Sunday, June 19, 2005 3:25 PM
Well we've caught a new bug! Not that new really, but definitely new to us. Little by little I've been reading about fun adventures with GPS units, and the sport called geocaching. I suppose to call it a "sport" is a bit of a stretch; it's a recreational activity. It's a lot of fun though, and I recommend it to anyone who likes to be outdoors, or feels they should be more.
The problem with being a computer programmer is being stuck indoors all the time. I realize how sad it is when my knowledge of the current weather relies on what the Forecastfox plugin tells me! So I enjoy being very active when I'm not working. We hike, bike, camp, and walk whenever we can. Finding new areas is the biggest thrill since we all get tired of the same areas eventually ("we" being my wife, two sons, and I). So geocaching not only gives us something to do outdoors, but provides us a goal to hiking that we already enjoy.
We started by buying a Garmin eTrex GPS unit. These are just $99 at Wal-Mart and definitely a good way to start. Then start looking up caches at geocaching.com! Perhaps a word of explanation is in order though.
A "geocache" is a container concealed somewhere. Inside the container could be any kind of little trinkets. Usually pens, balls, postcards, often just cheap, simple things. Someone hides the cache and publishes the latitude/longitude coordinates on sites like geocaching.com. You can search by coordinates, ZIP code, country, etc. to find caches near you (or near your destination if you are traveling). Then set off to find it! It sounds easy since you have the coordinates, but two things inhibit you. First of all, most GPS devices will navigate you in a straight line. Useless if you only have limited paths to follow, or complicated geography in your way. Second of all, the accuracy of the coordinates is dependent on the quality of the unit used to place it, and your ability to get to those coordinates varies based on the accuracy of your unit.
We have found two caches so far (set out to find two, and found them both!). Each time the GPS unit got us very close, but we needed to spend 10-15 minutes just manually searching then to actually locate the box. It's a great time though, and boys love the treasure hunt aspect of it. It's also fun after the hunt by logging your find on the web site and seeing how many others have been there, share pictures, and eventually add new ones. If you like the outdoors, it is well worth the time, and the cost isn't that great. Pick a new hobby that you can share with the family and enjoy for a long time!