What brought YOU here?

[Sabre-Night]

my story was interesting, i was interested in this one video by a "kipkay" on how to turn a mimimag fashlight into a burning lazer (yeah xD) when it led me to his site, where i found this video:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/634724/treas...can_you_find_it

 

that led me here and here i am! sure im only in ankle deep, but im still playin' the game!

 

what started you in geocaching?

[+team lagonda]

i read a story in our local paper about geocashing..i always liked the outdoors.. so it wasnt long from there....

[+Airmapper]

I found a reference to it on a Kayaking website. I seen that it was related to GPS, an interest I already had, so I Googled it and found Geocaching.com Been here ever since.

[+Bad_CRC]

saw a story online about how the cops found a "bomb" and blew it up for safety.

 

then they found out it was a box full of trinkets that was part of an online treasure hunt game, so they put it back together and entered a log along with dropping some swag in.

 

I bought a GPS and started playing a few days later.

[+Bad_CRC]

duplicate post. (timed out)

Edited December 30, 2007 by Bad_CRC

[+Mastifflover]

I heard about it from a guy at work about 4 years ago. Went nuts the first couple of years with finds but have since slowed down a bit. Still enjoy it just as much though.

[+jpwrangler]

saw a story online about how the cops found a "bomb" and blew it up for safety.

 

then they found out it was a box full of trinkets that was part of an online treasure hunt game, so they put it back together and entered a log along with dropping some swag in.

 

I bought a GPS and started playing a few days later.

 

Thats funny . I was interested in buying a gps'r to use in my JEEP, and started researching here. Geocaching turned out to be something completely different than I thought it was. I wound up buying a 60csx. I think the family is pumped about doing this. I've managed to load 3 caches so far late last night. 1 being close to work, but ran out of time this morning.

[+Dos Amigas]

The little amiga and I are letterboxers. We don't get to spend much time together and have exhausted all local boxes. This was logical next step. There are over 1200 caches within 100 mile radius. That should keep us busy!

[+AllieCat13]

I read about it a little when we were on vacation in Cooks Forest Pa this summer, but didn't really understand. It sounded like lots of fun but I didn't have a GPSr or the time for something new. Then on Black Friday, I was shopping with the hubby and he decided that I needed a Garmin for my van. Since the next day was my b-day he got it for me. When I went online to register it, that led me to the geocaching stuff. I started checking it out and ended up getting a Legend a few days later. Even my kids love it and anything that my teenage daughter and son are willing to do with mom is great!

[+KBI]

My psychiatrist prescribed Geocaching for me as part of a desensitization treatment program.

 

I’ve been struggling with a debilitating and irrational fear of film canisters, Burger King toys and dry Bic pens ever since a traumatic childhood birthday party incident in which my absent-minded Mom gift wrapped the recycle bin instead of my intended present.

[+Jeep_Dog]

I got here during the first Jeep TB - YJTB - and the associated link off Jeep's Community page.

 

Hey, the link is STILL there. Cool for GC.COM.

 

Jeep's Community Page

 

I just noticed something interesting on that page when I dug up the link - Jeep is now calling Jeep Gear and accessories (clothing, et cetera) "swag." Far out.

[+Minex]

Knights of the Dinner Table by Jolly Blackburn back in early 2002. He wrote an editorial on the subject in Issue #61, and based a story on it in #64. It sounded like fun, so I had to give it a try. Edited December 31, 2007 by Minex

[+niffir]

Learned about it on the wheresgeorge.com forums many many years ago.

[Mushtang]

I picked it up from KBI. He took me caching one afternoon and we found a few, then some puzzles really got us hooked.

[+raysnkids]

I found out about geocaching after reading an article about it last month in the waiting room of my son's dentist office. It was in Southern Living magazine (Nov/2007 issue, I think)....almost stole that magazine so I wouldn't forget about it! Ended up just writing down the geocaching.com link instead though.

 

I got a Garmin etrex Legend (the blue one) for Christmas, and have found 17 so far this past week. I'm hooked!!

[Lateck]

I found this while researching a GPS unit for motorcycle (street) trips. I wanted to track my rides through the local mountains. I now find I can down load some cache coordinates and ride out and search. Another good reason for a ride

 

After tiring some it's been fun.

