How did we all find out about geocaching?

[Glennren]

Well, we all must have discovered it from somewhere. Whether it was accidently stumbling upon a cache or finding about it on a website or a friend, lets share our stories.

 

Well i first found out about when i was on a tour of the city with my friend. He suddenly pointed something to me, and i was ok... Thats a plastic, rubbish box. And then he suddenly went to retrieve it while his dad told me about how there was a bit of papet inside it and u had to sign it. At that stage i was like, stop messing with me. I didnt believe them until they actually showed me the website on his phone. I became really excited. I went and found a cache that afternoon.

 

Well, thats my story, what are yours?

[Mr.Yuck]

Well, we all must have discovered it from somewhere. Whether it was accidently stumbling upon a cache or finding about it on a website or a friend, lets share our stories.

 

Well i first found out about when i was on a tour of the city with my friend. He suddenly pointed something to me, and i was ok... Thats a plastic, rubbish box. And then he suddenly went to retrieve it while his dad told me about how there was a bit of papet inside it and u had to sign it. At that stage i was like, stop messing with me. I didnt believe them until they actually showed me the website on his phone. I became really excited. I went and found a cache that afternoon.

 

Well, thats my story, what are yours?

 

Comes up a lot, but I always tell my story, and always love hearing everyone elses. Just surfing the web here. I first stumbled on it about 5 months before I actually joined, and even remember clicking on a cache page. Some guy had said on a drive-in movie theatre message board that he hid a cache at the location of a closed drive-in.

 

Then about a week before I joined, I stumbled on another reference at the website www.epodunk.com which is a website that just has useless municipal information about any municipality in America. There's a link on every page "find Geocaches in this town". I figured it was the 2nd time I've heard of this stuff, so I better check it out in more detail.

[+luvvinbird]

Two years ago, my son mentioned that a local big box store had a particular GPS handheld on sale. This was the same one, he said, that his fellow geologists used in the field. I bought it and fooled around with it but knew nothing about geocaching (or what I was doing) at the time. Early last year while on a Caribbean cruise, I was playing around with it again when a fellow passenger asked if I was a geocacher. He seemed really excited and was beaming until I answered "no". He disappointedly asked if I knew what geocaching was. Again, I answered "no". The experience bothered me as this gentleman's facial expression went from really happy to really down. I felt embarrassed and was determined to check into it after the trip. I did just that and the rest is history, as they say. I hope to meet that fellow passenger one day and tell him what a great pastime geocaching is. That'll bring a smile back to his face.

[+jhellwig]

I read an article about it in popular mechanics and thought I would find it interesting. I was right.

[+Rckhnd]

Several years ago there was a show on the Discovery Channel that showed some competition with long distance cross country runners that used GPSs to locate hidden caches with co-ordinates to the next waypoint and so on to the finish line. During this show something was mentioned about people who would hide things for others to find. They called it Geo Caching. That reminded me of the old advertisements with Canadian Club Whiskey where they would go out and bury a case of whiskey and challenge people to find it.

 

So, last year a friend and I were out hunting in a new area. He had a GPS and was able to roam far and wide. Me, I could only go in as far as I could remember getting back to camp. Even though I have had extensive training with pinpoint location using maps and aerial photography, a map and compass only works so well in certain thick forested areas with limited visibility. I got back and started researching GPSs and ran across the 'Geocache' word again. Looked up the website and promptly forgot about the hunting aspect and wanted to be able to explore denser areas. Now I can hunt and cache at the same time!

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Bought a mail-order Garmin GPS for $25 and a bucket full of Marlboro coupons, with the vague idea of recording fishing holes. When it came in the mail I looked online to see what could be done with it and found geocaching. Hooray!

Edited May 17, 2011 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+spdrbob]

I got an Iphone when they became available on Verizon network and looking in the GPS section I found the Groundspeak application and use the free application. After taking the kids to search for a couple we got the bug. We love hiking and being outside and geo-caching brought us to lots of places we never knew about and added a bit of excitement to our trips. The kids now ask all the time if we there are any caches near us when we have some spare time. We all love the game. They can't wait to place our first cache. We have a container and a place to put it we just need to get the time and have it stop raining to set it up.

[+mcrow]

I saw a story about the local Geocaching Organization on the local news. It looked cool, so I bought a Magellan 300 used off of Ebay. That was about 4 years ago or so.

[+badger10]

My father-in-law was on his summer rv trip and heard about it at one of the campgrounds. He told us about it. We saw an article in our paper about it and that they were going to have a meeting in a couple of days so we decided to go. At the meeting they talked about a geocaching event starting in a couple of days. Our first caches were from the City of Richland geocoin challenge. That was it for us.

[+StarBrand]

Spotted a link to it while updating the Firmware in my old blue eTrex Legend one day. An hour later I was doing the drunk bee dance trying to find a coffee tin under a pile leaves.

