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Cointest: One year of Geocaching


Steinwälzer

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Last year on 27. June I found my first geocache! :D This was more like a training for the GPSr that I bought "just for fun and to play around a little bit" a few days ago. Then I discovered the option "Geocaching" and wondered what it is all about. After reading a little bit about it I thought that it would be a great way to learn how to use that GPSr. There was a cache near to my home, and out I went in the pouring rain, and found my first geocache :D

The next day we went on a weekend trip to the coast to attend a photography course. I printed out the description of 4 more caches that were close to where we stayed, and found the time to search and find them...

Now that's one year ago, and what was meant to be "a little GPSr training" became a new hobby! I have found over 500 caches now, collect geocoins, found new friends and saw a lot of new and exciting places. I crawled into tunnels and waded into rivers, and I spend a lot more time outdoors than before.

 

To celebrate that I give away a "I love Geocaching" LE coin in antique gold.

 

Just tell me your story about how you started geocaching and what it is now for you. (Of course this means one post per person, I guess nobody starts .completely new for more than one time...). I will choose the winner randomly.

 

Cointest runs for 24 hours and closes tomorrow, 28. June, 10:00 German time (which should be 00:00 forum time if I am right...)!

 

I am waiting for your stories, and good luck!!! B):)B)

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Well, I guess I'll start if noone beats me before I finish typing. In 2003, Chip was watching a show on the Travel Channel and they had a segment on a show about geocaching. He told me about it and how it was done. We already had a gps, so I did some research and found a local geocaching group and this web site and two new geocachers were born (sort of speak:) We found our first cache in a local park about a mile or two away from the house and it really was such a thrill finding it (even though it was a micro, yuck:( ) But, we were hooked from that point on. With both of us having disabilities, me in a wheelchair and Chip with diabetes, neuropathy in the legs, and poor eyesite. Our geocaching adventures are a true team sport since I act as his eyes and he as my legs to get the caches. Although we have been caching since 2003, we really have not done a whole lot of caches compared to most but what we have found have been real adventures for us. It really helps with our health to get out and do something fun and active. I've also been collecting a lot of geocoins within the last year or so and tend to stay on the forums here quite a bit which I really enjoy because of all the great friendships I have developed with fellow cachers here which really means a lot. Well, thats our story and how Nochipra was created (a combination of mine name (Nora) and Chip's :D Thanks for the great contest, I look forward to reading all the other stories.

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In 2003 our very good friends went back to their homeland and discovered geocaching. These are the same people who taught me how to shoot a gun so I wouldn't be a cowboy action shooter widow since my husband had recently discovered that hobby and I had yet to learn. So anyway while on their trip they called me from Las Vegas, Nevada and told me go to www.geocaching.com and check it out!! I laughed because they will try anything but it got me curious so before I went to bed I went online and checked it out. It was very intriguing after reading the website I saw that there were several near our home.

 

The following days I went out trying to find a cache without a GPS because I couldn't stand it!! I ended up running into two men while out on the trail and we smiled and said hi but nothing else. When I got to the parking lot I noticed their license plate and saw the geocaching name of one of them and I just got so excited because then I knew for sure they were cachers!! I went home and asked my husband for a GPSr for Christmas and on Christmas day I opened it up and was obsessed after that!! lol

 

One of the men I ran into that day, had hidden 80 caches near me...and I thought it would be fun to hide a few before he took those spots and thus started my planting caches passion. He happened to be the lieutenant of our local law enforcement and we became fast friends online due to our common interest. I also had it in my mind that if I got a few out there I could surprise my friends when they came back to Idaho as I hadn't told them yet what I had gotten for Christmas.

 

I had 25 planted by the time they got back home lol and I had made many more friends by then and discovered a great many places with my family!! I'm still thankful to this day they called me and told me about geocaching.

