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VSN Coordinator Splitcoast Gallery Moderator Chat Box Bling Chick
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Between The Rainbows And The Rain
Posts: 65,422
What's Your Geocaching Handle?
Thanks Lydia for giving us a fun little area for those of us who love to geocache when we aren't stampin'! Or for those of us married to avid geocachers and convert all the hubbies and kids at stampin' get togethers and leave us in peace to craft!!!
So what's your Geocaching name? How did you choose it? Where are you from? How often do you Geocache? What type do you love the most? Share here!!!
SCS Community Manager Splitcoast Dirty Dozen Alumni
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 23,840
Okay I signed up and tried today for a while - MAN I was so close! Within 5 feet, but I was in the woods, and I failed. However, there are some on my walk route so I'll try again tomorrow. Now do you have tips for newbies?
I haven't tried Geocaching yet, this thread was the first I had heard about it. I was going to put you down as the person who referred me, LuvLee, but you didn't say what your Geocaching name was! I hope to try it this weekend - assuming there's an easy one near the little town I live in!
VSN Coordinator Splitcoast Gallery Moderator Chat Box Bling Chick
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Between The Rainbows And The Rain
Posts: 65,422
LOL....I was going to put our geocaching name down and totally forgot!
We are mtnbirders on geocaching.com. Hubby is an avid cacher and I go when I can so I just use the same name. We also love to go birding and live in the mountains....so that's how we came up with our geocaching handle!
VSN Coordinator Splitcoast Gallery Moderator Chat Box Bling Chick
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Between The Rainbows And The Rain
Posts: 65,422
Lydia....ohhhhh just text James....or e-mail him. I'll send you his geocaching e-mail. He is the BEST at tips and tricks! When you are brand new there are so many things to learn....and looking for the type and size of container is the most helpful thing. Then seeing if there is a "hint" for one if you're having a hard time. Then the other thing to remember is that satellite signals are sometimes not super duper accurate in areas with lots of trees or buildings or canyons....so the coordinates may be a bit off. A really helpful thing if all else fails is to read some of the logs others have written as some will say whether the cache was spot on or a little ways off from the posted coordinates.
But seriously.....James LOVES seeing new people enjoy caching and as long as he's not smack in the middle of a crazy work day or in bad cell signal....he'll happily chat away with you while you're trying to find a cache! Cachers have what they call "phone a friend"......LOL....many of them have each other's cell numbers!
I got into geocaching a couple of months ago quite by accident. My boyfriend had been walking the dogs and found this cute little mint box, he picked it up and brought it home. He showed it to me and there was a log in it. I got on the website geocaching.com. Had him put the cache back where he found it. 3stroker - because he has survived three strokes.
My Geocaching name is NuggettesMom - I ate so many chicken nuggets while pregnant with my DD that we started calling her Nugget, then Nuggette when we were sure she was a girl. Nuggets are now HER favorite food, not so much for me anymore. LOL.
I was surprised when I did a search for caches near my house and found out there are like 8 within 3 miles or less! I totally forgot there is this park about 1 1/2 miles up the road that is pretty popular - I don't go there much because the path goes too close to the lake and I can't keep my DD out of the water (it's a fishing lake, not for swimming). Geocaching sounds much more fun than Toddler Fishing. We'll be looking for one of the caches a little further from the lake this Saturday. LOL
YAY! A GEOCACHING THREAD! I'm ThePineMartins...well, my family is! My partners last name is Martin and since I will probably be taking his last name one day I figured I would use it in my cache name. I have been caching for a few years...and I do enjoy it. Most of the time I enjoy the place that the cache takes me...off the beaten path...even if I don't find the cache. My favourite kinds are the tricky ones! Those inside rusty bolts or inside birdhouses! I love being pleasantly surprised when I find a cache.
I actually went caching today near a GORGEOUS waterfall! We didn't find the cache but we did get some beautiful pictures and the boys played in the water for a little bit.
Its nice to see some more crafty friends that are into geocaching! I already knew Lee and her hubby does it!
so I logged onto geocache.com just now, Lydia I used your name because I remembered it I have done this before years ago with a really old handheld gps but now I guess I can use my phone.
Have any of you done letterboxing? this incorporates using stamps (yes really!). There is a group on Yahoo called newboxers that answers newbies questions.
My family did this up in Vermont, it is geocaching but when you find the stash there is a notebook that you stamp your individual image in. There are also trinkets to take and add to.
SCS Community Manager Splitcoast Dirty Dozen Alumni
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 23,840
Okay I don't think you have friend requests turned on because I can't find you in the lookup.