[+wimseyguy]

Saw an article in the Outdoors section of the local paper 8 years ago. Bought an $89 yellow etrex at REI, took the blue pill and was hooked ever since.

[+fuzziebear3]

I was solving a puzzle on another puzzle site that I like. The answer turned out to be a set of coordinates and a reference to geocaching.com. I looked it up, and thought it sounded like fun. I actually had an old GPS 12 at the house, and went out that evening and found my first cache.

[+lamoracke]

it was Joe.

[+dfx]

A friend of mine told me about it. My first thought was: "that sounds really stupid." Several months after, I happened to get my own first GPS-enabled device (a PDA). I had forgotten all about geocaching, but eventually stumbled across it again and decided to give it a try. Took 3 tries to find my first cache lol.

[+IsaCathrine]

I heard about it some years ago, two maybe, like "they are doing geocaching", and I was like "eeh, ok?"

Then som friends startet some months ago, and I thought it sounded fun, but I aldso thought that it was about going on long hikes in the forest, so I never started.

Then I was babysitting their kids last friday, because they where going on a event. When I was there, they told alot about it, and explaind it to me, and I found my first cache the day after

[+Shelly69]

My parents, PA Racers, had been doing it for over a year. They kept trying to get me into it. Finally one day my husband had borrowed a GPS to use on a road trip, I was playing with it and thought.. "OK, I will give it a try" Called my parents who sent me the link to Groundspeak. Next thing you know Ive got my husband out in the brush looking for "something" and we found it! Ok lets try ONE more..... and ONE more.... and We were hooked.

Bought a cheap GPS and away we went. Have upgraded my GPS since then and we are happy cachers!

Edited May 17, 2011 by Shelly69

[+Lieblweb]

Ten years ago we actually found 2 caches under my username 'Janster'. I think we were introduced to it thru some friends. Back then, it just wasn't as popular - so we lost interest. So, we already knew what the concept was.

 

About 3 weeks ago after purchasing our iphones, my husband came across the Geocaching App and we gave it a try (again). We were totally amazed at how things have changed over 10 years!! We were immediately hooked!!! Everywhere you go, there's a cache!!

 

My old username still exists, but I never use it. Much more fun when we do this together!!

[+Coldgears]

I found out about geocaching about 3 years ago in December of 2007. Actually I found out about letterbox in decemenber 2007 and it said, "not a geocache do not take anything do not leave anything". I then went to there website and realized I don't have a GPS and never signed up until 2010 when I got a GPS.

 

Edited May 17, 2011 by Coldgears

[+captnemo]

Sometime in 2000 I bought a Garmin GPS38 for use off roading. It worked great but without any maping or auto routing and it was SLOW I upgraded to a GPS V in Dec. 2001. I was telling and showing a friend at work about my new GPS,in Jan. 2002. He said "Oh I guess you are into Geocaching?" I had never heard of it so I looked it up on the Web and the rest is history.

 

My friend has never been caching?

[+mcrow]

Letterboxing looks cool! I may have another outdoor hobby.

[+Fianccetto]

There was a thread on the Wild About Britain website about a cache which then went on to explain geocaching. Once it was all explained, I thought it seemed interesting & was just the sort of thing we could get into. I wasn't wrong!

Edited May 18, 2011 by Fianccetto

[+softballmom19]

My mom did geocaching and I tried it several times with her but had fogetten about it after I moved out of the house. Recently there was an article in the local newspaper about geocaching so I looked into it again. At first I didn't have the money for a gps but I kept looking until I found one that I could afford. I have upgraded my gps since that first one. I'm hooked on geocaching and I have even taken my gps on trips and vacation just to see if there was any close by.

[+Snoogans]

Well, thats my story, what are yours?

 

My story seems to vary in length depending on my mood at the time.

 

2003

Originally posted by solohiker:

My GPS is older than geocaching.

 

So is mine.

 

I found geocaching.com in a link from <A HREF="http://www.edisonlake.com/default.asp?page=geocaching" TARGET=_blank>the Vermilion Valley Resort website.</A> (The owner is a friend/geominion of mine.) I was out looking for a cache the next day. It took 2 days and 3 trips to find that cache. I have been hooked ever since.

 

Sn B) gans

Sacred cows make the best hamburger....Mark Twain.

 

Later in 2003

 

I have been thinking about all the people that I have met because of geocaching and the fact that we all seem to instantly become friends. Our Texas group feels more like an extended family. Anyhooo…..

 

I’m sure it’s something deeper than a shared activity that makes us have so much in common. I’m pretty sure it’s things that don’t even get discussed here.

 

There’s a deeper appeal to geocaching which I call Geocaching Aptitude, or G.A.

 

It’s more than just a love of electronic hardware and the outdoors.

 

The problem solving nature of the activity pretty much ensures that geocachers have more than a couple brain cells to rub together, but that’s not it.

