How did you get your start?

[The_Hypnotoad]

How did you get your start in the world of geocaching?

 

I first heard of it back in 2002. I met a guy while I was living in Soda Springs Idaho for a short time, who had just started geocaching. He told me a little about geocaching, I had always been a bit interested in it since. I honestly thought it sounded kinda lame, but it still spiked my curiosity.

 

Fast forward about 10 years. I got a smart phone and I came across an app that allowed me to use my phone as a GPS device. And here I am. I've really enjoyed geocaching so far.

[+Chokecherry]

I heard about it years ago but couldn't afford the equipment and couldn't justify it for a few caches who knew where (at that time for me). Stumbled across it again when I was looking at phone apps. Used the app for about a week and it stuck so I bought a GPSr and off I went.

[+SeekerOfTheWay]

A friend mentioned he was taken on a geocaching outing. I'd never heard of it and thought he meant geotagging pics. He explained it was a treasure hunt using GPS. I love GPS, and GPS apps for my phone so I downloaded a free app cslled Blackstar for my Blackberry.

 

My first attempt was a DNF, and it took me an hour to figure out how to input the coordinates. But I had so much fun searching and learning about coordinates and started reading these forums.

 

Finally found a few caches, and met some Geocachers, went to a few events and here I am. I realized 6 months into caching that I much prefer higher terrain caches with hikes, Kayaking, climbing and crawling.

 

Now I'm more particular with what I seek. Any cache that takes me somewhere scenic, historic or interesting is my thing.

 

I now use a Garmin Colorado 400t.

[+Redfist]

I heard of it ~10 years ago but I didn't pay enough attention.

 

When Microsoft released a variety of "Windows Phone 7", I had to have one. I then heard that a Geocaching app was available. I bought it and have been hooked ever since although I primarily use a newly purchased Garmin Oregon 450 for caching now. I use the phone in a pinch.

[knowschad]

How did you get your start in the world of geocaching?

 

I first heard of it back in 2002. I met a guy while I was living in Soda Springs Idaho for a short time, who had just started geocaching. He told me a little about geocaching, I had always been a bit interested in it since. I honestly thought it sounded kinda lame, but it still spiked my curiosity.

 

Fast forward about 10 years. I got a smart phone and I came across an app that allowed me to use my phone as a GPS device. And here I am. I've really enjoyed geocaching so far.

 

Shame. You could have been one of the old-timers. Instead, your a n00b. Well, better late then never. Welcome!

[knowschad]

I spied a couple of co-workers standing out in the parking lot after lunch. They were friends, so I wandered on over to chat with them. One of them, Chad, had what I now know to be an ancient GPS. He was waiting for it to get a lock on the birds. They told me they were going to look for treasure, and explained geocaching as we headed down the trail. As it turned out, I was the one to find the cache (which is still in play, seven years later, by the way). I stopped off at the store the next night (or maybe it was that same night) and bought my first GPS, a blue Garmin eTrex Legend.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

The better half (Gummee) brought home a book about geocaching, after one of her "girls-away-from-the-guys-weekends". I read it, she didn't.

Later, after about 10-15 caches found, she wanted to partake of the fun.

 

Now, she sees those I do not -- mainly because she is short vertically challenged and must always look up -- I rarely do!

 

End of story.

 

Tomorrow, we are taking a local couple out to show them the geocaching "ropes". Just made that date with them about 1/2 hr. ago.

Edited July 29, 2011 by Gitchee-Gummee

[Mr.Yuck]

How did you get your start in the world of geocaching?

 

I first heard of it back in 2002. I met a guy while I was living in Soda Springs Idaho for a short time, who had just started geocaching. He told me a little about geocaching, I had always been a bit interested in it since. I honestly thought it sounded kinda lame, but it still spiked my curiosity.

 

Fast forward about 10 years. I got a smart phone and I came across an app that allowed me to use my phone as a GPS device. And here I am. I've really enjoyed geocaching so far.

