The geocaching community

[bwhitaker8514]

Hello. I am doing an inquiry paper on geocaching and I was hoping I could get some of the geocaching community member's first hand thoughts about geocaching. What made you start? And what keeps you doing it? And how does geocaching compare to other social medias? Thank you very much.

[jdcb]

Hello. I am doing an inquiry paper on geocaching and I was hoping I could get some of the geocaching community member's first hand thoughts about geocaching. What made you start? And what keeps you doing it? And how does geocaching compare to other social medias? Thank you very much.

 

Do you want a bullet point list of answers, or something more full and written out?

[bwhitaker8514]

It does not matter. Anything will help

[+Knight2000]

What made you start? And what keeps you doing it? And how does geocaching compare to other social medias? Thank you very much.

We had little money and needed an inexpensive family activity.

 

We love getting out and having our caching adventures with our family.

 

We have no other social media so I cannot answer that.

[wolfbait]

I started Geocaching with my Dad. Recently we have been inactive due to 1. GPS failure 2. I´m currently an exchange student in South America.

 

Geocaching is an addicting sport. I´ve met some cool people and seen some awesome places because of it.

 

Geocaching is an interesting sport because for the most part you don´t get to meet the other players (except at meet ups). I think it´s a real joy to have a small container hidden in a park near my house with so many childhood memories, and share that with others who share the joy by finding my cache.

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

Well, the answers to the first two will be as varried as the people who you meet everyday, but on the third...

 

Geocaching is not a social media as I understand it. The game is not played online, it's played out in the real world, using the information gathered online as only a tool. I guess these forums are a socil media, but the game is not.

[+ventura_kids]

hmmm....perhaps it is like getting the thrill of the hunt, without killing bambie, and thumper.

[Keystone]

What is an "inquiry paper?"

[+Mick-n-Nick]

My family was introduced to geocaching last year by some friends who taught us a bit of the ropes. We tried on our own a few weeks later (when we got a gps) and could find NOTHING! We had to call them in for back-up. Then we took another friend who had never geocached on our next trip and managed to find...NOTHING! We had to call our friends again! There really is a 'special' way to search for geocaches, and it's horribly difficult until you get the hang of it!

 

Since then, we geocache every 'convenient' opportunity we get (we're not hard-core yet...no midnight runs for FTF's.) Personally, I love to organize, so I enjoy organizing our trips just as much as taking them. I also love the playful competition of trying to be the first to spot the cache, and also the relief when someone ELSE finds a cache that you just can't seem to locate! I'm also enjoying the challenge of spotting GZ without the gps' help (some days go better than others.) TB's are a treat to me, and I love to peruse their logs and add pictures of this leg of their trip. I think part of the thrill may be simply in finding what other people walk past and never are even aware of. I love having a hobby that only cost me a gps and a bit of gas, and I get hours of fun in return (planning the trip and solving the puzzles, finding the caches and making notes so I'll remember which cache was which, then actually logging the finds or DNFs and watching either the smiley face appear or feeling the challenge of the frown

 

Good times, good company, good clean (or sometimes muddy, sweaty, and severly windblown) fun! This is by far my favorite hobby, and I'm loving learning the ropes!

[+TwoSox Trekkers]

I geocache for a variety of reasons, but the one that comes to mind is that it melds three things I like: challenges, nature, and technology. There are several challenges- planning, gear, puzzle caches, etc. Nature -well, that can be anything from desert to rain forest, of course. And I love the online community aspect as well as the actual gadgetry.

 

Personally, I feel there is something of a social media aspect to geocaching- not strictly the same as Twitter or Facebook, but similar. You are interacting, via logs, with others. It is a bit more passive I think than "traditional" social media forms/sites. More reading/vicariously experiencing than discussing/relating.

 

Hope that helps!

[bwhitaker8514]

What is an "inquiry paper?"

 

Its where you have a topic and your supposed to research it from every way imaginable until you can relate it to a bigger picture.

[+buzzy_cacher]

An enjoyable, inexpensive activity that the whole family can do together. My little sister is in it for the swag, I like the adventure of finding it, and my parents both enjoy seeing the new places, close to our home, that we never knew about before.

[Keystone]

What is an "inquiry paper?"

 

Its where you have a topic and your supposed to research it from every way imaginable until you can relate it to a bigger picture.

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