Caching without a GPS

[+nerdling]

I'm fairly new to Geo Caching and don't have a GPS yet. But I still go out and try to find them without having one. Has anybody else ever tried this and is it against the rules. I've found 10 so far this way. Granted it is a bit tougher then normal. But Since I go Metal Detecting as well I seem to have an eye for things that seem out of place. Whats your opinion.

[movingzachb]

I'm fairly new to Geo Caching and don't have a GPS yet. But I still go out and try to find them without having one. Has anybody else ever tried this and is it against the rules. I've found 10 so far this way. Granted it is a bit tougher then normal. But Since I go Metal Detecting as well I seem to have an eye for things that seem out of place. Whats your opinion.

 

I have actually thought of doing this myself even though I do not have a GPS. I say why not.

[+Totem Clan]

You're not the first to do it and won't be the last. Not a thing in the world wrong with it.

 

Welcome and enjoy the addiction that's geocaching.

[+Miragee]

There are several people who do this on a regular basis and who have found hundreds of caches this way.

 

Me . . . I have a hard enough time finding them with my GPSr.

[Uberquandary]

Some caches are even designed to be found without one-or at least for it to be possible:

GCQJA9

[+StarBrand]

I have found a handful that way but others have found many hundreds. GPSr is the point of it all and makes it easier but is not required.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

I'm fairly new to Geo Caching and don't have a GPS yet. But I still go out and try to find them without having one. Has anybody else ever tried this and is it against the rules. I've found 10 so far this way. Granted it is a bit tougher then normal. But Since I go Metal Detecting as well I seem to have an eye for things that seem out of place. Whats your opinion.

Yes, it is very much against the rules. I had a neighbor who tried that once, and the Federal Geocaching Police swooped in on his home one nite in a 2 AM raid after he had bragged about his exploits on a geocaching forum, and they took him away, and he has never been seen again; that was 18 months ago. The attorney hired by his family believes that he was remanded for 99 years to the the Federal Detention Camp for Geocaching Hooligans on the far side of the moon. It is, and was, a very sad case, and his family is very sad. Please, I beg you, do NOT get caught hunting geocaches without a GPSr!

 

 

 

 

[+Kabuthunk]

I did my first 11 geocaches without a GPS system. Nothing more than popping the coordinates into Google Maps satellite view, and either remembering or printing (or at least attempting to) it out. It's a lot less accurate, and you'll have a lot wider search area... but I did succeed multiple times. Only one DNF in there too... and one of 'em was a film canister

 

And with the printouts, this is what I had to work with:

 

Or it's at http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/290315...ff84b43f859.jpg, if geocaching.com disallows hotlinking of images to here. Not sure.

 

My ink cartridge was all but dead

[+Y2KOTA]

I've done a few with out a GPSr. Between the maps on geocaching.com and the clues, you can almost get away with out a good amount of the time.

 

 

 

Psssst Please don't tell the Federal Geocaching Police

[+tomfuller & Quill]

I know people who've been doing it quite successfully for years. My wife (Quill) is upstate New York without a GPS. I sent her with a cache page and a Topozone map and she found our first New York State cache today.

It isn't as easy, but it can be done if you know how to read a map and can pace your distances from a landmark. A compass is a useful tool if you don't have a GPS.

Tom Fuller

Crescent, OR

[+jerandjana]

That is actually how we got started geocaching. Being poor college students at the time, we would just google earth them. (bought the gps a little bit later) It took us a little longer but most of the hints helped alot! Even if you have a GPS, they are still hard to find sometimes.

Edited May 16, 2007 by jerandjana

[+Too Tall John]

My first three caches were done "naked caching" style. (That's w/out a GPSr, not without clothes... ) I was hooked, had Garmin soon after.

[+ThirstyMick]

In the city, its sometimes easier w/out a GPS; in the forest, it can be trickier (the darker spots are pine trees, that little line, is that the trail? a river? a fence?).

I can't bring personal electronics to work so any of my logs that say "done at lunch" were done with google maps printouts or a rough sketch. I like it....adds a different element to the hunt...

