How did you discover geocaching?

[studlyone]

How did you discover geocaching?

I first heard about it is a my Corps Magazine (the Craftsman), they ran an article submitted by a minor unit in 7 Air Assault Bde. Basically it explained what geocaching was all about and what they were doing about promoting it to a wider audience including sending our some Bde flashes out attached to travel bugs to spread the word about who they are and what they do.

As I have had a GPS for a while I thought I'd give it a go and after finding my first cache realised that it was a great idea for getting my two lads away from the Xbox and the rest is history. Since starting the hobby I have managed to get eight other members of my familly including my parents into geocaching. They love it as they are retired and have loads of time to get out and about.

So over to you, what got you into it and how did you discover the activity?

[Lost in Space]

How did you discover geocaching?

I looked up the coordinates on the web, bought myself a GPS, and there it was..........

LiS

[Bill D (wwh)]

I noticed that one of my websites was getting visitors via a link from a site called geocaching.com. The term geocaching was new to me, but as I've had a lifelong interest in maps and navigation and such, and that name suggested it just might be related to that sort of thing in some way, I took a look... And what I discovered fascinated me - the next day I found my first cache! After six finds and one DNF, working only from a map and the hints, I decided it was time to buy a gps unit...!

[Stuey]

I was told about caching way back in 2001 by some American friends. At the time I never had a GPS and they were quite expensive so I decided not to bother investigating further. I then bought a Garmin Venture a few years later (I still have it and use it) and saw the Geocache Found/Unfound icons on it, remember the site and off I went.

My first cache was a Hornet Holiday Hide! How things change!

[L8HNB]

We had a guy called Tim who was a techy for EDS, our site computer support people, who tried to get me interested in ’03, or there abouts, but I simply didn’t have the time to get involved then, unfortunately.

Fast forward to February ’06 and a visit to the In-laws, It’s Spitting!, near Chorley. We were dragged out for a week-ends fun and the rest is history, we ordered a Legend GPSr that week from the USA and we’ve been quietly logging them ever since.

I often wish I hadn’t lost contact with Tim. He was based in Cheltenham at that time, and if I remember correctly had hidden at least one cache in Gloucestershire. I’ve tried to work out which one it was, to no avail, but if any one remembers him or the cache it would be good to do the cache and get in touch with him again.

H

[keehotee]

Nobby.Nobbs is firmly in the frame for my intro.......... and where is he now ???????


LOL (hello Matt!!!)

[seacarrot]

I work at a Big Gardens open to the public, and whilst picking up litter one day (August) we found a small plastic box full of bits... looked at the website written rather scruffily inside and discovered a whole now world. :socool:

(Did replace box and am now it's caretaker)

33 caches found to date, am about to place my 1st cache soon, and have just made a request to another cache owner to adopt his several in my area as most of his have been shut down by admin for non-maintenance.

Expensive hobby from scratch though. h34r:

[Lydford Locators]

In late 2005 the Nine Elms Navigators kept telling us about their strange new hobby that they'd seen in the weekend Telegraph newspaper, eventually (mainly to shut them up) we went to the geocaching website to find out more.

December 2005 we bought our first GPS and went out caching, we've never looked back. Now we're completely hooked and have left them far behind in our dust! :socool:

Whatever did we do with our weekends before we were introduced to geocaching?

[nobbynobbs]

Guilty as charged for keehotee.

to be honest I don't remember how I first heard of it but do remember thinking that it would be ideal as I was rather ill at the time and needed motivation to go on longer walks etc.
Geko 201 followed rather rapidly then not long after upgrade to a 60c

[dodgydaved]

Late in 2001 I was researching a history of our village for a (now defunct) website I ran.

One of my sources was a website run by a certain Robin Lovelockhmy:hmy:. I read his articles on caching and, being a sucker for gadgets all my life, thought, "That looks like fun!"

But I couldn't afford the basic kit.

