Geocaching without GPS?

[jubee4]

Hello

 

I am very new to Geocaching. Today we attempted to find our very first Geocach. We did not find it We do not have a GPS or iPhone with the application from Groundspeak. The Geocach we were looking for today did have a lovely long clue to enable us to find the area where it is but not all Geocaches have clues to pinpoint the area. I presume you enter your longitude and latitude into your GPS and it guides you to the destination.

 

Is it possible to find Geocaches without GPS?

 

I dont see that we will buy a GPS, which is a shame so I wonder if there are any other caches out there that have clues to enable us to search for the "treasure". What do I look for? Benchmarks? I dont even know the terms for the different types.

 

My children are down hearted about not finding their very first "treasure" so please help.

 

Thanks

Julie

Bonnie Scotland

[NordicMan]

yes you can probably find a few "easy" geocaches by just studying the caches information page, the hint, and maybe the logs of previous finders. You may also try looking them on on something like Google Earth to assist some more..

 

But you'll eventually run out of easy caches, at which point even a cheap GPSr will help you find the rest. I guess having a GPSr isn't an absolute must-have for this hobby/sport, but it's kinda like trying to join a bicycling club when you don't have a bicycle.. Sure you can probably run alongside the club members for a while, but at the end of the day having a bike makes all the difference lol

[jholly]

Yes it is possible and many do. One cacher found hundreds. What it takes is good google maps, clearly identifiable land marks and some determination. The biggest thing needed on the google maps is good registration between the map and actual co-ordinates, google maps have been known to be off by a fair amount in some locations. Of course google maps of a cache in the middle of a forest is not much help.

 

And yes, with a GPS you enter the co-ordinates and follow the arrow.

[+Panther&Pine]

Hello

 

I am very new to Geocaching. Today we attempted to find our very first Geocach. We did not find it We do not have a GPS or iPhone with the application from Groundspeak. The Geocach we were looking for today did have a lovely long clue to enable us to find the area where it is but not all Geocaches have clues to pinpoint the area. I presume you enter your longitude and latitude into your GPS and it guides you to the destination.

 

Is it possible to find Geocaches without GPS?

 

I dont see that we will buy a GPS, which is a shame so I wonder if there are any other caches out there that have clues to enable us to search for the "treasure". What do I look for? Benchmarks? I dont even know the terms for the different types.

 

My children are down hearted about not finding their very first "treasure" so please help.

 

Thanks

Julie

Bonnie Scotland

 

You may want to look at Letterboxing. Which is similar to geocaching but does not use a GPS. Letterboxes are found with a combo of clues and maybe a map and compass (it has been a while). Letterboxing doesn't always have 'treasure' (but then again neither do all geocaches) but some of the geocache/letterbox hybrids do.

 

There are some folks out there who Geocache with only a map and compass but I'm not nearly outdoorsy enough to do that.

[+Bear and Ragged]

It's possible. Not easy, but possible.

 

See you are from Scotland.

The UK and Ireland cachers can be found here link.

 

Ask there, you may find a local caching family to join in with, or be pointed in the direction of a nearby event (ALL welcome -even new/inexperianced/never done it before cachers!)

Someone may be able to point you in the direction of the Scottish forums. (They have their own non-Groundspeak forums)

 

Welcome!

Edit to add.

The UK doesn't have benchmark, as listed on Groundspeak, but we do have the Ordnance Survey equivalent. The nearest/easiest to find will be the Trig Pillers.

Trigpoints link

 

And. Don't expect a lot of 'Treasure' in a cache. If it's big enough to hold anything it's usually 'tat' and not really worth a lot!

 

Most of the 'Fun' is in the search...

Edited May 3, 2010 by Bear and Ragged

[Storm Buster]

When I started about a month ago, I found about a dozen caches without a GPS. I used the information from the cache page along with the map links on the page. I found Google Maps to be off quite a bit. I had better luck with Yahoo and Bing. Caches in forests will be difficult but there are some that do it. It takes quite a bit of orienteering/navigational skills though.

 

Now, as far as actually "finding" the cache, that is entirely different from getting to the location. A GPS only gets us to the general location. Sometimes it's accurate. Sometimes not. The real challenge is "discovering" the cache. People can be very creative with their hides. It takes a few finds to get the hang of the hunt. I'd suggest going with someone a few times so you can get familiar with what you're actually looking for. Keep in mind that most caches are HIDDEN at the location. They are NOT obvious to the naked eye. So, it take a bit of practice and experience.