 

Lateck

[+charliewhiskey]

Several years ago I did a Google search for a particular key chain I was looking for. Near the top of the search listings was a link to a geocache log where a cacher had posted about leaving one of them in the cache. I was quite excited about being able to simply pick up one of the key chains out of a box in the woods , until I realized (1) the cache was across the country from me and (2) the cache log was so old that the key chain was already gone from it.

 

But I poked around the website for a bit, intrigued because it reminded me of the orienteering I used to do, but that was it.

 

... until a year or more later when I walked into my local library and found a display up front about geocaching. I checked out "Geocaching for Dummies", went back to the website, and was astounded to find out there were over 160 caches within 10 miles of my house, including one just down the road!

 

I found my first 12 caches withoug a GPSr. I went after easy ones and used Google Maps and hints to find them. I would have gone on that way for a bit more, but my husband, needing a birthday present idea, got me a GPSr.

 

... but I still use Google Maps and hints.

[+Bad_CRC]

saw a story online about how the cops found a "bomb" and blew it up for safety.

 

Thats funny

 

ya, it's actually super-common

 

http://www.google.com/search?q=geocaching+bomb

 

87,000 google results for geocaching bomb.

[+private bones]

I was searching for something on ebay - I think it had to do with water sprinkler systems and an auction came up for fake sprinkler micro caches. At the time I thought huh? What is this crazy scam? But of course the curiosity was killing me so I pressed on and found all kinds of bizarre cache container auctions.

 

That led to searching for other geocaching items which led to looking at GPS stuff which led to geocaching.com. Two days later I did the rookie thing and set out to do some in store "research" and "price comparison" and two hours later returned home with a full price etrex (I may have even paid more than retail I was so rollin with this new game)...And, of course the same day I acquired the esteemed literature that every green and impatient cacher simply must have...Geocaching for Idiots. That just about sums up my elegant entrance into this worldly game

[+fastforty]

We were given a $100 WalMart gift card. Since we already own everything of interest to us that our local store carries, we turned to WalMart Online to try to make good use of the gift. After weeks of scanning through everything in their camping, fishing, hiking, automotive & tools sections, I finally clicked on the "GPS Devices" link that seemed to be haunting the corner of every screen that I went to. Up until then, we had only been given the 2-cent-tour of geocaching, & thought it was a pretty lame waste of time, LOL. A quick google search for "gps" & "geocaching" landed us here. We saw that there were several caches within a mile or two of our rural farm location. We were able to locate those caches without a gps, but knew that it would get considerably more difficult to do so once we got out of familiar territory. Kicked in another $15 & ordered a blue Etrex Legend & have found almost 300 caches with it, seen a LOT of places/things that we would *never* have seen otherwise, & generally had a lot of good times. We're sitting here right now waiting for UPS to bring our new Vista HCx, cuz we *need* the 1,000 waypoints capacity, LOL.

[+bettsbugs]

Some old college friends of mine got together for the first time in years. One of them mentioned that he was involved in geocaching as part of the 'let's catch up' conversation. I couldn't even remember the word, but my husband was so taken by the idea he spent that evening looking up different GPSr. We ordered one and started our new adventures as geocachers.

 

We did take a hyatis for a while, but have hit the ground running since we got back into last spring. We have gotten to see neat little hidden away places close to home that we would have never gotten to see otherwise. It gets us out of the house, meeting new people, and seeing great places!

 

Thanks Renegade Knight for introducing us to this wonderful sport!

[+Machuco]

My brother accidentally found a cache while camping up in the sierra's one summer. He opened it up, read the geonote, and wrote a short entry in the log book. When he got home he logged on the the web site and found out all about it. He proceeded to purchase a GPS and after he had found a few caches he called me up and turned me on to this great hobby. It fit right in with my lifestyle and I have been hooked ever since.

[+DanielMorgan345]

I have a habit of reading completely irrelevant wikipedia pages during my free time. I got interested and started reading about GPS. That led to geocaching. Luckily managed to borrow a Garmin eTrex Legend for my first 3 finds, and have just today purchased a pda and gps reciever off ebay today Hope everything works out well for my next, paperless, trip! Wikipedia FTW lol.

[+Bamboogirl]

We have friends who dabble in the game who told us about it. I looked up my home coordinates and found at least a dozen within a couple miles. It drove me nuts knowing they were there.

 

Add to that an excuse to go buy a new tech doo-dad and get out of the house with my honey and we were hooked.

