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Your defination of geocaching


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It's like a treasure hunt. You're given a set of coordinates to go to, you go there and find the hidden treasure.

 

Second personal definition.....

It's a walk/hike with a carrot on a stick in front of you so you have a reason for walking. Also it's a time to admire scenery, weather, and what's around you, as well as spend time with good friends (and that's the best part!)

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I tell people it's like a world wide treasure hunt.

People from all over the world hide "stuff" all over the world and people from all over the world look for it all over the world.

 

When they ask "whats the point?" I simply say..."It gets me out of the house".

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I got pulled over for speeding while on my way to a cache. Cop asked me if I was in a hurry. I told him ""sort of... I'm going geocaching. He had never heard of it before & asked what it was. I told him "It's like a treasure hunt... without the treasure." He replied... "there has to be some kind of prize at the end." The cop went back to his car & returned with a speeding ticket for me. I told him..."I guess this is my prize for the day." :(

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I tell them it's a scavenger hunt that people all over the world participate in. One of the next questions to come out of their mouths is "Is there money in it?"

 

I don't like to mention treasure hunt because it conjures up images of digging for gold.

Edited by Skippermark
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This is how I explain geocaching: "I use multi-million dollar satellites to find Tupperware in the woods!" I usually get a confused look, so I go into a little more detail. If they seem interested, I give a little more info, but if their eyes glaze over, I smile and politely excuse myself. :(

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I really don't like referring to it as a treasure hunt, because people then think there should be TREASURE. No i do not mean the beautiful walk. People expect STUFF, that is why we get soooooo many "whats the most valuable thing you have ever found in a cache" threads ..... I like to call it high tech hide and seek or a high tech scavenger hunt

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I've found saying, "Someone hides a container and lists the coordinates on the internet and challenges others to find it. If they do, they can log it on the site." usually come back with the best response. No confused looks!

 

I try to avoid using the words; games, treasure-hunt, scavenger-hunt or Tupperware, high tech (anything).

Edited by JohnE5
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I tell people it's like a world wide treasure hunt.

People from all over the world hide "stuff" all over the world and people from all over the world look for it all over the world.

 

When they ask "whats the point?" I simply say..."It gets me out of the house".

 

yessir. i would be out of the house anyway, but other than that, yessir.

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When they ask "whats the point?" I simply say..."It gets me out of the house".

Usually that's my question to golfers, and their answer ;)

Golf if nothing more than the Human version Fetch.

 

I (as already posted) state "We use billion dollar satilites to find tupperware in the woods". People laugh but when I explane it like a scavenger hunt and how much the kids love to find these things, odds are pretty good they'll give it a look see. So far I can confirm 2 cops, 3 cowerkers, and 2 friends are into caching now. :D

 

I told a LEO once that the bonus part was finding some really good places to dump bodies... He didn't find that near as funny as I did. :)

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My standard response incorporates many of the ideas already mentioned:

"it's a high tech game of hide & seek where I use multi-billion dollar military satellites to find Tupperware in the woods"

This lets me judge their interest. If I see a sparkle in their eyes, I'll get more descriptive. If I see a dull glaze, I don't.

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My standard response incorporates many of the ideas already mentioned:

"it's a high tech game of hide & seek where I use multi-billion dollar military satellites to find Tupperware in the woods"

This lets me judge their interest. If I see a sparkle in their eyes, I'll get more descriptive. If I see a dull glaze, I don't.

 

Hey OSS-IFER, you been eatin' donuts? Cuz your eyes sure look glazed. ;):D:)

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I generally tell people "You use a handheld GPS to find containers that people hide all over the place" followed by a local example, such as "There's one on the big tank by the bridge on Main Street." Two questions inevitably follow. The first is "How do you know where they are?" ("You get the information online" satisfies most people), and the second is "What do you get?" After I say "Nothing...it's just fun" is when they start thinking I'm crazy. They generally ask about "prizes" and can't seem to believe anyone would put forth any effort that does not result in material rewards. Apparently things like fun for the whole family, interesting places to see, and exercise are not rewarding unless you GET something at the end!

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"Scavenger hunt" is one of the common analogies that seem to be used by the media, but really, it is nothing at all like a scavenger hunt. The only similarity between the two is the "hunting" part. OK, maybe you could stretch the analogy a bit when referring to a long multi-cache, but that's about it, I think.

 

"Hide-and-Seek" is bad, too. We all played that as kids. One kid hid, and the other kids tried to find him. We weren't looking for something... we were looking for someone.

 

I also cringe when I hear "treasure hunt" for the same reasons as already stated by some.

 

I, for one, have to agree with JohnE5 where he said:

 

I've found saying, "Someone hides a container and lists the coordinates on the internet and challenges others to find it."

Edited by knowschad
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I tell people it's like a world wide treasure hunt.

People from all over the world hide "stuff" all over the world and people from all over the world look for it all over the world.

 

When they ask "whats the point?" I simply say..."It gets me out of the house".

 

+1, same here...

 

Its all about the find and the log... I'm not really into getting something out of the cache...

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Depends on who I'm talking to. If I'm talking to a land owner/manager I typically compare it to orienteering, something like, "It's an activity similar to orienteering where you use a GPS receiver to navigate to a set of published coordinates. Then you have to find a container with a log sheet, similar to a summit log, at the final location. You sign and date the log to prove you were there. Sometimes there are trinkets in the cache and you can trade items." This especially works well if the geocache is going to be in a non-urban area.

 

Talking to your generic muggle, I just say it's a high-tech type of hide-and-seek. Someone hid something and I'm trying to find it.

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"It's like an Easter Egg hunt for hikers, with containers called "caches" tucked away along trails and on mountaintops at specific GPS coordinates. The coordinates are published on a web site, and when you find a cache you post a note and some pictures to the site to tell other players about the adventure you had."

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OK, I've been going through all of the responses, and decided to put it together into some sort of comprehensive document that should please everyone.

 

I'd strongly suggest memorizing it, but it is a tad long, so it may not be a bad idea to print it out on a laminated business card in case you ever need to refer back to it:

 

OK, here we go:

 

Geocaching is a high-tech game-like activity hobby sport, kind of like an Easter Egg hunt game of hide-and-seek, similar to an orienteering treasure hunt where people use a handheld GPS and multi-billion dollar satellites to go to coordinates where they try to find tupperware, ammo cans, or film cannisters that may or may not be full of swag stuff from McDonalds that they can trade out for their old golf balls or pocket change if they don't have any swag stuff from McDonalds of their own to trade with and sign their name in a log and log online so that they can get a little yellow smiley face icon for it.

 

Not bad, huh? Even addresses the "why?" question.

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I am now going to use the "multi billion dollar satellites" explanation too.....in addition to the explanation about why we do it. For me it is discovering beautiful places in my own backyard that I hadn't realised were there and being a fun way to get some (in my case) much needed exercise.

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