 

I’m not sure what “IT” is……??? I just know that I have it.

 

For example:

 

On a personal level I have ALWAYS been a cacher. I was putting “treasures” in a box under my bed when I was in preschool.

 

When I got a bit older I was really into the idea of hidden things and buried treasure. I drew treasure maps endlessly and was wayyy into Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts.

 

A bit older and I had a “Secret Stash.” A bit older than that and I had another “Secret Stash” etc. None of my stashes was ever found. I was THAT “good.”

 

So I grow up and get out on my own and the need for secrecy diminished, but I still had all this G.A.

 

I started hiking in the Sierras whenever I could afford to go home.

 

I hid my first cache in 1989. It was/is just some useful junk in a waterproof metal first aid box. (I always had an attraction to a good container.) It had/has: A lighter, some pictures, some change, an old pocket knife, a mini maglight, some other stuff, you know, things I could use. I hid it in a place that I like to go and hang out and think. (Yes, ala Alvin York for the obligatory obscure reference.) It’s still there as are about a dozen other caches. One wilderness cache is just a nice Arkansas whetstone and an extra jar of Pautski’s Green, (Salmon eggs.) which I replace with a fresh one every year.

 

I was a geocacher and I just didn’t know it until a happened upon the link at the Vermilion Valley Resort website on 2/28/03.

 

I already had a GPS and there was a cache listed less than a mile from my house as the crow flies, so I was after it the next day. I got SKUNKED! I went again the next day. SKUNKED AGAIN! I had spotted a geocacher on that second trip, (Lvispelvis) but I didn’t want to be shown where the cache was, so I waited until he got outta sight and I never saw that dude again that day. Almost two hours later and I had decided that geocaching wasn’t any fun and I wasn’t going to do it anymore. (Actually I was a bit more colorful in my thinking about the activity.) I went home to watch Jeff Gordon blow away the competition at whichever track he had won on countless times before.

 

So I’m sittin there and it’s just eating me that I couldn’t find that (expletive deleted) CACHE. I had a friend read me the new log from Lvispelvis over the phone and I was OUT THE DOOR. I was pretty sure that Gordon could win the race without me watching.

 

When I turned on my GPS this time I decided to look at some of the other features other than just the numbers. Hey, what’s this “goto” thingy? OOOooooooOOOooo, an arrow pointing thataway. 10 minutes later a true geocacher was born.

 

What’s your story?

 

Am I the only one who thinks that I have been a cacher all of my life?

 

How would you measure G.A. ?

 

Sn gans

 

2004

 

Indeed, let's have the full-length sob story.

The end happened for me on the same date that I started this thread, except that it was a year ago. I had been caching for just six weeks so it was a traumatic experience. MY FIRST CACHE FIND.....GONE!!!! OH THE HUMANITY!!! The history of my introduction to the sport WIPED OUT! Actually the log book survived. (There's a park road at those coords now.) Three of my first five finds have been archived.

 

This is how it all started:

 

DISCOVERY: Late, on 2/28/03, I discovered a link to GC.COM from the Vermilion Valley Resort Website. I clicked on it thinking it was some sort of photo contest. BOY was I wrong.

 

FIRST HUNT / FIRST DNF: I took the first opportunity on 3/1/2003, at about 8:OOAM, I was on the hunt for the nearest cache to my house. (Less than a mile as the crow flies. About a 2 mile drive.) Land-O-Lakes by TxsYank. SKUNKED after about 3 hours in the cold and wet. I was just watching the numbers change and trying to match them to the cache page. (I hadn't discovered GOTO, on a GPS that I'd had since 1996.) I even tried UTM.

 

MY CHERRY FIND: On 3/2/2003, I went looking again a bit earlier. It was colder, wetter, and now it was windy. I was thinking about punting on first down and going home. There were geese in the park and I had a bunch of old bread to feed them, so I decided to do that before leaving. While feeding the honkers a red truck pulled up and a guy got out leaving a rather P.O.'d looking woman inside. He produced a yellow device and took off in a direction where I thought the cache should be. OK! Now I had to stay, but I didn't want that guy (Lvispelvis) to show me where it was. I kept feeding the honkers and waited for him to get outta sight. I never saw him again that day and three hours later I had some cool ideas for places to hide a cache, but still no cherry find. Skunked again! I said EFF! this EFFIN! GEOCRAP! I went home to watch Jeff Gordon open a big can of NASCAR whoopa**. I vowed NEVER to geocache again.

 

SOOOOO, about three hours go bye and I call a friend, at work, to read the latest log from Lvispelvis. About ten minutes later I'm back on the hunt. I discovered the goto feature while waiting for a sat lock. DOH! There's a friggin arrow and everything. About ten minutes later, armed with Lvis' log, I found Land-O-Lakes. The rest is geocaching history......

 

(I got revenge on TxsYank with 2 of my 4 caches that I later placed in the same area.)