 

Thanks for the cointest Steinwälzer :D

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Last year in March Mark & Gayle were at the local motor show. We went past a booth selling all sorts of maps etc as well as GPSr and we stopped to ask about using our GPS when we go to Europe and England this year. Well he said we should get a better navigator type for the trip. As we had a GPS he asked if we did Geocaching, we said no, what is it? He told us about the site, we took a note and away we went for the rest of our days plans. When we got home it was late but we decided to look up the site, we set up the team as Flipper&co as Gayle is a Dolphin, and when we put in our home co-ords there was a cache 500m from home, so off we "walked" no idea what we were looking for, and it was 11.30pm on a Sunday night!! we got close, but did not find it, Mark went back the next day after work and found it. He waited till Gayle got home and we went back together, and discovered our first cache. This was the week before Easter and we were going to the Riverland for the holiday's, so took out the rest of what was to become our "team" We own 51 caches too now, because we cleaned out the Riverland area pretty quick, it is good there are a few new cachers in that area now so there are new ones for us to find as well as the city ones. We are heading for our 800th soon, We started on a mission back in November to find at least 1 cache every day in November, well we kept going till we got to 222 days in a row. We hold the Australia & NEW Zealand record for this. Now we are planning for our big trip to England and Europe, and will visit Vancouver and Hawaii on the way home, and all thanks to the travel bug and Alex from the map shop. We are travel bugs and love seeing the different places geocaching takes you to.

cheers form Flipper&co

Gayle & Mark

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I originally purchased my GPS for a small trip I was taking up north, and didn't want to get lost. One of the listed features of it, was the ability to do "Geocaching". I have always had a curious mind, so, I followed the link on the Garmin website, and started researching it. After a bit of poking around the site, I found a cache that was within a block of where I grew up. I figured it would be the perfect way for me to try this thing out.

 

The day my GPSr arrived, I loaded up my first waypoint, drove to a park I had never been to (keep in mind, I lived a block from it for the first 16 years of my life), and started to follow the little arrow. I learned a few things that day. First was, never forget the mosquito spray. I also learned how much I missed being outdoors. Walking through the trails, in the rain, getting dirty and muddy and LOST, I realized how much I loved it, and missed it since starting my office job.

 

I spent an hour and a half looking for my first cache, and walked past it about a dozen times. All told, I probably walked about 2 miles to get to a cache that was within a quarter mile of my car :D . But man, the elation I felt when I finally spotted that ammo can, hidden under a log... I danced and smiled for the first time in a very long time. I realized, right then, at that moment, how much I was missing out on that I used to enjoy. I sat down, carefully opened it up, amazed at the odd little trinkets inside of the cache, and realized another mistake I had made... Sitting down on an ant hill :D ... But, I still loved it.

 

I'm still relatively new to geocaching, but, for me, it has become a way to relieve stress. To get out, away from my cubicle, and enjoy the outdoors like I used to. To get back to nature so to speak, and a way to find peace with myself that I don't get during the week. It's also a way for me to start losing the 40 pounds I've gained in the last 2 years working in a cubicle. So, in some ways, geocaching is probably (in an off hand way) saving my life. For without it, I would just sit here, at my cube all week, and then sit at home all weekend in front of the TV doing nothing but rotting.

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Mr Geo.Error has read in a paper about geocaching. may 2006

He has looked in the computer to find more about geocaching and which programs we most used.

 

We had a pda, so the first time we looked if we could find a cache, we used our tom tom.

Now that is funny because the tom tom does not let you go into a woods, the tom tom let you stay at the roads.

So oke we go home and seek the right program.

 

We go back with the right program at our pda.

Now what goes wrong now:

we did not read well.

So we could not find the right waypoints.

Oke we go home.

 

He , we saw at home what we did wrong so, we went back again and yes we found the cache off this multi.

And a geocoin.Oepss there started the other addiction.

It feels so good when you find without help from somebody a cache, so this addiction was started also.

 

We are regular cachers, if we can we cache every weekend.

If we have holiday, we cache everyday.

We take a lot off cache discription with us on holiday because the caches brings you on the most beautiful places of the world.

We use still the pda but we have now also a garmin 60.

 

Caching makes us very happy, Geocaching belongs in our world.

 

:D Steinwalzer congrats with your 1 year caching, that there are more caching years to come for you :D .

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Congratulations on your first year.

I will be celebrating my first year on the 29th of june :)

Although I heard about geocaching a while earlier on TV by Bernhard Hoecker, that is a German Comedian (for those who do not know, which should be most :D).

I thought that would be a great thing to do and I created my account here... I did not cache though due to the lack of time....

