The Needed Geocaching Info

I know you are eager to get a GPS and hit the road, or trails. There is some geocaching info you need to know first. A handheld GPS is and always will be the standard for good reasons. Geocaching is an outdoor adventure sport much like hiking. You will be spending time trying to look "normal" while sneaking around searching for ways to get out of the public eye so you can find that cache.

Safety always comes first! When I first started geocaching, info was hard to come by. My daughter and I were visiting Minnesota during Christmas and decided to spend a day hunting the caches in the area. I am from Tennessee and we don't see snow like that. There were two geocaches in the same park. We entered one area and found it pretty quickly. The next one appeared to be fairly close by so we started hiking. Straight as the crow flies across a field, through the woods, and then followed a ski trail along a river to the cache. It took some searching but we found it too.

This is the first cache we found. Prior to getting lost.

We then began walking back but we couldn't find where we exited the woods. A skier came by and instead of helping, she scolded us for being on the ski trail without skis! By this time, the two-foot deep snow had soaked through our jeans and we were cold and getting numb. I was beginning to think I would have to carry my daughter out and that my legs wouldn't make it. After hiking for another half-hour, we spotted a familiar fallen tree. Another twenty minutes and we were back at the car. I couldn't feel my legs and my daughter was crying. So much for a fun day of geohunting. We spent the rest of the afternoon and night recovering under blankets. I let the thrill take us further than we should have gone.

Here is some geocaching info to keep yourself and your fellow cachers safe.

• Try to find a GeoBuddy to go with you.
• Have someone else navigate the GPS while you drive or pull over to check your maps.
• Judge the area of each cache before you attempt to go it alone. Many are placed just off the beaten path but many also take you deep into the woods or into alleys.
• Night treasure hunting has its own risks. A cache that is perfectly safe during the day may be incredibly dangerous at night. Never do it alone unless you only go to the out-in-the-open public areas.
  
• Do not attempt to enter construction or closed areas unless the cache owner intends for the area to be that way. Check the geocaching info page.
• Always be prepared to turn back. Giving up is OK in geocaching. Just come back another day or from another angle.
• Prepare yourself for the season and area.
• Watch out for animals and poison plants.
• Have a first aid kit handy. It should at least be in the car.
• It's tempting but never blindly stick your hand anywhere that you can't look into first. Snakes, spiders, squirrels, etc love these places.
• Bring a geocaching kit.
• Bring the information you gathered about the cache. Some GPS units can hold your geocaching info in them!
• Bring at least a flashlight and cellphone.
• Tell someone where you are going.