 

A GPS is used to get you there. Your senses and your brain is used to "find" the cache.

[+Geodalf]

You don't have to spend a lot of money for a GPS You can get a used GPS and see how you like it. I got a like new one on ebay for $29. No fancy bells and whistles, but it does the job.

[Jason and Jack]

My son and I have found our first two caches today without a GPS. Like the others said, you need to start with the easy ones and at first use the clues. Use Google Earth to get in the neighborhood and then you just have to be patient and try to think if you were hiding something where would you put it.

 

The one we found today was in the middle of the woods and we found it without a GPS and it was pretty well hidden.

[+edscott]

yes you can probably find a few "easy" geocaches by just studying the caches information page, the hint, and maybe the logs of previous finders. You may also try looking them on on something like Google Earth to assist some more..

 

But you'll eventually run out of easy caches, at which point even a cheap GPSr will help you find the rest. I guess having a GPSr isn't an absolute must-have for this hobby/sport, but it's kinda like trying to join a bicycling club when you don't have a bicycle.. Sure you can probably run alongside the club members for a while, but at the end of the day having a bike makes all the difference lol

 

Doesn't need to be an "easy" cache if you can read the aerial photo. As far as the biking analogy.. how's it feel to get dusted by a jogger?

[+Chrysalides]

I've found a number of geocaches (probably around 25) without using a GPSr. I've found 2 without coordinates (left them at home). I've found some despite having a GPSr (coordinates are off) and I've managed to DNF a whole lot more even with a GPSr

 

As MooseJawSpruce mentioned, look into Letterboxing. Only downside is, in my area, geocaches outnumber letterboxes by about 100 to 1.

Edited May 4, 2010 by Chrysalides

[+ADTCacheur]

Hello

 

I am very new to Geocaching. Today we attempted to find our very first Geocach. We did not find it We do not have a GPS or iPhone with the application from Groundspeak. The Geocach we were looking for today did have a lovely long clue to enable us to find the area where it is but not all Geocaches have clues to pinpoint the area. I presume you enter your longitude and latitude into your GPS and it guides you to the destination.

 

Is it possible to find Geocaches without GPS?

 

I dont see that we will buy a GPS, which is a shame so I wonder if there are any other caches out there that have clues to enable us to search for the "treasure". What do I look for? Benchmarks? I dont even know the terms for the different types.

 

My children are down hearted about not finding their very first "treasure" so please help.

 

Thanks

Julie

Bonnie Scotland

 

You may want to look at Letterboxing. Which is similar to geocaching but does not use a GPS. Letterboxes are found with a combo of clues and maybe a map and compass (it has been a while). Letterboxing doesn't always have 'treasure' (but then again neither do all geocaches) but some of the geocache/letterbox hybrids do.

 

There are some folks out there who Geocache with only a map and compass but I'm not nearly outdoorsy enough to do that.

 

I just thought I'd mention that what makes it a hybrid is that it uses GPS coordinates instead of clues

[BCProspectors]

...it's kinda like trying to join a bicycling club when you don't have a bicycle.. Sure you can probably run alongside the club members for a while, but at the end of the day having a bike makes all the difference lol

From now on I'm going to mention that analogy every time a newbie posts a topic about finding caches without a GPS.

 

Yes, it's possible. I try to discourage it though, since Geocaching is supposed to be a high tech treasure hunting game and if too many people start find caches without using a GPS is becomes a find-junk-in-the-woods game.

[+randco]

Yes, it's possible to find cache's without a GPS'r. My wife and I have 29 finds to date. Our first find was 4/27/2010. I used Microsoft Publisher and the information from geocaching.com. I am using Vista. It has a Snipping Tool. I would pull up a cache, then get the "satellite" map. I would Snip or Crop enough of the map so that I could see where I was going. Then I would zoom in to the max and Snip a picture of the cache site and some of the surrounding area.

 

Like others have said, this works fine as long as there are identifiable landmarks that you can clearly decipher. If the cache is planted in the woods and you don't have anything but a tree canopy in the satellite view, I think that the chances are nil.

 

The main thing is to have a good time and enjoy yourself. For my wife and I the first find got us hooked. We are ordering a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx and can't wait until we get it.

 

Happy caching....

