Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Geocaching

BY SKEETER
The Saint and I started a new Hobby this past Fall outside of our Georgia Gardens. We enjoy this new found game of Geocaching!  Geocaching is an outdoor treasure hunting game using a GPS device. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location. Click HERE to see how Geocaching started.
 
Georgia State Parks are participating in this fun game offering a Geo-Challenge in some of their parks. Click HERE to see.
I found the first cache in the form of a Military Ammo Can! I was surprised and saddened to see it locked to a tree to prevent theft. This is the only container we have found locked with our two months of caching though.
The box contained a stamp pad and stamp for us to stamp our Passport. Mistletoe State Park is close to us so this was our first stamp. After we have 15 State stamps, we will earn a Bronze Coin. After 30 stamps, a Silver Coin. And after 40 stamps, a Gold Coin! I don't believe they will be real bronze, silver and gold but fun to collect just the same.
 Since starting this challenge over Thanksgiving Weekend, we have visited 3 State Parks and found the caches! We have also found other caches within each park that people have hidden.
We learned quickly to invest in a geocaching GPS as the Auto and Phone GPS's are not always on the mark with this game.
The larger containers such as the Ammo Cans contain small trinkets for trading. Things such as hot wheel cars, small dolls, pins, coins, toys, plastic bugs, discount cards, little statues and all kinds of fun stuff. We always look at the trinkets but rarely do we take anything. But we always add something to the mix. 
This container is much smaller being a medium size. I am sure to have trinkets of many sizes with me when we cache.  
The one the Saint is holding was his first find and on his birthday back in December. On a nice warm day as you can see with him wearing a tee shirt. No trinkets go into this small sized cache container. All it contains is a Log for signing your name and date of find. All Caches have Logs to sign for verification. 
Here you see a cache in a tube style and covered in Cammo colors for an easy hide.
Those which hide caches use some interesting things such as this old 35mm film container covered with cammo tape.
Some people are really clever with their caches. This bird was a fun find for us.
As was this pole. We had to go fishing for this cache!
The directions of the Geocaching site told us to find a near by fishing pole and go fishing. There were holes all over this pole but the small magnetic cache was down inside the pole and reachable only by taking off the top piece of the pole and fishing for it. Tricky indeed.  
Do you see the cache in this photograph?
This would be a mini sized container inside the hole of a tree! People get creative with naming their caches as well. This one is called "Pull my Finger"  
We were only able to unscrew the lid and carefully pull out the small log to sign. One must have a nice sharp pointed pen with them when caching.
This one is a Micro sized container.
It was so small it fit inside of the Saint Wedding Band! The smaller they are, the harder to find! And yes, there is a log to sign within this container! However small, we could sign it. We find and download cache sites from the official Geocaching site on the Internet. Click HERE to see.
I have only taken one trinket from a Cache and here you see the little sombrero on Cheetahs head. She is not too happy about this Kodak moment. Can you tell?
The Saint and I are hooked on this new Hobby! It gets us off the sofa and into the great outdoors! Into parks, walking trails and spots of interest all over town. We have seen some wonderful things the past two months and I have yet to become depressed with the Winter Blues with all of our caching keeping me refreshed.
Here is an example of something we would have never seen had we not started caching! A tree curved due to one of natures storms and below it a huge patch of Saw Palmettos. This past weekend, we found our 60th Cache! The fun thing about this game is, it is played all over the world so just about anywhere we go, we can find a cache. We pass them every day but never knew until now. There could be one within walking distance of your house! Our friend refers to it as a "Secret Society" ha ha.. Thursday, I plan to show you more of the wonderful things we have seen and enjoyed while GEOCACHING, In the Garden... 
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

10 comments:

  1. Hi Skeeter!! This game sounds so fun!! Since we already hike at a lot of state parks, I know we would play if it comes to TN. I love the picture of you and the Saint and the one with the curved tree.

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    1. Christy, Geocaching IS in Tennessee! My parents live near Dunbar Cave and the Saint found a few caches in that park. We have yet to look at the Greenway but I bet there are some there as well.... Get on the Geocaching site I linked and find the cords for the caches and start playing! It is fun and Tina's son the Jimster plays this game as well. He could assist you in getting started....

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  2. I think it is way neat and such a fun thing to do! I've never done it but was exposed to it when Jimmy was a boyscout. Funny thing is he now does it but not as active as when he first started. He is a working and school boy now so doesn't have as much time. He was addicted. I did not know they had specific GPSs for geocaching. Very neat! The variety of caches is really really cool too. Love it! Can't wait to see your coin once you have all the stamps. 60 caches are a LOT!

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    1. Tina, and you told me that Jimmy has played in the dark! We are too "chicken" to Geocache in the dark. We have seen extreme geocaching also which includes Caves, Mountain climbing, etc... Not for us as we shall keep to the simple just "off the beaten path" caches. I really think you would enjoy doing this as it makes the mind really search for something that stands out a bit that we would normally never notice. Plus, we see some awesome things...

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  3. Super fun and gets you moving and on an adventure!! Can't wait to see what else you find!!

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    1. Cherry, it is such a fun way to get us out of the house. We have walked many miles with this hobby so a good thing for our normally lazy winter bones....

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  4. It sounds like such a fun game. Brilliant! Many thanks for letting us know.

    Greetings from London.

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  5. I have never done this but have friends who have...looks like fun in a great spot...

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  6. My husband has been actively caching for five years. He really loves it. :o) Happy geocaching!

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  7. Been following your adventures through Facebook. Geocaching looks like a lot of fun.

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