Then at the end of june I was having an internship in the city of Nuremberg, due to me not knowing anyone I came back to this website and looked up the area where I was staying. There was a cache close to my home back then near the castle in Nuremberg. I printed the disription and went ahead searching for it. After taking some detours due to the lack of a GPS I finally found the cache. It was fun. The days after I found some more caches without GPS before I looked up a cache with a TB in it. Even though it was not a cache easy to locate without GPS I went there and searched and searched and searched.... untill I finally held my first TB in hands :)

 

Up to today I found more than 320 caches, right now I am caching in Canada, looking forward to visiting the headquarters next week and doing the project APE cache. Even though there is hardly anyone around me that likes caching as much as I do (Except my Mom), I do not go anywhere without looking for a suitable cache to discover B)

 

I could tell about coins just as much, but that is another story :D

 

Thank you for this great cointest and

 

Viel Erfolg beim cachen im 2ten Jahr !! B)

 

Tschakko

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Such good stories, much better than the similar threads in regular forums. I guess the coin as a prize gets people to open up a little more.

 

Well, I found Geocaching after seeing it mentioned at the Wheresgeorge site, and punched in my ZIP code to discover that about six Caches down the list was one hidden at the balfield where my niece played softball. I just had to see what it was all about. I went right out to the store and got a GPS and within a few hours was bragging to my friends about how cool it was. This was before I was out on the road, so I had plenty of time to work in a few on many days, even while working. I would keep a stack of printouts for the area I worked in on my clipboard, and when my service calls brought me near one, I would just stick that one right in between the orders I had for the day. It was great. Now that I am on the road all the time, I find it more difficult to make the time for finding Caches, or for looking them up.

 

These days, the most enjoyment I get from the game is the extra games I run through a few TB listings...

 

Colectible, Tradable GameCards,

Roaming Raffle,

BINGO! Bug,

Cointests,

and sharing a variety of signature items I have come up with.

 

I like to collect the sigitems of others, and since i have all the side games, even a simple micro is a good find for me(since I can get more gamepieces out there for the next finder)

 

Besides my games, one of the things I have done that not many have is to host Events when I am on a trip. It is a great way to meet Cachers in the area that you visit, and does not take much work if it is just a simple gathering for coffee or dinner. I wish more people would try this.

 

My Name comes from the Note Cards and Notebooks I make with my photography, and I use it almost everywhere online. If one were to Google "Write Shop Robert" or " writeshoprobert" almost all the results listed will pertain to me. Not many people can say that about their online name!

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I visit my friend Geo.Error one day and she tell me that she has a new hobby....GeoCaching.

i run to home and tell my hubby everything what geo.error tells me and we did go look on the internet and read all about the Geocaching world.

we where so exciting about it that we go buy a GPS, once we had one of those thing we look for a cach in our town and we found one.

on saturday 27 January 2007 we wolk our first cach, oh so happy that we were.

when we come home we where suprised that we see things in our town that we never seen before and 27 january is the day that we begin whit our Caching adventure.

 

My story begin by Geo.Error and i thank her for share her story whit me because if she did`t we never know nothing about GeoCaching.

 

Congrats STEINWALZER whit your ONE YEAR and 500 CACHE`S :D

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Hello! Thank you for the cointest and congratulations for the 1 year of Geocaching! I am wishing you many many years my friend! :)

 

I have posted this many times, but I will place the whole story here!:D

 

I didn't know anything about geocaching! Many times, while we (all the family) were going out to find places where we could have a pic nic, collect flowers etc, we were seeing tourists in some strange palces, like mountains, or roads and fields "forgoten even from God" :) This was very strange to us! What are they doing up there? How did they find this place....were some of the things we were wondering!

 

Anyway... one day, while I was searching in ebay to find cheap coins or banknotes for my collection, I had the idea to search with words..you know when you put in ebay's search machine a word like Greek coin and shows all the auctions with these words in them...

 

I did that and I saw a beautiful medallion! It was colored, had the greek flag, an ancient greek ship, the map of Greece on the other side...it was such a beautiful item!!! At first I thought that it was probably a private medal like the ones that some companies are minting in Germany!

 

what really caught my eyes was that it was saying "first greek geocoin 2007"!! Hmm...first! It is probably something new! :)

 

Well..it was over my wallet limits, but I wanted one for my collection! i was going to put it with the normal greek coin collection I have, but in the section of tokens! (I have this coin now! :D )

 

While I was searching, I found the game! what is that?? I started reading and I found it quite interesting! WOW! It is like a treasure hunt!!!