[geckomaster62]

I was looking through kipkay's videos when I noticed one with the title "Hidden treasure near your house" I watched it ,I went here ,I singed up and it was the best decision I ever made

Edited March 11, 2010 by geckomaster62

[+briansnat]

Read about it in a newspaper article. Within a week I had a GPS and my first find.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I had been considering getting a GPS for kayak navigation, especially after some trip planning with a group of kayakers that was doing a week long trip on Hudson lake. Even though I didn't own a GPS at the time I downloaded ExpertGPS, synchronized some topo maps, identified some waypoints for landling points, and mapped out a route.

 

A few months later my wife was reading some web page, when led her to another personal page by the author of the first. Listed among his interests was geocaching. She read a bit about it and asked if I knew anything about it (I had heard of it previously) and though it might be fun to do. I told her we'd need to get a GPS and she said, "we'll you do have a birthday coming up". When my first cache (which I adopted a couple of years later) I walked away and she navigated to it as well. Since then about 98% of my finds I done alone.

[+Firefly911]

Had a friend tell me about it and after doing a little research we decided to try it. The first time out we had no luck and decided it wasn't for us. A few years later someone mentioned geocaching again and we decided to give it another go. We prepared ourselves a little better this time (read logs, looked at pictures of different containers) and we finally found a few. We haven't stopped since!

[Mr.Yuck]

Since this is a bumped 2007 thread, I had to make sure I didn't already answer. I was surfing the website epodunk.com, which is basically useless demographic and geographic information on any municipality in the U.S. They have a link on the page for any municipality "find geocaches in this municipality".

[+PointLobos]

Since my entry seems a bit different, I will post it.

My sons are involved in competing in Science Olympiad.

This year Geocaching was a trial event at their state tournament.

I looked it up, went to find a couple local caches with my son and WHAM!...hooked.

[ad5smith]

several years ago my dad heard of it, and told me about it, buit nothing came of it (due to me being in HS, i was more interested in the usual... sports, cars, girls etc.) a couple months ago i was looking at the daily deal at www.woot.com and it was a GPSr and someone asked if it would be useable for geocaching. and i was suddenly reminded about it. and here i am

[knowschad]

I picked it up from KBI. He took me caching one afternoon and we found a few, then some puzzles really got us hooked.

Ahhh.... I see. Group therapy.

[+rob3k]

Old high school friend mentioned geocaching on his facebook page. I looked it up, sounded fun, tried it out a few days later, and haven't looked back since. Thankfully I had a Nuvi I could use for my first stretch. I don't think I would have fronted a few hundred for a GPSr just to try this out. But, I did buy a Colorado a few months in.

 

I'm very lucky to live in an area with a great geocaching community. After my first day of caching (DNFed two) the CO contacted me with some helpful hints. After my second day of caching (found a few) another CO contacted me to congratulate me on finding his cache. Went on to meet that second CO, just a great guy.

Edited March 11, 2010 by rob3k

[+geodarts]

My daughter and her classmates found a container on a school field trip and showed it to me when we were hiking in the area. Some other hikers told us it must have been a geocache. Six months later we were looking for something to do and I noticed a couple caches near my home that I could do without a gadget. Two months later I found a cheap gpsr on eBay.

[+HawkLawless1]

Surfed across a NY Times on-line article about geocaching last year a couple months after it posted (GPS Marks the Spot). Been hooked ever since.

[+Casting Crowns]

I vaguely remember hearing about the original when it caught on and was just getting started. At the time, GPS units were out of my price range so I didn't persue it any further. Fast forward to 2008 and I read an article in my scouting magazine about a troop in California that would go geocaching on the weekends (a Venture Crew). I was reminded of the game and read that it was FREE to sign up and that you could find them without a geep. I found my first 7 without a geep until I came to my first multi.....I went and bought one then! I introduced my scouts to it and have been at it ever since. I LOVE being outdoors and just searching for stuff.

[+tozainamboku]

Hiking in the mountains one day, I decided to go "off trail" to take a short cut. Well after walking a bit, I realized I had no idea where I was. Even though I had a topomap of the area, it wasn't detailed enough to figure out how to get back to the trail from where I was. Eventually, I worked my way back to the trail and made it safely back to my car at the trailhead. The short cut turn into a couple of extra hours and who knows how many extra miles. I decided then to get a GPS to take with me when I went hiking so I wouldn't get lost anymore.

