of lost interest in hunting(I love animals too much to kill them) I love hiking and photography and was looking for something other than fishing to get me out and about. I borrowed my dad's GPS to learn how to use it to mark a new camp lot that my dad was given by one of my uncles. I brought it to work to show one of my friends and he gave me some coordinates and told me to try and find a hidden treasure. After a few days of trying to find it and finally finding the right configuration I did find my first cache. I've been completely addicted ever since. I also cannot wait for my 5 1/2 month old son to find his first geocache and sign the log(His first cache was @ 4 days old). I know it'll be a good wholesome family activity. I love the fact that it involves some of my favorite hobbies(hiking, the outdoors, puzzles, orienteering, and family) The only other thing missing is playing music and it would be the perfect hobby!! lol

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I first heard about geocaching way back in 2000/2001 when my ex read an article about it on /. (the geeks in here will get that). One of the first caches we tried to find was the Ape cache up here, but it was the wrong time of the year and the end of the tunnel was closed. We found a few around town after that, but life got busy and we quickly forgot about it.

 

Fast forward 6 years. I worked at a screenprinter and we happened to be printing shirts for geocaching.com, so when I got home I looked it up and remembered how fun it was. I thought it could be something we could do together and get us off our butts and out of the house. And it has! We've had a great time with it. Like a lot of people have said, we've found places we never would have known about if it wasn't for geocaching. Not to mention the great bunch of people we have met along the way. I don't think there's a better bunch of people in the world than geocachers!!

 

(as a side note, although we love geocaching, I'm sure Joey wishes I never had discovered geocoins!)

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First off, I want to say ALL of your stories were so great to read. In any other manner, I wouldn't have been able to pick a winner. So, I ran the random number generator, and this post...#10...came up.

 

Congrats, 4BOWS!

 

Email me through my profile with your shipping info. :blink:

 

Thanks for the contest...

 

 

We had heard about geocaching from my brother who lives in California. He'd never tried it, but it sounded kind of interesting. We soon forgot all about it, until my Dad who lives in our area asked my oldest son if he'd like to go find a cache near the Snake River. Dad had never gone before either, but he did have a GPS that he used for flying.

 

 

Anyway, I said that I wanted to go too, and the next thing you know, there were six of us looking for that cache. We had so much fun, that the next day, we went out again and found another 10 or so. After that we were hooked, and bought our own GPS.

 

 

On our second day of searching, we were wandering around in circles, looking at the GPS like typical newbies, and we heard a voice say, "Are you looking for the cache?" We looked up, and much to our surprise, was a man, looking much like Spiderman, clinging to the wall, about six feet above our heads. His caching name is Elvish Archer, and we joined him up on the wall, and eventually on of us found the cache. We stood and talked for a while, and he invited us to a group night caching expedition that was going to occur in a few days.

 

 

We had such a great time on this group hunt, and met so many of the most amazing people we've ever met, that we were totally hooked for sure. There is no bonding experience like wandering around in the desert in the middle of the night with a group of people you've never met before! We took the totally long way to the cache, scaled some totally unnecessary rock faces, and a cache that should have taken about 15 minutes took about 2 hours. What a blast!!

 

One upside to caching is that it's one of the few family activities that two teenaged boys were willing to do with their parents! That in itself was a great reason to keep going!

 

We have continued to cache because of the wonderful places caching has taken us that we never would have experienced before. We have seen so many of the coolest places, and we just never would have gone there on our own accord. Another reason we've continued is the events we go to, just to hang out with the great people we've met along the way. We plan to hit our 1000th cache in the next couple of weeks. Cachers really are some of the best people we've ever known.

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