Geocaching - A walk with a purpose
A few years ago one of our sons sent me an email about Geocaching - an international treasure hunt using GPS devices. It looked interesting, but I did nothing about it. Then, some months later, he took us both to a local beauty spot where one of these geocaches was hidden. Once we had found our first we were hooked and have now found over 1500 in several different countries.
Geocaching began near Portland, Oregon, in May 2000, when a man called Dave Ulmer hid a bucket with a logbook and a few other items in it. He published the coordinates on a social networking website and challenged people to find the bucket. He called it a GPS stash – the name geocache was coined later – and hoped that one day there would be thousands of such stashes across America.
There are now over 400 geocaches within ten miles of that original site; over 28,000 in the state of Oregon; over 110,000 in the UK; and over 1,600,000 across the world. He certainly started something!
Whenever we plan a weekend, or more, away in our caravan, we always have a look at the Geocaching website - www.geocaching.com - to see where the local geocaches are. They have taken us to some very interesting sites and some beautiful views that we probably wouldn’t have found otherwise.
As with all hobbies, the amount of effort, and cost, that you put in to it is entirely up to you. The only specialist equipment that you need is a GPS device and these are available at a wide variety of prices that reflect the sophistication of the software within them. Also, most - if not all - smart ’phones can be used as GPS devices.
We can thoroughly recommend it!
Comments
-
I'm also a huge fan of geocaching and have been able to discover places I would never have been if I wasn't searching caches and following the co-ordiantes. It's great fun and I would also recommend geocaching for anyone who enjoys walking and exploring
the countryside. Good to know there are fellow geocachers on Club Together and interesting to learn the history - thank you Odette2000!0 -
Sounds like a great hobby - unless Radio Leicester presenters get in on the action! Last Sunday on the "Clueless" programme Julie Meyer managed to uncover the final Geocaching clue, instead of the one to end the programme. Many people in Leicestershire
and beyond will now know the whereabouts of trail end. Great programme though which keeps us entertained and searching the grey matter!0 -
Sounds like a great hobby - unless Radio Leicester presenters get in on the action! Last Sunday on the "Clueless" programme Julie Meyer managed to uncover the final Geocaching clue, instead of the one to end the programme. Many people in Leicestershire
and beyond will now know the whereabouts of trail end. Great programme though which keeps us entertained and searching the grey matter!0 -
I have been geocaching for a couple of years now, and combine it with caravanning, holidays abroad and at home, hill walking, munro bagging and just days out. Its great exercise and its amazing where you sometimes end up and the people you meet.Happy geocaching
and keep an eye out for all those muggles out there.0 -
We did our first geocaching the weekend just gone and we are hooked. Our two sons, aged 9 & 10, loved it. We got to explore a mile-castle on Hadrian's Wall, a medieval castle and a stunning gorge next to Spadeadam military range. I even found a cache during
my lunch break at work today, truly addictive!0 -
We just started 2 weeks ago and I must admit we, (myself and my 2 girls,) are hooked! Where-ever we go the first thing we check is where is the nearest geo?
It really is additive!
0 -
Great reason to climb the hill for that lovely tuberware box!!!!! We haven't been for the last year may be we will take it up again.
0