 

I became really fond of that park and I have 4 hides there now and a C.I.T.O. event scheduled for this Sunday. I talked with the Parks Director about it. He loves the whole concept and he wants me to showcase gecaching for a meeting of Park Directors from all over the state of Texas! He will hunt his first cache on Sunday as well.

 

There is a hint that there is more to this story on one of my links, but that can wait until later.

 

Sn gans

 

Later in 2004

 

This is a good topic that comes and goes. With all the recent positive press, this thread should probably be pinned.

 

Here's what I posted on a previous thread:

 

I have to make at least one trip a year to this quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem way up in the High Sierras. The local establishment had recently changed ownership and I wanted to see what they had done with the website. The rest is history.

 

Vermilion Valley Resort

 

I also noticed that most of the 4 digit posters haven't posted to this thread so here's another much older one to read.

Skip to 2007 after reposting for a few years:

 

1. How did you first hear about geocaching?

 

I was cruising the newly updated Vermilion Valley Resort website at the request of the owner since he knew me as a guest who had been frequenting his establishment before he took ownership.

 

That was in the evening of February 28, 2003.

 

2. Tell me about your first cache?

 

The closest cache in my zipcode was Land-O-Lakes.

 

I already owned an ancient Magellan GPS200 and I was hunting my first cache at O' Dark Thirty the next morning (3/1) and I gave up at about noon totally skunked.

 

I went back twice the next day and got it on the second try after finally taking the time to learn how to use my GPS properly. I was just trying to match up the numbers while walking around the first couple of times. I even tried matching up UTM numbers. DOH!

 

3. Have you had any bad/scary experiences caching?

 

The bad experiences turned out to be adventures and the scary experiences all turned into fun.

 

4. What is the #1 reason you geocache?

 

I geocache because it's part of my very nature. I keep geocaching because it is a creative outlet and because of other geocachers themselves.

 

5. Do you prefer to hunt or hide?

 

I'm solidly a hider and a TB mover.

 

I take pride in my hides and I get great returns in the form of nice logs, pictures, watchers, and positive bookmarks on most of my caches.

 

Finding caches is something I like to do on trips and with groups of friends. I rarely cache around home nor do I have the time. There was a cache listed just 300 yards from where I park my car at work and I didn't bother to walk over and get it for over 3 years.

 

6. What was your favorite cache place?Why?

 

I have a few favorites that fit equally;

 

Just about any cache I've done in the Sierras or the White Mountains.... Why? Hey, I live most of the year in the Armpit of the Universe where it's hot, humid, and FLAT! The mountains are home.

 

A sandbar in the Caribbean that is populated by hundreds of tame stingrays.

 

In Nevada: The old abandoned NASA tracking station. Again, on top of a mountain.

An old pet cemetary near Las Vegas. Some industrial ruins outside of Beatty.

 

In N.M.: An old abandoned school bus on an old busted pot farm.

 

In Texas: Just about anything around Austin. Along Village Creek in Lumberton. And an abandoned sawmill near Beaumont.

 

In Florida: The 4wd caches of the Osceola Swamp. After 3 years, that's still my single best day of caching enjoyment

 

7. What was your worst cache? Why?

 

My worst cache is still one of my fondest geocaching adventures. I learned the lesson to carry MORE water than I need when desert hiking. To make a long story short. I chose the wrong path and got stuck in the shade in near 130 degree heat with very little water. What should have been no more than an hour turned into a 5+ hour ordeal. If I hadn't been right ON the Colorado River, I probably would have died of heat stroke at a cache I DNF'd.

 

8. Have you ever attened a cache event?

 

Events are the BEST part of geocaching in my not so humble opinion.

 

I've attended near 100 total in 6 states (Soon to be 7) and I've hosted 22 events in 3 states.

 

9. Tell me your best caching story?

 

Most of my best caching stories are centered around events and begin something like this: "Me and so-and-so got drunk and....." (mostly for campout events)

 

There was the time the overloaded party boat (of geocachers) I was driving took a wake over the bow and did a dolphin dive. THAT was FUN! At least no one drownded.

 

Canoing down Village Creek with my dog, Cujo, and finding out that I could use him as an outboard motor.

 

The many night expeditions with groups of friends. Old Voth Sawmill, Swamp Lights, Night Mission Doomspore, and Ringtail Peepers were the very best of those.

 

GeoWoodstocks 3 through 5.

 

Getting close to 40 caches in 3 to 5-Star terrain during the GWIII4WD Run with the N.E.F.G.A. Jeep club.

 

Proposing to the Snoogstress after wrapping up the Meet & Greet event for GW4.

 

10. What are some of your favorite geocaching pictures?

 

 

Later in 2007

When I saw Geocaching on the Vermilion Valley Resort website my first thoughts were....

 

COOOOOL!!!

