October 26, 2013

Where Has The Time Gone?

Today marks the 10th anniversary of my very first cache find. It seems like it was just yesterday when I loaded that cache's coordinates into my Garmin GPS 12 and headed out with my daughters on our bikes in search of our first cache.

But at the same time, it's amazing how much has changed in the geocaching world since then. The biggest change, of course, being the smartphone revolution with their built-in GPS's, and the development of various geocaching iOS and Android apps that can show you which caches are near you anytime, anywhere.

Back in the day, I used a program called, "EasyGPS" to load waypoints downloaded from geocaching.com into my Garmin device. And I used "Cachemate" to load the cache information into my Palm Pilot (remember those?). How archaic was that?

Not only has the technology changed dramatically in 10 years, but so have my caching habits. I started out caching with my kids, who loved geocaching at first, but as they got older, decided it was too dorky. See photo above, taken at our first find. Now they are young adults, and rarely have time to go caching with their old man.

So for several years after my daughters stopped caching, I did a lot of solo caching, cleaning out all the caches in and around my home base. More recently, my habits changed again, and I've been caching regularly with friends I've made along the way, and now rarely cache alone. We've also expanded our search radius, so to speak, covering thousands of miles on numerous road trips in attempts to complete various challenge caches (Quads, Counties, DeLormes, etc.).

In all this time, I've found 3,237 caches, which amounts to close to an average of one find per day. And the good news is, I still find caching as fun and enjoyable now as I did 10 years ago.

Cache On!

October 19, 2013

Tread Lightly

At the risk of sounding a little preachy, I thought it was worth sharing these excellent tips for responsible geocaching from the good folks at treadlightly.org.

A lot of this is just common sense, but there are some good tips to help geocachers leave minimal impact out on the trails and in the wilderness, as well as some useful personal safety tips. Of course, these tips don't necessarily apply to urban caching, so go nuts when looking for those LPC's.

Cache On!

October 5, 2013

Garmin Oregon 650t GPS Review

People often ask, "Why can't my GPS receiver be more like my smartphone?". Well, according to Sportsman's News Television, now it can; with the new Garmin Oregon 650t GPS:



Just be aware that when the reviewer talks about downloading caches directly from the internet, he is most likely referring to Garmin's "OpenCaching" site rather than geocaching.com.

Cache On!