On my long run at Shelley Lake this morning, I was able to catch up on several podcasts, including one called Fat2Fit Radio, hosted by Russ Turley and Jeff Ansley. I subscribe to this podcast through iTunes, and have been enjoying it for quite a while. I've been putting off listening to a particular episode for a while, thinking I might not enjoy it as much, as it's about geocaching. I decided to listen to it today, and honestly, it sounds like a lot of fun now. From what I gather, you use a GPS to find geocaches by going to the geocaching website here. I haven't signed up for a free account yet, but apparently you can enter a zip code, find lists of geocaches in the area, plug in the coordinates into a GPS device, and go find it. Usually, there's a container at that spot with some little treasures in it, and maybe a paper log to record that you were there. The guys on the podcast mentioned taking some little something to drop into the container, in exchange for the trinket you take back with you. Once home, you record your geocache find on the site.
This sounds like it could be a fun hobby, and a neat way to learn the area even better. I don't have a GPS device, though, other than my Garmin Forerunner 205, and I can't put coordinates in it, I don't think. Any recommendations on GPS devices? Anyone reading this into geocaching? If so, I'd love to hear more!
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Geocaching is a blast ~ very addicting! That is why I don't do it! I went geocaching with a group of people one Saturday, just to see what it's all about. The Forerunner wouldn't work for this ~ I'm sorry, I didn't write down the Garmin gadget they let me borrow, but it was cool. That is probably the only necessary cost of this hobby. If I had time for this hobby, I'd buy a Garmin, and never be bored. Wherever you are in the world, there is a geocache to be found. We were in downtown St. Louis when I did this, and we found about 4 caches. Some of the people had little trinkets to put in the caches (you can take trinkets and replace them with your own.) There are also "travel bugs" ~ items that want to travel to different places, say, all 50 states. So if you are traveling to one of the states it hasn't been to yet, you can grab it and take it with you, and hide it in a cache at that destination. You update online that you have moved the travel bug. Some caches are easy to find, and accessible, and others are for the adventurous type. They have geocaching conventions ~ it really is quite a pastime ~ you'd never have an excuse to be bored.
There are similar hobbies that involve "object tracking," or "virtual collections," or have some other similarity to geocaching. Where's George, Postcrossing, Bookcrossing, and one I can't remember the name of, but you send your stuffed animal all over the world (or host someone else's stuffed animal) I think all of these things appeal to the same kinds of people.
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