 

The registration was free, so I was registered! I wanted to see if Rhodes was active and had caches! Oh yes!!! It had!!! :)

 

Unfortunatelly I didn't have a GPS, so as you can imagine, things were very difficult!!

One of the caches was in a place I new and it was so easy to find it! I went with my father! the cache was a micro, and I was so happy that I found it! :D I place my log and I did the same in the site! Of course the others were too difficult without GPS! I tried to find other 2....I was searching in the wrong places!!

 

I said everything to my sister and my brother in law, and were interested! I told them that we could do some exercise too with that game, and it was going to help us loose some weight! That was the magic word! :D We made a team! :) Of course, sometimes my father is helping us too! B)

 

After some days, my brother in law bought a GPS! He mostly wanted it for his car, because when he and my sister were in Athens to buy furniture for their home (They are prepairing for their marriage), they had difficulties with the streets.. etc!

Well, now we had a GPS help too! B)

 

We went out and started searching! We didn't know how GPS was working so...we didn't have luck at first! We tried some but...nothing! Thank God, we found the last one! It was good because my sister and my brother in law were about to stop geocaching! Inside the cache, was a beautiful geocoin!!!!!! WOW!!!!! What a start!!!!

 

After that, We just wanted to find all the caches in the island! We did it!!! :D

 

I entered in the foroums too, and...here I am!!!

 

With geocaching, except the exercise, the joy and the fun we have, we saw places we didn't even know that existed!!! We climped mountains, we saw the area from the top of them...mountains that we were not thinking to go! Not even in our dreams!

With geocaching we feel like children again! We love geocaching for that!!!

 

Of course, now, when I see tourists in strange areas, I know.... B)

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I got my first GPSr in 2005 primarily for hiking and camping in the mountains. I actually found out about geocaching through geocoins! I was looking around on eBay at US coins (I was a regular coin collecter before I became a geocoin collector). So I thought, I like coins, I already have a GPS, and I love the outdoors. Why not try geocaching. At that time (early 2007) I was stationed in Iraq. I thought there'd be no way there are any geocaches in Iraq. So I got on the website and did a search. Sure enough there were several close by. I emailed my wife to send me my GPSr. It took two weeks for it to arrive (longest two weeks ever). I got my GPSr, loaded the coordinates, and had no clue what I was looking for. In casual conversation with a guy I was working with at the time the topic geocaching came up. He knew about it too and already had several finds so he agreed to take me out on my first search. The next day we had off work we headed out to look for it. We decided to try an easy one since it was the first one. We found it after about 20 minutes of looking (a micro none the less), took a few pictures, and I've been hooked ever since!

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I live in Italy, but am actually from Holland and I watch Dutch tv via satellite. Two years ago there was a new mainstream Dutch tv channel (it's actually gone already now) the signal of which my satellite smartcard wasn't able to pick up. The channel hosted a show that I used to watch when it was still on another channel. So one day in April 2006 I watched the first episode of that show that had aired in January of that year, on the internet. And guess what, there was an item about this 'treasure hunting game' that immediately peeked my interest. The host of the show had someone explain the game to him and of course commented saying things like 'and what's the purpose of all that'.

Since I was already on the internet, after watching the show I immediately went to geocaching.com and geocaching.nl looking for more information. I looked up discussions about the show and it turned out that the Dutch geocaching community wasn't too happy about the publicity, since apparently geocaching was already quite well-spread and I guess they didn't want to attract muggle attention and a flood of new geocachers. This was completely in contrast with the Italian situation, where the geocaching community is always 'desperate' to spread the word and get more people involved.

At the time I didn't have a GPS but I went looking for my first cache (I believe the very next day) anyway, and eventually found it too! Then I disovered that there would be a geocaching event that Sunday in my region (which actually turned out to be the second Italian geocaching event ever), so although I couldn't get anyone to go there with me, I decided to go by myself anyway, also to get some advise about GPS devices. (I am quite the impulsive person and although I was convinced that geocaching wouldn't just be a passing 'fling', I didn't want to jump right at it and buy something without thinking it through and getting some advise). So I met a few Italian cachers at the event and took it from there!

