Anyone Geocache?

[Loui1001]

It sounds fab, I've been meaning to look into it fr ages and this thread has motivated me!

 

[OmiOmen]

I mentioned Geocaching to DH a while ago and he was not interested and then yesterday it came up in conversation and he went to look online and got really interested. He got so excited we went and found a local one just before DS's bedtime. Now DH loves the idea and wants to buy hiking boots for us all and some other bits to do it more often. I think it seems like a nice family friendly hobby. I was surprised to find somewhere I never know existed in a place I have lived in for 11 years.

The difficulty we did was 2 and I would say that was as high as I would like to go with a toddler. We are thinking of TTC next year and I was wondering if anyone has done it while pregnant and/or with a baby (we have said if we get into it we will get an all terrain buggy).

Any one got any tips for Geocaching with toddlers?

 

[Tulip]

Toddlerwearing is my biggest tip, you can worrying much less about the terrain then I once took DS on a five-hour solo caching hike with him on my back in the Ergo. He loved it when I had to climb a riverbank to grab a micro out of the roots of a tree He later fell asleep in the carrier of course while I just carried on!

Plenty of stops for refreshment and the usual investigation of a leaf or a stick as toddlers do

I'm not a hardcore cacher - more of an incidental one, if we go out somewhere ill check to see if any happen to be nearby.

Kids are also excellent for distraction, passing muggles are more likely to watch your little one play than watch you feeling down the side of a railway sleeper

 

[OmiOmen]

DS never liked his carrier but I wish I had taken it yesterday, he is over half my hight and carrying him really hurt my arms. I have no idea what to do if he asks for the toilet when we are out though.

 

[mara16jade]

Just wondering if anyone here does geocaching? I started today for the first time and found two with LO. Really enjoyed it! We're off to find some more in the morning, I can't believe how many there are around me!

For anyone who doesn't know what geocaching is, it's a big treasure hunt game where you find containers with objects inside them. When you find one you leave an object, take an object and write a note for the next person to find.

Map here to see how many are near you:

https://www.geocaching.com/map/beta/default.aspx?lat=57.652183&lng=-3.336483

Yes, and we've even done it in your neck of the woods! We found the one at the very top of the parking structure to the outlet mall in Vegas. The outlet mall at the northern end more towards the Stratosphere.

We've done a few out here in So. Cal. as well. Its fun!

 

[smokey]

I love geocaching although the first one I ever found back last year some dirty git had peed in

 

[mara16jade]

I love geocaching although the first one I ever found back last year some dirty git had peed in

Um...wtf? LOL That is so gross!

 

[missbabypo]

I just signed up as there are a few I must have passed on the way to my mums, and now the site is down for maintanace!!! What sorts of things do people leave?x

 

[mara16jade]

I just signed up as there are a few I must have passed on the way to my mums, and now the site is down for maintanace!!! What sorts of things do people leave?x

Usually for first time finds (a geocache that no one has found) people have been known to put a $1 or even more, or movie tickets. Nothing that expensive, but something that entices people to want to find it.

There are also some that you are suppose to collect the "token" that is left and replace it with something else. Others are traveling tokens that are meant to be taken to another geocache somewhere and it eventually makes its way to far off places. haha

 

[Brieanna]

I just signed up as there are a few I must have passed on the way to my mums, and now the site is down for maintanace!!! What sorts of things do people leave?x

I have been caching for awhile and today was the first time I ever saw it down for maintenance, how unlucky for you, haha!

I have a "goody" bag full of cool trade items that I always take with me. I got most of the items from a dollar store or walmart or a hobby store. Things like toy animals, balls, cheap jewelry, pens, erasers, etc. Never put any food in it though or it could attract wildlife!

When I made a cache and hid it myself I put tons of really neat stuff in it so people want to find it. I put in necklace kits, glow bracelets, nice toys. I also put in already made, camouflaged, caches complete with log and pen so that people could take it and hide their own caches.

I love going with my daughter although she does get heavy sometimes, haha!

 

[Mummy2B21]

Ive never heard of this, sounds fun though especially for the kids. Just looked on the map and we have loads by us there are 3 near the end of our street probably in or around the park. Loads along the seafront god knows where they are hidden maybe the beach huts lol - we may have to have a go of this soon x

 

[missbabypo]

SO basically little things like keyrings, kids mini art kit etc?X

 

[Brieanna]

To me the actual fun/reward is mostly finding it, because they can be so tricky! It's like a treasure hunt.

I have also found so many cool places that I never would have known were there unless I went geocaching, including some really cool parks and scenic overlooks! On some of the more involved ones that take longer I have seen tons of wildlife, new plants, flowers, etc that I love finding.

We use a GPS, not a phone, and it is definitely one of my favorite things to do because it is free and we get to get out of the house.

If you look at the website you can see the ones that are easy "park and grab" things that don't involve too much up to those that even need special equipment, like boats or that take a long time/long hike to find. It also says the size of the container so you can see if it is something big to find that has stuff to trade for in it or something small that just involves signing a log to show you found it.

 

[Tulip]

Ive never heard of this, sounds fun though especially for the kids. Just looked on the map and we have loads by us there are 3 near the end of our street probably in or around the park. Loads along the seafront god knows where they are hidden maybe the beach huts lol - we may have to have a go of this soon x

They're quite often attached to the underside of benches or the backs of signs etc

I don't usually go in for `swapsies`, just collecting the smileys on the map A lot of the urban ones are too small to put stuff in anyway x

 

[mara16jade]

A common one is a magnetic key holder that is placed under benches, signs, sides of metal walled containers, etc.

 

[missbabypo]

I think I may have seen one of the ones near me while going past on the bus. There was one piece of railing that had a lump (like a bolt) on it when none of the others did x

 

[smokey]

If you have a androide phone theres a realy good app for it, cant remember its name but if you just search geocache it comes up.
Its free and its linked to the website, the live map on it is great.

 

[Kirei]

I love geocaching! I think the app you mean is c.geo! I've been doing geocaching while babywearing, lots of fun!