Radiographer

I'm pretty new to the forum, so maybe I've just missed it, but I haven't seen anything here about geocaching. Seems to me that bicycles and geocaching are a marriage made in heaven. I discovered geocaching about 2 months after I started commuting 15 mi. one way to work every day, and I've managed to do them together quite successfully. Anybody else?

MMACH 5

I've been geocaching for almost two years and started terracaching a year ago. Caching is the primary reason I added a mountain bike to my stable, a few months ago.

I do most of my caching at night and take my dog along with me, (he is even a TB). It can be a bit of a pain to keep stopping, because the leash is tangled in the brush or he has run it around the wrong side of a tree. And it's pretty frightening when this happens while we're cooking down the trail, at a decent pace.

So I now choose whether to cache with the dog or the bike. My wife gets nervous about me disappearing into the 'wilderness' at night, alone. Having the dog with me gives her some amount of comfort, so in the interest of household harmony, I usually take Taz along and leave my bicycle at home.

That being said, I have enjoyed the few times I went out caching by bike. A bike can tame some fairly harsh trails and water crossings.

My screen name at GC.com and TC.com is the same as it is here.

Cache on.

NomadVW 

I cache, but the only caches within reasonable biking distance here are all mine.

My GC.com name is the same as here. I have an account at terracaching but with as few geocaches in my area, I don't have the energy to terracache here too - since I'd have to place and advertise them all. I'm gonna look for geocaches along my 200k brevet in Osaka in two weeks.

VW

John Wilke

Here's mine:

https://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache...aspx?ID=147909

Had a few others, but they've been muggled.

I often take the MTB out to search.

jw

digger

I've been geocaching for 2 years or so and have never used my mtb bike for geocaching. Really, the location of caches I've done aren't accessable by MTB bike really. Having said that I HAVE done a few via my touring bike, but they were on the side of the road or underneath a bridge.

I don't usually do the easy ones (close to the road) unless I'm on my touring bike and they are used as a sort of break when riding long distances. The easy ones are kinda boring - walk 100 feet in the woods, look down, there it is. <yawn> So I keep my eyes out for multis or those that have some sort of puzzle to solve or a long hike. Hence, I've installed 2 that are somewhat of a challenge, one is on an island in a lake, the other is an 8km hike multi with drastic elevation changes (bit of a heart pounder). I'm looking intoa third that will be an 18km hike and will require nitro pills.....I have a mean streak.

digger

Hi MMACH 5,

This is the first I've heard of Terracaching. I spent a few minutes on the site, and read the "What IS TERRACACHING" link, but I still don't understand the difference between GC and TC.

I thought it was just a location of a cool spot minus the cache container, hence "terra", but from what I understand a container is involved....right? What is the difference between them?

Digger

free_pizza

whats geocaching?

after a couple of minutes of researching, is it just someone hides a box with stuff in it, a log book, and people have to find it with a GPS system?

digger

That's about it in a nutshell for a basic cache. Others are multis - find one to get coordinates for next, some have puzzles to solve, some require...alot of thought on how to get to it, some are a challenge to get to, etc.

It's not the 'stuff' really, but the hunt. That's why I generaly don't do basic caches but prefer the more difficult ones.

www.geocaching.com

Digger

free_pizza

i think i might have to try this in the summer time, it sounds pretty cool. I just have to buy a GPS unit. Any suggestions on a basic model?

digger

There are many units to choose from, the really cool ones have topographic maps that you can upload and hence view your position on the screen map in real time but they are $$.

If you want a BASIC GPS unit to start off with, because you are unsure if you are gonna like geocaching then I'd suggest a Garmin eTrex. It's small, inexpensive, lightweight and will give you basic position and direction capabilities. It's about $100 US or so.
https://www.garmin.com/products/etrex/

A similiar unit from Magellan would be the Explorist 100.
https://www.magellangps.com/en/produc...sp?PRODID=1014

Walmart has a selection of basic units or an outdoor type store (better service).

I use a Garmin GPS II. It's about 10 years old and will do the same thing as the eTrex but does have a basic road map (never use it). I selected this one as it has a removable antenna to use with a car mount antenna.

But I sure do want one of those fancy ones with the digital topo maps, they're cool, but not really needed for this sport/hobby/passtime.

Hope that helps. Check out my geocaches, look up Elvisdigger on the site.

Digger

MMACH 5

Geocaching is a hi-tech hobby centered around using a GPS unit to find hidden containers. For example, I go out and hide a tupperware container along a creek by my house. I create a web page, (a listing) at www.geocaching.com and post the coordinates for that location. Then GeoJoe sees this listing, enters the coordinates into his GPS and goes out to find the container. Upon finding it, he signs the logbook, takes a keychain and leaves a tietack. He then rehides it for the next person to find. When he gets home, he logs back onto www.geocaching.com and "signs" the online logbook.

The only restrictions for hiding a geocache are:
It has to be on public land, (unless there is written consent from the landowner).
It can't be buried.
It has to contain a logbook.
It can't be hidden within 1/10 mile of another geocache.

(edit) - actually, it sounds like you've got it summed up, (and a lot less wordy than my explanation ).

Terracaching was started up, supposedly as a listing site for "better caches." They use a rating system that will automatically disable a cache listing if it drops below a certain number. Any registered member can rate a cache, whether they have found it or not. If the person rating the cache has actually found it, their vote counts 10x that of someone who has not found it. I have yet to see a cache get automatically disabled, even on some pretty crappy hides.

To register at terracaching.com, you have to have two current members "sponsor" you. Your two sponsors are also your cache approvers. You can change sponsors at any time, (i.e. - TerraJoe has not visited the site in months so you can't get your hides listed).

Terracaching.com still allows locationless and virtual caches.
There are also rating systems for cachers themselves. When you find a cache, you get a certain number of points, based on how long the cache has been out there and how often it has been found by others. You also get points based on how many caches you have hidden and those hide's ratings.

Terracaching caters more to competitive cachers, so there is a leaderboard of cachers with the most points and "badges" awarded for hiding and finding caches.

Sorry if I was sort of scatter shooting there. I think I covered most of the differences between the two listing sites.