When I discovered geocaching, one of the first things I thought was: wait 'till I tell my brother, my friends, everyone, convinced that everyone would immediately be as enthousiastic about it as I was. Actually, I stil don't understand why they wouldn't be, but so far I have encountered more resistance than enthousiasm :D

When I go on a trip with someone, of course I also want to do geocaching, and when they tell me, ok, 1 cache this weekend when we are 150 miles from home, I get really frustrated - but I always manage to squeeze in 2 or 3 more anyway :D

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Back in 2006 I bought a GPSr for marking out trails when I go ATVing. I also used it to help me get to a few places. When October rolls around, it turns into hunting season around here. Pretty much you stay out of the woods on an ATV then. I got onto our local forums and started to post. One topic I saw was Geocaching. Seeing this in my GPS, I was naturally curious. So I went into that thread and asked about it. After getting an explanation and the site address, I checked out the site. Found out that there were a few (and I mean few) around where I live. I printed out 5 or so of these caches, programmed them into the GPS, grabbed a few little trinkets, and off I went. But, my actual first find was 8 or so benchmarks. I still love to find these. After a trial run of finding them, it was time to find a cache. First find was a micro. Knew where it was just by the title. After a small search, I found the micro, signed the log and was extremely excited. Next was a virtual in a cememtery. Since I had no clue how to do much with the GPS I drove around and around till I found the spot. The next cache was a regular ammo can in the woods. Now this was a challenge. Very excited, I walked a path till the arrow pointed due right. I trudged up a hill and search for a good half hour. Finally, about ready to give up, I sat on the hiding spot and found it. Now I was hooked. Since then I have gotten better and have seen some great places because of it.

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In August 2006 I was looking for something for my Streetpilot when I came across this Geocaching thing, I read up on it and thought it sounded like a lot of fun, so I figured out how to load a waypoint into the streetpilot and on August 26th we went to a local park and found our first cache. We were so excited!

We did one other cache that day, then didn't have a chance to do more before winter set in.

In March 2007 while on March break we went and did a few more caches and were hooked.

The streetpilot was a bit tricky to work with, it kept losing signal in trees, and generally drove us nuts :D

In April we decided that we were really into geocaching and it wasn't just a fad, so we picked up a 60CSX and discovered how much easier caching was with a 'real' GPS.

14 months later we hit 1000 finds, and we're still going strong.

 

Thanks for the cointest.

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I discovered geocaching in kind of a funny way. I was watching Law and Order Criminal Intent and at the beginning of one of their episodes they showed a girl geocaching. I was curious as to what it was. PengoDaddy had heard about it a long time before that but never really checked it out. So we went to the computer and found Groundspeak's website and started to learn about it. We thought it would be a great family activity. We were not sure if we would really get into to it or not but we thought we would sign up and try our first finds using Google earth. We joined geocaching.com on June 12, 2006 (our wedding anniversary, how romantic). And PengoDaddy and I each found our first caches (independent of one another) on June 17th, 2006. we were hooked and that following week went out and bought a GPS.

 

Geoaching means a lot to us for many different reasons. It is something that we enjoy doing as a family. PengoBeky loves trading trinkets and really does not like micros. But we also enjoy geocaching on our own occasionally. It's a great way to get away from every day stresses. Plus we have made great friends all over the world. :D:DB)

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We discovered geocaching through a friend of my wifes from work. She had told ma about it before, but I wasn't really listening, and was too busy, blah blah blah. Anyway, she invites her friend over to help make decorations for a baby shower, and I was trying to ignore the gossip when they started talking about caching. Well, my ears perked up because it sounded like alot of fun, so I looked it up. Then my wife says I can buy a GPS if we go caching. I'm a techi at heart, so we go for it. And as they say, it only took once to get hooked.

 

As for what it is to us now, we use it to see places in Okinawa (stationed with the AF) that we would have never seen or even heard about. We often take the long way, so we can get the exercise, and the kids love hunting for treasure. Mostly, though, it gives us alot more quality family time.

