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Pad Patter 5.17.15: Geocaching for Dummies

jenevang

jenevang

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OK, so I'm "thinking" of putting this on my bucket list for this summer to do with my family, but I'm a total Newbie. I know some of you must do this. Enlighten me!

How about Letterboxing? That's sort of the same thing from what I gather but without the GPS. I wonder if I could do something similar with another couple of families and we could each hide a box for others to find?

Or are there plenty of geocaches (is that right?) to find? I love the idea of getting OUT with the family and spending time doing something like this. I have 2 teens (and let's be honest... one husband) who will roll their eyes at this idea, but maybe they'd have fun anyway.

Who geocaches? Who wants to? Help a newbie out.

Oh, and I know there are a couple of geocaching kits in the store... I'd love to see a page you did if you have one. Just cuz I like eye candy :)
 
Last summer we went to an "intro to geocaching" type thing for kids at the Arboretum. They used compasses instead of GPS and I felt it taught all of us a thing or two about using a compass, adults included. They'd had a similar thing at Cub Scout camp a couple of years ago that had confused us more than it had taught us anything about using a compass. But, we have never gone geocaching with a GPS, so this will be an interesting topic, Jen. I'm pretty sure a lot of us need more ideas to keep the kids busy this summer!
 
I need to be enlightened too LOL!! We tried this a few summers ago, but didn't have a ton of success. One place we spent probably 20 minutes or more looking for and the other directions were to the parking lot of an AutoZone that didn't seem like the safest place for two little boys to be out looking around in. But....everytime we go by there (my boys are 9 now), they ask me when we are going to go geocaching again. We need to try it again this summer. So, I need your ideas too :)

also, I have never heard of Letterboxing. Off to look that up!
 
I should have my DD get on and give you lots of info. She was really into this last year. She had an app (which kind of seems almost like cheating), but there are tons and tons around. Some are really easy, and some are harder. One she had took us to a costume shop where they'd give you a red clown nose if you came in.
 
we've done quite a lot of geocaching over the years. Most recently in October when we went camping in Northern Michigan, there were quite a few with the campground itself and on the hiking trails. For us, it was a great way to keep the kids motivated to go hiking. If you tell them we're going hiking they complain and grumble. If you tell them we are going geocaching, they fight over who gets to find the next one. :) They of course like the bigger ones that have trinkets inside to trade (you take one item, but have to leave one item in exchange). We found one cache that was INSANE with the stuff inside. One kid got a GPS (and yes it worked), one kid got a set of working walkie talkies!

Anyway, we love it! We use the official geocaching app which was $10 when we bought it years ago. Not sure if it still costs that much, but it's great because it'll show you the surrounding geocaches from wherever you are and you can tell by the comments on each cache if its a good one for your skill level, etc.





Our first find:
 
I'm a total newbie too! I'd love to start this to be able to start hiking with my boys! Gives them motivation to get to a location!
 
i've had geocaching and letterboxing on my summer to-do lists for a while - i need to really do it this year!
 
I LOVE geocaching!! I was amazed to find out how many treasures there are so close by- especially in the national park near us- thre are plently of free apps too :) I used the GPS on my phone- and it works perfectly. Both my guys (16 and 8!) love it- and I always keeps a few trinkets in the car to swap out- i say go for it!!
 
we have tried it too, and I love it! Sadly my children don't have quite enough patience yet, so we have stuck to the really easy ones to find, and they are happy enough to play along, but I think it will be something they like more in a year or two. My kids are 10, 8, 6 and 1. My 8yr old is my best helper, and my 6yr old boy just wants to go off and explore instead, while the buggy bound 1yr old gets desperate to escape before long!

There are caches all over the place! We were excited to see that there were about 6 caches within a 10-15min walk of our house, and everywhere we go, there is usually one not far, but you REALLY HAVE TO CHECK RECENT LOGS, or sometimes you go hunting for one, only to find that it has most likely gone astray and the last few visitors haven't been able to find it either!
 
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We have a geocaching.com account. My kids really enjoy it. The site membership makes it easy to geocache when we're on vacation too, which is a great way to add a little extra fun to road trips.
 
Here's a real newbie question -- do you need to buy any special geocaching device, or can you just get an app for your smartphone and use that instead? If you do use just your phone, what app do you use and how would you rate it?
 
HeatherB said:
Here's a real newbie question -- do you need to buy any special geocaching device, or can you just get an app for your smartphone and use that instead? If you do use just your phone, what app do you use and how would you rate it?
Click to expand...

While there are definitely lots of special devices out there, I just use my phone. The site that I mentioned earlier has a free app for phones. We have the premium app which comes with a membership for $30 per year. Worth it for the extra features.
 
I don't do this, but just the title of this thread crept into a dream I had last night -- CRAZY!!!
 
We have been geocaching for years. Our boys love it!! We bought a geocache app for our phones (there is a free version but you only get 3 caches within a certain area).
 
We did our first one on Easter! It was extra fun since our teacher was one of our neighbors. We signed up for the class so did her 2 boys. It was a blast.
 
I was just talking with my oldest about doing this today! Definitely looking forward to finding fun exciting things to do this summer. :) keeping tabs on this thread for sure.. :thumbsup
 
I have heard this term so much but had no clue what it was. Sounds like something my oldest kids would really like. I am going to have to check it out. May be something fun for summer.
 
We just went for the first time tonight and found two caches.. I got the geocaching app Laura recommended and there are like 20 within a couple miles of us, plus oodles more out and around town, so we'll definitely be doing this often.. And it appears you can log the caches from the website even if you can't access them from your phone without upgrading - I haven't tried it, though...
 
Yay! I'm glad you had success on your first try. We didn't know what we were even looking for the first time and didn't do so well on our first try. Plus we picked a really tricky one for the first try. Lol. It was on a bridge over some train tracks and was in a water tight plastic container that has really strong magnets taped to the outside and was up underneath one of the metal beams. You had to blindly reach underneath and feel around. We NEVER would have found that one if someone else hadn't just happened along at the same time we were there looking for the same cache. Lucky strokes for us! :)

And yes, you can log caches at geocaching.com without the app. You just need an account with them.
 
sm_amber said:
We just went for the first time tonight and found two caches.. I got the geocaching app Laura recommended and there are like 20 within a couple miles of us, plus oodles more out and around town, so we'll definitely be doing this often.. And it appears you can log the caches from the website even if you can't access them from your phone without upgrading - I haven't tried it, though...
Click to expand...

SO.COOL. What an awesome 1st experience!
 
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