I cache exclusively with my Iphone and love it! Get the official Groundspeak geocaching app - it's worth every penny. I have an Iphone 4S and have NOT upgraded to iOs6 - do not upgrade if you haven't already because the Apple maps are terrible and mess with that app.
You don't have to be a premium member to see all the caches, but you can only see "premium" caches with the membership. It gives you other perks as well like reports on new caches, etc. I was lucky enough to get a gift <3 and I have to say I'd pay for it a million times over - it's a lot of entertainment for not much money.
I have not done letterboxing but my friend Dana (DarthSunshine on SCS) has and says it's so fun! We have some near here I keep meaning to bring a stamp to!
my kids and husband upgraded and I refuse I don't know if I was validated when I posted, I have since gotten my email and validated my membership. I think I will play around a bit before I buy the premium. I was just looking at the map and there are plenty around me. I live near Valley Forge National park with lots of state lands around, they seem to have the caches.
I will be back with all my questions soon
I just found this thread! I've been geocaching for 5 years under my current caching name, Will Stamp 4 Cache, and a couple of years before that with my DH under his name. He made me get my own name because he's very OCD about needing to be there and physically sign the logs himself, which meant I couldn't go find caches without him. Then I found out my kids had their own caching name, too, so I figured it was time. I prefer to use my Garmin Oregon 450 over my iPhone because the accuracy seems better. And I haven't upgraded to ios6 because I knew it would mess with my geocaching app on those occasions I do use it. I have a premium membership and really like not only being able to find and log premium caches and get notifications, but also to create pocket queries to download multiple caches at a time to my GPS. I use a program called GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) to help with that. I think there's a free version, but DH paid for it.
Have any of you found "skirt lifters" yet? I remember when DH and I found our first one. We had 3 DNFs in a row before it occurred to us to check if those square boxes around the parking lot lights moved. Sure enough, all 3 of those caches were in a spot like that.
I love the event caches! I'm very social and love to meet new people. The events usually have groups of cachers going out together, too, which is always fun. We recently attended an event for the #1 geocacher in the world, Alamogul (formerly Team Alamo), who lives nearby. It was to mark his 75,000 find! Oh, and half the contacts in his cell phone are other geocachers so he can phone a friend.
__________________ Jill A.
Lost 90.6 pounds since 09/06 on WW! 30.8 to go! Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels!
SCS Community Manager Splitcoast Dirty Dozen Alumni
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 23,840
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jill stamps
I just found this thread! I've been geocaching for 5 years under my current caching name, Will Stamp 4 Cache, and a couple of years before that with my DH under his name. He made me get my own name because he's very OCD about needing to be there and physically sign the logs himself, which meant I couldn't go find caches without him. Then I found out my kids had their own caching name, too, so I figured it was time. I prefer to use my Garmin Oregon 450 over my iPhone because the accuracy seems better. And I haven't upgraded to ios6 because I knew it would mess with my geocaching app on those occasions I do use it. I have a premium membership and really like not only being able to find and log premium caches and get notifications, but also to create pocket queries to download multiple caches at a time to my GPS. I use a program called GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) to help with that. I think there's a free version, but DH paid for it.
Have any of you found "skirt lifters" yet? I remember when DH and I found our first one. We had 3 DNFs in a row before it occurred to us to check if those square boxes around the parking lot lights moved. Sure enough, all 3 of those caches were in a spot like that.
I love the event caches! I'm very social and love to meet new people. The events usually have groups of cachers going out together, too, which is always fun. We recently attended an event for the #1 geocacher in the world, Alamogul (formerly Team Alamo), who lives nearby. It was to mark his 75,000 find! Oh, and half the contacts in his cell phone are other geocachers so he can phone a friend.
Yay I'm so glad you are here!!!!
I will look you up over there and friend you. I am understandblue. I love the pocket queries too!
My neighbor and I just did our first event cache last weekend and it was SO fun - the people are so nice! I'm going caching Sunday with a person I consider to be a "famous" cacher - tfbrown. I can't wait! And Lignumaqua is my neighbor - his are so creative!
I HAVE found skirtlifters, but last one I found had a dead rat under it - LOL!!! That was a shock because it was called "Here Kitty" hahaha.
VSN Coordinator Splitcoast Gallery Moderator Chat Box Bling Chick
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Between The Rainbows And The Rain
Posts: 65,422
OH yeah...and we've found the TINIEST caches too.....those can be a challenge!
We're now working on getting all the lower 48 states....we don't have too many to go...but we need to take a Nor'easter trip to finish up! We need to do that someday when kids and college are done draining the finances! I want to go in Autumn and see the colors and get maple syrup!
