The Joy of Geocaching

Finding Happiness in an Ammo Can in the Woods
Paul Gillin
Co-author, The Joy of Geocaching

What is Geocaching?
Worldwide treasure hunt enabled by the Internet and global positioning satellites
Simple rules with complex player-defined variations
Containers must have log books
Containers must be locatable by geographic coordinates
Containers must not be buried
That’s it!

Navigation Basics
The world is divided into 180 degrees of longitude and 180 degrees of latitude. Each degree is made up of 60 minutes and 360 seconds.
That’s a total of 7,776,000 unique spots, or about one for every 10 square feet!

“Caching is a great leveler...You can be caching with a bank president or a ditch digger... it doesn't matter." -- Don & Jacqi Liddiard (Rock & Crystal)
“We've adopted a very large circle of friends through geocaching. Some we've never physically met." -- Paul & Karen Sandvick (Jug & Roon)
“I can literally drive from Alabama to Kansas, pull up to some guys sitting around the campfire and within minutes I’m accepted” – Ed Manley (TheAlabamaRambler)
“It stirs a passion in me that no other hobby has before. It has dimensions of camaraderie, competition, mental stimulation, fitness, and creativity that I’ve never found elsewhere." -- Dean Powell (J5 Crew)
“I feel the weight of the world lifting from me when I'm tramping through the woods." -- billandlore

Kyjen is at:
N 39° 34.857
W 104° 48.463
There are 46 geocaches within a 2-mile radius and 5 within a 10-minute walk!
You are here

Fun Facts
Date GPS network opened for public use: May 2, 2000
Date first geocache placed: May 3, 2000
# of geocaches, Jan., 2003: 41,000
# of geocaches, Jan., 2005: 140,000
# of geocaches, Jan., 2010: 1,010,000
# of registered geocachers worldwide: 4,000,000
# of geocaching organizations, N. America: 126
Age of oldest known geocacher: 99

More Fun Facts
Most geocaches found by one person, lifetime: 39,265
Most geocaches hidden by one person, lifetime: 2,285
Most geocaches found by a team in 24 hours: 626
Geocaches within 10-mile radius of DFW: 1,269
Geocaches with 10-mile radius of Denver, CO: 1,824
Highest geocache: Mt. Everest (Earthcache)
Lowest geocache: 7,000 ft. below Atlantic Ocean surface
Mt. Everest Earth cache

Why On Earth??
Appeal of geocaching is in the hunt and the accomplishment of discovery
Most geocaches are hidden in places the owners consider special to them
Many have historical significance or local importance
A great way to explore new areas without a guidebook
More than 70% of players regularly explore in groups
Accessible to people of all ages and abilities

Geowoodstock

Cache Types
Virtual cache
Traditional cache
Multi cache
Earth cache
Puzzle cache
Letterbox hybrid

Name (often a pun)
Who and when
Type & difficulty
Where
Map
Download stuff
Download stuff
Miscellaneous stuff you need to know
About (often misleading)
Description (may be misleading!)
Trackable items therein
Encrypted hint

Pay Attention to Logs
Hint
Hint
Hint

Tools to Aid Your Search
Geocaching Swiss Army Knife (GSAK)
GeoBuddy
Geocaching GPSr
Google Street View
Microsoft Streets & Trips

Planning Your Outing
How Long?
How Far?
With Who?
Quantity vs. Adventure
Consider the Weather
And Your Frustration Level!
Stuff to Bring
Spare Batteries
Cell Phone
Whistle or Horn
Dry Clothing
First Aid Kit
Hiking Boots
Hat
Sunblock
Mirror
Tweezers
Bug Spray
Walking Stick
Water
Pen
Food
Todd Beal and the
Amazing Caching Vest

It’s Your Choice!

Geocache Containers
Bison Tube (Micro)
Nano
Traditional Ammo Can
Pill Bottle (Small)
Range of Sizes

Unusual Containers
Log
Hollow Rock
Dragonfly
Bottle Cap
Sprinkler Head
Light Bulb
Rusty Bolt
Spider on Rock
Rattlesnake
Cinder Block
Light Switch
Bone
Cell Phone

Typical Hiding Places
Rock walls
Crevices
Light Skirts
Suspended
Inside trees
Covered by sticks

A Language All Its Own
FTF – First To Find
DNF – Did Not Find
CITO – Cache In, Trash Out
Skirt-lifter – Cache placed under the skirt of an outdoor light fixture
Muggle – A non-geocacher
Ground Zero – Point where GPSr coordinates exactly match cache coordinates
P & G – Park and grab
Virt – Virtual cache
UPS – Unnatural Pile of Sticks
TFTC – Thanks for the cache
GeoSense -- Sixth sense gained from experience finding geocaches
Travel Bug Hotel – Geocache placed principally to house trackableitems
TNLN – Took nothing, left nothing

Extreme Geocaching

Why You Shouldn’t Trust Your GPSr Too Much
At best, only accurate to within 10-ft radius (315 ft2)
Satellite reception affected by objects, weather, visibility
“Signal bounce” can seriously degrade accuracy
Low batteries can make matters worse
The person who hid the cache had the same limitations!

When You Get Close, Look For:
Unnatural piles of rocks or sticks
Items that don’t seem natural
Evidence of other humans
“Geotrails”
Places where you would hide a cache
Can You Spot the Cache?
Can You Spot the Cache?

Unwritten Rules
Log your finds and leave a unique comment or story
Log your “did not finds” – owners need to know
Always hide just as you found – a small change can make a big difference in difficulty
Never disturb nature
If you take items, leave items of equal or greater value
Notify owner if cache is compromised
Pick up trash on your way out

When to Quit? Depends…
Joy of Geocaching Survey n=142

Trackables Travel the World

Unique Codes Are Logged Online

And Inspire Commitment

Geocaching in Business & Education
Arkansas State Parks
Amador County, CA
State of Maryland
PPL Corporation
Geoteaming is one of several companies that organize geocaching events for team-building

Favorite Stories
A Fine Send-Off – Ben Johnson was hospitalized with terminal cancer just 33 caches short of the 1,000-find mark. Daughter Kathy tells what the members of his local caching organization did.
Horse Sense – Brad Simmons and friends came up with a clever idea to distract a crowd of people while his wife replaced a cache in an awkward location

Thanks!
Linden Publishing, 2010
JoyOfGeocaching.com
paul@joyofgeocaching.com
dana@joyofgeocaching.com
Twitter.com/joyofgeocaching

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The Joy of Geocaching

by Paul Gillin

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