If Geocaching Started 20 Years Ago

[Radman Forever]

If geocaching started in 1983, do you think you would've joined back then? How would the sport be played out now?

 

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Faster than a dial-up Internet connection, stronger than any band nerd, look up at the sky! ....is it a bat..... no .....is it my grandma's mustache..... NO! IT'S RADMAN Version 2.0!

[Dinoprophet]

All I had then was a TI-994A, no modem, and GPS didn't exist, so probably not.

 

But if the means were there, absolutely I would have. I'd have loved this as a kid.

 

Now is when the Finns tell us it did exist in the 80s

 

"Winter's just the curtain. Spring will take the bow"

-- Richard Shindell, Spring

[+briansnat]

Probably not. I wasn't much of an outdoors person back then. Our idea of going outdoors was to buy a case, or two of Bud (we also had very poor taste back then) and walk a half a mile to a neat spot in the woods and drink all afternoon. I didn't get into backpacking and serious hiking until around 1986.

 

"An appeaser is one who keeps feeding a crocodile-hoping it will eat him last" -Winston Churchill

[+Renegade Knight]

I remember like it was yesterday on the pages of Playboy a Seagrams ad that said they had hid a case of Seagrams somewhere. Whoever found it first got to have it.

 

Sounds alot like a cache to me. And I really really wanted to go find that case, even if I was 15 at the time.

 

Can't recall who the playmate was, but I do recall that hidden case of Seagrams.

 

Give me a year to two get get a car and you betcha. I would of cached then. Besides it woulf of given me an excuse to keep my Playboy. I would of needed the clues.

 

Wherever you go there you are.

[Northern-Lights]

Since Al Gore only recently invented Geo-Caching and GPS technology, etc....I probably wouldn't have joined back then. But now that it's evolved, of course!!

 

Earth First!!! We'll cache the other planets later!!

[Jeremy]

It existed as letterboxing in 1983. There really isn't much of a difference except the injection of technology into treasure hunting. As for a global phenomenon the tools for international sharing didn't exist then.

 

The better question would be to ask what will geocaching look like in 2020.

 

Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location

[+worldtraveler]

"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and from joy over it, he goes and sells all he has, and buys that field." Matthew 13:44

 

Could this be the earliest mention of geocaching?

 

Worldtraveler

[+Renyoldman]

Well back in '83 I was three so I probably would not have gone out. As for how would it be played today I would say the same way.

 

One more thing...how did people go about finding out about letterboxing?

 

"Democracy is the belief that 20,000 lemmings can't all be wrong."

[Jeremy]

Letterboxing then, and even in a lot of cases today, was discovered and discussed through word of mouth.

 

In 1983 I would have killed to have had access to a sport like this. But I'm still very happy to be part of it today.

 

Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location

[Kerry.]

quote:

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Originally posted by Dinoprophet:

.... and GPS didn't exist ....

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That's interesting, so if not just what date did GPS exist from then.

 

Cheers, Kerry.

 

I never get lost everybody keeps telling me where to go

[+parkrrrr]

quote:

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Originally posted by Kerry:

quote:

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Originally posted by Dinoprophet:

.... and GPS didn't exist ....

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That's interesting, so if not just what date did GPS exist from then.

---

 

quote:

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from usno.gov

The U.S. Air Force Space Command (AFSC) formally declared the GPS satellite constellation as having met the requirement for Full Operational Capability (FOC) as of April 27, 1995. Requirements include 24 operational satellites (Block II/IIA) functioning in their assigned orbits and successful testing completed for operational military functionality.

Prior to FOC an Initial Operational Capability (IOC) was declared on December 8, 1993 when 24 GPS satellites (Block I and Block II/IIA) were operating in their assigned orbits, available for navigation use and providing the Standard Positioning Service (SPS) levels specified below.

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However,

 

quote:

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from the same place

The satellite vehicle numbers (SVN) 1 through 11 are designated as

Block I. The Block I satellites were launched from 1978 to 1985 at

Vandenberg AFB, California using the Atlas E/F. Block I are referred

to as the original concept validation satellites developed by Rockwell

International and reflect various stages of system developement.

---

 

So one could say that GPS has existed since the launch of the first Block I satellite in 1978.

 

[Micqn]

I like it now, I would have liked it then. The GPS, if it were around, in 83 a gps would have been mounted in a large wheelbarrow or in the back of a 3/4 ton pickup.

 

Nice Rack!

[+Mopar]

quote:

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Originally posted by Warm Fuzzies - Fuzzy:

 

So one could say that GPS has existed since the launch of the first Block I satellite in 1978.

 

http://216.202.195.127/warm.gif

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Well, it might have existed, but it sure would have made things interesting as it existed back then! I've been using GPS since around '90 or so, and back then it was only a backup for LORAN, since in my area the system could only be seem for a portion of each day.

 

Tae-Kwon-Leap is not a path to a door, but a road leading forever towards the horizon.

[+Geo-Johnson's]

I was 17 in 83. I would have been sitting in the woods with BrianSnat...........sounds like we had the same interests back then.

 

Children are natural mimics who act like their parents despite every effort to teach them good manners.