Then my dad died in May 2002 and a bit of ready came my way before it entered the estate. He had been a navigator in the RAF during the war and it just seemed right to get a Garmin eMAP (still works well!).

I never got to show it to him, but I can still imagine him saying, "Huh! Bl**dy H*ll, we only had a sextant, a watch and a set of tablesh34r:!"

The first cache I set was in his favourite place in Monsal Dale - only a virt (only! ONLY!!) - but a very special place for our family. Both his and my Mum's ashes were scattered close by

[*mouse*]

Stumbled across it on the the internet researching GPS handhelds for hill walking.

In fact if I remember rightly I found GAGB before Geocaching, so you lot in here are to blame for getting me hooked! :lol::lol::lol:

[Matrix]

In 2000 I was involved in a laser project that needed some accurate co-ordinates so a Garmin GPS 12XL was duly purchased and never used as the project was cancelled. The Garmin sat in my desk drawer until the week I was leaving to join another company early in 2001 , aha I thought what can I use this thing for and after a quick search on the search engines search engine and there it was Geocaching h34r:

And the rest as they say is still a blur

[The Wombles]

I noticed that one of my websites was getting visitors via a link from a site called geocaching.com. The term geocaching was new to me, but as I've had a lifelong interest in maps and navigation and such, and that name suggested it just might be related to that sort of thing in some way, I took a look... And what I discovered fascinated me - the next day I found my first cache! After six finds and one DNF, working only from a map and the hints, I decided it was time to buy a gps unit...!

Well, I had to link to some good information for my cache, didn't I?

I started after reading a short description in a magazine in February 2001. I went to the website, found my nearest cache was 40 miles away "The First in Wales" and out of bounds due to Foot and Mouth.

Forgot about it until August 2001 when I saw Moss Trooper's article in a computing mag. Went to find our second closest cache (35 miles away) and then the following day our closest cache (10 miles away).

[jacobite]

I'm a gadget head, so when arock&ahardplace asked me what I'd like for my birthday in May 2005, I said one of those GPS things. Not really knowing how to use it, I looked on the net for advice, and found geocaching!

Our first cache find was almost our last, though?
While looking for one of the boxes at Roolku's "Craigmillar's one of four" multi-cache, we happened upon a cache of firearms and spent several hours with the police while they recovered them.

But, we just kept going, and were soon hooked.

[team clova]

Mr TC had bought a yellow etrex on holiday in Florida in 1999 ("of course I'll use it..." ) so when I read the infamous Moss Trooper article in Computeractive thought "oh thats something we can do with that yellow gizmo thats been in the back of the drawer for the past 2 years..." Checked out the site and the closest cache at the time was Scotlands First which with a couple of small kids and not much hillwalking experience just wasnt going to happen so we forgot all about it.

In May 2004 we saw an article on caching in our local newspaper (Dundee Courier) so had another look and saw that there was now a cache a couple of miles out the road at a castle we have always wanted to stop off at so with the thought that ""we can really do something with that yellow gizmo thats been in the back of the drawer for the past 5 years..." we were out the the next day. Cleared all the Angus caches (OK one) on that first day then the next day we drove over to Fife and cleared half of them!

Have never looked back since. A couple of weeks ago we adopted the cache that started us off

[Brenin Tegeingl]

I'm another of the infamous Moss Trooper article in Computer active catches :socool:. In My case I joined immediately and ordered a Yellow banana [etrex]. My O/H grabbed the etrex on arrival and wrapped it up for xmass , which meant I had to wait from September to St Stephens Day [Boxing Day] to use it to find a cache.


I a couple of years ago, facilitated the adoption of my first find to a friend living local to it :socool: as it was in Oldham and I live in North Wales. At the time of my first find, I had the Grand choice of 3 caches within 30 miles of my parents house, where we were staying for Christmas hmy:

Moving forward in time hmy: May 2006, I got the request No Geocacher ever expects to get and the rest is history

[ivanidea]

After purchasing my first GPS in 1995, I used to frequent the gps newsgroups, where I gained and passed on knowledge.

