Why do you geocache?

[pat835]

So I've been intrigued by the whole geocaching phenomena for a long time but never really tried it. Finally got myself on here and going to start looking but I'm just wondering what's the appeal for everyone.

 

How did you start or what draws you to it?

[+briansnat]

I love the cool places it brings me. I've discovered places practically in my own backyard that I might never have known about but for geocaching.

 

Also the people. I've made friends and met many great people through geocaching.

[+Chokecherry]

I found the app on my phone and gave it a test drive and fell in love. I love to take photographs and if I choose my caches well I get to have some fun photographs and stories to go with them. I like to see what people leave behind in caches and I like to leave stuff too.

 

I totally fell in love with path tags as well and have started collecting those.

 

Even if I don't find a cache I still find it fun.

[+Chokecherry]

I found the app on my phone and gave it a test drive and fell in love. I love to take photographs and if I choose my caches well I get to have some fun photographs and stories to go with them. I like to see what people leave behind in caches and I like to leave stuff too.

 

I totally fell in love with path tags as well and have started collecting those.

 

Even if I don't find a cache I still find it fun.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

We like fishing, so... we go for the 'halibut'!

 

Really, it's something we do together -- as opposed to the previous 30+ yrs.

 

It gets us away from the rest of the mob, only to meet new mobsters, too!

[+Chrysalides]

I farm smilies and sell them on eBay. You won't believe what they go for, especially for the higher difficulty / terrain ones.

 

Serious answer is : I geocache because it is fun.

 

Why is it fun will require some deep thinking on my part.

[jholly]

Why is it fun will require some deep thinking on my part.

 

I tried to do that once. It got pretty scary pretty fast. I stopped that real quick and now just say I cache to find the money.

[angelskeepbandb]

I found out about geocaching on a weight loss support forum online, looked it up and thought it sounded ike something my husband would like doing since it is outside and something I could have fun doing to get some extra exercise.

 

A side benefit is that we have seen a lot of historical places and gone to a lot of areas we would have missed otherwise. It's fun to see who has been to a chace before us and what they've left. Great photo opportunities too.

 

We've only been at it a couple of weeks or so and haven't had a chnace to get to know the other cachers in our area yet in person, but we'll do that sometime soon too. The ones we've emailed with so far have been quite encouraging and gracious. My hubby works with a couple of cachers as well. but only found out about them one day when we foudn some blogs.

 

Buster the geo pup loves to go out and sniff around the woods and the rocks, so it's been fun for him too.

 

Barb (and Bob) (and Buster)

[+Harry Dolphin]

I grow moldy if I don't get out of the Dolphinarium at least once a day. Geocaching give me a reason.

[+wpbrewer]

It's something fun to do with my kids that gives us all more exercise and time together outdoors. Also, depending on the cache - it can be quite educational since many are located near historical sites.

[+AuntieWeasel]

I have a very poor sense of direction. I get lost very, very easily...which, if I'm on my own, makes me panicky. Which, ultimately, made me stick within a fairly narrow patch of familiar territory for a lot of years.

 

That's what made me want a GPS. And I discovered geocaching while I was researching GPS units. It sounded cool to me, but I had no idea! Suddenly being able to go all over the place without fear of losing my place was like...waking up a superhero.

 

And that's just the start...

[NordicMan]

I'm a tech geek & also love the outdoors.. Geocaching is a perfect marriage of those things

[+jennyofthemoon]

I love the outdoors. I love looking for stuff. I'm very geeky when it comes to playing with my gadgets. I have four kids that I love dearly, but drive me nuts within the confines of my home. Even the two year old loves a good hike. I could go on for hours....

 

Seriously, the kids were getting tired of the same old trails, so I figured we would give it a try (gave me an excuse to get a new gadget, too!). We are exploring so many local places (and far away ones) that we NEVER would have gone to if not for caching. It's great exercise, we are a very outdoors oriented family, and everyone loves it. We have started collecting pathtags, but mostly do it simply for the fun of the find. Even after we go out, we still actively work on our hobby at home. Looking for new caches, scrapbooking pics of finds, beautiful places we see along the way, some collectible that we pick up as swag...We can take geocaching camping, hiking, to the grocery store...

 

Once you get into it, I don't think you can ever get out

[DannyCaffeine]

I love the thrill of the hunt and the outdoors.

[+atmospherium]

For the fun and adventure of exploring new places, hiking new trails, contributing to Dave Ulmer's carbon footprint, etc. I like the somewhat secretive "cloak and dagger' aspect of it, even though I do most of my caching in rural areas away from the public eye. I find it rather difficult to articulate "why" beyond the obvious "just for the fun of it". I guess that's enough of a reason.