 

As I searched the internet for how to use the GPS - especially for sites where I could load waypoints and tracks of local trails, and software to manage the waypoints and tracks I recorded while out hiking, I kept getting hits on Geocaching.com or on the Groundspeak forums. So one day I loaded a couple of geocaches as waypoints into my GPS and went to look for them. Now when I go hiking, I end up spending a couple of extra hours and who knows how many extra miles going off the trail to find geocaches.

[+BCSasquatch]

I had been planning on getting a hand held GPSr for quite a while for back country travel and recording waypoints of hiking trails, 4x4 trails, fishing holes, remote sites suitable for camping ( I never pay to camp) etc.

 

On one of the local 4x4 forums that I haunt has a board dedicated to mapping and GPS so I had been reading up on GPS stuff and they have a thread dedicated to Geocaching. After asking a few questions over there and getting the low-down on what it's all about, I checked out Geocaching.com and signed up.

 

It is entirely in keeping with my nature to gather knowledge about things that interest me, and hence, here I am.

[+StarBrand]

I was trying to update the firmware in my eTrex Legend - when I saw a link for Geocaching. I figured there couldn't be any within 200 miles of here. Turned out there were 4 within 100 miles and 1 just 1 mile away. An hour later I was out doing the drunken bee dance knee deep in leaves and freezing drizzle. What fun!!

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Since this is a bumped 2007 thread, I had to make sure I didn't already answer. I was surfing the website epodunk.com, which is basically useless demographic and geographic information on any municipality in the U.S. They have a link on the page for any municipality "find geocaches in this municipality".

 

I hid one of my caches in Podunk, NY.

[+Sioneva]

The aliens... the aliens made me do it! I couldn't help myself!

[knowschad]

Chad showed me. You know Chad, right?

[+Castle Mischief]

I came for the hot chicks but stayed for the free ammo cans.

 

Actually, we drifted into caching from letterboxing. I was getting increasingly frustrated with the multitude of interpretations of "turn 98 degrees" and thought that with coordinates how could you not find the things, you walk right up to them!

 

Silly me.

[NeecesandNephews]

The little man that lives behind my eyes and screams into my brain told me people were hiding things from me and I should do something about it!!

 

When I told my Therapist he suggested putting away the gun, buying a GPSr and checking out Geocaching, all the while assuring me that this was what the little man meant!

 

He could have been lying to me but the little man didn't seem to argue.

Edited March 11, 2010 by NeecesandNephews

[+simpjkee]

In April 2007, my dad was telling me about his work and he mentioned that he had some customers from out of town who he went across the street to a park with. I asked him why of all places he would take them to a city park. He said they were geocachers who wanted to get an out of state cache. I was like "geo-what?" and the rest is history.

[+Soifon]

I actually found out about geocaching through a headline on FARK.com (a humorous user-submitted news aggregate site). The user-submitted headline said, "Newest fun activity that could kill you (*throws dart at list of hobbies*): geocaching", and the article itself was about police fears that people could get suckered into opening bombs or anthrax, or you could be busted for trespassing when searching for an illegally-placed cache.

 

The FARK article generated 150+ comments, some from geocachers themselves, so I decided to download a free geocaching app for my Droid phone and give it a shot!

[+nekom]

I was looking at a topographic map and noticed an abandoned railroad tunnel. I wanted to know what it was and if it still existed so I sent an e-mail to a local history buff. He told me that he hadn't been down there, but a friend of his who was into geocaching had told him that it still stood. Geocaching, eh? I looked into it and couldn't believe I hadn't heard of it before. Wouldn't you know that tunnel has a cache too, which was my second find and to this day probably my all time favorite.

[EWSmith]

I was on a camping trip with my Boy Scout troop, and our leader was telling us: "There's a geocache nearby. Let's go find it!"

 

Didn't take much after that.

Edited March 15, 2010 by EWSmith

[+Fianccetto]

I've been aware of people rummaging in the undergrowth, to emerge with tupperware and sort of knew it was a game. I vaguely remember asking someone about what they had found, not sure where. Think he gave me a detailed explanation, but I had no GPSr or even access to the internet, so I forget the details. Then at the beginning of last year, geocaching came up on a thread in the Wild About Britain website. I looked it up online, ordered an Oregon and here we are!