 

Come up many times over the years, but I always enjoy telling my story and hearing others. Interesting, you could have gotten in pretty early, but thought it sounded kinda lame.

 

All from surfing the web, first stumbled on it at drive-ins.com a website that has pages for any open or closed drive-in theatre that ever existed in North America. Some guy said he hid something called a Geocache at the site of an abandoned drive-in, and linked to his cache page, which I even remember clicking on, and checking out. Then about 4 months later I stumbled on a link to Geocaching.com again on the website epodunk.com, which basically has useless statistical information about any municipality in America, and has a link to "find Geocaches in this municipality". I figured if it was the 2nd time I'd heard of it in a few months, I should check it out in detail. Which of course I did, and here I am.

[Mr.Yuck]

I spied a couple of co-workers standing out in the parking lot after lunch. They were friends, so I wandered on over to chat with them. One of them, Chad, had what I now know to be an ancient GPS. He was waiting for it to get a lock on the birds. They told me they were going to look for treasure, and explained geocaching as we headed down the trail. As it turned out, I was the one to find the cache (which is still in play, seven years later, by the way). I stopped off at the store the next night (or maybe it was that same night) and bought my first GPS, a blue Garmin eTrex Legend.

 

And of course, if I'm not mistaken from reading your posts over the years, the Chad from knowschad is long gone, and never became an active Geocacher?

[+Coldgears]

I found out about geocaching 5 years ago... Didn't sign up until recently. My friends had introduced me to letterboxing, and we used to do it together all the time, the local hider of all 5 letterboxes within 20 miles from me decided to put, "Not a geocache do not take anything do not leave anything". Did a google search, and realized I did not have any money to buy a GPS and forgot about it. Stopped letterboxing when I ran out of the few that were in the area.

 

Once I got a smartphone I downloaded an app. I still use my smartphone, I think GPSr's are useless. Of course, after introducing my friend's into geocaching (same ones that brought me into letterboxing), they bought a handheld GPSr, so I got to test it out on one of the many geocaching "trips" we do together. I found out, that I was right, handheld GPSr's are really not worth it if you have a smartphone.

 

I wish I would've told them about it just a couple days ago, they went to florida to live with their retired grandparents for a month this summer and did tons of geocaching their. I'm beyond jealous, and really regret getting them into it as they have multiple counties, and a state I won't have for years.

[+NeverSummer]

I took a GIS course in 2001. For part of showing us how to use the Trimble backpack GPS our professor decided to demonstrate marking waypoints. ...And finding marked points. He happened to "hide" a container and asked us to find it, and return with proof we found it. (ended up being chocolates)

 

I thought then that it was pretty cool technology, and useful for my career path.

 

Then, after a long time away from GPS units, I finally got one. My aunt was a long time Pacific NW cacher and wanted to show me one of her favorite hobbies. I was hooked!

[+TerraViators]

I was uploading some photos to panoramio.com (which is where the name TerraViators originated) and somehow, as always happened, skidded off on an interwebs tangent, and ended up at Waymarking.com. THANKFULLY, my tangent continued on to geocaching.com or I may be posting on the Waymarking fourm.

[knowschad]

I spied a couple of co-workers standing out in the parking lot after lunch. They were friends, so I wandered on over to chat with them. One of them, Chad, had what I now know to be an ancient GPS. He was waiting for it to get a lock on the birds. They told me they were going to look for treasure, and explained geocaching as we headed down the trail. As it turned out, I was the one to find the cache (which is still in play, seven years later, by the way). I stopped off at the store the next night (or maybe it was that same night) and bought my first GPS, a blue Garmin eTrex Legend.

 

And of course, if I'm not mistaken from reading your posts over the years, the Chad from knowschad is long gone, and never became an active Geocacher?

 

Yup. But I still work with him, and love to stop him in the hallway to let him know how many "we" have found since then.