[+Intemperance Society]

I started as a way to help get me out of the house and get moving. I'm a computer junkie, and the bonus of geocaching is that it combines technology and the outdoors.

 

A secondary bonus is that it has already brought me to many places I never knew existed even though I've lived in the area for 15 years.

 

Activity+Technology+Treasure Hunting+Discovery=Win

[+roziecakes]

a) I'm a geek. I love using technology to do fun things.

 

I love the outdoors. If it were up to me, I'd be outdoors 24/7.

 

c) I love exercise and getting in shape. I've lost over 200 pounds geocaching (not kidding).

 

d) It's fun! I love doing things that make my brain work.

 

e) I love learning about new places.

 

f) I love that caching is an activity that pretty much anyone can do. There's something to please everyone.

[+Intemperance Society]

 

c) I love exercise and getting in shape. I've lost over 200 pounds geocaching (not kidding).

 

 

Wow! Honestly??

 

You could be the Jared of Geocaching!!

[+popokiiti]

Seeing neat places close to home that I hadn't realised were there. Getting my rear into gear and getting some much needed exercise, physical and mental.

[+tango501]

I purchased a Garmin car GPS for my now ex-gf

while setting it up at the Garmin site I saw a link to

geocaching

curiosity got the better of me, so I started a free GC account

loaded a couple of nearby caches and out the door I went

so after a year I now have over 1200 finds, 40+ hides and

an ex-gf who didnt like caching

 

my first 100 finds were with that danged car gps, then I

got an excellent handheld and suddenly caching got alot easier

and faster-go figure

but using the car gpsr did teach me to search and honed my

so called geo-sense

 

I dig the adventure and the challenge, I now relish the harder

terrain caches-if its a 5/5 I am there

 

still not a big fan of nanos though

 

as many others have said, caching has opened my eyes to

what has been there all along-places that I never saw or

experienced before

 

and I have met many cool people while caching or at an

event

 

have fun, be safe and happy hunting

[+WhoDis]

I got to go with NordicMan, I'm a huge geek and love the outdoors. I just order a new GPSr and I'm like a kid waiting on Christmas for that sucker to get here! I have jumped from hobby to hobby cause none of them combined both of my interests until GeoCaching. I can even get my love of off roading in with this hobby. My avatar was taking while GeoCaching at a local off road place.

Added bonus is that my GF was diagnosed with breast cancer last November and with the chemo and all, she stays pretty tired, but the thrill of GeoCaching gets her up and moving.

[pat835]

wow thanks for all the answers guys. I think I'm just gonna go and find one by my house now!

[hoosier guy]

I like the chance to see neat areas and things I haven't seen before. I also like how I can work GC into my other activities (hiking, fishing, travel).

[+JL_HSTRE]

I was aware geocaching existed for awhile when for reasons I don't remember one of my friends asked me about it. We decieded to give it a try and have enjoyed. We've since had a couple friends join us on caching expeditions, a few other people we know have tried caching on their own, and several more follow our adventures with interest but haven't gotten around to trying it themselves.

 

Me and my friends were already periodically camping, kayaking, and hitting the trails at the local parks so geocaching is a pretty natural extension: it gives us extra motivation and direction for where to go. Caching with friends, especially for non-parking lot caches, can be a fun social activity.

 

Plus I've seen some nice places I wasn't aware of thanks to caching and have put several more caches on the To Find list in places I wasn't aware of before seeing a listing there.

 

And of course I'm interested in puzzle solving recreation with measureable goals (football fan and play monthly with friends and also a longtime gamer).

 

So really I enjoy pretty much all aspects of the hobby.

[+hallycat]

I love the cool places it brings me. I've discovered places practically in my own backyard that I might never have known about but for geocaching.

 

Also the people. I've made friends and met many great people through geocaching.

 

 

I heard this legend about this famous multiple Geocacher of the year and started in hopes of meeting him.

Edited May 13, 2010 by hallycat

[beatrixkiddo]

it is something that my entire family enjoys doing together, and it outside. With a pre-teen in the house, anything to get them away from the video games is a good thing.

[hoosier guy]

it is something that my entire family enjoys doing together, and it outside. With a pre-teen in the house, anything to get them away from the video games is a good thing.

 

Amen Sister!

