We've been geocaching for a while now, so our friends have been asking questions. The Geocaching website contains a great discussion area and FAQ section, however here are some more personal questions and answers.

What's geocaching?

Geocaching is an adventure hobby that involves using a GPS device to locate a cache. The GEO part comes from geography and the CACHING part relates to hiding and finding a cache or treasure. The word CACHE is also related to computer memory, so geocaching relates to computing too. In most cases, people identify a cache to try using the geocaching.com website. Read about the history of the sport.

 

Why bother?

Geocaching is a way to visit wonderful historical or natural areas people might miss if they just follow the travel guide. It's great exercise, fun, and a reason to buy another techie tool!

 

What GPS do you use? Is it accurate?

We use a Garmin GPS 12. We've found it to be extremely accurate in even the most remote areas. Of course some areas are out of range, but we've never had a problem with the geocaches we've tried.

 

Where do you find geocaches to visit?

We go directly to the geocaching website and search by the local zipcode. We print out the pages we might visit and enter the coordinates in the GPS before we leave home. With the right GPS device you can even download the coordinates.

 

How do you decide which geocache to visit?

Sometimes there are dozens of caches in a small area. For example, Oregon and Washington have tons of sites. In this case, we like to read the description and decide whether it's a location we think would be interesting such as a waterfall, overlook, or unique natural feature. We also decide if the difficulty and terrain guidelines fit with our mood and time. It's easy to find the caches next to the road, but sometimes the most interesting places are off the track. Finally, we read the logs to see if other people liked the cache.

 

How do you find the geocaches?

We buy the topographic map book (such as the DeLorme Gazetteer) for each state we visit. It contains most of the back roads and trails in addition to the GPS coordinates. We mark the approximate area. When we get to the general location, we use the GPS device to find the exact location.