I remember reading about geocaching (I could have sworn it was before 2000) and looking at the website, discovered that there were only a handful in the UK (too far away), so did not investigate further.

Late last year, whilst rambling with a group, a family noticed my GPS attached to my rucksack shoulder strap (I always record the walks on my GPS), and asked if I was geocaching as well. They were seeking a cache on the Stiperstones.

Sometime later, when I remembered, I googled geocaching, found the website and joined. I discovered my first cache on 1st December 2007. I try and look for caches on any group walk I do.

Ivan

[La_Fifi]

Hi there....first post in this forum.

I had the late great John Peel to thank. WVM and I were travelling on a Saturday morning and listening to Home Truths and it was mentioned in an item on there.

Being a bit of a gadget fiend and loving maps, I thought I'd look into it.

Picked up my likkle Gekko shortly after and I was off.....very slowly at first but gaining a little momentum now!

Fi

[martybartfast]

I'd heard about it on the radio ages ago and thought that it sounded interesting, but then I sort of forgot about it. When my father in law died in 2004 I was given a stack of his old walking mags and one of them had a small (about 2 column inches) article about Geocaching, along with a URL so I bought myself a banana for Christmas and had my first DNF on boxing day :wacko: but it didn't put me off :lol:

[The Book Of Shadows]

I was searching for something else on google at the time, I cannot remember what I was originally looking for

[keehotee]

please ignore this - next time I'll remember to cut and paste my own bit - lol

[Maple Leaf]

Paradiddle & I first heard about Geocaching from Simply Paul's video diary on BBCs Countryfile in Feb 05 and found our first cache in March 2005.

[esim]

First came across some people looking for hidden boxes during a walk on Dartmoor in 1998 and thought that looked fun, but as we were living in Denmark at the time didn't do anything about it.

In 2005 for some reason I suddenly remembered it and looked it up. I found info on GeoCachingand thought "that must be it", it was only later I found out that they'd been "letterboxing".

Then true to form I forgot about it again for about a year till I came across some PDA software that mentioned GeoCaching, and there has been a steady intake of caches since. :wub: :socool:

[Watford Wobble]

I've only started caching since July 2008 after I stopped marathon running. The old knees started to give up on me after my third marathon.

On a running site www.fetcheveryone.com I use under the games section was a link to the GS site. After investigating and thinking that this was a great idea I've been hooked ever since. I can combine walking, excercise, I cycle to some caches and waste time at work.

My first cache was out at Kilsby and the owner is The Allotment Gardener. Even just doing his numerious caches has taken me to places around Northampton I've never known about.

My sister and brother-in-law also started caching at the same time.

[gazooks]

a colleague at work came in one morning in May 2005 and asked if I had ever heard of geocaching, as I was a gadget freak. A friend of hers had just started and told her all about it.

So I looked it up on google, found the gc website and put in my postcode and discovered there was a cache at the bottom of my village only a mile away.

I bought a garmin legend and off I went - as all the threads end ... the rest is history.

I also enjoy photography so caching is an all round pasttime. It has taken me to places I never knew existed and some fantastic views and photo opportunites.... and I have got fit. When I first started a mile walk nearly killed me - now I can do 10+ miles without a problem. :socool:

[Dark_Faerie]

Some friends mentioned it a few years ago, I looked into it but couldn't afford a GPS. Then last September we all went away in our caravan, looking for something cheap to do on the Saturday we went to Whitby and Goathland. We used my PDA phone to look at the cache listings, found a couple and a TB and I was hooked.
When I got home I had another look for a GPS, still couldn't really afford one - to much to spend on a hobby I may get bored with. Checked out eBay and found I could get a Bluetooth GPS for my phone. Bought one, found 2 using google maps waiting for it to arrive. Now got a phone with a built in GPS, which is great for paperless caching and unplanned stops but battery life isn't too good for long trips. I've also found more caches than my friends although they have picked up their pace a bit recently.