[+StarBrand]

A long list but here are the highlights:

• time with my family
  
• discovering new places
  
• exercise
  
• the geek in me likes the combination of outdoor activity and electronics
  
• cool swag
  
• the challenge of finding things
  
• sharing places
  
• meeting new people with a common interest
  
• to prevent boredom
  
• I like it.
  

[+OldLog]

I am retired and do this to get me out of the house. Retirement can be a big adjustment. there is no structure to my days now.

[+Spectra20]

To echo some of the others, I like that it gives me a destination. I can go hiking and see the same things over and over in my area but when caching you tend to go outside of your normal zone and explore other areas you'd otherwise never see.

 

For instance, I was caching near a local lake a couple weeks ago. Driven by and around it hundreds of times, I've lived within 15 minutes of it for most of my life. In one day I saw a trail I never knew existed and some remains of what was once a bridge just off the main road. Coolest thing I've seen in a while around here.

 

Living in Southern California the good days out number the bad by far. You get complacent with the great weather cause there is always tomorrow. This hobby has me out in the sun and fresh air a lot more often since I started.

 

The family enjoys going and so do some of my neighbors. I haven't found anything not to like about it.

[+godavid]

To echo ....

//i ahave the echo → http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...b3-3ce72258c9b1

i geo cache for the thrill of it i have already found all that i want to find in my town/city i have move from looking for the micro's to the bigger size cache's and i go after them for the thrill i love it when i find them,and most of all i love the ammo box's

Edited May 14, 2010 by wilddav

[outsidenKS19]

Why does anyone do anything...Because they can!

 

There are so many reasons to like Geocaching it's hard to think of them all. Being outside really isn't a problem for me and my family. But Geocaching is just another activity you can incorporate in to other activities like camping, biking, and hiking.

 

And as much as I hate urban park and grabs, they have their place. If I have nothing to do at lunch I'll grab the GPS'er and try and grab a few. But the more remote the cache the more I'll like it.

 

If I had to pick a favorite reason. It's that Geocaching takes you to places you didn't know existed, then though you live close to them. This expands your general knowledge base, and makes you feel more in tune with your surroundings. My favoite caches are Ghost Town Caches. I've found a couple. And I have done research for a Ghost Town Cache of my own.

 

Geocaching can be what ever you want it to be. Within the guidelines of course.

[+simpjkee]

At first it was intriguing that there were hidden boxes that I didn't know about. Then I was surprised at all the cool places around my hometown that I didn't know about. Then I started meeting some really really cool people. Then I started really getting hardcore about hiking and love roaming around the desert. Plus it gets me exercise, gets me away from the TV and video games to explore the world, etc, etc, etc.

[+woody_and_pip]

It is family time for me. Love bringing the kids out and love the looks on their faces.

 

one of my 11 yr olds was the First To Find a micro geocache today and it really made his day. That is worth it.

[pville911]

I have some friends the geocache and when I heard about it I started looking into it. When I finally downloaded the app. on my phone I started within just a couple of minutes. From the moment that I found my first one I have been hooked. Later that night my wife said that she wanted to go and find some more. Now she is hooked on the thing. We have finally found something that we can do together and gives a chance to hang out together more. We love spending time together and this is a great way to do that.

 

She gets very excited when find a cache. It also gets us up and out of the house so that we can get some fresh air and some fitness in. Like so many people on here I have found out so much about my home town that I never knew. I have seen some great sites that I probably would not have known about if it had not been for geocaching.

 

I like some of the reactions that I get when you catch people watching you. They are wondering what you are doing and sometimes they will come over to you and ask what you are doing. When you tell them what you are doing you get mixed reactions. For the most part though people like the idea. Maybe they will start doing it also.

 

I love geocaching and am always ready to go find more caches.

[namiboy]

i started geocaching because i had a gpsr, that's it. all the other nice things about it that others have mentioned is icing on the cake.

[+breaultm]

Me and my girlfriend have been looking for an outdoors activity for the past few years. We hold a pretty sedentary lifestyle, working in IT, arts, and design, and being a gamer. It became essential for us to find something.

 

We tried many different things but nothing stuck. It never felt right, and even less exciting. There lacked purpose and motivation for us.

 

Here's a tiny backtracked detail: 8 to 10 months ago I saw one of my friends on Facebook mentioning Geocaching. That's the first time I saw the term. I looked it up, thought it was neat, and buried it in my mind and pretty much forgot about it.

 

Back to my story. About a week ago, me and my girlfriend were driving around, talking about everything and nothing, when out of nowhere Geocaching came up in the conversation. The more we talked about it, the more we were starting to be interested in it. When we got back home, I absorbed a load of information. The next day we found our first Cache.

