Have you ever Geocached without a GPS?

[+cmhall9]

The is an actual photo of the first Geocache I ever found. At the time I did not have a GPS but instead printed out a zoomed in areal map. I also studied the caches' info, clues and logs.

It only took me a couple of minutes to find it. I think I found nine caches that way before buying my first GPS.

 

Question: Have you ever Geocached without a GPS?

 

[+popokiiti]

We were driving around our area, checking out where the new "subdivisions" are, and how the building is coming along. 10 acre lots, and your can't park your RV on it! Not much building happening!!! Popoki Nui said there was a cache around here....somewhere. GPSs unloaded at home, so we went by memory and geosenses and I found it. A film canister under a trail behind a rock.

[Mr.Yuck]

Pre-smartphone era, or even pre "trying Geocaching with your car GPS" era? I know of several people who found 10 or so with the maps and clues before running out and spending $100 minimum on a handheld GPS. I actually found my first two with a horrible attachment to Palm OS PDA's (that I got for 5 bucks on ebay). It read one less digit than the standard minute decimal format that we use for Geocaching. And of course I was just walking around until the numbers got closer. So I did pretty much find them with maps and clues, that I checked out before going.

[+Rainbow Spirit]

My first 30 finds were found without any type of GPSr, I just copied the Google Earth map, and using the map scale I triangulated to GZ from obvious objects on the map. That is, say from that red roofed house go 40 metres NW and site back SW to a large tree,and site east to a fence.A compass came in handy. Then I bought a GPSr, much easier now!

[+lamoracke]

once there was one in a park very near home that got published in a brief time period while I was waiting for my GPS to be returned to me from Garmin repair. So, I ran off. Took me forever to find, but I did get the CoFTF. If I had my GPS, I would have been solo FTF I reckon.

[+Flintstone5611]

Actually used to have a bookmark list of geocaches that are local to me that you can find without a GPSr. There was a short stint in the beginning when we were only using my wife's iPhone and so if I was without her and wanted to do a cache I would have to rely on a good map and my geosenses. It was at least 20-30 different ones.

[+ShaunEM]

I have found several in pine trees that way. I have also kept the GPS in my pocket when the location is obvious enough.

 

I consider it a good cache if I have to pull out my GPS a second time and do a "dadgum, where is it?!"

[Troutonthebrain]

We have had a lot of fun caching without a gps. A friend and I cleared out a local park (say 5 caches) by just looking at the size, container, local landmarks to see from in the woods, and the clue and found all of the caches. We also did the same on a recent trip to British Columbia when we had forgotten the gps back where we were staying. We found half of those. However, with how inaccurate our gps seems to be sometimes, it feels like we often are looking for caches without a gps!

[+briansnat]

I've found a few sans GPS. It can be fairly easy in urban areas. I did find one in a wooded area by using the topo map but the others were pretty simple.

[+WRASTRO]

Probably more than two hundred over the years. Three in the past week. Jane was in Grand Rapids for a convention and I texted her the description for a cache literally in the hotel where she was staying. She found it. I also texted her info about a cache on the grounds of a nearby museum. The previous three logs over the past month were DNFs. She found it! I attended the WSGA annual campout this past weekend. As the host I had to be on site for the entire event Friday through Sunday so I didn't bother to load any cache info. I decided to drive home Sunday afternoon via a wild and scenic mountain highway. I spotted one viewpoint and knew there had to be a cache there. I was right and found the ammo can in less than five minutes!

[+danwashere]

I found around 100 caches before I went out and brought a gps. I tend to look at GC.com at home and remember a few caches and when Im in the area I drop by and find them. Its a great way of improving your memory and training your eye to see hidden clues and geotrails.

[+emmett]

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Another alternate search method is to use the GPS but without actual coordinates for the cache you are seeking. In other words, you may not be actually certain you are on the right trail or even in the right woods. In this form of search, usually employed for puzzle caches you cannot solve or multi caches for which you could not find a stage, you examine the available evidence to develop theories on where the cache might be in relation to other landmarks and use your GPS to help you find the spot. I am quite incompetent at solving puzzles but seem to have a knack for this type of search and it is really quite a blast to put your hands on a cache this way.

 

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[+Dancing_Duo]

We found 52 cache without a GPS

[+T.D.M.22]

Found a couple. We have 2 100 cache power trails, and you can almost guess where the next one will be, if I felt like it I could go do them without GPS.

[+T.D.M.22]

Found a couple. We have 2 100 cache power trails, and you can almost guess where the next one will be, if I felt like it I could go do them without GPS. They are also reflective containers.

[+CdAGeoGeeks]

We have done a few caches in different ways without a gps.

 

1) We went for a walk in the park more than once and saw something suspicious (stick piles, a pile of pine cones, odd hollows in trees). Upon further investigation they turned out to hold caches.

 

2) Calling our daughter 1100 miles away while she was at an event without her gps, and guiding her to a nearby cache while talking on the phone and using google maps.

 

3) Driving on multiple road trips and pulling over to stretch. Thinking "this might be a good spot for a cache" and looking around for a couple of minutes and finding one. Accidentally got one wet that way as well.

 

4) Before we got our premium membership, we would use the public caches to triangulate PMO caches. We would write them down in a notebook after we found them, and six months later when we bought a membership we were able to go back and log them. It was part of the fun when we first started out.

 

There's always a fun story to share.