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Are geocachers born or made?


shuccrum

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I was thinking back on my past today and I think I have always been a Geocacher. When I was about 10 I used to hide containers in a pasture and go back in a few months and "find" them. I also discovered that I loved to dig potatoes. I never knew what I would find-big ones or little ones. There was always that thrill of discovery. When I read about Geocaching in 2001 I knew it was for me.

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I was fascinated when I first learned about latitude and longitude in grade school. One of my favorite board games was Lost Treasure -- an electronic component "hid" a treasure on a game board, and it would tell you if it was N/S or E/W of you each turn (I still have the game). I always wanted to hide a time capsule, and I was disappointed that I didn't have any good reason to exchange secret messages in hidden drop points after reading about methods for doing it. Then there's my love for exploring and the outdoors.

 

That's not to say nurture takes no part, but it was definitely nature in my case.

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I guess I was born cacher, I found it on my own and knew instantly it was something I had to start doing. I liked maps a lot as a kid, and wanted a GPS for a long time before I got one. When I did find caching I had already started to get to a point where I wanted to use my GPS more since I just enjoyed messing with it, but taking it on mundane trips to town was getting old.

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I used to love to play Hide n' Seek as a kid and I also really enjoyed scavenger hunts. Couple that with a love of hiking and nature and geocaching is a great fit. Geocachers are born. :bad:

Me too! My childhood friends got tired of me always wanting to play treasure hunt games. Besides hiking and nature, I also love maps. Found orienteering first, then when geocaching came along - bingo!

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If the shoe fits???

 

Heh. True dat. B)I call it Geocaching Aptitude, or G.A.

 

I too have ALWAYS been a geocacher. I think that's one of the real measures of a person who will stick with cachin' over the long haul. :rolleyes:

 

When I discovered geocaching, I was at work on the swing shift and I didn't get off until 10PM. I was up before the sun and hunting my first cache the next day.

 

Here is something along those lines that I posted awhile back, but it pertains here too:

 

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 :bad::bad: gans

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I just discovered GC at the end of last year, but the fit is fantastic. I have always liked to drive/ride/walk around and see new places, find out where the road goes, and see if the the map is right and there really is a creek there. Hiding and finding are fun, but geocaching speaks right to the "new places" area of my brain. There's nothing like being shown a beautiful place that is virtually next door and you had no idea it was there.

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I totally agree that some people have this in their blood. It's like land surveying, as well. Some people get a thrill from finding 150 year old original stones, others couldn't care less.

 

I hate math. I HATE IT LIKE RUSH HATES HILLARY! :rolleyes:

 

But coordinate geometry? I totally get it, and like it. You may not realize it, but every time you tell your GPS, "I am HERE, show me where THERE is" ie: GOTO function, you are using coordinate geometry up to your neck. Heck, that's how the entire GPS system works!

 

If you think in northing easting, like "up four, over 6" about ANYTHING, then Geocaching is in your blood. I think it has a lot to do with thinking patterns, and how your brain is wired.

 

WIRED... NOT WEIRD... :bad::bad:

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Born. I had a like of compasses and maps when younger and my father taught me how to navigate with a compass. My dad would tie orange ribbons to small trees and give my brother and I bearing and distance to each ribbon so we could find them. I have been fascinated by GPS since I learned about it as an Air Force avionics troop. I got to play with selective availability keys while they were still selective!

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Born/made. My Dad got me into hiking and nature before I could walk. I remember my parents gave my brother and I some treasure chests that were sand toys. The lock was a sand mold, the lid was a sifter, the chest was a bucket, inside there were large "gold coins" that were sand molds, and the shovels were attached to the side. That was the coolest toy to give a four year old!

I love studing maps and using compasses. I remember enjoying orienteering in sixth grade camp. I also used to draw maps of an area so I could find or hide treasure. I was good at hiding things and sometimes would forget a stash and find it years later. Five years ago I got a metal detector. In September my cousin told me about Geocaching that naturally got me very interested.

 

After reading this maybe I should be a pirate! :laughing:

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I always liked hiking and playing in the woods as a kid back in the 50's.

 

In the 60's I learned all about topo maps and compasses, I went to a military school and they taught us how to be forward artillary observers.

 

Then the 80's I loved playing a game on the computer called Cave that was exploring and discovering things in a cave, even today I like computer games that you are discovering new parts of the map like Heros Might and Magic.

 

About 18 years ago or so I found Score-oree while I was a BSA Scout Master and that is taking a map and compass heading off through the woods in search of punch stations hidden over hill and dale. It is really an orentieering course that some college ROTC teams RUN for 4 hours trying to get all 100 which I never saw completed where our council set up the course. I also loved going to Philmont which is a back packing BSA camp in NM where you set out for 10 days on a trail where you have to find your way using a map and compass and get to live in the 'woods' for the 10 days that was a blast! The best of both worlds.

 

When I read about caching in the local paper a little over a year ago, I said I have to do that and now the only regret I have is I found it too late in life to really go for a lot of them I want to and I don't have enough time to do more of it. I am not into the numbers but into the hike I hate PaG and really hate lamp posts.

 

One of the most enjoyable vacations I have had in the last 15 years is this last summer when I went to Reno I went Geocaching every day that was fun. When I retire in 3 years I plan on caching a lot more than now and one of my goals is to find caches in all 50 states and I only have 42 to go :laughing:

 

So in sumarry was I born or made a cacher, yes both I think I was doing it before GPS's were around.

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What if you just like standing around in the bushes looking for tupperware and hiding from the people walking by?

Nothing hereditary about it.. they are made, but it can happen at very early age. The types of activities we were introduced to in our childhood led to our current interests.

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I had 4 older brothers growing up. I was the youngest and only girl so I was always a tom boy and seem to like boy stuff better.

 

As a kid, we *gasp* actually played outside!!! :anibad:

 

We would take turns burying a treasure and then make a map to see if the others could find it. It was alot of fun. My hides were never very good. Everybody usually quit playing when it got to be my turn to hide. :laughing::laughing: My oldest brothers were always the hardest to find. Sometimes I don't think he even hid anything, he just dug a hole so we found the loose dirt and didn't put anything in it. Sometimes he would dig a bunch of holes so we had to dig them all up to find which one was the real X.

 

I've also always loved Hide'n'seek and scavenger hunts. I love Battleship too!

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