Something I have been interested in for awhile but never really could pursue until now (maybe) is geocaching. Geocaching.com describes it this way:
“Geocaching is an entertaining adventure game for gps users. Participating in a
cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the wonderful features and
capability of a gps unit. The basic idea is to have individuals and
organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these
caches on the internet. GPS users can then use the location coordinates to find
the caches. Once found, a cache may provide the visitor with a wide variety of
rewards. All the visitor is asked to do is if they get something they should
try to leave something for the cache.”
I was prevented from enjoying this activity because there was a lack of a GPS receiver, until now. My mother had been reading this blog & listening to me ramble on about it for a year and finally decided enough was enough and surprised me with a Magellan eXplorist 500 recently.
Thanks, mom!
Details also provided show a map of the area, description of the area’s surroundings as clues, and a legend of what to expect in the area so you can prepare yourself for the environment. For example, this geocache says there are cliffs/falling rocks, snakes, poison plants, kid/pet-friendly and available parking.
Once the cache is discovered, usually in plastic containers, metal ammo boxes, toolboxes, metal tins, etc there are trinkets, that you can take and a log to notify the person who hid the cache that you were there. Everything is then uploaded to the cache’s website as feedback.
Neat, huh? So who is with me?
As mentioned before, Geocaching.com is a great resource for finds.
In a previous post here on Go Mojo there was mention about a book by a local author, Russell Helms called GPS Outdoors. See also GPS Made Easy by Lawrence Letham.
Also locally and state-wide here in Alabama is the Dixie Cachers. Check us out!