Reasons to take up Geocaching
REASONS TO TAKE UP GEOCACHING
– The fresh air
– The camaraderie
– Meeting a motley crew of characters with names like Lemon Fresh Dog,
Auntie Weasel, Cool Librarian, Reverend Slippery, MrPoopypants, and TheyMadeMeCome.
– Meeting police when you’re not doing anything wrong.
– Practice writing skills, like writing in a logbook
– The green spaces
– Exploring caves
– Seeing amazing coastlines
– Group hikes
– Snowshoeing
– Travelling to great new places
– Climbing dangerous rock outcrops
– Handy foot rinses thanks to frequent soakers
– Learning how to use complex computer programs like GSAK.
– Learning how to use complex electronic devices. “I don’t know how to use a TV remote, but I can operate a GPSr in pitch darkness”.
– Long hikes. Hikes longer than walking to the mall from home, even if you live 10kms away.
– If there’s a way to walk on water, it’s a geocacher that will figure out a way.
– Walking over frozen ocean ice to get to islands usually inaccessible to those without a watercraft.
– Arguing (I mean debating) about micros in the woods.
– Risking life and limb for a Tupperware container
– Because you LOVE using duct tape – and you’re not Red Green.
– So you’ll have something to do when it rains for five straight days on your 7 day European vacation.
– So you can stump all the wiseguys with your great home-made cleverly-hidden cache.
– The Chickadees, the deer, the woodpeckers, the snakes, the porcupines, the rabbits, all the wildlife that you can’t see on Main street.
– The sounds and the smells of the forest after it rains.
– So you’ll relate to everything on this list.
Yeah I can relate to everything on this list.
Great post. I always say that caching is more than going out to find a cache and it is more then hiking with a purpose.
I will make this a lazy response and post some related stuff that I posted a couple of years ago.
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I posted a few items called Caching Way of Life. I said that caching was not simply about going out and finding caches. I said that caching can take over your life and I listed a number of positive aspects of caching which keep us busy, active and mentally fit.:
*Making new friends
*Events
*Travel
*Spending the day caching with friends
*Meeting cachers in far away places (UK, USA, Other provinces)
*Caching adventures
*Hiking & Biking
*Discovering back roads and new places
*Entertaining the grandsons
*Solving puzzles
*Learning and using new software and hardware.
*Reading interesting logs
*Corresponding with cachers about puzzles, etc
*Moving TB’s and coins
*Reading forums and other caching sites
*Writing in forums and on CacheupNB
*Learning and sharing techniques for hides, camo etc.
*Enjoying & Marvelling at some of the wonderful intrigung caches.
*ETC ETC.
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Caching is more than just getting out of the house and it is more than hiking with a purpose
Geocaching has got me out of the house on many many occasions. It has brought me onto trails and footpaths, in town and in the countryside and in the wilderness, It has brought me to interesting places in four countries, and many states and provinces. It has brought me on many adventures close to home and far away. It has drawn me to PEI for short vacations in the fall and spring. It has shown me bike paths in Quebec, castles in Ireland, and pubs in UK. When I get restless, Ma loads the suitcases and the gps and we leave for a few days of caching in nearby provinces and cities. When we head out on a hiking trip to the USA, we make sure to load up the gps.
But caching has also kept me busy at home too.
I read intersting logs and stories on GC.com, and on caching forums like this. I keep up to date on other cachers activities and adventures. I share caching stories online with others. I have slowly learned html to prepare my cache pages. I plan cache series and scout out hiding locations online. I spend time creating and testing my logic puzzles. Ma and I solve puzzles near home and for places we plan on visiting. We plan caching trips and and work on pocket queries. Ma has become quite adept at working with GSAK. When we go on hiking trips, we spend time at home, scouting out caches nearby and on the way.
Caching has a social aspect as well.
We have made many good friends locally and often go out caching with our caching friends. We attend many local events where we get to chat with caching friends. We have attended many events and made many friends and shared adventures and meals with cachers, in Nova Scotia, all over NB, and many parts of QC, and in the Ottawa area. We have invited cachers into our home every year at our Ice Walk event.
I just like peeing in the woods. Kidding aside, for me it’s finding natural treasures(waterfalls, caves) within a few miles of my home I had no clue about before caching. Learning about the science of earthcaches. Now I look at the rockwalls along a stretch of highway and can see the lines of a fault, etc.
The “meeting people” part is pretty important to me. As many know, I recently moved out of New Brunswick to a city where I don’t know anyone. Geocaching is helping me to get settled here: I am hosting an event this week and hope to meet some like-minded outdoorspeople that I can go caching with and share other outdoor activities.
Additionally, caches are helping me to learn more about my new city. There is a local series of caches showing filming sites for the Lord of the Rings movies. There are historical caches along the waterfront. I’m using the caches as a tour guide.
Thanks to all the cachers out there.
A use for empty PB jars and 35mm containers.
Frequent trips to the dollar store.
Free coins at events.
Wondering why a GPS device with 3 meters accuracy sometimes doesn’t know where in the hell it’s going.
important one here:
– meeting crazy people like cableguy
also GCJKRW and GC1ER7K are pretty great reasons to keep hunting
for more.
evulc, I wonder who is the solitary person who gave your post a thumbs up? Must have been about the secont part.
****Keep adding to the list, folks~!
Had to learn how to use a GPSr so I could teach it for map and compass as well as geocaching.