After our 1st day of Geocaching, our experience

[+Team Abarth]

We really enjoyed it. My wife and I were looking for something to do together, and add to/enhance our favorite weekend pastime, finding an out of the way town with some historic sites, picking a "road less traveled" to get there...hopefully with some seriously fun curves on it to make the drive more enjoyable, and hitting the road. This may work. Even though we only found 8 out of 12 of the easy ones (we couldn't do the harder ones because we were using the free intro app from this site. Wife is already looking at dedicated gps devices to buy, and I have a feeling we're going to end up paying for the membership), we found ourselves high fiving each other when we found the stash. We chose a local park that's good sized with lots of stashes, either through the park itself, or locals. The only downside to this was when we were in the dog off leash area, it took 5 times as long because my wife had to play with all the 4 legged "friends" that came up to say "hi..play with me". Without going into my wife's medical issues, and the fact that the treatment she's getting is helping, just will say this may help with the "exercise" part of it. It adds another level to getting out and exploring.

 

Couple of things..don't be afraid to get dirty, and wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty. Getting dirty was part of the fun. Comfortable shoes...you would think this would be obvious. My wife wished she had taken Aleve prior to heading out. She was pretty sore when we got home. As far as stashes go, we were concerned our choice of what we were going to leave behind was going to be "cheap" after reading about how some were actually pretty expensive (well...expensive for a stash), and the rule of thumb...take something of equal or lesser value than what you're taking. We were going to leave Hot Wheels and/or Beanie Babies, but as an experienced person pointed out on a local FB group, some of the containers may be to small for them. So we opted for something much smaller (actually a couple different things) that came in a bulk rate from a "party" toy store, and they worked perfectly. Some of the containers were so small that only the log book fit. We only took one when there was something in it as a "prize", but usually left 2 different things to help build the stash. Most things in them were either small toy soldiers, dinosaurs, etc.

 

So all in all...it was a good day. We got some exercise, it was warm enough to put the top down on the car, and we got dirty (and my wife got to play with a whole ton of puppies in the off leash doggie area). So, if you find a small key chain with a skull that has "jeweled" eyes...Team Abarth was there (since we couldn't find a bulk bag with scorpions, and my wife's car theme is "pirate skulls", we went with that as a signature trinket). Thanks to everyone that posted information, it helped while I researched the forum on the do's and don'ts, and what to expect.

[+Bear and Ragged]

Welcome to the obsession!

 

Regarding trade items, if you're using the free/trial/basic app, and only seeing the 'easier' caches, don't expect the swaps in them - if anything to swap! - to be of too high a value.

 

The trading side of things seems to have gone 'downhill' over the years, and you may find that it's the caches that require a little more effort/work to get to that have the better swaps.

Edited January 31, 2016 by Bear and Ragged

[+Wacka]

Welcome to the obsession!This hobby is greater recovering from ailments. I had a stroke and after caching for 11 years, I had to take a year break since i needed a walker for several months. When the weather broke here last spring, I started walking again and then resumed geocaching in June 2015. I have found almost 300 again since then and my stamina and walking has improved to almost where it was before.I can go over a mile before resting, versus 1/3 of a mile a year ago. I always say a day getting dirty and/or bloody while caching is a good day.It's allowed me to see many things I would have ignored or never seen.I think you'll enjoy it.

Edited January 31, 2016 by Wacka

[+Team Abarth]

Right now it's another nice day, so I'm trying to talk the wife into another day of it. Not worried about the "trades", what we got make for nice little "trophies". A few of the caches that we did yesterday had things like a sleeve to a gift card, snail shells, etc...those were the ones we doubled (or tripled) up on to restock. Even if we did find things of higher value...we would've still taken the trinkets we got. Now if I can only figure out how to get our "signature" to show up at the bottom of our posts.

[+BCandMsKitty]

Welcome to the fun.

As for your signature, go into your profile, hit "Edit profile" and you'll find a blank window called "forum signature" Enter your text and save.

[+Cardinal Red]

Welcome to the fun.

As for your signature, go into your profile, hit "Edit profile" and you'll find a blank window called "forum signature" Enter your text and save.

 

Does that work for a Non-Premium Member? Didn't that go away?

[+Team Abarth]

Yeah...we're only using the free trial/basic app, so only the easiest ones are the only ones we can do. There were quite a few parks near us that we couldn't do because they were the "harder" ones that required an upgrade, and no "easy" ones. Not sure if that will change once we get a premium membership, or we'll have to pay for the upgraded app also to be able to do the harder ones. It's technically not my phone, it's work's, but I told my boss if they're going force an electronic leash on me...I'm going to take advantage of it, but I'm apprehensive about paying and loading an app onto a phone that I may not have in a year since they like to upgrade phones constantly.

