Basically, geocaching is a ‘location based’ cherish hunting game. At its most simple level, it involves hunting for just a ‘cache’ using a GPS DEVICE receiver. A geocache is usually some kind of container, that contains a logbook or perhaps log sheet, and depending on sizing, some swap items (swag) and could temporarily provide a home for many ‘trackables’ (e. g. a geocoin or travel bug ) When you find the cache, you sign the logbook, swap some swag (if you need to), pick up, or drop off any kind of trackables, then replace the cache. Later, you log your find over a website. Sounds fairly straightforward? Read on – the item gets more interesting!
If you haven’t heard of geocaching before, you might be surprised to discover that, at the time of writing, there were over 1. 6 million active geocaches on the planet, and over 5 mil active participants (or maybe geocachers). If you were to attend a geocache listing internet site, you’d probably find there was clearly several geocaches hidden just a few kilometres in your home! There are several record websites, used by the cache hiders as well as the cache finders. The main worldwide checklist site is www.geocaching.com. There is also an Australian specific version, www.geocaching.com.au. There are quite a few other sites that cover a lot of the niche aspects of the experience, but we’d recommend any new geocachers start with geocaching. com and look in to the other options later.
You can create a merchant account at geocaching.com for free and get started straight away. You’ll need a GPS receiver, but most smart phones will do the job at a pinch. Although their accuracy might not be spectacular, they’ll be good enough to let you find your first few caches, to see if you get hooked. Most keen cachers end up spending a bit more money on a good quality GPSr (GPS receiver) that will have some specific geocaching features. Once you’ve logged in at geocaching.com, look for a cache in your local area, plug in the coordinates, and off you go! Geocaches are rated for difficulty and terrain. To begin with, look for something with a low difficulty level and easy terrain. You want your first hunt to be successful, and there’ll be plenty time to aim higher once you’ve got some experience under your belt..