[+Fjordi]

Sometimes we do not take our GPS with us, if we know the area where the cache is hidden and if the hint is rather obvious.

 

But in our area there is a guy who doesn't own a GPS either and he has more than 300 finds

[+JABs]

We found our first 20 or more caches with out a gps. Use google maps to help zoom in, if near a road street view also helps you pin point the location. Every so often we head out with out it and love the extra frill of the hunt with out it.

I know of one cacher in Oz who has several hundred finds and still does not use a GPS.

Made shore you look at Hint Size Difficutly and Terrian as all these will help you understand what you are looking for.

[+niraD]

I've found hundreds without a GPSr, and I still don't use one for every hunt. I use the "satellite" view in Google Maps. It helps to be able to read landmarks in an aerial photo, and it helps if the "satellite" view of your area in Google Maps is well calibrated and high resolution. Naturally, it's easier to read landmarks in an aerial photo in urban/suburban areas, but it can be done in undeveloped areas too.

[+Wyoming Travelers]

I suppose most have forgotten, or perhaps don't know, but the "GPS Coordinates" everyone speaks of are actually points on a map. You can easily use a good map and find any of these locations easily. LONG LAT and UTM are usually both on USGS quads. I don't know about google maps, but somehow I doubt the free version will have them available.

here is some information http://www.map-reading.com/ The bonus here is your children get a lesson in orienteering. This will be beneficial if they ever do own a GPSr device, they won't have to depend on the map in the device just the coords.

[+edscott]

...it's kinda like trying to join a bicycling club when you don't have a bicycle.. Sure you can probably run alongside the club members for a while, but at the end of the day having a bike makes all the difference lol

From now on I'm going to mention that analogy every time a newbie posts a topic about finding caches without a GPS.

 

Yes, it's possible. I try to discourage it though, since Geocaching is supposed to be a high tech treasure hunting game and if too many people start find caches without using a GPS is becomes a find-junk-in-the-woods game.

 

I guess I am confused.. How does finding a cache with a high tech map instead of a high tech GPS make caches become a piece of junk in the woods? Some evil alien force at work here?

[+R.Boles]

...it's kinda like trying to join a bicycling club when you don't have a bicycle.. Sure you can probably run alongside the club members for a while, but at the end of the day having a bike makes all the difference lol

From now on I'm going to mention that analogy every time a newbie posts a topic about finding caches without a GPS.

 

Yes, it's possible. I try to discourage it though, since Geocaching is supposed to be a high tech treasure hunting game and if too many people start find caches without using a GPS is becomes a find-junk-in-the-woods game.

 

I don't understand this analogy. If you can find caches with out a GPS, then I would consider you a little more hardcore than most. I did find a few of my first finds with out a GPS, but they were really easy. The caches that are in a tree in a field are really easy with out a GPS. Just look at Google maps and it will literally tell you which tree it's in from the aerial photo.

 

But really, do some research on ebay / craigs list / or even the garage sale here on this forum. You can get a used GPSr for around 60 bucks. It may just be a plain old yellow eTrex H, but many a geocache has been found with that little bugger. Dig a little deeper and you may find one for cheaper.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

We agree with edscott and bolesr regarding not finding geocaches w/o a GPSr. There is nothing in the guidelines about requiring the use of a GPSr to find a geocache, only about placing a geocache.

 

With technological advancements, being able to navigate out of being lost, shooting an azimuth and even true map reading are becoming lost art forms. Why disallow somebody the privilege of doing things the "old way"? It is like shooting all horses 'cuz we don't need them anymore!

 

Our 2¢, only.

[+edscott]

I don't understand this analogy. If you can find caches with out a GPS, then I would consider you a little more hardcore than most. I did find a few of my first finds with out a GPS, but they were really easy. The caches that are in a tree in a field are really easy with out a GPS. Just look at Google maps and it will literally tell you which tree it's in from the aerial photo.

 

But really, do some research on ebay / craigs list / or even the garage sale here on this forum. You can get a used GPSr for around 60 bucks. It may just be a plain old yellow eTrex H, but many a geocache has been found with that little bugger. Dig a little deeper and you may find one for cheaper.

 

I agree the analogy doesn't seem to make much sense. Maybe if I can run as fast as he can bike??? Maybe 50 years ago....

 

For me at least, it's not about the cost. I spend enough for ink to print out my maps to get a new GPS every 2 or 3 years. I just prefer to do my own navigation.