 

The more we do it, the more we feel great about it and the more fun we have. This weekend, at one of the WWFM VII events in New-Brunswick, I figured why we like it so much and why it fits "us". As mentioned earlier, we're both a bit "gamers". We find motivation in objectives and enjoy achievements. Geocaching fits in there. We find it fun to look for something, investigate an environment to find something hidden. Having technology to help us really speaks to the geek in us.

 

 

 

In short: It's get's us out and it's amazingly fun!

[+roziecakes]

Me and my girlfriend have been looking for an outdoors activity for the past few years. We hold a pretty sedentary lifestyle, working in IT, arts, and design, and being a gamer. It became essential for us to find something.

 

 

We were in the SAME boat when we started caching, almost exactly actually!

[+JJball]

Me and my girlfriend have been looking for an outdoors activity for the past few years. We hold a pretty sedentary lifestyle, working in IT, arts, and design, and being a gamer. It became essential for us to find something.

 

 

We were in the SAME boat when we started caching, almost exactly actually!

 

Ditto that almost exactly as well! To the T! My husband is in IT, I'm a teacher. We are both gamers and our sedentary lifestyle became ridiculous over the last 6 years or so. Weight gain, health problems, you name it. Neither of us have any motivation for traditional exercise. We'll stick with it for a week and then we're done because it isn't fun and its like work.

 

But with geocaching ...its just like gaming (at least the type we do) ...we're hunting for loot! lol. It's exciting and fun and rewarding. Also, we get to go places we would have otherwise never known about and it gets us off our butts and out of the house. We had gotten to the point where we never left the house to do anything but go out to eat, shop for groceries and stuff we needed, or to see the occasional movie. Yesterday we walked 3-4 miles around our local University campus, sweating our clothes through with our dog and we had a blast. Weight Watchers + Geocaching = almost 50lbs lost for me. Granted only the last 10lbs or so have been since we started geocaching ...but still it has made a huge difference.

 

Short answer is that it's fun

[Moonbucket]

I knew about it for a while - not sure why, and then I got an android phone which had GPS built in. Started exactly a month ago and it's very addictive!

 

I also don't think anyone ever grows out of treasure hunts - as a huge movie fan it also feels a wee bit like being Indiana Jones or a pirate searching for lost gold or archaeology. A lot of the geo-caches around me are old Roman forts or other historic relics, ruined castles, iron age settlements etc.

 

It's also something that has engage my missus, my teen son and his mate - a pastime with such universal appeal is quite rare!

 

Finally, it's exercise and fresh-air too - but when you have a goal in mind, that last climb or muddy half-mile just doesn't hurt as much.

 

I love it!

[+birddog5]

We heard about it througha co-worker and we decided to try it out. The forst time we went out it was me, my husband, my 2 kids, my parents, my sister and her fiancee all went along. We all had such a great time finding the caches and just laughing.

 

We continued and now we can't wait to find our next cache. It is a great way to get out and get moving, and keeps everyone from siting in front of the TV. We are planning our next camping trip around geocaching.

[+Team_Searchgeo]

I always liked outdoor activities such as hiking, fishing and disc golf and this fits right in with those activities especially hiking. I found out about because we had recently done some hiking and found ourselves in the backwoods with no idea of were we were at. WE were not lost but if we had a GPS we could have gone further and not worried about were we where going as much. So I started looking for a hand held GPSr and kept noticing this thing called geocaching. Never hearing of it before I did a google search and found this site. After some searching I found that my Black Berry would work so i downloaded a app and went on my first find just to check it out. I was thinking this would be a great thing to do just for when we were hiking and camping but after my first couple finds it came a bit addicting. N0ow I have 17 finds and also have my kids ge3tting addicted to it. I am getting ready to buy a handheld GPSr. Using my BB though has been cool because with the blackstar app when we are out and about I can use the "geocaching.com closest cache" option and it will list all the geocaches with my present area. Found a couple this past weekend with my family that way which was really fun. Actually, I have been dong geocaching over fishing which will tell you,if you knew me, how fun it actually is because fishing is my thing and if something can take the place of it well then it is something amazing.

[drewmm]

I'm still relatively new, but I've liked it so far as a great thing my girlfriend and me can do that gets us outside for a reason, rather than just going outside because we know we should. The thrill of the hunt is also great!

 

A movie in the evening feels so much better after a day of geocaching than after a day of sitting around doing nothing.