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i first heard about geocaching back in 2003. i was actually interested in letterboxing after hearing about that from some online buddies from the us. i turned my sights to caching because it seemed to be much more popular and more common to find within the uk.

i immediatly registered on here but then failed to aquire a gps so i dropped this site for some years until may of this year when after reading a friends livejournal, saw mention of geocaching yet again.

i instantly re-aquainted myself on here and got stuck in chatting while i tried yet again to win a gps on ebay.

with my birthday very close my husband, myself and some amazon vouchers were pooled together to get me my new toy.

i am so glad i got the gps because in the last few years i have become very lazy and unfit. eating more than i should do and using the car for silly little runs, and not wating to go for walks anywhere.

 

although i do not have the free time to just got wandering in the countryside to find the caches whenever i want to, due to being a mother to a turbo toddler, i do enjoy taking the time out to go exploring and looking for one cache at a time.

 

this time last year, if you had asked me if i would love to go for a walk/trundle/yomp through midge infested spaces, in the blazing hot sun (sometimes) and picking up ticks where ever you go, plus falling a** over top into hidden hollows in the ground, i think i would have laughed at you psychotically.

 

but im glad i got into this fantastic hobby, it gets me outside exercising and seeing areas i wouldnt have known about or ventured through, plus it allows me to get my fix for the thrill of the hunt.

 

thanks for this cointest Steinwalzer

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:D August of 2003 - Jug was told his birthday gift was hidden and he needed to find it with this lil' yellow device called a GPS. With the coordinates already downloaded he headed out the door, down the street to a local park. He'd never used anything like this device but was told to "follow the needle". He made a nice "Crop Row" in the parks grass. When told to slow down and "walk the needle" he ended up under a pine tree finding a mysterious ammo can, with a smile the can was opened to find many items we're still using to discover, replenish, extract and create our own Geocaches. We are really addicted and enjoy our adventures as a team we call ourselves Jug and Roon. Geocaching is included in any of the trips we take, sometimes it's just to the grocery store. Oh, the places we've been and the friendships we've made, it's not about the numbers.
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I first heard about geocaching from dimkasmir, as we were walking through Golden Gate Park. He pointed to a box hanging from a tree and asked "is that a geocache?" At that point, he attempted to explain to me what it was, though neither of us really understood it back then. Unfortunately, the object turned out to be a birdfeeder. On our way out of the park, we saw a woman searching through the bushes, and it was my turn to say "maybe she's geocaching!"

About a year later, I somehow come across to this website, and am amazed at the number of caches in my area. After DNFing a few alone, I call dimkasmir, and we go back to the park, in an attempt to find 4. We find all of them, including one in that same bush in which we saw the lady looking...

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Wow, there are some great stories in there...

I guess my start in geocaching was in part influence by a friend of ours. He is an avid biker to his job in the city core and on his way to and from work he would stop and find a cache. Well, one day he stopped by our house wearing his horrendous bicycle shorts and I took one look at his red raw scratched legs and thought he'd been in a biking accident. He then explained that he bikes to his caches and wears shorts and that was the result.

Now, wouldn't a normal person stay away from a past time that has the ability to maim? Not I! I was intrigued...the next day we went out and bought our first GPSr as a family. We went to find our first cache which turned out to be a micro stage 1 of a multi and DNF'd it. Turns out my husband was ON TOP of it in the tree. We went back to that GZ several times before we actually found it but we persisted! In the meantime, the kids and I went for another larger cache and were successful. I could tell by the joy on their faces when they actually realized we were looking for something real that they were hooked.

Not only is geocaching a great family thing to do, it also is a great addition to hiking which we did anyway and I have met some really great people locally and through the forums. Before caching I was 'in between friends' having older kids than most of my friends and not really wanting to talk about diapers, etc. WAY too mind numbing! Most of the people I've met are of a similar mind to me and the social aspect of it has definitely helped to keep us hooked.

Our first GC anniversary is on August 11th.

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It all started for me in late 1995 before Geocaching was born.

My Dad bought my Grandpa the 1st Civilian GPS unit,(which I still have) because he was always going out horseback riding alone and getting turned around.

 

You have to remember this was still when (SA) Selective Availability was still turned on and the 1st GPS units only had 2 decimal places: 36 37.40_ 93 48.40_ so I used alternate forms for my accuracy.

My Dad and Granpa neither one knew anything about it though and asked me to figure it out for them and teach them.

 

Just like programming the TV,VCR,Satt. dish ect,ect...they leave that to me...