[+ron50eli]

i believe LORAN was out back then. i know we had one in my boat to find fishing spots,rock piles ledges etc, on the gulf of mexico where i live. not sure if it was exactly 20 yrs. ago but it was quite some time and before gps became about , at least for civilian use. they were not real accurate things 300 feet or so as i remember. i'm in the over half century club ,so my memory isn't all it used to be i'm not even sure if they would work on the land if geocaching was an option back then. sure glad i have a gps now and geocaching to keep me happy

[Kerry.]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mopar:

quote:

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Originally posted by Warm Fuzzies - Fuzzy:

 

So one could say that GPS has existed since the launch of the first Block I satellite in 1978.

---

Well, it might have existed, but it sure would have made things interesting as it existed back then! I've been using GPS since around '90 or so, and back then it was only a backup for LORAN, since in my area the system could only be seem for a portion of each day.

---

 

I suppose after the launch of the first GPS Block I Sat on Feb 22, 1978 (operational March 29, 1978), one satellite really doesn't make a system. Maybe it was a system after SVN#3 became operational Nov 9, 1978 and it's also interesting that SVN#3/PRN#6 (Block I-3) to this day still holds the record for the longest operational time.

 

As far as being a backup for Loran well that might have been where there was Loran chains but they didn't exist everywhere either so for those areas of the world where Loran (and Omega) didn't exist some (GPS) coverage was better than "anything" previous.

 

Certainly many milestones for GPS along the way but probably one of the most important (as tragic as it was) was the shooting down of a Korean Airline (KAL-007) on August 31, 1983. As basically a result of that the perceived use of GPS totally changed from a purely military purpose to a public dual use system as we sort of know it today.

 

So maybe Sept 1, 1983 (there was at least enough Sats to form a crowd ) or maybe it was April 14, 1989 when the first "real" Block II Sat became operational?, but also those 1993 & 1995 dates also have some significance.

 

Cheers, Kerry.

 

I never get lost everybody keeps telling me where to go

[+evergreenhiker!]

Back in 1983, I was 17 and more interested in fishing at that time. I wasn't even computer friendly. We'd just got an Apple 2E and I mainly used it to play archaic games like Falcon...the original version...not the cool one out now.

[+majicman]

We had the fishfinders way back in 83. We could have cached, if we had tagged bass with McToys...

 

--majicman

[+JohnnyVegas]

If geocacahing had been around 20 years ago, by now some one would have found a reason try and ban it by now. More than likely earth first or the Sierra Club or some other PC group;

[dsandbro]

It would have run its course and only be a trivial pursuit question by now.

 

A lot like the CB craze, pet rocks, and the hula hoop.

 

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Friends don't let Friends geocache drunk.

[+CoronaKid]

quote:

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Originally posted by Radman Version 2.0:

If geocaching started in 1983, do you think you would've joined back then? How would the sport be played out now?

---

 

I was 13 and YES I would've loved it back then as well. I'd probably be riding my bike all around town. The only problem would be the fact that I would run out of caches close by very quickly. I'd probably have more hides than finds.

 

The sport would also be a lot more restricted now since Clinton would've probably supported and signed some Anti-Geocaching bill thanks to his VP Al Gore. I could just hear Al saying, 'Caching is bad for the environment and threatens the fragile ecosystem of the wallowbee willowbeast.'

 

--CoronaKid

[South_Cache]

I was building my own IBM-PC compatibles and writing my own software. I connected to the college computer system with a 300 baud modem to do my programming home work. Later on I got a 2400 baud modem and set up my own BBS at my home.

 

We played RPG games on the BBS. You had to call in and take your "moves" each day. Only locals played because it was a long distance call to contact some BBS computers. I was a member on 35 different BBS systems and faithfully logged on to 10 or 15 of them per day.

 

Email was handled by FIDO-NET relays and while I could talk to some one across the country it took at least one day for the relays sometimes two or more days depending on the distance.

 

Something like this could have been done using maps and directions, the GPS system and internet just makes it so much easier.

 

If we had environmentalist 50,000 years ago we wouldn't have the Grand Canyon today.

 

South Cache

"To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the tops." Robert M. Persig

[dsandbro]

quote:

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Originally posted by South_Cache:

 

If we had environmentalist 50,000 years ago we wouldn't have the Grand Canyon today.

 

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I've always heard it as fire and the wheel would have been banned.

 

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Friends don't let Friends geocache drunk.

[South_Cache]

quote:

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Originally posted by Dave54:

quote:

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Originally posted by South_Cache:

 

If we had environmentalist 50,000 years ago we wouldn't have the Grand Canyon today.

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I've always heard it as fire and the wheel would have been banned.

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Friends don't let Friends geocache drunk.

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I made up the Grand Canyon one. At least I think I did. I like the fire and wheel better!

 

South Cache

"To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the tops." Robert M. Pirsig

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[Dinoprophet]

I would have had a lot more places to hide a cache back then, too. There were several huge fields around my house growing up, a million great places to play. Now it's all subdivided. I'm planning a cache in a park nearby in memorium.

 

"Winter's just the curtain. Spring will take the bow"

-- Richard Shindell, Spring