[+KevinWinkler]

My family found our first 7 last weekend, and even tho we did have a GPS, I don't think we needed it. We found all of the caches in about 5 min. or less, and I only used the GPS for two of the locations to pinpoint a area closer to the cache. Park & Grabs are way too easy in my own opinion, but they were fun for the kids. I'll work on the very remote locations myself until they get older, and leave the childs play for them.

[+E = Mc2]

Without bringing up the micro debate, many of the urban caches are quite easy to find without a GPSr provided you use a decent map. I found one a couple of nights ago based on the description and distance from a known location without GPSr or flashlight.

 

That said, having a GPSr does make it a lot easier when looking for any cache, be it a lamp skirt micro or a decent sized cache in the woods.

[+stinger503]

I did a lot of no GPS caching in my early days. Basically it depends on how well written your directions are (a map could be easier). Also if your trying one that's in the middle of a forest, try and look for a good GIS Online Map. Try and look for things like paths, clearings, creeks, etc.

[+edscott]

Without bringing up the micro debate, many of the urban caches are quite easy to find without a GPSr provided you use a decent map. I found one a couple of nights ago based on the description and distance from a known location without GPSr or flashlight.

 

That said, having a GPSr does make it a lot easier when looking for any cache, be it a lamp skirt micro or a decent sized cache in the woods.

 

Yes a GPS would be most useful in finding lamp post caches in parking lots of new shopping centers that are not yet on the aerial photos. Those are the ones that drive me nuts.

[+stanolli]

Everyone says how hard it is without a GPS and some even say it isn't geocaching, but I have now found 350 caches since I joined nearly a year ago and nearly all of them just using google maps. A few have been found just using the clues and a few have been cache and dashes with my inbuilt car sat nav, but I enjoy the extra challenge. Where the cache is in a wood I take the heading and distance from a landmark and go back to basics with a compass and pace out the distance. Where I do struggle is in steeply sloping woods and unfortunately there a lot where I live, but they just take a bit longer and more visits to some lovely areas.

I have just loaded Google maps onto my blackberry, which unfortunately doesnt have a GPS, and I am hoping this will save printing or memorising maps at least.

[+roziecakes]

We found our first 200 or so caches using google Earth and then we used Google Earth on a laptop with a GPS mouse for a while until we got our hand-held. We put the coords into Google Earth and then matched the picture with where we were going.

 

I have to admit though, it's sooooooo much nicer and much more fun to navigate using a GPS. You really don't have to pay much! I've mentioned it before, but we bought a Dell Axim Palmtop computer on Ebay for $50, and purchased a GPS card for it for $25, and then got cachemate. It's really nice, totally paperless and didn't cost much at all.

 

My dad got our nuvi on Ebay for $70 used, and that thing is a blessing to us for giving us driving directions.

 

I've also seen people on Craigslist selling Garmin Etrex GPS receivers for $25... you could check there too

[+roziecakes]

Yes, it's possible. I try to discourage it though, since Geocaching is supposed to be a high tech treasure hunting game and if too many people start find caches without using a GPS is becomes a find-junk-in-the-woods game.

 

I'm not sure why it really matters... I think that no matter what more people than not will use a GPS. And if someone finds the cache, signs the log and rehides, what's wrong with not using a GPS? They have to use computers at least at some point to look at maps, get clues, log their find. That's "high tech" too...

 

I dunno, I just don't think it's a big deal at all.

[+Team Cotati]

If you think that your children are down hearted now, just continue trying to find caches w/out a gpsr.

 

What I did was, just to be certain that I was going to enjoy the game was to partner with a local cacher for a few hunts. I got the bug and then knowing that I was going to be doing this thing for quite some time, I then purchased my gpsr.

[+roziecakes]

If you think that your children are down hearted now, just continue trying to find caches w/out a gpsr.

 

What I did was, just to be certain that I was going to enjoy the game was to partner with a local cacher for a few hunts. I got the bug and then knowing that I was going to be doing this thing for quite some time, I then purchased my gpsr.

 

That's a really good point. I don't have kids, but I do know that my husband started to HATE caching when we didn't have our GPSr. He thought it was just too much hassle, too hard to navigate, etc. It might be possible without one, but it's so much easier and fun with one.

[check85]

I just started geocaching within the past week and have found 15 so far, all without a GPSr. I study Google aerial imagery, make note of landmarks, and set out with a compass.

 

It's great fun!