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Geocaching

djdazedjdaze 3,099 Posts
edited July 2010 in Strut Central
Any of ya'll do this? Just started today with my 10 year old. Pretty fun, basically a log sheet hidden in some sort of cache like a little metal pill box that you have to find using gps coordinates. Once you find it you write your name in it and log your find on the website. My son is super stoked on it, we had a fun first day finding 3 of them all within walking distance of our house.

http://www.geocaching.com

  Comments

  • discos_almadiscos_alma discos_alma 2,164 Posts
    Yeah they can be super fun, and I can see how kids would totally dig the adventure of them. I've done a bunch around UC Berkeley and the nearby Berkeley Hills, but the ones in Indonesia were super :next_level:

    What kind of device are you using, just your phone?

    There's an infinite amount of them to download
  • djdazedjdaze 3,099 Posts
    yeah i paid for a good GPS app on my phone called Trimble Outdoors, you can actually download the coordinates from the site to the app, pretty fresh but my phone isn't the best GPS. I wanna buy a dedicated GPS since my old one got stolen out of my car a while back. Prolly pick up a Garmin off craigslist or ebay.

    I can only imagine some of the cooler ones around the world. This one..

    http://blog.geocaching.com/2010/07/kilimanjaro-lava-tower-gc25w5d-geocache-of-the-week-july-18th-2010/

    ...is pretty next level.

    There's some really fresh ones for little kids too, themed ones like Dinosaur Train and stuff. I can't wait till my 2 year old is a little older.
  • dukeofdelridgedukeofdelridge urgent.monkey.mice 2,453 Posts
    it's actually getting people outdoors. Once people graduate from the little ones in their neighborhoods, they head out onto trails again, which is great.

    it's huge with kids around seattle and the northwest. I think it's cool, and I'm an old person. I'd've had all my playboys and throwing stars fully cache'd out in the woods, with only the coordinates written down...and maybe those would've been written in a code, because my parents would've had a GPS too, I just know it...

    STR8 GOONIE BIZ I love it!
  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,391 Posts
    Been doing this off and on with my kids and their cousins for three of four years. Great for getting kids out on a good long trek (or even a short urban adventure) but also fun to watch online as tagged objects make their way round the real world. It's one of those things you've never heard of but if you check online where your local caches are you realise that a lot of folks are doing this.

    Edit: Daze - in the UK most caches have objects in like coins, toys, photos etc. You can tag objects and then people take them and put them in another cache and log them onine when they get home. We sent a little toy monkey off on its travels two years ago and last month it got to California via a number of caches.. Which is more than I've ever done..
  • djdazedjdaze 3,099 Posts
    yeah I've just been learning about the geocoins and whatnot the last couple days. I wish we were in a bigger area where this was more popular and supported so my son could find cooler caches with prizes inside and whatnot. I know in other states they have geotrails where you reach an end destination and the prize is a geocoin. I might get some minted up for trading and send a few off for trips around the world.
  • Imperial_MaoImperial_Mao 1,119 Posts
    Been doing this with the GF and her little boy for the last year or so, use the iPhone app and it's been a lot of cheap entertainment for us all and I've seen some parts of the North of England that I never would have otherwise.
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