Washington, D.C. geocaches?

[scubagecko]

I am going on vacation, almost immediately, and will probably be in D.C. since I like going to the Smithsonian museums and all that. I looked to see the many geocaches that would be there and was surprised to see that there are only actually 30 in all of D.C.! I didn't actually look at the geocaches, I thought I would ask about it first. I was going to print them out to take with me so I can look for a geocache AND get my National Parks Passport book stamped at the different places that do that the way I ALWAYS do when I go there (I _really_ like going to the Smithsonian even though it closes awfully early). I realize that the Smithsonian is a National Park and you can't leave things in a National Park, and there are a lot of important buildings and people around "downtown" so I guess you'd get arrested for apparently hiding a package down there. How's tha for an understatement? It seems like there would be other places away from the important people and buildings where you could put a geocache that would be okay with everyone. I can't say I'm familiar with D.C. away from the tourist places though, except there are some pretty rough-looking places surrounding downtown. Are there actually geocaches away from downtown to find? I know D.C. is surrounded by Maryland and Virginia and the subway must go to areas in them. Right? But I wouldn't be interested in any other parts (except Virginia Beach, another favorite) that didn't have geocaches already there to look for, and I don't know what any zip codes would be to search for geocaches. To make a long story even longer , what zip codes or whatever do I search under to find more geocaches in the area to choose from? It would be nice to have a geocache close to the National Zoo to look for, or two or three, also and that is the only tourist-y thing away from downtown I know about.

So, can someone help me with some info? Thanks.

[+Goblin]

The zip codes change rapidly in the District. BUT, try 22211 for Arlington Cementry. Around the Mall you can use 20006 and 20004. There is a nice "buried" statue on Haines Point which is a virtual cache. Once you get the page for any of these just click on "nearby caches".

[+bigcall]

I used 20500 (White House's zip) and a radius of 10 miles. Results show 71 caches which roughly translate to all of those inside the Capital beltway. I get the strong sense that there is still quite a bit of sensitivity to any sort of suspicious activity (sorry, geocaching qualifies here) anywhere near government offices - which is why I don't think we'll see any soon. The virtual ones should keep you busy for a while though - and you can walk to most of them.

 

There is currently only 1 traditional cache in DC city limits. But there are several away from the mall area. The zoo is a great pick as is Arlington National Cemetary (both are near Metro stops).

 

There are several along or near the Potomac River to the northwest (both in VA and MD) that are very scenic and/or well done. Unfortunatley there aren't that many that are near Metro stops so a car (or bike) is almost essential.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Way back in the days when the grass was still green

and the pond was still wet

and the clouds were still clean,

and the song of the Swomee-Swans rang out in space...

one morning, I came to this glorious place.

[The Artful Dodger]

You can also look here for caches in DC.

[scubagecko]

quote:

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Originally posted by Goblin:

The zip codes change rapidly in the District. BUT, try 22211 for Arlington Cementry. Around the Mall you can use 20006 and 20004. There is a nice "buried" statue on Haines Point which is a virtual cache. Once you get the page for any of these just click on "nearby caches".

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It never occurred to me that anywhere would change their zip codes all the time. I hadn't thought about Arlington Cemetery either; I guess I wouldn't think about hiding anything in a cemetery. When I get there I'll have to look on a map for Haines Point; my guess is that its where the Jefferson Memorial was built on? At least it seems like I remember something about the land around there having a name and I think the water is called Tidal Basin. It takes a while to walk all the way over there. As I was trying to copy the listed geocaches in DC at geocaching.com I came to the realization that 30 geocaches is quite a few to attempt to track down, especially since I'm going to be mostly going to the Smithsonian. I was just expecting there to be hundreds in the area since there is so much to see. But the more I think about it the more I'm surprised that there are any in the area when you take into consideration all that goes on there.

[scubagecko]

quote:

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Originally posted by bigcall:

I get the strong sense that there is still quite a bit of sensitivity to any sort of suspicious activity (sorry, geocaching qualifies here) anywhere near government offices - which is why I don't think we'll see any soon. The virtual ones should keep you busy for a while though - and you can walk to most of them.

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Ya know, it didn't occur to me until now how suspicious geocaching would look in DC, or near any government building anywhere by that matter. It wouldn't occur to me to put a little package near a government building anywhere else, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by the number in DC. I was just thinking of the area as being the grounds for the Smithsonian and a bunch of tourist-y things to see, and oh-by-the-way that's where the government is headquartered and you can walk by the White House to take a picture. And how interesting it would be to look for geocaches in the area. I guess that's not so bad for an outlook on the area, I'm obviously not worried about some tragedy happening again around there, they have things in control and I don't need to worry. And it shows that I'm not a security risk, it never even occurred to me that someone would WANT to do suspicious things in geocaching.

[ArtMan]

Washington comprises about 86 square miles (the original 10x10 mile square, less the Virginia portion ceded back in the 19th century), of which only about a dozen square miles or less is anywhere near any government buildings or sensitive areas. D.C.'s one traditional (physical) cache is in a small neighborhood park, and there are plenty of those around the city although, like any urban area, they will be smaller and less plentiful than in outlying areas. (Much of Washington's parkland - notably Rock Creek Park and the C&O Canal - is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, which is not known to be favorably disposed to geocaching, even though caches have been known to appear on park service property.) My point is that there is no particular reason why there shouldn't be more caches within the city limits of the nation's capital. All it takes is clever cachers to place them.