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Your Very First Find

The first time you find a geocache, particularly on your own without assistance, is a unique experience. You’ve heard all about the sport, have your equipment in hand and ready to go out into the world of caching. But really, how do you start? This is meant to serve as a real basic guide on how to get that very first find. It also serves as a good spot to reference when you are first getting started. So let’s get your started on getting that first find!

If you are interested in seeing a video tutorial of getting started with geocaching, check out our Intro to Geocaching Video Series.

One other quick thing. This guide does not include any specific instructions on how to enter in the coordinates to your GPS or how to use the GPS to navigate. It does include very basic instructions but the specifics differ from unit to unit. It is a good idea for you to have a basic understanding of 1) How to use the GPS to “find” something and 2) How to manually enter in coordinates to a GPS.

To start, you’re going to need to pick a cache to find. For the purposes of this guide, I am going to assume that you already have an account on the official Geocaching.Com homepage. If you do not, then you need to go here and follow the instructions to get yourself set up with at least  a basic account. Once you are set up, you can follow the instructions on that same page to obtaining a list of caches in your area.

Once you have seen what caches are available near you, you need to decide which one is the best for you. Since you’ve never found a cache before, it’s probably a good idea to select a cache that has a difficulty rating of two or less. Anything above that may be harder to find for someone who is just starting out. Click here to see a basic listing of one of my caches (opens in a new window). If you look at the top of that page, you’ll see that this particular listing has a difficulty of 1.5 stars. I can tell you that it’s a pretty easy cache to find.

The most important thing you are going to need from the cache listing page is the cache coordinates. A set of coordinates always looks something like this: N 46° 04.287 W 064° 49.257. You will need to enter these into your GPS (whatever unit you have) as a “Waypoint”. Most GPS’s have a way to “add” a waypoint manually so you can give it a name, and then enter in the coordinates. If you have a Garmin GPS and have set it up on your computer already, you can use the “Send to GPS” option on the webpage to send the waypoint directly to your unit. It will need to install a special plugin for this to work.

Once you have the set of coordinates on your GPS, you need to tell the GPS that you want to navigate to that particular waypoint. This typically puts the GPS into navigation mode and you are ready to go.

One thing about GPS’s. If you are using a car based GPS, the GPS will likely want to route you on a road to the cache location. This is fine if the cache is located near a road but if it is not, you need to find your GPS’s option that allows you to go offroad and then watch the “distance” from location. If you have an outdoor GPS (recommended for caching), then you should be able to browse through the GPS and find the “arrow”. The arrow points you where you want to go.

Regardless of whatever unit you use, the idea is to try and get as close to the cache as you can.

Along with the coordinates, you should also make note of the container size (found directly under the name of the cache), as well as read the description to see if it tells you anything about the container. Lastly, you’ll want to decode the hint for the cache so that you have a better idea of what you are looking for. In the case of the cache I gave above, the hint says “Magnetic”.

Now that you have everything you need, make your way to the cache location using the GPS as your guide. The key word there is GUIDE! It is not going to tell you exactly where to find it. The most common mistake made by new cachers is assuming that the GPS will lead them directly to the cache location. This is not entirely true. Most GPS units are accurate to within 2-5 meters. This accuracy reading places a huge role in both the hiding and finding of a cache. The better your accuracy reading, the more precise your GPS will be. However, even if your GPS has excellent accuracy, if the hider didn’t have good accuracy on the day they hid the cache, it might be more difficult to find.

The general rule of thumb when caching anywhere for any container of any size is that once you are within 5-10 meters of the cache, you should put the GPS away and start looking for the container. The idea is to think about where you would hide a container like the one you are looking for. Also look for places that would make good hiding spots for the type of container you are looking for. Lastly, use the hint to help you narrow down your search.

Remember, the GPS is used to help you get to the general area of the cache. It’s up to you to use your own sense of discovery to try and find the cache. It’s all about trying to find something that is hidden so although the GPS helps a great deal, it is no match for your own search skills.

Let’s say you are looking for the cache I gave above (Salpow). The description says very little, and the hint just says “magnetic”. You have no idea what kind of container it is but you do know that it is a micro which means it will be small. When you follow the GPS, it leads you to an area near a large power line. Well, the hint said it is magnetic so odds are it’s attached to one of the legs of the large power poles. Using the GPS, you can probably narrow down which side of the pole it’s on and then look. If you don’t see it right away, don’t keep looking at the GPS. Remember that you are looking for a magnetic micro and the attributes for the cache said it was winter friendly so you know it is above ground.

All of these things can help you to locate the cache. It’s all in the details!

Always look at where the most logical places that things could be hidden in. Remember that many caches are hidden in public places so they need to be hidden in spots where people won’t typically go look.

A couple of good pointers:

  • A lot of magnetic micros are hidden in guardrails and the skirting on lamp posts.
  • If the description or hint says magnetic, you usually are looking for something metal that the cache is attached to.
  • Many regular size caches are hidden in trees and simply hang from a branch.
  • Nano caches are a little bit bigger than a large pill but are usually magnetic. These can be harder to find.
  • If just starting out, avoid mystery & multi-caches as those can be more difficult to do for newcomers.
  • Try and pick a few caches to find at a time and don’t give up too easily.

Lastly, if a particular cache seems to elude you, open the cache page up again and look at the recent logs. See if it has been found recently and if there are any comments about it. Perhaps someone has tried to find it before you and it has gone missing. The logs on a cache can sometimes be far more helpful than anything on the cache description.

Good luck!