Have Fun With a GPS, Go Geocaching
Tuesday July 31, 2007
If you own a GPS (global positioning system), add a little adventure to your next camping trip and go geocaching. This sport has been catching on for several years, and anyone with a GPS unit can participate. Basically it's a game of hide and seek. Over 100,000 caches have been hidden around the world in a variety of places. Some are accessible by car and foot, but others may require hiking, climbing, scuba diving or an off-road vehicle. The cache is typically a simple waterproof container with a logbook inside to record notes. The player who placed the cache usually writes something in the front of the logbook to bring your attention to some feature about the location where you found the cache. The location could be a great place to go camping, somewhere to watch sunsets, a place of historical importance or just a fantastic view. You can find caches in very imaginative locations. To play, find a cache position in your area, turn on your GPS and locate the longitude and latitude of the cache. Once you find a cache, check what the logbook has to say. Then feel free to add some notes of your own, but at least record your name and the date that you found the cache. Your quest is now complete.
Garmin eTrax Vista Cx - I just purchased this GPS to take on vacation this year to Ocracoke. We surf fish every day, and although we won't need the GPS to find our way to the campground, it will come in handy when trying to locate that fishing spot on the beach we had yesterday. Ocracoke has several geocaching locations in town too, and I'll be trying out the navigation feature on our way there and back. I'll write a full review when I return.
Related information:
GPS Units and Receivers - Shopping Tips
Buying an Outdoor GPS Receiver
Geocaching - The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site
(photo courtesy Pricegrabber)
Comments
I have the Vista CX and it works flawlessly. Not to big or small and it has all the features with the exception of a walkie talkie. Geocaching is a blast. It is great exercise and it gets you out of the house to places you may have never been otherwise. It brings you back to being a kid when finding buried treasure was the coolest thing in the world. Give it a try and you might find your new favorite hobby!
i’m new with geocaching, and im really excited to meet enthusiasts like me. if you have time, please visit my site at http://www.mygeocachenation.com/