Geocaching : chatty thread

[bumpybecky]

hello geocachers :)

there were lots of outdoorsy shite threads, but now we have our new great outdoors forum, I thought I'd start a new thread for us :)

I am (one of) Dave's Piglings and an in Bedfordshire. We've currently got about 140 finds and 9 caches placed :)

Hello, marking spot for now, would like to read right through the thread. We started in May using the Iphone app and have had more failures than successes, especially in wooded/overgrown areas, urban ones seem a lot easier to find. The DCs are getting very disillusioned with it. Going to read through for tips.

I think half the knack with overgrown areas is to stand back and look. If you can see something out of place, or a little trail it can be a giveaway as to the location. We like the rural ones as they're often bigger with more crap treasure.

Where are you in the country, perhaps you can join up with someone local to you.

We're off to see one of the oldest caches in the uk today :) Well I find that exciting :)

Hello! As often happens with me and MN, I start to do something new and then a thread appears about it on 'active'! We did our first bit of geocaching yesterday and found three! The kids loved it, and we're certainly going to do more as there are LOADS near to where we live.
I love the knowledge that wherever we go now there night be a secret little box somewhere with its hidden treasures.
A question though. Two of the boxes we found were a bit rubbish, their contents were things like old fliers for events and even an ear of corn in one. We took loads of sweets and little rubbers and moshlings and things for kids to swap and we refilled the old worn ones with these. Is that the idea?

To sort of answer your question HPCJ, I carry a few little swaps with me and some travel bugs. With swaps I try to trade to a similar value (very low) and never take a bug or trackable without leaving one, even in caches that get very few visits. You appear to be topping up cache goodies and any CO would, I think, be happy about that.

I managed the 31 days challenge, and introduced DS, DD1 and one of their friends. Well, DD1 and the friend had had a look for a couple but found neither so we went to look for them. They were a bit put out and amazed that I found the first one in about ten seconds, and really waded in to find the second. I think they might be hooked now.

WhoKnows, there are certain things to look out for when doing rural caches. Look for a cachers trail, this can be as simple as a tiny hole in a hedge, or a path worn between trees. If the clue is 'base of tree' look for sticks or logs covering a natural hole in the tree. If the CO has offered an extra clue make a note of it.

Thanks for that Nicholas, now I have just two or ten more questions...

What is a travel bug? And a Trackable? We are doing swaps really rather than top ups, just that on this occasion the things we swapped were a bit better than those we took out. :)

Do any of you put a cache close to where you live? I love the idea of having one nearby to us and perhaps see people hunting for it. :)

Thanks Ready and Nicholas. I always look at the hint and recent logs, but have found several times that the location finding on the iphone in rural areas only narrows it down to a few metres radius and when that few metres is full of young trees and undergrowth thats a lot of looking. I was told by a friend to look for tracks, oddly placed stones etc, but not much joy. We have also been scuppered at a couple of urban ones recently by crowds of people, my DCs give up a bit too easily IMO!

Trackables, such as Geocoins and travel bugs, occasionally have missions attached to them. F'rinstance, I have one which is German in origin wanting to go to Scotland. Others have no set objective other than to travel around. You can watch their progress as long as you keep a note of their tracking nos.

I actually scoped out a really good hiding place, but when I actually looked there it already had a cache hidden there. I do keep looking out for places but I'm restricted as the containers I have are a bit big for most of the likely hidey holes.

Cool, think we will include one of those in our own cache them. Been reading some logs on the geocaching website, what does TFTC mean?

I think caches start out with good stuff in, but some people will take that and swap it for crap.

Sometimes if a cache is full of rubbish we feel sorry for it and put some things in without taking out.

TFTC = Thanks For The Cache

Thanks for that Endo. That's exactly what we did yesterday, took all the crap out and replaced it with exciting treasure.

Ah... found this again. :)

I managed my 31 days and am now seeing if I can keep my streak going until it is bigger than my "slump" of 148 days. I suspect I may run out of steam long before then!