 

1.GPS "got it"

2.I like finding lost hiding things

3.This sounds FUN

4. Lets Go!

 

I was hunting my first cache and getting totally skunked less than 12 hours later on March 1, 2003.

 

It's pretty much reposting the entries above or just not bothering to respond since 2007.

 

I'm still in favor of having this subject pinned, but I also think new discussions of the same subjects have merit and can lead in interesting directions.

 

My story doesn't change much and my hat is off to folks like briansnat who can be helpful over and over on the same questions.

 

So that's my story. Just a sampling of different versions over the years.

[+Thrak]

I live on a cul-de-sac and we have a block breakfast every year. One of the retired neighbors came down to grab some food and when folks asked what he'd been up to lately he got a big grin and said, "Treasure Hunting!". The neighbors laughed and he told us a little bit about geocaching. The other neighbors laughed some more and poked a bit of fun but I thought it sounded interesting so I made sure to get the web address. I went home and made a geocaching.com account and started reading the forums. I read a LOT of useful stuff and then over the next week or so I started checking out GPS receivers online. I looked at a lot of different models and, the more I looked, the more I wanted it all. Finally one day I saw a GPSMAP 76CSx on eBay that was brand new in the box. The price was low so I sent myself email to check it out the next day. When I got to work the next day I got the email and looked it up and it was STILL low with 11 minutes left on the auction. I made a bid, certain it would jump to some really high price at the last minute. Boy was I surprised when I won! Then I had to go home and tell my wife I had just spent $400. At that time the thing would have cost me $632 locally though (with tax) so it was a good buy.

 

By the time the unit arrived in the mail I had already read a zillion forum posts, tons of other online information, and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geocaching and had gotten GSAK and downloaded a Pocket Query. I opened the box, checked out the unit for maybe 20 minutes, loaded my Pocket Query, and went out and found my first cache - an ammo can in a stump that had been hidden by the very neighbor who first told me about caching. I first heard the word Geocaching on July 30, 2005 and my first find was August 8, 2005.

 

I had been an online gamer (Dark Age of Camelot) for 3 years and had wasted from 2 to 16 hours a day - every day - playing that stupid game. When I discovered geocaching I went out side and never gamed again. Geocaching saved my sanity.

[+Ampresearch]

i first saw it in a movie called splinterheads. geocaching happens to play a large roll in the movie as its a favorite hobby of one of the main character. half way through i paused the movie to search google to see if it was real. sure enough i found this site and did a search. 15 min later i was standing in a bush only 800 feet from my home finding my first cache.

[+Snoogans]

i first saw it in a movie called splinterheads. geocaching happens to play a large roll in the movie as its a favorite hobby of one of the main character. half way through i paused the movie to search google to see if it was real. sure enough i found this site and did a search. 15 min later i was standing in a bush only 800 feet from my home finding my first cache.

 

Now THAT'S cool! I still haven't seen Splinterheads and I was sad that I had to miss the first ever screening of it at GW7 in favor of going caching with friends after the event. I wasn't driving (My wife had our car) and beggars can't be choosers.

[+StarkeCCZ]

I was browsing Reddit.com one day and someone posted a question on what were some good hobbies to pick up. The number one response was Geocaching. I had no idea what it was so I decided to look it up. For some reason I first thought it had something to do with going around and finding geodes (man I was way off).

 

So I pull up the main website and research it and immediately catch the bug. I was so excited about how awesome it sounded that I texted my best friend from high school/college since I knew he would love this sort of thing too. He calls me literally 10 minutes later and it turned out he was actually out finding a geocache right as I had texted him. Apparently he had received a GPS for his birthday a month before and it had a Geocaching feature preloaded onto it and that is how he discovered it and had been out geocaching for a month. So we managed to both stumble upon geocaching completely separately only about a month apart and we have both been geocaching ever since.

[MisterEFQ]

I saw that really bad movie. But it did introduce us. Then I remembered we had a GPS that her dad gave her for xmas one year. She never asked for or wanted a GPS so it was new and in the box. We went out later that day and found 2 caches at a local park.

 

Finally that thing has gotten some use.

[knyahwalk]

My husband and I learned about Geocaching yesterday :-)

 

We found a ammo box totally by accident.

 

We Live in Rexdale and normally go the other way on the humber path- this time we decided to let the Knyah (dog) choose the path.

My husband saw something out of the corner of his eye - and there it was. How fun!

 

The best was the little recording device inside that had a man and his boy saying "look behind you - There is a deer!".... and no joke - there was a deer......

 

What a great experience - now we are hooked!!!!

 

We are going out for another walk later - depending on where we go - I am planing on finding our second one. :-)

[+jeepdelfuego]

A few years ago I was Jeeping in Truckhaven, now known as Truckhaven SVRA, and one of our club members said over the radio that we were stopping to find a geocache on a precarious ledge. I had just bought a new Garmin Etrex Legend (old blue) and thought that it would be an interesting thing to do. I loaded the coordinates and got close. One of the kids in our group found it. I never did log that one. That friend now has 10 finds under his belt and I have 920! I have slowed down as of late. But, I still like geocaching and I am looking forward to finding my 1,000th find.

