Geocaching - A wrong perception

I was first introduced to geocaching years ago while camping in eastern Oregon with my cousins.  We had taken the tram to the top of the Wallowa Mountains to take in the view.  As we were walking along a trail, my cousin stopped and let us know that according to the coordinates in his handheld GPS that there should be a cache close by.  The children took off in all directions looking for the cache.  It was soon located and retrieved.  Those that were participating, signed the log and traded like items.  When all were finished, the container was closed and returned to the spot where it was found.

As we continued on, I thought what fun.  This would get us into the outdoors more often.  However, there were two things that I thought, based on my experience, that have kept me from participating in geocaching; 1. Caches were hid in remote areas where one had to hike to. 2. You had to have a handheld GPS in order to participate in geocaching.  As I have learned, both of these are wrong.  

1.    Geocaches can be hidden almost anywhere with varying difficulty of finding and getting to.  Recently, I found that there are several caches right in my neighborhood that are within easy walking distance!  How convenient is that!  This makes it something that a family could easily do in an evening or during weekend without needing to take half of the day to drive and hike to the location. 

This makes geocashing a very flexible activity.  You can start doing easy caches when your children are young and work your way up to more difficult ones as they age.  It is also an activity that you can do with peoples with limited physical abilities as some of the easy caches are wheel chair accessible.  But if you are one that is up for a challenge, there are plenty of caches that will challenge you both physically and mentally.

If you are new to geocaching, see A Beginners Guide as it gives a great overview of the game and has many links to more geocaching information.

2.    Even though most geocachers use a handheld GPS, you are able to set up and use some automotive GPS units and now the iPhone as well. This means that you don’t have to invest in another GPS.  Below are some links to some articles that tell how to use your automotive GPS and iPhone for geocaching.

Paperless Caching the Nuvi Way

Using Your TomTom for Geocaching

iPhone 3G + GPS

Now that I have corrected my perception of geocaching, I need to visit Geocaching.com and decide on several caches to go and find. However, if you are in need of a GPS for geocaching (or just want a new gadget), check out our selection of Handheld GPS in our online store.