Geocaching
One of my new hobbies is geocaching. Geocaching, if you are unfamiliar with it, is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.
There are different types of geocaches also. There are unknown caches in which you either need to solve a puzzle to get the correct coordinates or qualify for a challenge that the cache owner has set up for the geocache. Examples of a challenge cache are: spelling your geocache name with cities you have found various caches in, finding names of NFL teams, finding 50 of a certain terrain rating. For more information, you can go to www.geocaching.com and there are videos and examples of how geocaching works.
Now I have been geocaching since 2004. Those first caches were trying and without much help, I struggled and soon lost interest in the activity. Then a friend joined and renewed my interest and I have been going strong ever since. One of the aspects of geocaching I enjoy is finding caches in out-of-the-way places. Areas that I wouldn't normally go to. Hiking a couple of miles to an abandoned wood mill is an example of something I would not normally consider; but I'm thankful I made the trip.
There are different types of geocaches also. There are unknown caches in which you either need to solve a puzzle to get the correct coordinates or qualify for a challenge that the cache owner has set up for the geocache. Examples of a challenge cache are: spelling your geocache name with cities you have found various caches in, finding names of NFL teams, finding 50 of a certain terrain rating. For more information, you can go to www.geocaching.com and there are videos and examples of how geocaching works.
Now I have been geocaching since 2004. Those first caches were trying and without much help, I struggled and soon lost interest in the activity. Then a friend joined and renewed my interest and I have been going strong ever since. One of the aspects of geocaching I enjoy is finding caches in out-of-the-way places. Areas that I wouldn't normally go to. Hiking a couple of miles to an abandoned wood mill is an example of something I would not normally consider; but I'm thankful I made the trip.
This is all that is left of Pino Grande Mill in Eldorado National Forest. The hike was about 3 miles both ways, and it was well worth it.
Favorites from geocaching
Here are some of my favorite geocaches that I have found. Some of these caches you can only view if you are a premium member of geocaching.com.
These are not in any order, just favorites of mine.
Quick Trick Block Stack http://coord.info/GC4EPR8
Starship Enterprise's Black Box http://coord.info/GC4DHAR
Red Rocket http://coord.info/GC3YWA6
Nuts http://coord.info/GC41D4C
Pathetic http://coord.info/GC412NG
ISS II http://coord.info/GC505ZP
Dirty Dishes http://coord.info/GC3WQTC
These are not in any order, just favorites of mine.
Quick Trick Block Stack http://coord.info/GC4EPR8
Starship Enterprise's Black Box http://coord.info/GC4DHAR
Red Rocket http://coord.info/GC3YWA6
Nuts http://coord.info/GC41D4C
Pathetic http://coord.info/GC412NG
ISS II http://coord.info/GC505ZP
Dirty Dishes http://coord.info/GC3WQTC
Containers that make you say "Wow"
Another aspect of geocaching is the creative containers that geocachers create to hide. Now I'm not going to tell you the names of these caches because I don't want to spoil your "Aha" moment. Here are a few that I really enjoyed.
Spoiler alert videos.
Geocaching routes
During my years of geocaching, I have played around with Wherigo cartridges. My latest cartridge is played at the Cosumnes River Preserve. This Wherigo has you walking around the River Walk Trail and I thought why not upload a kml file for people to download onto their GPS devices to help them navigate around the different stages of the cartridge.