Caching Without A Gps

[+LordSaw]

In another topic a cacher asked if anyother cachers did this and about there experiences. I didn't want to hijack his topic but do want to get some opinions on this subject. So the Question is:

 

If you don't use a GPSr when our searching for a cache, is it really GEOCACHING?

 

Cache Well

Edited October 30, 2004 by LordSaw

[+briansnat]

Because you don't carry a GPS it doesn't change that fact that you're still looking for a geocache, so I guess it would still be geocaching.

[+YuccaPatrol]

If you find the cache and sign the log, it is geocaching.

 

I've found one cache without my gps when my unit was being repaired. I looked at the cache description, knew where it should have been located, and found it.

[+Harrald]

The word Geocaching broken out is GEO for geography, and CACHING for the process of hiding a cache

From the FAQ page.

 

 

Nutin' about needing a GPS there.

[+LordSaw]

The word Geocaching broken out is GEO for geography, and CACHING for the process of hiding a cache

From the FAQ page.

 

 

Nutin' about needing a GPS there.

Also from the FAQ Page:

 

"Geocaching is an entertaining adventure game for gps users."

 

"GPS users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches. "

 

"The GPS Stash Hunt, Global Positioning Stash hunt is interchangable. Geocaching has become the standard for the game, however. "

 

What you quoted was the derrivation of the Word, Nutin' about how the game is played.

 

Cache Well

Edited October 30, 2004 by LordSaw

[+Renegade Knight]

A GPS is nothing more than a tool to make things easier. Akin to a walking stick.

 

It's no less geocaching if you use your GPS to find a cache or train your dog to sniff them out. Using a GPS doesn't make them more of a cache either.

 

Edit: If you paid someone else to find the cache for you...that woulnd't be geocaching, though for the person you paid, it would.

Edited October 30, 2004 by Renegade Knight

[+LordSaw]

Just a quick post to clairify my position, I have nothing against this method of caching. I think it a valid method. My question was just a philosophical one.

 

Cache Well

[+Sputnik 57]

From the Geocaching.com home page:

Join Geocaching -

 

The sport where YOU are the search engineTM

I don't think you have to a GPSr to do it (but some caches would be pretty tough without one.

 

I agree that if I search for the cache, find it, and sign the log (and I'm not a muggle that just stumbled across it) I'm caching.

[+Chaz]

The easiest way to find a cache w/o having a GPS is to use an Arial photo or topographical map and a compass. I know someone who found over 500 caches w/o a gps. I've done it a couple of times. It's fun when it's not in a forested area.

Edited October 31, 2004 by Chaz

[+The Puzzler]

If using is GPSr is a requirement, then my first 32 caches don't count.

[sgtgump]

I used to go looking for small objects in the woods with no more than a map and compass. There were even unique stamps at each site to prove that you went there. I plotted the direction on the map, adjusted from grid to magnetic north, measured the distance(I like to go straight there), and started walking. My pace count was and still is 60 paces for 100 meters. That was back when I was in the Army, a few years before I ever heard of geocaching. I currently live in Honduras, where Geocaching isn't real big, so I haven't ever got to find a real cache. But when I go back home, I'll try to find all the caches in my local area.

 

 

"His name is Robert Paulson."

[+RichardMoore]

My pace count was and still is 60 paces for 100 meters.

That's a long pace (1.66 meters). When I was in college I was taught that a pace was each step. Do you count a pace as each time one of your feet hits the ground, or just when your right foot hits the ground?

 

Back on topic:

Yes, searching for a cache without a GPSr is still geocaching. There are a lot of cachers out there who discovered geocaching by accidentally finding a cache. I consider that to be a legitimate find, too.

[+Sagefox]

...My question was just a philosophical one.

Which is the source of almost all problems encountered in this game. Geocaching is much more fun than thinking about geocaching.

[+Maddawg351]

In my own opinion, if your hunting for boxes with a GPSr its GeoCaching. If you dont have a GPSr it turns into a diffrent sport called Letterboxing.

On the other hand if you log it on "geocaching.com" it was geocaching.........hmmmm. needs more thought.

[+RichardMoore]

In my own opinion, if your hunting for boxes with a GPSr its GeoCaching. If you dont have a GPSr it turns into a diffrent sport called Letterboxing.

On the other hand if you log it on "geocaching.com" it was geocaching.........hmmmm. needs more thought.

I've done both letterboxing and geocaching.

In some ways letterboxing is easier than geocaching, but in some ways it is more difficult.

In Letterboxing, you are generally given complete and accurate instructions to find the container. You can't find a letterbox with just a map and compass because you don't know the coordinates of the box. You need the instructions that the hider gives you and sometimes, but not always, a compass. If you mis-interpret the instructions, or make a mistake in using the compass you can end up in a totally wrong area.

In geocaching, you have the coordinates, so you are fairly certain that you're in the right area, but you aren't told exactly where the cache is.

If you find something that the hider calls a geocache, you're probably geocaching.

[Tracker Tom]

Yes, ... it is Geocaching.

Sometimes, I know I can find it without the GPS.

MOST times I turn my GPS on, to find I was 30' away.

But it's still fun to try.

 

OOPS !

Just noticed that I was responding to 1st log in this thread.

 

GEOCACHING ROCKS !

Edited November 1, 2004 by Tracker Tom