 

 

Edited May 17, 2011 by jeepdelfuego

[ShoesThief]

I would have to say that my liking for geocaching started when my Boy Scout Troop went to National Jamboree without me and they came back and told me how they went geocaching and got banned for winning to many times so they went to different subgroups to win the geocoins that you got for winning. That is how my love for Geocaching sparked and now is a big hobby with me and my friends.

 

I first heard about Geocaching when I watched law and order and two guys found a dead body while geocaching

[+SwineFlew]

I heard of goecaching back in 2004 from an ATV forum that I was a member of and I remember signing up on GC but didnt cache because I didnt have a GPS and was in college full time and plus. Fast forward to 2009 when an ex took me out caching on our first date. I found close to 15 caches with her over the next few months and I found most of it before she can. After our break up, I got myself a nice fancy GPS and went out hunting for my first cache under this SN. The rest is history.

 

The bad part, I dont remember the first SN I used when I signed up on GC back in 2004.

[+Chokecherry]

I heard about it years ago through some weird grapevine I had. However, couldn't afford a GPS unit and couldn't justify it to find containers waaaay far away from me at that point.

 

Stumbled across it again when laying on my couch one night going through my phone applications. It was suggested to me so I thought I'd look into it and lo and behold there were caches near by.

 

After that I got a unit as I could afford it this time around.

[+popokiiti]

A local radio station was on as a nap was about to be taken, and Popoki Nui heard a couple of local geocachers being interviewed and explaining what geocaching was all about. It sounded interesting so we gave it a try. Found our first cache, and were hooked!

[sabrefan7]

Mine is pretty usual. I like to hike and wile looking for a hand held GPSr on line I found about about geocaching. Signed up in 05 but never used the site or logged a find. Signed up again in 06 (different name) and finally found one. I have found a few letterboxes wile out. Signed up in '09 (different name ) and now have my own stamp (store bought because I have no artistic talent) and log book.

Edited May 17, 2011 by sabrefan7

[+Sharks-N-Beans]

This was our son's first log ever:

 

My dad and I stopped at this place on a bike ride and stopped to look around. It's kind of cool. We didn't know anything about Geocaching until I saw the cache and opened it. There was a list, 2 seashells and a token w, a picture of 2 people and "Geo Cache" on it. We put everything back and came home to google Geo Cache and now I have a Login and we're going to find more caches.

[+Starkes]

I only found out about it last year. I had a Garmin Oregon 400t I used for hunting, fishing, hiking, and general road navigation. One night I was just playing around with all the menu options and went to the 'geocaches' menu option that I had always ignored previously and it just told me 'visit website to learn more about geocaching' so I searched online about it and decided it sounded like a fun outdoor activity to involve myself in.

[+akkatracker]

Well, we all must have discovered it from somewhere. Whether it was accidently stumbling upon a cache or finding about it on a website or a friend, lets share our stories.

 

Well i first found out about when i was on a tour of the city with my friend. He suddenly pointed something to me, and i was ok... Thats a plastic, rubbish box. And then he suddenly went to retrieve it while his dad told me about how there was a bit of papet inside it and u had to sign it. At that stage i was like, stop messing with me. I didnt believe them until they actually showed me the website on his phone. I became really excited. I went and found a cache that afternoon.

 

Well, thats my story, what are yours?

 

I do happen to be that friend. Well anyway we were walking around Sydney when I spot a container in the ledge (Using my newly obtained skills) Thats how he found out about it.

 

I found out about Geocaching through CSIRO (The Australian science authority). They sent me a weekly email telling me about stuff. Well I stumble upon a "Fun treasure hunting game" I found out my closest was 1km away. BUT IT WAS A 2 TERRAIN. - I was scared.I forgot about geocaching for a while. So.... we moved house and I'm like - hey there's a track next to my local oval. Better check it out online. I found my first geocache. The rest is history.

[Glennren]

Jeez akka, you just had to steal my spotlight!

[+stanolli]

I play online backgammon at a site with a general forum where someone posted asking for help on a puzzle cache. It was in Dutch so I couldn't help, but that's how I found geocaching.com at a time I was trying to get more exercise.

I still love playing backgammon (and have used that forum on puzzles), but it's even nicer to combine mental and physical challenges.

[+Snoogans]

My husband and I learned about Geocaching yesterday :-)

 

We found a ammo box totally by accident.

 

We Live in Rexdale and normally go the other way on the humber path- this time we decided to let the Knyah (dog) choose the path.

My husband saw something out of the corner of his eye - and there it was. How fun!

 

The best was the little recording device inside that had a man and his boy saying "look behind you - There is a deer!".... and no joke - there was a deer......