[+SmallsKC]

My hubby told me about it several years ago. I didn't quite understand it at first and thought it sounded dumb. It wasn't because I thought it was a geeky thing because I am very geeky. I think he just didn't explain it very well so I just didn't get it. Fast forward to a month ago. We were planning a trip and were driving from Kansas City to North Central Iowa and then down to Orlando. Then back from Orlando to KC. With three young kids (10, 7, and 2) in tow I was thinking of ways to make the drive a little more fun and exciting. I had come up with lots of activities and games but then geocaching popped into my head for some reason. Did a bit of reading on it and it sounded perfect for our trip. Of course when I brought it up to hubby he said "I told you about this years ago". LOL. So, we attempted some local caches without the kids first with not much luck since we had no idea what we were looking for. We did end up finding two close by so decided to do a few on our way to Iowa. It was fun. So when we got to Iowa to pick up older two kids from grandpa we told them about it and they were very excited. We did a few there in iowa and ended up doing many on our two day drive to Florida. We were hooked! So after our two week vacation and spending two days driving home we jumped in the car the next day and spent three hours out caching around home. LOL. Here we are and we aren't going anywhere any time soon!! Now have my parents hooked too.

[+Coldgears]

I spied a couple of co-workers standing out in the parking lot after lunch. They were friends, so I wandered on over to chat with them. One of them, Chad, had what I now know to be an ancient GPS. He was waiting for it to get a lock on the birds. They told me they were going to look for treasure, and explained geocaching as we headed down the trail. As it turned out, I was the one to find the cache (which is still in play, seven years later, by the way). I stopped off at the store the next night (or maybe it was that same night) and bought my first GPS, a blue Garmin eTrex Legend.

 

And of course, if I'm not mistaken from reading your posts over the years, the Chad from knowschad is long gone, and never became an active Geocacher?

 

Yup. But I still work with him, and love to stop him in the hallway to let him know how many "we" have found since then.

Just found that cache. I assume if he'd have found the geocache first he'd be the one still caching.

[+GrateBear]

It was a gloomy, dreary day, "cooler by the lake" in the Spring of '06, when I picked up a copy of the RedEye (Chicago Tribune lite) on my way to the "L" in Chicago. There was an article about geocaching in it, and thought it sounded like fun. Plus, the idea of a GPSr sounded kind of neat, as I like gadgets. A couple of month later, bought a Legend Cx and made my first find on the 4th of July. Upgraded to a Dakota 20 last Nov, but still use the Legend when biking, and for certain caches that are on my "to do" list.

[+DragonsWest]

Read about it on Slashdot, then waited about 3 years to finally go out on a trek with friends who had a GPSr. Found 3 caches that day and I was hooked. Hid my first cache at about 20 finds, I consider it a Classic (mountain top ammo box, deep in a state park.)

 

Took a few years off as I had nearly exhausted the number of caches in the area. Finally back into it after a bike crash and wanting an excuse to get out and exercise. It has taken me some spectacular places.

[+uxorious]

I was in another forum, for RVs, and someone started a thread over there about Geocaching. Thought it sounded like a lot of fun. Got my first GPS for Christmas that year, and haven't stopped yet.

[+The Blorenges]

Many years ago I was reading an article in a UK 'outdoorsy' magazine which was all about Letterboxing on Dartmoor in Devon (which is officially the birthplace of Letterboxing). At the very end of the article there was an addendum which said something like, "If you are interested in other types of outdoor hunting activities you may enjoy Geocaching. See www.geocaching.com

 

I was not very computer literate at that time but I knew how to put in the address in the right box so I had a look at the site, read it and tried to make some sense of it all. It looked really intriguing. I told MrB to have a look too. He did the technical bit and created an account.

 

There were very few caches in UK at that time and we didn't have the time/money/inclination to go and buy a GPS receiver anyway, so we put it on the back burner. It was 3 years later that we got it all together and found our first cache.