[deejay44]

I work as a support guy for an ISP and last Febuary it was slow so I was doing random searches on google. As I had a N95 I put gps in and up poped GC it was free to join so I thought yes nothing to lose. Now its November I pay GC have a Oregon400t and am totally hooked as is Jean my lady.

Dave.

Forgot to mention I also registerd gpscaching.co.uk as well but done nothing with it yet.

[smart-dog]

I was looking up dog activity holidays on the net, and one of the holidays was geocaching with your dog- "using multi-million pound technology to explore new areas and find hidden boxes with your dog".
Had never heard of anything like it, so googled geocaching, got hooked on what I found, and now although I haven't done many yet, I love it. Thought I'd found all the nice walking areas near me, and now I seem to find a new place each time when caching, which is a huge benefit.
So I found it through having my dogs, and now they come out caching with me, although they get frustrated when I'm slow to find the cache, as I invariably am at the moment!!

[Croft House Cachers]

On an internet forum for people with large families it was suggested by someone as a suitable activity being cheap and crossing the age ranges. I was intrigued and followed the link.

[Dave Gerrie]

introduced by Helen in Mustardland (sister in law) who herself was introduced to it by Bargee! You'll have to ask him for anything further back than that!

[beefy4605]

After getting a Nokia N95 I was brousing a mobile forum and saw a link to GC .After singing (opps -signing)up I found a cache less than 500m from where I work. The next day it got the better of me and I went to find it to see what it was all about . It was a magnetic micro below a bench and I was hooked . that was in March this year and I found number 100 yesterday all with the mobile phone .

[Lost in Space]

..After singing up I ..

Post an mp3 file - we'd all enjoy it......

[beefy4605]

Post an mp3 file - we'd all enjoy it......

need to post another 2 replies first - but i will - you'll reget it

[Bear and Ragged]

find hidden boxes with your dog".

He's useless at it, I use an Garmin Legend!

I read about Geocaching on someones blog.
They were talking about a cache they hadn't found, and were going back with something to help them reach it later...

Googled "Geocaching" and did a bit of reading.
Liked what I read, so here I am!

(And it was the fact it was using a gadget that 'told you where you are' that I'd wanted since I was a little kid helped a little! :lol

[uk89camaro]

I've had a TomTom unit for 3 years or more, and we decided that we'd go away to West Wales for the October half term, a little over a year ago.

I fancied the coastal walks, and wanted some comfort that I could stop anywhere spontaneously, and not worry about finding the car again. Now in theory you can use TT to achieve that result, but with only a couple of hours battery time I wanted something a bit more durable, and something that would give me an arrow to follow. (Many arrow rage caches ensued for a few weeks before I discovered something called memorymap.)

So, I did a little research, and bought a Venture Hcx a week or so before we went, still not knowing anything about geocaching.

Anyway, browsed through the menu's and came across "find>geocache", what that all about???

And as they say, the rest is history.

[GAZ]

I'm another one that got the bug from reading Moss Troopers article in computeractive magazine in Aug 2001!

1st cache found was "Woodhorn Woods" by JasonW, 60 odd miles from home! At that time there was only 57 hidden in the whole of the UK!

How times change!!

[Mrs Blorenge]

Way back in the dim and distant, when lads with flat caps carried their loaves of Hovis back home along the sepia-darkening streets, I read an article about letterboxing in a magazine. I'm not sure which one, it may have been Country Walking. At the end of the article there were a few references given - Something like "If you enjoy the idea of hunting treasure you may be interested in..." One was for the Armchair Treasure Hunt Club, the other was for geocaching.com . I wasn't very pc literate in those days (and I'm still not much good beyond the basics) but I had a look at the geocaching site and thought, "This looks fun ." I pointed it out to Chris, who created an account, did a search, and found out where our local ones were.
We didn't get round to getting a GPS for ages. When we did, in May '04, we went up onto the Blorenge and, after about 40 minutes of stumbling and wandering over ankle-breaking rocks, we were just at the point of saying, "B***** this for a game of soldiers! What a stupid idea - it doesn't work. Let's go home for tea..." when we found it!