Well being the perfectionist I am I spent months trying to figure this GPS thingy out.

There was NO online or any other type support then just a basic book of instructions.

 

Benchmarks were already here and was told I could use them for calibrating the GPS for the area.

I have another Uncle who is a Scientist for the US Gov. and retired from White Sands Missle Range who told me how to get around the SA.

 

Well to make this long story short I got pretty good with it and we were also petitioning the Gov. to turn off SA,since we the citizens paid for it and finally got it done,Thanks President Clinton.

 

Finally SA is turned off and Geocaching was born.

I did not have a computer at the time and was borrowing a friends for about 2 years and thus was not logging nor even signed up as a Geocacher.

 

Once I got my computer in 2002,yes I got it just for Geocaching and I was on the USA Freedom Corps and had to log my service via computer so I had 2 good reasons.

 

Now once I got my computer and account set up I was off.

Now I could log those Geocaches and Benchmarks.

 

I am a real GEOCACHER.

Well as you can see I love Geocaching.

I am almost to my 1000th geocache.

I have over 1000 benchmark finds across the Nation.

I also have visited and posted over 1000 Waymarks.

 

So I guess you could say I am one of the Old timers that still loves this sport now more than ever.

But some have done a whole lot more than I have.

 

That's my story and I'm stickin to it.

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Me and a freind found one whilst we were clearing some nettles and brambles from a perfect dog walking footpath my freind wished to use. Got us into caching and has been a good excuse for a number of things like getting a bit more exercise.

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Congratulations on 1 year of caching! My story is boring compared to most but here it is anyhow.

 

I was just into my 2nd year of school and i saw an article in the Helena newspaper about geocaching. It was an interview with one of the local geocachers here complete with pictures (turns out it is was one of the main guys behind terracaching). So, I read the article and I thought: "Oh man this sounds like fun," but school got in the way and over the next year I would only think about it. Over summer i was at a BBQ at my brother's place and his wife had a few friends from her work over. Somehow I heard the word 'geocaching,' during the course of a conversation between two other people and I grilled these other two people about how to geocache. They told me how much fun it was and kind of how to do it, little did I know they had really only found 1 geocache but at the time, I wouldn't have cared anyhow. So the very next day I drove back to town and bought a GPSr. I brought it home, signed up for an account and headed into the mountains behind where I live, and found my first geocache that overlooks Helena. I was quite excited! From then on, I research my caches for places I'd like to see and take my time so I never burn out on a really great hobby :ph34r:

 

Thanks for the cointest!

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Long story-short version. I was hit by a semi while driving to work one snowy snowy night in 2001. As a result I needed 16 spinal surgeries to recover. I have always been a "outdoors" girl. Being home and trying to recover was heck. I would read my National Geographic Adventure Magazine trying to get my "outdoors" fix. I read a article about Geocaching and Geocaching.com. I mentioned geocaching to Jim, my husband. We became cachers in April of 03 I believe. Jim saw the potential of using caching to get me moving, so he would go and find the cache and hide something special near by and dare me to go find it with him. Geocaching and my husband helped me to walk again, helped me to get strong enough to return to work as a RN. The friendships I have made here have helped me through some very tough times. Amazing community!!! I am grateful to be a part of it. Jodi

 

edit..spelling :ph34r:

Edited by Team FIREBOY
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I had a friend tell me about geocaching way back in 2001. He used the GPS to track Pike haystacks and we went off and found my first geocache on 8/27/2001 at one of my favorite places Travertine Hot Springs. For the next year I cached without a GPS finding mostly virtuals since the the coord would put me in a general area and I could answer questions. My son bought me my own GPS for my birthday and off we went. I love the fact that I find really cool places right in my own backyard that I never knew existed before I started Geocaching. Thanks for the cointest.

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Thanks for the cointest!! I very much enjoy reading the stories that are posted.