 

What a great experience - now we are hooked!!!!

 

We are going out for another walk later - depending on where we go - I am planing on finding our second one. :-)

 

Neat story. Go to a few local geocaching events and you'll really be hooked.

[+DadOf6Furrballs]

I actually (vaguely) remember reading about it on Slashdot years ago when it first started. It was only a mild interest at the time, as I didn't have the spare change to go out and buy an expensive GPS just to go looking for "buckets" in the woods. I think over the years I read a few more articles about it in various online mags and such, but it was still only a passing interest.

 

Fast forward years later, and we had bought our first GPS for the car. A Garmin Nuvi 255. It was kind of fun, especially going to strange towns and finding addresses and restaurants with the turn-by-turn "recalculating" woman. One day after work the wifey (the mom of the 6 furrballs) and I were trying to figure out what to do after dinner, and she asked "what's that thing that people do with GPS's and go find stuff?" I remembered it was called Geocaching, so I went online to Google and found this site. Registered a name (what actually became THIS username a bit later), and started panning the maps. So did she, with her newly registered user name.

 

Found one near the house, something called a "park and grab". A orange matchstick tube in a parking lot. So we drive over and start looking for it with the Nuvi. Didn't find it, although we kept orbiting the lamp post. Gave up and went home. It kept bugging me all night, so I got up early and went by there again on the way to work. I rutted through every shrub and turned over every rock I could find. Still ignoring the lamp post, where it seemed to indicate it was. Frustrated, I went to work and got online. Googled "geocache" and "parking lot". Voila!!! There it was... the entire secret of geocaching in a picture. Seriously, I had no idea those things lifted up. I guess I lived a clueless life up to that point.

 

The rest is history, after about 3 attempts with the Nuvi we bought our first real Geocaching GPS, a cheapo yellow eTrex that was on sale. Almost 1200 finds later, and about 50 caches placed out there, here we are. And we still use that eTrex.

[+Mushroom finder]

I first heard about geocaching on a duck hunting chat board in 2002. A member of that group had posted a story about receiving a spent disposable camera in the mail that he had placed in a cache out of state in 2001. He got the film developed and posted some of the pictures. I remember checking out the geocaching website and thinking that it sounded like something I'd like to try but I didn't own a GPS and there weren't very many caches nearby at that time anyway so I pretty much forgot about it.

 

Fast forward to the spring of 2008. I was out looking for mushrooms one day along a hiking trail when I spotted something hidden under some sticks behind a tree. Even though it had been six years since I'd last heard about geocaching, I knew instantly what it was. I was pretty excited and couldn't wait to open it. Well as it turned out it was actually a letterbox but was still a pretty neat find and I got online and learned all about letter boxing that evening.

 

The very next day I was out looking for mushrooms again 30 miles away from where I had found the letterbox when I stumbled upon a geocache. It was a PVC tube strapped to a tree and said "official geocache" on the side. Unfortunately, the bottom had fallen off and all of the contents were scattered down a hillside. I picked up everything I could find and put it back together the best I could and when I got home I visited the website to try to find the owner. I could not find the cache listed on the map but I was pleasantly surprised to see how many caches were now in my area, including a few in the immediate vicinity of this mystery cache.

 

Still wanting to find the owner so I could let them know their cache was in need of attention, I joined the Groundspeak forums to seek assistance. Some suggested that it could be the final on a multi or a puzzle cache, a premium member cache or simply an archived cache. I made a couple more trips to the spot to see if I could find more clues but there was no log book, no stash note and no owner information or GC number. I pretty much gave up on trying to find out more and instead decided to see if I could find some others. There were three caches in the area but I didn't have a GPS so I enlisted the help of google earth and eventually found all three!

 

Within a week I bought my first GPS and soon after I hid my first cache. Soon I was finding other caches in my area but that mystery cache continued to bug me. I went back and recorded the coordinates and then got in touch with a local reviewer. Turns out it was an unpublished cache that had been placed a year or two prior but was denied due to proximity issues and the owner abandoned it. The owner was no longer even registered with GC. Bummer, my one and only FTF and I couldn't even log it. I did however remove the geo-litter and the SWAG that was still good got distrbted into other caches nearby. Been hooked on caching ever since.

[+onthegomom]

New Years Day 2010 my friend asked if we all wanted to geocache with them for the day, I said "sure!" Then went and had to look up what it was They took us out and we all have been hooked

[+RhinoInAToga]

My husband had heard of it years ago, during his travels here & there. He never really asked more about it or anything, though. For the details, you'd have to ask him.