When we went home to write our log we needed a good user name: I don't know what name Chris originally registered under, but he changed it to 'Blorenge' in honour of that first find. A few caches later he remembered that I was trailing along doing this too ... so we becames The Blorenges.

[Happy Humphrey]

You must be the only woman to have found your first cache whilst being taken up the Blorenge...

h34r:

[Madyokel]

Found Geocaching accidentally from a member of uk.local.yorkshire
Hooked instantly even before we found our first cache.. GC6739
We adopted the cache as the owner had moved away.. Great cache..

[Mrs Blorenge]

You must be the only woman to have found your first cache whilst being taken up the Blorenge...

h34r:

[Tattylicious]

Back in November 2006 some friends showed us their GPS and told us all about geocaching and showed us the website. We were immediately interested and signed up there and then as JamesandEllen, within a week or so we drove to Taunton to buy our first GPS (James's cousin manages Taunton Leisure) and had a lesson on how to use the GPS. We found our first cache in December 2006 and slowly started looking for more. We introduced BrucieandWeezy to geocaching at the South Wales event in Aberdare in May 2007 and slowly our competative sides came out and we were competing to see who could find more so it became all about the numbers!. When James and myself split up recently I started to really miss getting out caching so treated myself to a Garmin Oregon 300 as an early christmas present and registered my new caching name of Tattylicious and have been out caching and am loving it!!!

[Bellisclan]

Whilst living in Larkhill, Salisbury we took the kids out for a snowy walk to Stonehemge. On the way there we were playing hide and seek when one of the kids shouted that he had found a treasure chest!!!!!! Upon looking inside we found some goodies, a logbook and some instructions. From that day on we were hooked and have never looked back

[danf1234]

I read a poster in blacks that mentioned Sat Nav's for Caching.

When I got home I enter "geocaching" in google and couldn't believe what I was reading.

I set out for a cache that was 400 yards from my house and my first trip resulted in a DNF.

However after thinking about it a while I went back out and have never looked backed since.

[geotrowel]

I was visiting a friend of mine in Wales (the world famous SatelliteKid!), and he said he'd come and visit me where I was staying, come up early and get some caching in.

I googled it, looked vaguely interesting, so I asked him about it when we met up. Without any further ado, he shoved his gpsr into my hand and off we went to 'The Devil's Congregation - Tintern', one of the Blorenges' caches.

And that was it, I haven't looked back since!

[Mrs Blorenge]

I was visiting a friend of mine in Wales (the world famous SatelliteKid!), and he said he'd come and visit me where I was staying, come up early and get some caching in.

I googled it, looked vaguely interesting, so I asked him about it when we met up. Without any further ado, he shoved his gpsr into my hand and off we went to 'The Devil's Congregation - Tintern', one of the Blorenges' caches.

And that was it, I haven't looked back since!

I knew I knew your name from somewhere!

But I have to say, if you associate with Satellite Kid there's just no hope for you ... I've just found the log that he put on that cache on that day - At least the events as recorded by him didn't put you off caching for ever!

[dannable]

Mine is fairly mundane. Had a life long interest (ie, fascination) with maps, found Teasels web site, saw something called a 'cache' near the trig points... and the rest, as they say, is history.

[markandlynn]

Mark used to read the blog of whil wheaton and he is / was a geo cacher and he linked to the GSP site. I followed the link and thought thats interesting. The family were going walking most weekends for excercise so we went and sought one of our nearer caches (30miles) and found it without the GPS. We then found a second one again no gps.

We went on holiday with some print outs but could not find the caches with OS map, compass etc alone so we stopped.

A year later Lynn did a leran direct course which offered a free GPS if she passed.

Certainly made it easier to find em after that.