Happy Geocaching New Year

I finished out 2014 with a strong total of 818 caches found.  It was my best year out of all the years I've been caching so far.

I made a couple of geocaching resolutions for the new year.  One is to work on my 365 geocaching days.  I paid attention at the end of the year and had a total of 215 out of 366 geocaching days (leap year included).  I'd like to at least get to 300 by the end of 2015.  I have no illusions about being able to fill in the whole thing.

For 3 years now I've been saying I want to complete the New Hampshire 234 Challenge.  I am at 212 of 234 towns.  I should make it easily sometime this spring.

I went out caching today just to fill in today on the grid.  I found six of seven caches.  I went pretty close to home and found a bunch of places I didn't know existed before despite living here for 10 years and vacationing here with my family since I was born.

One of these was Mediterranean Ave. - NH Monopoly Challenge.  I think most of the caches in this challenge have long since disappeared.  The cache is nearly seven years old an in good shape.  It's in a fantastic location near a stream with very pretty scenery.

Another spot I found was near The Potholes.  This is a swimming area in the summer.  It's beautiful now with the ice partially over the stream.

Saturday is the next day I'm planning to cache.  There are a few towns an hour south of us I need to cross out for the 234 Challenge.

Spring Geocaching

Yesterday was a good day for Geocaching.  I'd gone out on a couple of good days over the winter when the snow cover was light, and of course on my trip to South Carolina.  It was nearly 60° during the day yesterday and I had to head south to get a tooth filled.

One thing they have in Geocaching is something called "Challenge Caches."  These are caches you can only log as found once you complete some sort of challenge associated with it.  A popular one among the Geocachers in New Hampshire is called the "234 Challenge" (GC36PAC - Premium Member cache).  For this Challenge, you have to find a cache in each of the 234 towns in New Hampshire that have geocaches in them.  I'm only at 60 towns, so I need a lot more.  Yesterday I crossed three more towns off the list as I geocached near to where my dentist is an hour south.

I'm also on the road to the 1,000 cache milestone.  After yesterday, I'm at 979 and there's a good chance I can hit 1,000 next week.  Go me!

As for yesterday's adventures, most were simple park and grabs.  You might not believe it as you're whizzing by on the highway, but a popular place to hide geocaches is in guardrails.  I have a friend I geocache with who is partially disabled.  These types of caches that don't involve long hikes into the wood - know as "park & grabs" - are great to do with her.  As we drove the hour south to my dentist office, we grabbed 4 of these along the main artery headed south.  We had lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, then did more caching.

Another place people will frequently place caches is around cemeteries. Cachers are respectful and usually place it in the stone wall or other area, not right by the headstones.  I find it fascinating to go to these old cemeteries and read the dates on the headstones, and inscriptions if any.  When I look at the dates and see how young so many people died 100-200 years ago, it is sobering.

Geocaching is fun, and it's also a great time to take stock of the things in life we don't normally pay attention to.

On to 1,000~~!

Why Geocaching?

What attracts a person to geocaching?

It seems to be a certain personality type.  I'll go there and say that it seems to appeal to the geeky or nerdy crowd.  Not all "geeks" or "nerds" are going to like geocaching, though.  My one occasional partner is proof of this.  He thinks it's one of the stupidest ideas on the planet but comes along because it's an excuse to spend time with me.

The idea of geocaching appealed to me on a level of solving a puzzle.  I'm given a set of coordinates and have to get to the location and find the container.  The greatest victories I've had have come from the finds that were more difficult and took some time to find.  They often require thinking a little outside the box.

There's also the numbers factor.  The competitor in me enjoys seeing the numbers go up.  There was a great deal of satisfaction on claiming my 700th geocache recently.  To get there, you do have to find a fair number of "easy" caches.  These are the ones hidden in lightposts, guardrails, etc.  I enjoy saying "I found 15 caches today" but I also enjoy saying "I found a level 5 difficulty today."

Finally, for me, it's the exercise.  I ran track in high school, but that's out of the picture now due to knee and neck issues.  More than the caches where I get in the car and drive from place to place, I enjoy the caches where I get to hike along trails.  I can make a considerable number of finds on rail trails, which seem to be a popular place for hiding geocaches.  There's also a lot to be said about going into local parks or land-management areas where a number of caches have been places.

Over the weekend I found 38 caches in Connecticut and Rhode Island.  A bunch were in one park.  It was a 4 mile hike, plus all of the bush-wacking and back-tracking I had to do.  The cache farthest from the parking area was also at an elevation that overlooked a water supply and much of the surrounding area.  It was a good workout, especially in 90°+ heat.  I came away with scratches all over my legs (it's up to the individual to decide whether the hazard of thorns triumphs the heat or not), oversprayed with DEET, and quite tired.  As I sat in the Rite-Aid parking lot while my friend who doesn't understand my attraction to this hobby at all cleaned up my legs with alcohol and Neosporin, I also felt a sense of triumph.  I had set my goals for the weekend much higher, but this was still something to be proud of.  

What is Geocaching and Why? Why? Why?

A little over two years ago I was introduced to Geocaching due to the repeated tweets of a friend of mine who is quite the active participant in the hobby.  There were a few of us among his circle of friends that found ourselves intrigued.  One by one we learned what it was all about and started participating ourselves.  Basically, it's a sort of treasure hunt using a GPS device and posted coordinates on the Geocaching website.

While I was in Florida bringing my oldest daughter back to college, one in the group that had already begun caching took me out and showed me the ropes.  As I look back now at those first few caches, I'm struck by how many of them are archived.  More importantly, though, she gave me a well-rounded overview of the different cache types to get started.  I saw magnetic nanos stuck on sign-posts, film canisters in light-poles, toy chests loaded with goodies for the kids, and small caches with room for a few things.  I learned the ins and outs of travelbugs and the general rules - if you take something, leave something.

Armed with this knowledge, I started looking back home in the White Mountains for caches.  What I didn't know was what a mecca my area is for geocaching.  There are quite a number of local caches off all shapes, sizes, types, and difficulties.  My kids enjoyed it at first, then their attention waned a bit.  I've found other people to go caching with, but don't mind heading out on my own, either.

I still feel the best way to start Geocaching is to go out with an experienced Geocacher.  You can also read up on it at the Geocaching website or watch a series of videos:

http://www.geocaching.com/videos/#cat=cat:newbies&vid=-4VFeYZTTYs

If you're like me, you'll get hooked.  Nearly two years after I found my first cache, I just passed the 700 mark :-)