 

I like the fact that with my phone I can just whip out my phone and search if the mood strikes, and the geo map comes up, and you can check clues and such while searching. From what we've researched, the dedicated gps devices you have to load the maps from a computer, before you head out, which wouldn't work for spur of the moment geo-caching. Plus not all the gps devices have maps it looks like. We just missed a class on geo caching in the area, so we're waiting on the next one, and hopefully we'll see some different kinds of devices, and maybe find one that's simple enough for someone as un-tech savy as myself to be able to use.

 

The downside to the phone was the footage kept bouncing around, and took a bit to settle at times (especially when in the woods), probably due to the fact it was using cell towers for triangulation then actual gps for location. We're still in the trial and error mode....learning what works for us...so time will tell.

[+on4bam]

I'm apprehensive about paying and loading an app onto a phone that I may not have in a year since they like to upgrade phones constantly.

 

There are free apps so you don't have to worry about that.

I use GDAK (Android) although I cache with an Oregon600, GDAK has my full Belgian caches database on it + images of selected caches in case I need anything while "on the road".

Edited February 2, 2016 by on4bam

[+JohnCNA]

It's technically not my phone, it's work's, but I told my boss if they're going force an electronic leash on me...I'm going to take advantage of it, but I'm apprehensive about paying and loading an app onto a phone that I may not have in a year since they like to upgrade phones constantly.

 

I started with a work phone, too. One thing to remember is that if it's an Android phone, you have to supply a personal Google ID, even though you have it set up to get work email, etc. Same thing with an iPhone. The Google ID or Apple ID is YOURS and does not belong to the company. If you download and buy apps, they are registered to your Google or Apple ID and are transportable to a new phone without paying again. The apps are not registered or locked to the actual phone itself, they are registered to you personally. So you don't have to worry about purchasing an app and then changing phones later on. You won't have to pay again.

 

The only gotcha in this is if you change from Android to Apple or vice-versa. In that case, you'd have to buy your apps again, because the ID's are not interchangeable between the two operating systems. But as long as you stay within the same 'OS family', the apps can be taken with you from device to device.

[+Team Abarth]

Thanks for the feedback so far. The 2 days we played last weekend...the free trial app did pretty good, and from what I've read...the updated version doesn't offer that much more. I like having a map showing roads, trails...etc which helped. We may at some time look for an actual gps device that's for geocaching, but I prefer looking at them hands on then reading about them on the internet to get a feel for them and see what works for us, and what doesn't (we're literally less than a mile from Garmin HQ, but I don't think they have an outlet store in there to be able to play with stuff). Figured I would look at Dick's Sporting goods or someplace similar that might sell them. We just missed a geocaching class last month, so when another one pops up, we may hit that.

 

I think this weekend we'll do ones in town instead of the parks....if the boss is up for it.

[+noncentric]

Yeah...we're only using the free trial/basic app, so only the easiest ones are the only ones we can do. There were quite a few parks near us that we couldn't do because they were the "harder" ones that required an upgrade, and no "easy" ones. Not sure if that will change once we get a premium membership, or we'll have to pay for the upgraded app also to be able to do the harder ones.

I usually cache with a GPSr, but do use the app occasionally. I have the Intro/free app and a Premium membership, and I can see all caches in the app. So, I don't think you need to buy a GPS in order to see the "harder" caches.

 

There are several articles in the Help Center that describe the difference between the Intro/free and Paid apps, and how those apps work with Basic vs Premium memberships. I would add the links here now, but its too cumbersome while using my phone to access the forums right now. Sorry.

[+niraD]

Not sure if that will change once we get a premium membership, or we'll have to pay for the upgraded app also to be able to do the harder ones.

Yes, it will change. For details, see the Help Center article:

What’s the Difference Between the Free and Paid Apps, and the Free and Paid Membership?

 

And before you get Groundspeak's paid app, see also:

Why Are You Only Updating the Free Geocaching Intro App?

 

Personally, I use CacheSense, an Android app by one of Groundspeak's third-party API partners.

[+Bear and Ragged]

Premium Membership does open a few more features on the trial/free app.

 

As said above, there are other aps by Groundspeak API Partners, that are worth looking at.

> https://www.geocaching.com/mobile/partners/

 

Premium Membership also opens things on these aps!

 

The Groundspeak app does do a few things that the free one doesn't...

Edited February 3, 2016 by Bear and Ragged