How did you discover this great game of geocaching?

[+lostinthesparks4]

I have just started my geocaching adventures and wondered how everyone else got started.

 

I was just goofing around on the internet one day and happened to end up reading an article about geocaching, and from there I was hooked! My sister and I have found a few easy caches just using the Google maps because we are both college students we don't have the extra money but we feel like we are looking for hidden treasure like pirates!!! My boyfriend I think that he thinks I'm crazy but oh well!! I think that this is a great game and can't wait till school is out and I have more time to hike and search for geocaches!! I'm not very good at all this yet I seem to never be looking in the right spot but it is still fun either way.

 

So I know some of you are probably the original founders but I really do wonder how everyone got started did you just happen upon it like I did on the internet, did you happen upon an ammo box or Tupperware in the woods, or did a close friend or family member get you hooked???

[+aerofarm]

I saw it on the internet and then some students in my class told me about it, so I took out the GPS and was hooked after the 1st one. Probably hooked after just looking at the site. My kids go with me and they think they are Captain Jack Sparrow on the heels of buried treasure. Arrggh.

 

 

aerofarm

[+va griz]

A friend at work told me about it and it sounded OK. Then there was an article in the local paper about a hunt in a local park that I like, and it sounded fun and interesting. I got hooked pretty quick after that.

[+Miragee]

Today is my Third "Cacheiversary." Although I signed up on the Site earlier, I didn't find my first cache until January 17, 2005. I learned about Geocaching from an "All Things Considered" segment on NPR radio more than a year earlier, but didn't think it was something I would enjoy doing by myself. Boy, was I wrong.

 

I was hooked from that very first cache I found, which was an ammo can hidden in a pile of rocks at the end of a short hike. Those are still my favorite kind of caches to look for and find.

[+Photographer Jim]

I am coming up on my one year mark at the beginning of February (and it looks like I will reach my goal of 400 caches this year). I got started when I purchased a GPSr for a photography trip I was planning into some remote spots in southern Utah. I had coordinates for the areas I intended to visit and photograph, and I figured this would be good insurance when hiking the desert. When I got it, one of my high school students (I teach) asked if I was going to do any geocaching. I asked what that was - he explained - I thought it might be a good way to practice using the new GPSr. So, on his advice I went to the Geocaching.com website, got the coordinates for a few local caches, and went searching. I was pretty much hooked with my first find, and have continued to cache fairly regularly ever since.

[+Team_CSG]

Discoverd Geocaching as part of a GPS and paper map presentation at a Boy Scout Roundtable. Geacaching was a two sentence description, but sounded interesting. Check out the web site and within 30 days, had a GPSr and found my first cache.

[+Dryphter]

I 'discovered' caching on another website where someone was talking about getting a GPSr for hunting, but was planning on using it for geocaching with his family. Geocaching? Huh - what the heck is that?

 

Looked it up, read a whole bunch about it, and had a Garmin on order the next day. ;-) My favorite thing about it is that you can cache everywhere you go. I only wish I would have heard of it years ago as I travel all over the country for work and would have been able to cache.

[+Mike and Mitya]

I was told by a co-worker on Dec 1, 07. I had never heard about it before and was hooked just hearing about it. That afternoon, I fired up the GPS and found my first one. Then the hook was set for good.

[+Pirates of Tuskegee]

My uncle and his kids cache, and I went with them back in the sumer of '06. I didn't have the money or the time to start then and kinda forgot about it. They came to visit suring Thanksgiving '07 and we found another one (with my fiance this time). Found a GPS for pretty cheap and have been caching since then. Comming up on 100 here this weekend. Going to get the milestone in the mountains I grew up in and love.

[+Maingray]

A TV piece on some local cable programming... showing some cacher (who I have yet to identify) going out caching. That was in 2002, had found my first cache by late afternoon that same day.

[+StarBrand]

I've been doing it for almost 6 years now. Discovered it from a small link on Garmin's website while I was updating my GPS firmware.

 

An hour later I was stumbling around in circles trying to line up the coordinates and digging around for a coffee can. Took about an hour. Good thing there was 1 nearby - at the time there were exactly 5 within 100 miles and only the 1 within 60.

[+palser]

Replaced a Legend that I thought I had lost with a Vista CX. One of the rare times I read the directions it had this blip about Geocache ready. Never heard of it before. Did my research, loaded a geocache, grabbed the wife and off we went. DNF! (In defense, I later learned that the Vista was consistently 60ft. to east from ground zero. Firmware update later corrected this.) Met up with a couple of locals, went to couple Sat. morn coffee/donuts (put on by Starbrand. Thanks/much appreciated!). Had some good instruction in a few areas. Then started having some real fun. Called everybody I knew.

 

GC'ing goes real well with some other interests. When it's too cold to ride the Harley, it's just perfect for GC'ing.

[+KJcachers]

Wife's friend at work mentioned it during casual coversation one day at lunch. Wife came home with the website and we started poking around. It looked like a great way to get out together and get some exercise and fresh air plus give us a reason to go see these beautiful mountains we have in the area so we ordered up a GPSr and now we are deep in it!

[WashoeZephyr]

I 'discovered' caching on another website where someone was talking about getting a GPSr for hunting, but was planning on using it for geocaching with his family. Geocaching? Huh - what the heck is that?

 

Looked it up, read a whole bunch about it, and had a Garmin on order the next day. ;-) My favorite thing about it is that you can cache everywhere you go. I only wish I would have heard of it years ago as I travel all over the country for work and would have been able to cache.