[TriptychR]

With the costs of GPS units, I tried to find my first geocache without using one, just to see what it was like. I found a spot I knew a cache was hidden--a small, local cemetery--and searched through it. I was more than halfway through and thought I might have missed it or it wasn't really there, but then I saw it. The rest is history; I bought a GPS a few days later!

[+Gator Man]

Waldenrun comes to mind, with almost 3000 finds. Supposedly the only ones he used a GPSr for were VIRTUALS or the old LOCATIONLESS ones that required a GPSr in the photo!

[me_chris]

I found my first geocache without a GPSr as well - shortly after that I realized how addictive this is (especially because of the whole secret society appeal) and I bought a Magellan :-)

[+tands]

When our 60CS got 're-owned' over Christmas, we didn't stop caching. www.flashearth.com and other sites, as well as a compass, make caching without a GPSR nearly trivial. Our sureness about cache locations actually went up.

 

- T of TandS

[+Sixpack-o-Stephens]

I did my first few caches without a GPSr. I knew I would love it even more once I got my hands on a GPS, and I was right.

 

Man, I love this game.

[+GeoToads]

I have seen some logs by "GreenGecko" in Indiana as to his "Amish Geocaching" experiences.

[TriptychR]

I have seen some logs by "GreenGecko" in Indiana as to his "Amish Geocaching" experiences.

 

Suddenly I have the image of a horse and buggy with a Garmin.

"Turn ye left onto yon dirt road."

Edited May 17, 2007 by TriptychR

[+Sac D]

I think my first 50 to 60 caches were found without the benefit of one. I printed a couple of good views from Google Earth and hit the road... that usually did the trick. I killed a lot of trees in the process, maybe thats why I was so eager to go 100% paperless.

[+briansnat]

Walden Run, Web-Ling and Ed Scott have thousands of finds between them, most without a GPS.

 

I guess it could be argued that you aren't geocaching if you aren't using a GPS, but I don't think many people would take anything away from people who don't use one. In fact they are looked at with a sense of awe by some.

 

As for me, 2 of my 567 finds came sans GPS. In one case I just forgot to bring it and used a topo map. In the other case I purposefully never turned on the unit. Actually I've done that probably a dozen times, but I usually get impatient quickly and turn the unit on.

[+Team GeoBlast]

I think my first 50 to 60 caches were found without the benefit of one. I printed a couple of good views from Google Earth and hit the road... that usually did the trick. I killed a lot of trees in the process, maybe thats why I was so eager to go 100% paperless.

 

Just when I was going to post a "I know this guy in Rancho..." This pops up. Anyways.. can we have a moment of silence for all those poor trees that have met their untimely demise at the hands of the big bear in the Hawaiian shirt? The only fact that remains untold here is, are we talking about the paper print outs or the mowing over the seedlings and everything else on the way to the prize?

 

Jazzy J brought our GPS to the mainland and gave this a try a few weeks ago. I didn't print anything out but drew myself treasure maps in my notebook. It was fun, I really enjoyed it. I actually think it upped my intuition a notch. I think I will continue to do this when visiting urban areas on the mainland.

Edited May 21, 2007 by Team GeoBlast

[+edscott]

......

 

Jazzy J brought our GPS to the mainland and gave this a try a few weeks ago. I didn't print anything out but drew myself treasure maps in my notebook. It was fun, I really enjoyed it. I actually think it upped my intuition a notch. I think I will continue to do this when visiting urban areas on the mainland.

 

Bold print by me .. yes that is the key to GPS-Less caching. Looking for that bent twig or a stone with the unweathered side up becomes second nature. Sometimes they scream cache at you from 50 feet away. I really don't imagine I'll ever buy a GPS.

[+edscott]

I'm fairly new to Geo Caching and don't have a GPS yet. But I still go out and try to find them without having one. Has anybody else ever tried this and is it against the rules. I've found 10 so far this way. Granted it is a bit tougher then normal. But Since I go Metal Detecting as well I seem to have an eye for things that seem out of place. Whats your opinion.

 

The rule that you will eventually have to circumvent is if you ever want to hide a cache.