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Geocaching Rebirth?


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I can remember well the day the word 'Geocaching' first became part of my vocabulary... It was about 14 years ago (That makes me 12 years old at the time), my father and I were out checking out the Hickory Run Boulder Field, when we stumbled across a curious group seemingly wandering the field in search of something with GPS Receivers (what a foreign concept at the time!). I think this may be the cache, but I could be wrong: Lost at Sea?. In any case, they were kind enough to explain the 'game' they were 'playing' and even were kind enough to let us use their GPS, and the information to try to find the cache ourselves![Which we did!]

 

That was it, we were hooked. Over the next several years, we would spend weekends, vacations, etc.. out searching the woods (and occasionally parking lots) for hidden treasure. It even became a bit of a Thanksgiving tradition to go out during the first half of the day and log a few caches until dinner time. I didn't always log the caches I found back then, as I wasn't so h*bent on numbers, and competition, and my dad's logs mentioning me were good enough for me...

 

In time, I outgrew the father-son time that was caching, became a bratty teenager, as many of us do, and Geocaching became something I would talk about, but didn't really do. Until recently, the last cache I logged was in 2006. My father (Programmer64) continued actively caching until 2010, when there were some major life changes going on. He still occasionally caches, but in a much more casual manner.

 

Recently, I moved in with my girlfriend, and in the process, I unearthed the GPS that my dad gave to me the last time he upgraded (A Garmin GPSMap 64cs). I couldn't help but see if it still worked. To my surprise, it did! After some reminiscing, and fooling around, I couldn't seem to get it to acquire satellites, and I thought maybe it was outdated. Oh well, I set it aside, and mostly forgot about it.

 

Two weeks ago, we were out walking the dog on the path at Squire Cheyney Farm Park, and it was like I was reliving a past event. A group of boys, geared up for hiking (one looked to be in his late teens, early twenties, the other two young teens) were seemingly wandering the thicket in the field, (this time with their phones in hand). My girlfriend thought it peculiar, but I laughed and said "I'll bet you I know what they're doing...". I downloaded the Geocaching app, and painstakingly tried to remember my login information (which I did! woot!). I logged in, and searched the area, and sure enough there was a cache, not where the boys were, but close by (2/10 of a mile). As we'd already well since past the location, and were both pretty hot and thirsty, we decided to keep moving, but the idea stuck with me.

 

Last weekend, my (four year old) son was over, the weather was nice, and we'd been itching to go to the park/playground just a quarter mile from the Apartment. I decided to check again to see if there were any caches nearby. Sure enough, there were three! That was it, I loaded a bag up with water, a couple little trinkets, added the coords to the old GPS, and we set off on our journey... We didn't find the one we were looking for, unfortunately, winter had just done a good job at making it exceedingly well hidden. That said, a few days later, the girlfriend and I headed to the park and found all three! And here begins our new journey!

 

We've been looking for a new, healthy, outdoor hobby to share together, and what better option than Geocaching to fill that spot?

 

I look forward to planting a few 'That was ridiculous' caches around the area for fellow cachers, and I'm glad to be back!

 

P.S. My original Username was Gamerboy1991

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It sure feels good to read your dissertation, after all those "The Doom Days of Geocaching" that almost invaded the forums lately.

 

THANK YOU and WELCOME BACK!

 

Oh I don't think it's fair to say anything like this is ever really 'doomed'. especially geocaching (by that I mean, Groundspeak's geocaching, not any of the spinoffs, etc..) Sure, the game has changed over the years, and certainly grown. With the boom of the hyper-health-conscious generation (mine, and those following), it's easy to understand how something like this could grow to a very mainstream activity.

 

Even so though, the majority of folks are not out searching for the true treasures - those 2,5,10+ mile hikes to find a tin with the coordinates for the real cache - an Ammo Can, or a bucket, packed to the brim with SWAG, a kickA* FTF prize, and serious bragging rights. Most of the community is only even trying to find 15-30 minute 1.5-3 difficulty caches.

 

Those who love the sport will endure, those who don't welcome change will fade away, as with anything...

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I just recently got back into the hobby too, after about 3 years away. My girlfriend and I were visiting my daughter and son-in-law in NC last week and while waiting outside for a table at a restaurant I downloaded the Geocaching app out of boredom. There was a cache about 300 ft away so we walked over to grab it. That's all it took. I'm hooked again and I think she might be too. We made sure to grab smilies in each state as we traveled back to AL later that day. Yesterday she introduced her 18yr old son to geocaching. I don't know why I stopped geocaching in the first place. Laziness I suppose. I'm trying to be more active these days so geocaching is great excuse to get off the couch and go outside.

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Fun story. Thanks. :)

Four times, still can't find Lost at Sea. :D

 

HA! If it IS the cache from my story (which I believe it is, based on it's age, and location) then I can vividly remember where it is! That day will forever be one of those 'like it was yesterday' memories!

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I never found one of your dads caches, but I clearly remembered his name from a CITO Event I participated in 10 years ago next month. Good memories. Would you have been there that day?

 

I'd say there's a chance I was there. If I recall, 2006-2009 he was massively into GeoCoins, collecting, buying, trading, selling, and even having them made. But we definitely attended a bunch of CITO events. I'm hoping to, before the end of summer, arrange one for the park that is literally 150m from my Apartment. It's in desperate need!

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Thanks for the great stories. My wife and I were introduced to Geocaching about 10 years ago and have been steady players since then. And now that I will be retiring this summer, we hope to get out more. We live in the UP of Michigan and is a great place to cache where extensive tracks of forestland, Great Lakes, and history all come together for an awesome experience. Thanks again for your stories.

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Great story.... I don't know what I'll do if my 7 year old son becomes a bratty teen and doesn't want to cache though! :o I just packed our backpacks for a 4 mile hike for one cache we are doing tomorrow.....

 

I started thinking more about the progression of events and realized there were a few things happening at that time - I had gotten my first job, made friends with some less than positive influences, and started exploring the -- err... more herbal side of life for a few years... The combination of those things definitely made caching a far-off thought. Plus at that age, independence is a major thought, and being that I didn't drive, I couldn't really cache alone even if I wanted to. (Where we lived at the time was not exactly packed with caches)

 

Thanks for the reply though!

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It sure feels good to read your dissertation, after all those "The Doom Days of Geocaching" that almost invaded the forums lately.

 

THANK YOU and WELCOME BACK!

 

I was just about to say... if this is another "the good ol' days of geocaching" or "how the game has changed" post... Lol.

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Welcome Back! I have found 10 of your father's caches over the years (GC186NA was a particular favorite) You could do worse than follow his example. Hope to see you at an event in the Greater Delaware Valley.

 

Ah, we were just talking about that cache the other day! It's a bit prolific in the 'how the h***??' category. And as for following that example, being that I love hiding caches, I intend to create some fresh new puzzles for the local Cachers to take swings at.

 

Given what I'm finding in the community (a lot of complaints about the new(er) limitations on non-premium members), I think I'm going to create a few series' of caches designed to give people premium memberships.

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