Beginner

[huntaz556]

I am a total beginner tried geocaching today in 2 diffrent locations .. no luck at all. but i wanna get going with it going for some diffrent ones in diffrent locations what do you reccomend i do to get started ? im using my iphone 3G(S) as my gps

[+dphickey]

Check out this link

 

for good advice.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Based (solely) upon the wording of the question, I suggest reading all that you can find about geocaching...

 

For starters:

try this -- http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.book&id=1

and this -- http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.book&id=11

 

To really try and help you with such a generalized question is pretty difficult. Now, a specific question sure, not really a problem.

 

Another good suggestion would be to find and attend an Event cache. Face-to-face Q&A cannot be beat. There would be many people there to help you -- and they are usually more than happy to do so.

 

(Assuming that you have properly listed your home area in your profile)

To find an event near you: On the opening page of geocaching.com [click] Your Profile.

On that page scroll down (about half-way) and on the right side find "Search Options".

In that box find "List newest in [your area]" and click there. A full list of newer caches will appear.

The Event caches will be listed first. Scroll through them until you find a soon-to-occur one and check to see if it is feasible to attend it.

Once you attend an event, you will probably want to attend many more, just for the camaraderie.

[+niraD]

A common recommendation for beginners is to stick with small size, regular size, and large size caches. Until you're more experienced, avoid micro size caches, some of which are smaller than most beginners can imagine (sometimes called "nanos"). Save those for later, after you have some experience.

 

Also, stick with caches that have a difficulty rating of no more than 2 stars . Save the more difficult ones for later. You may also want to choose caches with easy terrain ratings. (The difficulty rating tells you how hard it is to find the cache once you get there. The terrain rating tells you how hard it is to get there.) And it is often best to start with traditional caches, which will be at the published coordinates. Multi-caches or mystery/puzzle caches or other cache types can require more work just to figure out where the container is located.

 

Under ideal conditions, a consumer GPSr will be accurate to about 3m (10'). That applies both to your GPSr, and to the GPSr of the cache owner, so you may find the container 15-20' from ground zero under ideal conditions. Under less than ideal conditions, both GPSr readings can be much less accurate.

 

Go ahead and read the cache's additional hints (if provided), and read the past logs and look at any photos in the cache's image gallery. They may help you understand what you're looking for, and how/where it may be hidden. It may also help to look at some of the cache containers available online. For example, check out the cache containers sold by Groundspeak. Also, take a look at the Pictures - Cool Cache Containers (CCC's) thread in the forums.

[+CacheFreakTim]

I recommend just doing the caches with low difficulty and are small->large sizes. Micros are just too difficult if you are just starting out. Don't let it get you down. It gets easier the more you go and know what to look for.