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Geocaching vacation spots


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Uath. You can get Potter's Pond (an old cache with a rare date for the Jasmer-style Challenge caches). All around Salt Lake City are a bunch of interesting virtual caches, plus tons of regular caches. The Great Salt Lake is an interesting swim. Just north of it is the Golden Spike site, an interesting point in railroad history (and a few caches to find). Farther south in the state is the canyonlands. The eastern side has Dinasaur National Monument (where you can find a virtual at a part of Paul Bunyon).

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Can second Utah for a geocaching vacation- I had a few days to kill after a family skiing holiday so I drove down to Moab and based myself there to see Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. I was really there to see the parks but not complaining about the several dozen caches I picked up enroute- could've had many more on the drives alone had I had more days for it, plus in and around Moab!

 

Mainly Earthcaches and virtuals due to being in National Parks though.

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Well, I can third Utah, with completely different recommendations than Andromeda and my buddy Jester. :lol: I vacationed in southern Utah last May, and had a great time caching around Bryce Canyon and Zion national parks, plus north rim of the Grand Canyon, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, and several other scenic spots. Kanab has lots of hotels and is nicely positioned among all the major attractions.

 

The other caching hot spot is, of course, the Pacific Northwest, esp. the Seattle area. We get hundreds of vacationing cachers each year to visit the Original Stash Tribute Plaque, Groundspeak Headquarters, the Ape site, some of the world's oldest caches, and other famous local caches (e.g., the Totally Tubular series). Plus we also have fabulous scenery - instead of red-rock deserts, we have snow-capped peaks, including major volcanoes (Rainier, St. Helens, etc.) and two mountain ranges (Cascades, Olympics), plus scenic ghost towns (Monte Cristo), cool ice caves, lava tubes, and more. All with caches, of course.

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We are taking a four day weekend and be visiting Key West, Fl in Feb. a little bit of every thing, trads, virts(southern point, and a Jimmy Buffet tour), Earths and a web cam cache(Hogs Breath Saloon) That means beer and caching! Whoot!.

 

Plus all to pick and choose from on the drive down from Orlando.

 

My favorite caching now involves some type of travel or vacations.

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We would recommend Utah as well, but for different reasons. Flying into Salt Lake City, rent a car and drive north a couple of hours up into Idaho. Visit Southern Idaho's First!, one of the oldest caches left in the world. Want to drive more? Go another two hours and hit up Montana (West Yellowstone), and then cross over into Wyoming and spend as many days as you like exploring Yellowstone National Park. The quality of Earth and Virtual caches won't disappoint. Coming back to SLC, drive down through Grand Tetons National Park and spend a night in Jackson, Wyoming. Have extra time? Explore SLC or take a day trip to grab Potter's Pond, one of only 4 caches left from August 2000 in the world.

 

Admittedly, we are biased. We think this area is some of the most beautiful in the world. You won't get the most caches ever in a week, but you will have your breath taken away more times by the beauty of everything and you will have a memorable trip.

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Uath. You can get Potter's Pond (an old cache with a rare date for the Jasmer-style Challenge caches). All around Salt Lake City are a bunch of interesting virtual caches, plus tons of regular caches. The Great Salt Lake is an interesting swim. Just north of it is the Golden Spike site, an interesting point in railroad history (and a few caches to find). Farther south in the state is the canyonlands. The eastern side has Dinasaur National Monument (where you can find a virtual at a part of Paul Bunyon).

 

I agree with all.....Utah is great, ALL of it.....we've enjoyed New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, and California as well.

We tend to enjoy the mountains and desserts more because we're from the swamp. We've cached in all 48 contiguous states and they all have much to offer. Plan your trip well.....there are so many tools now.....with google earth you can do your whole vacation from your computer.....geocaching maps show the caches so you can create your PQ's....I still use AAA some to see whats interesting in a given area.

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I agree with all.....Utah is great, ALL of it.....we've enjoyed New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, and California as well.

We tend to enjoy the mountains and desserts more because we're from the swamp. We've cached in all 48 contiguous states and they all have much to offer. Plan your trip well.....there are so many tools now.....with google earth you can do your whole vacation from your computer.....geocaching maps show the caches so you can create your PQ's....I still use AAA some to see whats interesting in a given area.

The last "Big" vacation I went on, we flew to California to visit my sister, then drove over to the NV/UT border. Saw Grand Canyon, Zion, & Bryce NPs, where there are some great virts and EC's. Well before leaving, I came here to the regional forums and asked what caches we shouldn't miss. With some recommendations plotted on a map, we made a day of it, driving a big loop to some locations not even AAA would have shown us. It was AWESOME!

65bd7413-5321-44ec-afaf-59e0b9ce5419.jpg461e1858-2ef1-4ed4-ba8d-fd55d9168af1.jpg

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Had to include the dark, blurry pic, 'cause it was probably my favorite experience of the day.

 

So, my advice? Pick a place you want to go. Ask the locals what caches you can't miss while there. Make a list based on that, plus all the caches near the touristy things you know you'll do. You'll have fun with the touristy/AAA caches, but I bet your favorites will be the ones "off the beaten track".

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By the way, question, are we limiting ourselves to the USA on this?