 

MrsB

[G-Caching]

I heard about geocaching in the TV, about 6-7 years ago I think. It sounded fun, and I bought a GPS a while later and got my wife convinced it was something for her as well. Now we both go cache hunting when the time allowes it. Great way to explore our country (Denmark)

[+W7WT]

I already had a Garmin 45 when I heard about geocaching on a Sony digital camera forum. This was in August of 2001 and I saw a cache listed about a mile from my home. Loaded the coordinates and rode my scooter to the trail head. The Garmin 45 lost the signal as soon as I went in the forest. So I bought a Maggy 330 and found the cache that very day. Been active ever since and the cache is still there.

Edited July 29, 2011 by W7WT

[MisterEFQ]

I watched a crappy rom-com and realized we had a GPS we never used.

[+Team Dennis]

Mrs Team Dennis had a friend who lived in California. She got married in 2008 in Madison, WI, and they told us they were going to road trip back to CA and go Geocaching along the way. I was interested but didn't get involved. They came to visit us in MN in May of 2009 and wanted to go out. We found a few in my hometown (beautiful Stilly) and I was hooked. I went out that week and bought a Garmin Colorado 300. I found quite a few that first summer and fall but kind of tailed off in the winter of 2009/2010. Then in March of 2010 we got our dog from the Humane Society and things kind of exploded. Caching on road trips, weekend outings, taking vacation just to go caching all over the area. I still use that Garmin Colorado. That thing is a beast.

[+all done]

Been into offroad exploring for years, mostly ATV and using a GPS since the early days. Went on a club ride that posted we would be stopping at two geocaches if anyone was interested. I had heard of geocaching before but thought it had something to do with rocks (I guess I was somewhat right with a lot of the caches out here)I got a quick run down on what we were looking for and quickly spotted it. Told my wife about it when I got home and although I thought it interesting she was more excited about it than I was.....Wow! a way to get my wife out exploring. You can never have too many riding/exploring partners. Now that we have been at it for a while I am quite a bit more into it than she is but she does still go every now and then. She likes truck based off road geocaching that we can take the dogs with.

[+Charlie Fingers]

Law & Order: CI "The Unblinking Eye"

 

I even found a forum discussing it where Jeremy chimes in on it.

 

I saw the episode before reading the forum much later on. I knew I had a half working Garmin GPS+ IV and took it for a spin and found my first cache a week later when I figured out how to follow the drunken arrow.

[+phillies26]

I went to a camp a few years ago at a wildlife preserve that had a few caches. The counselors took us out to find them, and I was hooked instantly.

[+WI CavalryScout]

My friend's mother got me hooked. I knew that she did Geocaching, but it was one of those things that I thought was wacky and weird. I thought, "Pish, that is not a sport and it sounds like a waste of time to me." Then this past June, on my birthday, my friend and I were with her at a rendezvous. She wanted to find a geocache so we tagged along and that was the end of my world as I knew it. Now I am climbing though the woods and sticking my hand in places that I rather not, for Tupperware.

[+AmphibianTrackers]

A friend of mine posted that she and her family were enjoying geocaching while camping. I was looking for cost effective adventures for my family so I googled Geocaching. We already owned 2 smart phones and 2 GPS car units so it seemed really easy. We downloaded the app and before I knew it the kids ran out of the house with my phone and came home having found 2 caches within a run from our home. Since then, we have taken caching trips with several friends around our area, taken an entire church group to learn how to geocache and have been teaching people at the campground we are visiting how to get involved. I think it is a great activity and we are learning a lot as we go.

[+dfx]

First time I heard about it was from a friend. "That sound really stupid" was my reaction. Then that same friend's brother bought a handheld GPS and he told me about it. "Wow, what the heck for?" was my reaction. Year(s) later I got a GPS-enabled PDA that I could use for car navigation. I had already forgotten all about geocaching until I heard or read about it somewhere else (don't remember where). Decided to give it a try and on the 3rd try found my first geocache. After a very sloooow introduction phase (half a year or so) I started to get more into it.