We took loads of sweets and little rubbers and moshlings and things for kids to swap

You shouldn't put food items in caches.

And, realistically, would you be happy for your children to eat something a stranger had put in a box and then left in the woods?

Back again, just bumping back where I can see this. Will have to slow down on the daytime jollies (not that I've done any since the kids went back) as I'll have to knuckle down too. Boo. Planning a new cache inspired by a local bit of yarnbombing

Found one Wed, but didn't have a chance in hell of retrieval! Was 7ft up, I'm only 5ft2!!!

And no to sweets! Bad cacher. Rubbers and other bits of stuff crap. my logic is to take the sort of stuff I'd like to find.

yay found this thread again. managed all 30 days of August but life has been too busy since. must make an effort this weekend

Tried this for the first time today and failed miserably!

Things I did wrong:

• built up expectation in the DCs, so they were annoyed when we dragged them out in the rain to find treasure, then didn't actually find anything
• failed to take into account I am much more into this concept than DH so when we couldn't find it straight away, he was happy to give up and try again another time whereas I would have stayed until I found it!
• didn't have a clue how not to look suspicious digging around in hedges and walls and grass when there are people driving past or living in the houses opposite! How do you do it without looking really dodgy? What do you say if anyone asks what you're doing? I'm rubbish at lying and would probably end up being reported to the police for suspicious behavior! Even with the DCs, I felt really self-conscious and I think that's another reason why I didn't spend long enough looking.

What's the trick to not acting suspiciously, please?

Hello Seagulls. Some tips for the beginner from somebody who ignored them and failed for ages :-

Choose a cache with a difficulty rating of 1/5, that is not a micro and has been found in the last few days.

When you get within a few metres of GZ look up from your GPS or phone and use your eyes. With a recently placed or found cache there will be a 'cachers' trail' which leads you towards it. This can be footsteps in grass or a gap in branches or anything that doesn't seem quite right.

When urban caching it is better to be part of a group, as numbers can provide cover. Solo urban caching looks very suspicious, I've been pulled up loads of times. I always explain what I'm doing without revealing the whereabouts of the goodies.

When you look at the size of container and it says '?' it is probably not a traditional container. I have found sticks, stones, sawn logs and snails that come under the '?' category.

Finally, stick with it. It's a great way of getting exercise and you see parts of your locale you'd never see otherwise.

Good luck.

Thanks, Nicholas!! That's really helpful. I read on the website we should go for green highlighted "beginners" ones but there were none on the route we'd planned to walk so we thought we'd try for others which had been logged as easy to find.

I feel better knowing it's ok to tell people what you're doing if necessary (just not where the cache is)... Honestly I cannot lie convincingly at all!

Going to try again with DS2 later this week. He's like me, doesn't mind scrabbling round in the mud and getting his hands dirty whereas DS1 and DH just wanted to get home for a nice cup of tea today

I am interested in this, need to do some more research. There was a programme about it in Radio 4 this week, can't remember which day but it was lateish afternoon. It could have been Ramblings, I didn't hear the beginning or the end!

Found this again! Is anyone braving the rain atm?

We pride ourselves on being the World's Worst Geocachers. We've attempted to find loads and loads and have actually found about, ermm, 3. I blame my iPhone.

We do love it though and it means we make much more of an effort finding different places to walk the dogs at weekends.

In fact, to prove our rubbishness, there are 3 on our street alone and we still haven't found them 2 years later!!

That's quite skilled! We are the least discrete I love my dakota 20. I got it last summer on tesco vouchers. We have done quite a few on the iphone, it's not bad, I think it's a case of getting to know what you're looking for.

Zee that's funny!

Ready, I think I might challenge you for the least discrete title! I've normally got all 4 dc with me, sometimes MIL too and she's not really got the idea that you're supposed to be subtle!

Oooh dp's decided the Kent mega is do-able! Very excited. Will be all 4 dc plus 2 dogs, one a loon, one scared of her own shadow. Should be fun :-D