 

Because in my experience, European cities have astounding numbers of caches, plus the whole cultural excitement to boot. Do a quick search in the middle of London, Paris, or Berlin to see what I'm talking about. :blink:

 

Not too surprisingly, I was thinking the same thing. I've seen airfares from NYC to Europe occasionally drop to a rate on par with what it would cost to fly to the west coast. Rome doesn't have as many caches as a lot of European cities but it's a great walking city and there are a lot of caches in very historic locations.

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The nice thing about this game is that it can be played almost anywhere.

 

Utah! I just put Horsehoe Canyon on my list of places to visit in the near future because of the amazing petroglyphs there -- I have no idea if there is a cache around there. But we enjoyed a loop through Zion, Bryce, and the North Rim -- wading in the Zion Narrows can cool down a hot summers day and there are some amazing virtuals and eartthcaches. Then you are not too far from Toroweap (One Giant Step virtual) -- a once in a lifetime bucket list kind of experience for me, but getting there can be a challenge. Salt Lake City - Gigal is a unique place (our regional AAA magazine included a submission I did for this place in a roadside attraction listing) and caching will take you there. We visited SLC on our way up to a great family vacation in Yellowstone and the Tetons that included some Moose and more than enough caches for me.

 

But I can say the same thing for the Northwest, Yosemite, New England, New Mexico, and any number of places we have been fortunate to visit. The coast along the Olympic Peninsula is one of my favorite places I have seen and if there is an Eclipse fan in your family, there are even some caches for that. Standing on Sentinel Dome in Yosemite will take your breath away -- but plan in advance if you want to enter the lottery to get up to Half Dome. Vermont covered bridges and the Maine coast are beautiful places and fun to explore. Carlsbad, pueblos, and petroglyphs in New Mexico will fill up any vacation time for me.

 

I have not been to Colorado since starting to cache, but the mountains there are beautiful and Mesa Verde remains one of the special places I have visited. And if money permits, then following a series of caches in London will take you in the footsteps of Jack the Ripper, although many people might prefer making arrangements to visit the inner circle of Stonehenge. Or you can go to Peru and stand on the peak overlooking Machu Picchu. Caching takes you all these places.

 

So I assume that the OP is not simply interested in a numbers run on a family vacation. Then it becomes a matter of where you would like to go. Time. Money. Logistics, Personal Interest. All the things that go into vacation planning. Pick a spot, and the caching will follow. If you use the game right, it can take you into places that you would have otherwise missed. It is almost as good as the roadside america list of odd attractions. Of course it can also mean that you spend far too much time looking for a container and get distracted from the real reason you might want to go anywhere. But that is a subject for another thread.

Edited by geodarts
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After the EarthCache Event near Portland, Maine, we (my sister, my brother, a friend and I)took a week's geocaching tour of the Canadian Maritimes. New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island (the toll on the eight-mile toll bridge is $44.50), Nova Scotia, and a flight from Halifax to St. John's, Newfoundland. Return the same way. We absolutely loved it! Especially Newfoundland.

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The nice thing about this game is that it can be played almost anywhere.

^This

With research of nearly any location on the planet, and you can find a way to geocache. If it is cache density and location of interest you are looking for, your job is easier--rarely is there a cool place anymore that doesn't have a good representation of geocaches to find. That is, except some federal land and wilderness areas. And that's where I like to spend my time... :anibad:

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If I could design a vacation around geocashing, I'd go to Washington and try to do the first string of Geocaches ever placed, including the first cache. But that's just me

 

Actually, if you look at a list of the oldest active geocaches you'll find that they're scattered all over the place. The original location plaque is actually in Oregon and other locations represented in the oldest caches include Kansas (2), Illinois, Australia, New York, New Zealand, Georgia (2), Ireland, Kenya, Idaho, and Missouri, all before the oldest active cache in Washington.

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If I could design a vacation around geocashing, I'd go to Washington and try to do the first string of Geocaches ever placed, including the first cache. But that's just me

We planned a geovacation that included camping, a cave tour, and a visit to a few historic sites. Worst part

other than bad weather was the missing geocache that we had on our list. My kids had never visited the original KFC. We ate and I waymarked, but my daughter with her brand new account were very dissapointed. The next finder with a bunch of numbers just dropped a "throw down" for some other kid, that's when I had to set ground rules with my daughter about posting. :laughing: I'm sorry that things happened the way they did, but for a kid's game they can be discouraged quite easy. :(

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Don't bother with California. It is not worth the headache of trying to decide which caches to seek. The Route 66 (GC2J17A) can take up a whole day or two, depending on whether you sleep at night. The geo-art for Route 66 (look near GC3NR7Z) can take several days depending on whether you split up into groups or an ATV. Caches along the Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains (look near GC1Y4NR) has breathtaking scenery but can take a few days if you are a strong mountain hiker. Of course, if you wanted an old, novel cache, you could spend a day going after PeeWee Desert Lawn Jockey (GC12F) and S.S. Minnow (GCP4AE) if you have a 4x4. If you want diabolically clever urban caches, Tropical Joe, HappyCrazyRobot and MonkeyDogFish have populated the area of Marina Del Rey and Santa Monica with those. ... Heck in Los Angeles, it is hard to go more than a few blocks without running into some sort of a urban cache or other. It is way too confusing.

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