[+wvmoose]

I started geocaching around father's day of this year. My entire family went on a camping trip for the holiday and my brother asked if I would like to go with him on a cache hunt. I thought sure, why not, I have nothing better to do, so I went. It was instant love for me! The whole hunting for the cache was too cool and I was hooked. I'm almost at my hundredth cache already and I've only been doing this for two months now!! I love it!! I've even got my husband and kids involved too! It's a great way to do things with my family.

[+Stealth Bobber]

A friend mentioned he was taken on a geocaching outing. I'd never heard of it and thought he meant geotagging pics. He explained it was a treasure hunt using GPS. I love GPS, and GPS apps for my phone so I downloaded a free app cslled Blackstar for my Blackberry.

 

My first attempt was a DNF, and it took me an hour to figure out how to input the coordinates. But I had so much fun searching and learning about coordinates and started reading these forums.

 

Finally found a few caches, and met some Geocachers, went to a few events and here I am. I realized 6 months into caching that I much prefer higher terrain caches with hikes, Kayaking, climbing and crawling.

 

Now I'm more particular with what I seek. Any cache that takes me somewhere scenic, historic or interesting is my thing.

 

 

I now use a Garmin Colorado 400t.

 

Don't forget tree climbing...lol

Edited July 31, 2011 by Stealth Bobber

[+popokiiti]

We'd been through a tough time, losing my Dad and then my Mum had a stroke. We needed something to take our minds off things, and get exercise. Popoki Nui was trying to have a nap and heard two men on the radio talking about geocaching. She got up, got online to geocaching.com and realised this was what we needed. Mum's last Christmas gift to her was a GPS. The rest is history. A few GPSs on, we are currently using a Garmin 60CSx and Magellan eXplorist GC.

[+johnny4wt]

I was reading some topics on a fishing forum and one guy stated he was going geocacheing instead of fishing. I thought "what's up with that!!" something that competes with fishing? So I checked out the web site and saw that this was really cool. I have an old garmin gps that i used to locate fishing holes, etc. and used it for hunting caches. Well after finding a few I gota saw this is a lot of fun!! Hope dw can put up with the adventures...

[AZcachemeister]

In the late '90s I was really into flight simulation.

Most(if not all) of the programs have a virtual GPSr which can (usually) be used to drive the auto-pilot, you can set up a route flight plan, etc, etc.

Pretty cool, I thought...I want one!

But what for? I don't have a plane!!

 

Sometime in 2000/2001, some friends organized a back-country desert hike, where there were no trails. One of my buddies had a GPSr, and had plotted-out some waypoints we were supposed to visit on the trek. Somehow he forgot to set the go-to properly, and we didn't visit the prescribed waypoints. Fortunately most of us were pretty good with map and compass, so we were never really lost...we just weren't where we were supposed to be! (Now this part reminds me of an old story about Daniel Boone, who when asked if he had ever been lost replied, "No, but I was once a bit bewildered for three or four days!") Despite this, I still wanted a GPSr.

 

Then, sometime in late November 2002 I read a newspaper article about Geocaching. The article didn't portray Geocaching in a very good light, and indeed was partially (at least) blaming Geocachers for some damage at a remote archaeological site. Disregarding the obvious news hype, I checked out the website. Now this sounds cool, and is certainly a good excuse to get that GPSr I've been wanting. I signed up for my account, went to Radio Shack and got a Magellan Meridian Platinum, and on 12/8/2002 went out and found eight caches. The first cache was a pint paint-can, and was completely waterlogged. I instinctively knew I should dry it out and place the container with the opening down to prevent further water intrusion.

 

I still have that Meri-Plat, and it is my main GPSr when I want to use a dedicated GPSr. I have long since had to replace the outer casing because I just plain wore it out, but the innards are still working just fine.

[+WarNinjas]

I was on a houseboat with my daughter. I was up before anyone and looking for a app on my phone to log my favorites like home and work and fishing holes. I found one from garmin about open caching. I thought it might be the answer. Turns out it was not but I downloaded it and read all about it. I mentioned it to my daughter and my sister who is a parol officer said she had heard of it and it sounded dangerous but my daughter was interested. So when we got home we looked into it more and found this site. We have been hooked after that! I'm thinking the smart phone apps are going to bring many more in to the game! Not sure if that is good or not but we will see where it goes I guess.