OH yeah...and we've found the TINIEST caches too.....those can be a challenge!
We're now working on getting all the lower 48 states....we don't have too many to go...but we need to take a Nor'easter trip to finish up! We need to do that someday when kids and college are done draining the finances! I want to go in Autumn and see the colors and get maple syrup!
Oh yeah, those nanos can be really devious! Or the ones on fishing line down a sidewalk drain. Just plain EVIL!
DH and I are also slowly working on the states. We were planning a huge party for his Mom's 75th birthday last year in Florida (we're in Cali) and decided to drive there just so we could add 20 states to our stats page. We drove there the northern route and came back the southern. One of these years we want to visit his brother in PA and check off states and baseball stadiums along the way... we're also trying to see games in all the major league baseball parks. Our latest challenge that we're finishing up is trying to fill in all our empty calendar days. We figured that was a good one to work on with it being a Leap Year.
__________________ Jill A.
Lost 90.6 pounds since 09/06 on WW! 30.8 to go! Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels!
I will look you up over there and friend you. I am understandblue. I love the pocket queries too!
My neighbor and I just did our first event cache last weekend and it was SO fun - the people are so nice! I'm going caching Sunday with a person I consider to be a "famous" cacher - tfbrown. I can't wait! And Lignumaqua is my neighbor - his are so creative!
I HAVE found skirtlifters, but last one I found had a dead rat under it - LOL!!! That was a shock because it was called "Here Kitty" hahaha.
Anyway, I look forward to learning from you!
Thanks for the warm welcome! Are you sure it was a real dead rat? We found a skirt lifter once that had a very real looking fake rat and the cache was inside it. The funny thing was, based on the logs people wrote, I knew what it would be and I still jumped when I lifted the skirt! We also found a cache that was "guarded" by the back end of someone's taxidermy skunk. I guess they got tired of it and made it into a geocache.
__________________ Jill A.
Lost 90.6 pounds since 09/06 on WW! 30.8 to go! Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels!
Hubby is bummed cuz he can't do the calendar days type ones...we live rural and just isn't possible to get a cache a day! LOL
Oh, we're not doing them consecutively, we're just filling in all the days with 0 on our stats calendar. That can be done over many years. We do tend to plan outings around days we need a cache. For instance, if we have errands to run in another city, we'll do them on an empty day. This does get obsessive, doesn't it?
__________________ Jill A.
Lost 90.6 pounds since 09/06 on WW! 30.8 to go! Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels!
Wait - I'm confused - splain me this 0 on the calendar thing!
Apparently it's a Premium member thing. I had my DS (a non-premium member) check his account and he doesn't have it on his stats page. But if you go to your profile and click on Statistics it gives you some information about your geocaching history. This one is Finds for Each Day of the Year and this is what mine looks like. I'm trying to get rid of all those 0's. I only have 10 days left. Doggone if I didn't forget on August 25th, though.
__________________ Jill A.
Lost 90.6 pounds since 09/06 on WW! 30.8 to go! Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels!
I still haven't had time to get out and start this, but looking at the chart Jill posted I can totally see getting obsessed with filling them all out. Sheesh, maybe I better wait until dh retires (too many years from now) to start this game.
I still haven't had time to get out and start this, but looking at the chart Jill posted I can totally see getting obsessed with filling them all out. Sheesh, maybe I better wait until dh retires (too many years from now) to start this game.
It's definitely easier when the kids are gone and you're retired but we also use it as a means of seeing interesting things when we travel. There are some places we never would have found without a geocache being placed there.
__________________ Jill A.
Lost 90.6 pounds since 09/06 on WW! 30.8 to go! Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels!
VSN Coordinator Splitcoast Gallery Moderator Chat Box Bling Chick
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Between The Rainbows And The Rain
Posts: 65,422
Well if any of you ever come this way we'll plan another event! We can't wait to have Misti and her family here......even though they still haven't rsvp'ed on the cache page!
What's Your Geocaching Handle?
Or for those of us married to avid geocachers and convert all the hubbies and kids at stampin' get togethers and leave us in peace to craft!!! 
LuvLee's hubby got them obsessed too!! 
I have done this before years ago with a really old handheld gps but now I guess I can use my phone.
We drove there the northern route and came back the southern. One of these years we want to visit his brother in PA and check off states and baseball stadiums along the way... we're also trying to see games in all the major league baseball parks. Our latest challenge that we're finishing up is trying to fill in all our empty calendar days. We figured that was a good one to work on with it being a Leap Year.
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