 

In August 2005 I read an article in the Detroit Free Press about geocaching. The reporter followed two local teams to find a cache in a local park. That sure sounded like fun to me and what really intruiged me was that the park is the closest park to my house--only a couple of miles away. I researched it a bit and decided I wanted to give it a try. I found a basic unit on ebay and when it arrived I was ready to go. The first cache I found was a mystery cache that you really didn't need to use a gpsr for. Since then I was given the opportunity to adopt that cache and I jumped at it. How cool is that, that you can actually own your first cache find. I then found a few more regular caches and I was hooked. The sad part is that the cache story that got me hooked brought the cache to the park manager's attention. The original cacher who placed the cache had gotten the manager's approval but not in writing. Then the manager changed and the new one wanted all caches in his parks pulled. Cachers were recruited because of that story but caches were lost.

 

I saw geocaching as a way to get me out of the house and motivated to do other things. I liked the outdoors but hiking wasn't me. Now that's not a problem. It has taken to places I might never have known as others have stated before. I have met wonderful people through this sport all over the world and I really do think it has brought me out of my shell.

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O.K., My turn, Hmmmm, If I can remember right. It was July 2006 OOOOOOOOO almost 2 YEARS YEAH ! ! !

My older boy suggested that we try this thing he heard about from another teacher where he was teaching in Renton. He started with the usual initials and birth date, I started out as a family name but have branched off with my own name - Fairyhoney B) .

 

We had no idea what we were supposed to be doing, so we proceeded to buy those quarter and 50cent trinkets out of the gumball machine at Toys R Us. as goodies to put in caches.

My first couple of caches were done with out a GPSer and with the clues that were provided - and Google map feature provided on site :ph34r: .

In July, we went up to the Lavender festival in Sequim. Afterwards, we went into their Walmart and I purchased a GPSer. We found the 2 caches that were on site AND the Rest IS history ( actually her-story :D ) I let him keep the GPSer since he knows more about technology than I do. WOW, Almost 2 years ! ! !

- My youngest was GOOD at geocahing until they had a "bomb scare" at their high school - yes, it Was a cache placed with full permission But the smokers stumbled upon it and had it called in B) . He came home that day and suggested that we not go geocahing any more. SO, now he won't go with us.

 

That's my story And I'm sticking to it B)B) !

 

Fairyhoney

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I got a GPS for christmas and thought "what am i ever gonna do with this thing?" and it sat in my closet for 6 months. then i read a newspaper article about geocaching and am like, hmm i have the GPS, i might as well try it. i biked down the road and found my first couple and was immediatly hooked. now i have biked, hiked, kayaked, climbed, and just about everyting in between in order to hit 500.

 

Congrats on your 1 year!

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Congrats on your 1 year...

 

I just had my 1 year as well :ph34r:

 

2 years ago My hubby bought 2 GPS's ( not 1 but 2) lol a Garmin and a magellan for HIS christmas present lol these were his toys... he knew nothing about geocaching untill he discovered (geocaching) on the GPS....He looked more into it on the geocaching site and thought he would try it...I had no interest what so ever in what he was doing...He would be caching all day long...He working nights not getting off till 7AM leave work cache till 4 and 5 in the afternoon...So in June of last year I had to see what the big deal was about the geocaching....Yup caching got me hook, line and sinker and the rest as they say is history lol

 

It is a great family activity we love it...

 

Thank you for the cointest B)

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I was searching online for some information about a local Stone Circle, my searching turned up a few photographs which in turn I looked at, one was sourced from a cache log, and I 'found' Geocaching.com I read the details with interest and went to the home page, I put in my postcode and was amazed to find that there were over 200 caches within 50 miles. Without reading too much detail, I looked at the one that was closest to me, and I knew from the description which area it was. With no GPS and no clue of what I was doing I persuaded Hubby to join me for the hunt. We drove to the location and searched hi and low for an hour or more. It was some time before I could bring myself to tell my husband that when we got home and I checked the cache page again I discovered it was an Earth Cache :ph34r: I would also add that although as we all know, distances are as the crow flies, a cache from my home location that might be just 11 miles away could result in a round trip of over 50 miles by car, which happens to be better than a cache bash of 22 miles on foot - that's another story.

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I was watching an episode of "Law and Order" and the opening scene showed a lady hiking through the woods looking at a handheld device when she stopped. She knelt down and started searching around the area and she found a container. She opened it up and put in a trinket and surprise, she discovers a body. I was puzzled and set out to find out what she was doing. A little research online and I found out it was geocaching, it seemed interesting and I thought I'd try it. Almost three years later and I love it. It's a time to spend with the family in the great outdoors.

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