-WarNinjas

[+sixsix210]

I've got a friend who occasionally references it on her fb page, and after awhile, it seemed like it might be fun. I had no clue what or how, but it seemed fun. Once it piqued my curiosity, it felt like it was everywhere. I'd stumble across youtube videos, see other friends posting on fb, there was always ads for gps units, I caved and here I am. My wife was initially interested, but her schedule is prohibitive. She tried in vain to keep me from going alone, but to no avail. lol. We only have one car in our house, so nearly all of my caching is on foot from home. My current longest trek was just over eight miles.

[+DanOCan]

I heard of Geocaching about 10 years ago -- I don't remember if it was in a newsgroup or even in a newspaper. It sounded interesting but, being early in my career, buying a GPSr was out of the question. It sort of slipped from my mind.

 

A couple years later a friend of mine got a GPSr for Christmas. He brought it to work and was showing us how he could connect the serial cable to his laptop and Microsoft Streets and Trips would show where he was in real-time. I thought that was super cool and I wanted to be able to do that for when we were traveling on vacation.

 

The big issues was "How do I sell this idea to the spousal unit?" I knew there was no way she would let me drop the coin on a GPSr just so I could see a little car drive around a map on a laptop.

 

I remembered that little "GPS hunting game" I had heard about a couple years earlier. I did some searching, found Geocaching.com. I thought "There probably aren't even any in Canada, it's probably just an American thing." I looked to see what was around and discovered there were a few relatively close to home. I then hatched a plan...

 

Me: "So, sweeetie...You know how you always want to go for walks but I hate walking for no reason?"

 

Her: "Yeah, what about it?"

 

Me: "Well, if we bought a GPS we could try this internet scavenger hunt thing. We could use that as a way to get me interested in going for walks."

 

Her: "How much is this going to cost us????"

 

I bought a eTrex Legend, brought it home and looked up a cache that sounded interesting. Punched in the coordinates and started driving. We got to the parking area and I realized the cache was still 600m away. I figured we were doomed -- that's over 1km round trip! There's no way we can walk over 1km! (Did I mention I used to be really lazy?)

 

Well, we walked to the cache and I soon spotted an old fishing tackle box hidden behind some rocks. Up until that very moment I didn't honestly know if this game was for real or just some elaborate internet hoax. Well, I was instantly hooked.

 

A few days later I found a Virtual hidden on the campus at work. We did less than 40 caches that first year and finally broke the 100 mark two years after we started. Then I got really addicted and the rest is history.

Edited August 1, 2011 by DanOCan

[+TheLoneGrangers]

I heard my two coworkers having a conversation about caching or geohunting, they didn't know exactly what it was, but they were interested in finding something to do when thier kids get alittle older. I talked to them about it and decided to google "caching". And found geocaching.com. I thought this would be something my wife and I would enjoy. My boss offered me his old GPSr from 1994 (its Oct. 2010). I went home, created a account that night and loaded manually the 6 closiest caches. I explained it to my wife, which she didn't seem very interested and thought it was dumb, but that sat. morning we went out to find the 6 i loaded in this ancient GPSr. We only found 3 of them, with DNFing the first one we searched for. (we looked for that one 3 times and its a 1/1)

 

My wife and I were instantly hooked, but not 100% convienced we went to Best Buy Sunday and bought a car NUVI 1300. We thought if we didn't like it, we would at least have a car GPSr. We been caching ever since, she bought me a dakota 20 for Christmas and we love it. Geocaching has changed my life. I traded in my 2010 Camaro SS for a 2007 Jeep wrangler. I've taken up mountian biking because of it, we have started camping to find them, and are slowly gathering gear to backpack to find them. I am also wanting a Kayak.