 

Very similar story! Found out about it on another forum that had nothing to do with Geocaching much less being outdoors. One of the posters kept mentioning that her and her family did this every weekend. Proceeded to do some research on GPSr's bought a Magellan 210 and off I went. That was a year and a half ago and 740 finds later. Since then I've purchased 2 more GPS'rs and have now been swayed to a Garmin . We went to Hawaii the year before I started doing this. Hawaii would have been awesome. One of the things I love about this game is it takes you mostly to places the locals go. Now we just need to save up so we can go back to Hawaii!

[+Clothahump]

I happened to run across the site while following a link on something totally unrelated. It looked interesting and I mentioned it to SWMBO. Lo and behold, six months later I get a Garmin Etrex for Christmas and I am promptly hooked.

[+twins&dad]

Our rec center is very involved and holds yearly events. I saw it on the web site when looking for other info and wanted to try it. Borrowed a GPS for a little while to make sure we liked it.

[+Chance Explorers]

It all started on a lonely friday night. My girlfriend was out of town for the weekend and my good friend and his girlfriend took pitty on me and asked me to do something. WOW who knew GEOCACHING!! OK Whats that?? They said something like tresure hunting. FINE WITH ME ANYTHING TO GET ME OUT OF THE HOUSE!!! Had dinner then my first cache I yelled I LOVE GEOCACHING!! WOW!!! What fun!! I told my girlfriend about it and she was mad she was bord at a family tning and I was having the time of my life!! She is hooked now to!!

[+joranda]

A family member introduced me to it. Next thing you know I was hooked. Even gave up all my other hobbies.

[+catsandkids]

I am relatively new to this ( having found my first cache in October 2007). I read about it in a parenting magazine called "Wondertime." As a mom to 3 kids, ages 12, 10, and 6, it seemed like something our whole family could do. It had the GPS for my 12 year old techno-nerd son. It has hiking for my hyperactive 10 year old daughters, and it had "treasures" for my 6 year old daughter. Best of all, after the initial investment for the GPS and a few other things, it is a cheap hobby. My husband says anything that keeps me out of the mall is fine with him. But the credit card companies miss me!

[+Jneaves]

I was on a cruise in Alaska and had my new GPS unit. I hardly knew all the functions but it was a new model. Another GPS guy came up to me one day and we compared models. He asked if I had used it for geocaching. I had seen the function in my unit, but did not know what he was talking about. I said "no" and we parted. 7 months later I see stuff on the internet and all the cache sites. I gave it a try and "boom", I was searching and hiding caches.

[+eagletrek]

Someone slipped me a note from the next stall in the men's room!!!!!!

[+team lagonda]

not that theres anything wrong with that....im just sayin....

Edited January 18, 2008 by team lagonda

[+trailpuppy]

I found a cache while out hiking (without a GPSr) and read the stash note for the website. 4K finds later.....and my wife really wishes I had stayed home that day!

[+gravechaser]

Two years ago I was getting a haircut and I arrived early. The gentleman in the chair was telling my hairdresser about what he'd done to her GPS to fix a coordinate problem. I sat and listened as they discussed adding maps, changing waypoint names and "cachers they would like to give a beatin' to.

Finally I caught a pause to ask what they were talking about. For the next 15 minutes I got the education of a lifetime on GPSr, how to use them, the many things they are used for and exactly what geocaching is.

 

I went home and looked up geocaching.com and after reading up on it I proceeded to ebay the next day and snagged a Garmin Legend for $70 and have been at it ever since. I find it's a fun hobby to engage in.

[+kraushad]

Back in 2002, I visited a tech-loving friend of mine who grabbed a quick cache while we were sight-seeing in the area where he lived. I didn't think much of it at the time, because the cost of the units prevented me from being able to care. Then I forgot about it.

 

Until a few months ago -- when I was surfing an RV forum, and one of the threads was about a person geocaching with their family when they go camping, how much fun it was, and how there were now caches all over the place. I thought that with the lower price of GPSrs, and a wife and son who I would like to spend bunches of outside time with, it would be a good idea to check into it again.

 

Glad I did.

[+CM-14]

I saw an article in Delta Skynews on a flight to Montana to do some hiking. I'd had a GPSr for several years, but hadn't used it much. Seemed like a good match.

[+egami]

A muggle introduced me to the concept. I heard him talking about it and took an educated guess on how to spell it and a Google search brought me here.

 

Went home that night and found my first cache without a GPS.

[+CM-14]

Yes, I picked up the hobby 2 months after I got back from Hawaii as wel.....

 

I 'discovered' caching on another website where someone was talking about getting a GPSr for hunting, but was planning on using it for geocaching with his family. Geocaching? Huh - what the heck is that?

 

Looked it up, read a whole bunch about it, and had a Garmin on order the next day. ;-) My favorite thing about it is that you can cache everywhere you go. I only wish I would have heard of it years ago as I travel all over the country for work and would have been able to cache.

 

Very similar story! Found out about it on another forum that had nothing to do with Geocaching much less being outdoors. One of the posters kept mentioning that her and her family did this every weekend. Proceeded to do some research on GPSr's bought a Magellan 210 and off I went. That was a year and a half ago and 740 finds later. Since then I've purchased 2 more GPS'rs and have now been swayed to a Garmin . We went to Hawaii the year before I started doing this. Hawaii would have been awesome. One of the things I love about this game is it takes you mostly to places the locals go. Now we just need to save up so we can go back to Hawaii!