I heard about it because I ran into one of you guys in Blk Mtn (a town I used to live in)back in 2004? (Or 2005...I'm not great with timelines..)while I was walking my dog in a field beside a parking lot. (Well...I say walking but I really mean chasing. He had gotten off the leash, and "catch me, slowpoke!" Was just his favorite game to play. Apparently, I chased his mischievous behind too close to a cache. Yup, I was a muggle. & a cacher was in danger of being skunked out. I just didn't know it.. Too busy. So this person I've never met before smiles & says hello. I stop & say hello back. I'm friendly, and I had the dog there...sort of. I ask how they are doing, and they start talking about geocaching. I suppose they thought I asked WHAT they were doing.. I didn't realize that while that person was informing me of geocaching, their partner was probably hiding the cache again so I wouldn't see. I wish I knew who it was, because Goooooood job! I was really interested, but at that point in my life I knew it wasn't going to happen. So I let it go. Fast forward to a couple of months ago, & my husband's niece starts talking about geocaching. I knew I had heard of it somewhere before, but for the life of me couldn't remember where or when. She mentioned that her brother had done it in Kuwait, & they were really into it now as well. I, again, was very interested. So was my husband. A week later we were geocachers!

Last week, we ended up in Blk Mtn again (we weren't planning on it- that's where the caching led us that night ) we were getting tired, as it was around 1 am or so & the kids were asleep in the back seat & we were ready to call it as well. We agreed on one more. Into the grocery store parking lot we go. We drive behind the building & I see the field & it all comes rushing back to me! That was kind of awesome.

I read on the cache page, & in the logs, that they were having trouble with the cache going missing pretty often ( that store went through a lot of construction to make it huge & it's also the only good grocery store in town, so lots of muggles) & they said if it happened again they were going to archive it. I left them a log that said how grateful I was that they didn't archive it yet, & how awesome it was to have that memory rush back to me like that, and to write our username on THAT log was really something special for me.

[+conspirator2958]

I saw it on a Law & Order SVU episode.

[+GrateBear]

I was living in Chicago and there was an article about geocaching in the RedEye (that's the Chicago Tribune lite for the younger generation who don't have the stamina to read through more than 12 or so pages). Looked into it, went on-line and bought a Legend Cx, and the rest is history. That was in 2006.

[+Indy.Sparkles]

I was just sitting on a rock in a local wilderness area and felt something odd under some moss, and I pulled out a cache. I didn't start caching until last year when I got the app for my phone though.

[+kellye&jeremy]

Now, I remember, years ago seeing something on tv about this geocaching business being done up in New York or somewhere like that where they don't have wide open pastures & creeks & all kinds of other outdoor adventures. Flash forward to 10 years later, my boyfriend & I were kayaking down a river & misunderstood exactly how far the trip was going to be. The river started rising, darkness fell, fog starts rising & there was no clear markings as to where to take out. Oh yea, he lost the flashlight too. Fortunately we gave up at 1:30am & took out at a near flat spot that happened to have a fire pit, started a fire & slept intermittently while the temp dropped to 30 degrees & our clothes wouldn't dry out. I kept telling him that this will be a funny story once we find the take out spot & our truck. Sure enough, the next morning, after the fog cleared enough to see the shores of the river, we traveled less than 100 yards to the take out spot which led back another 200 yards to the truck. We slept closer to our truck than to the take out spot. Told you it was going to be funny. A friend at work said I had to get a gps to not do that again, but secretly he enjoyed getting to tell everyone at work why I wasn't there that day. But he also told me about geocaching with the gps & that some of his kayaking friends hid them where you could only get to them by kayak. Perfect. I glanced at the website, but didn't go any further. I got a gps for Xmas. Then deer season ended, too cold to kayak yet, nothing else to do, we decided to check it out. The first 2 we didn't find. Then we found one. Du Du Daaaaahh!! This is cool! Then my boyfriend got addicted. He would go out searching & finding & send me pics on my fone! No fun anymore. Then I sent him to some places that kinda creeped him out with muggles (city park where jogging co-eds looked at you like a serial killer), so we decided we would only do together. Now we're getting ready to do our river trip & snag quite a few, but also to hide our very first one. I can tell you though, that whoever thought this game up, was not from the South. Folks down here pay attention to cars that stop on the roads along side their pastures & watch them really hard. We're just as guilty of that as anybody else down here. But, usually once you explain to them & show them, either the gps or the cache, they still watch you but not as hard. That's our story. I expect that knowing us, our geocache adventures will be as crazy as our kayaking adventures. Always ending with a funny story.

[+TeamR0cket]

Sme very good storys above. Heres mine

My wife mantioned geocaching as an example when I drew a map for my kids treasure hunt around our garden. Shed heard about it it on a news channel some time before, she explained how it worked so I googled it. (sorry bing). Oe of the very first times my wife knew something I didn't. I think she liked that!

I couldn't get enough of it, and still can't. My kids love looking for the cache when we get to the location. I love getting out of our house. Kids get fresh air, my wife gets to excersise. Theres too many positives for active families to say no.

I do feel like I can only tell people about it who would benefit from the game. I Kind of like the idea that its still not widely know.