Geocaching
Pronunciation: "jE-O-'kash-ing"
Etymology
GEO-: - combining form
1 : earth : ground : soil
2 : geographic : geography and geopolitics
CACHE:
1 a : a hiding place especially for concealing and preserving provisions or implements
b : a secure place of storage
2 : something hidden or stored in a cache
I discovered this fun hobby over four years ago, thanks to a friendly REI employee while discussing GPS receivers. Quite simply put - geocaching is like a modern-day treasure hunt. One person hides a geocache - and then the rest of the community downloads the coordinates from geocaching.com into their GPS recievers, and ... the hunt is on!
Words don't really do it justice - and I'd be here all day trying to tell you all the things I enjoy about caching. It puts a fresh perspective on familiar places. It gives you objectives when exploring new places, and takes you to some really incredible views.
Once you arrive at the cache site (typical accuracy is between 30-50 feet), the search begins. Caches come in ALL shapes and sizes, from "micros" as small as film containers, to traditional ones that can be large ammo cans (this is my personal favorite type of container - and they're WAY weather-resistant and more durable than Tupperware). Caches can contain a variety of items, from childrens toys to small tools, books to jewelry - and EVERYTHING in between. Just browse a few cache listings and you'll see the types of things they were initially populated with, and the log entries will show what people have traded.
So, I've started a few different photo galleries dedicated to caching. The first is "scenery", and contains some of the spectacular views and locations I have experienced thanks to geocaching. The second, "Caches", is photos of actual finds, placements, etc. WARNING: may contain spoilers. Finally, a gallery for the photos from the disposable "CacheCam".
Found a Gotwake signature item? Thanks to Marky, we can now track the movement of these numbered items here.
Here are a few interesting geocaching-related links - you'll find more in the Web Links section.
www.geocaching.com - the main site
Geocaching Frequently-Asked-Questions
Guide to finding your first cache
My Finds and Hides Stats generated by lingumaqua's outstanding GSAK FindStatsGen3 macro.
List of all the caches I've found.
List of all the caches I was first to find
List of all the caches I've hidden.
List of all the cache-related articles posted here on Gotwake.
Cache in, Trash Out!
Billy
