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Geocaching Basics (Getting Started)

This GPST worksheet introduces you to the growing activity of

Geocaching; what is Geocaching? It’s an activity that is open to

all ages and is probably the most fun you can have with a GPS.

It’s a community activity very popular with all ages & especially

families; there are currently over 1,862,377 active geocaches

and over 5 million geocachers worldwide (Aug 2012)

Essentially it’s a treasure hunt using a GPS, where the owner of the cache hides a cache

(hidden treasure) and publicises the details on the Internet (Geocaching.com). The other

player in the game finds the geocache on the Internet; and then using the location

coordinates and cache clue provided attempts to find the cache using their GPS as an aid

and report back to the owner of the cache a successful find.

Of course there’s more to Geocaching than described above; but the key thing is that

once you get started it grows on you and before you know it you are part of the

geocaching community. Whilst geocaching can be a solitary activity; the chances are

that you are going to meet other folk out there having fun and doing it. In our

experience cachers are a friendly bunch who are prepared to freely share hints and tips

on how to get the best from the activity; so go on get involved, you won’t regret it.

The starting point for most geocachers is to sign up for basic membership on

Geocaching.com which is free and requires only a valid email address and your name to

create an account. With basic membership you can search for caches by address or post

code within a defined area (default is 100k) we found 6670 within 100k of our home

which is pretty impressive.

Geocaching.com Search Page

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There are a host of cache types ranging from Traditional Caches to Multi, Puzzle,

Wherigo and Earth caches for you to discover and then there are trackables!! All opening

a whole new series of geocaching adventures for you to enjoy (all explained later)

However most of us start by trying out a traditional cache first; a traditional cache

consists of at a minimum a container, logbook and maybe items for trade. The

coordinates on the cache page provide the geocache’s exact location.

GPST Tip – When searching for a cache try - Search from the Map you will then get a

true perspective on the number of caches out there for you to find

Search from the Map – each icon on the map is a cache!!

Once you have selected a cache you wish to find you can print off the cache details such

as cache description, location coordinates (in both Lat/Long and British Grid) and the

vital cache clue. Armed with this information you are ready to get started and if you are

a competent using map & compass you could even get started without using a GPS.

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However for most of us the fun is in navigating using a GPS; which allows you to

navigate in a direct line to the cache using a GoTo (following the directional arrow on the

compass page of your GPS).

Once you have located the cache you can go back to Geocaching.com and log your find

and thank the cache owner for the cache; every time you register a find it will be added

to your profile. Many cachers have a record of finding thousands of caches.

Once you get started you will quickly realise that cachers have their own at times

colourful language; for instance when logging your find most add TFTC (Thanks for the

Cache) as a thank you. As a Muggle (a non-cacher) you might find this glossary of

geocaching terms useful.

One final point before we move on to specifics; the worldwide geocaching community

uses the Position Format Lat/Long (short for Latitude and Longitude) and the most

current geodetic map datum WGS84 (World Geodetic System of 1984) when presenting

location coordinates. In most cases when you purchase a GPS it will be set to Lat/Long &

WGS84 by default

Lat/Long has three formats; Geocaching uses the default decimal format and will be

seen as hddd.mm.mmm (hddd means hemisphere and degrees and mm.mmm are

minutes in decimal format)

Many countries like the UK have their own Position Formats & Map Datum’s to change

your Position Format to British Grid > in your GPS > from the Main Menu > go to Setup

> Position Format > and select British Grid > note that the Map Datum is automatically

changed to Ord Srvy GB

Geocaching.com (Groundspeak Inc) how it all started

The website www.geocaching.com is owned and run by a privately owned company

called Groundspeak Inc and is the recognised home of geocaching. It is based in Seattle

Washington on the West Coast of the USA.

The catalyst for the launch of Geocaching was the opening up of access to free gps

reception without any limitations and the availability of reasonably priced easy to use

handheld GPS receivers. In May 2000, the U.S. government turned off Selective

Availability, a feature which limited the accuracy of GPS signals for civilians. Within 24

hours, Dave Ulmer placed the first geocache (at that time called a "GPS Stash") and

posted its coordinates online. Within three days, two people used their own GPS

receivers to find the container and shared their experiences online.

Four months later, Jeremy Irish began Geocaching.com as a listing site to support the

hobby. He was soon joined by Elias Alvord and Bryan Roth, who he worked with in his

"real job" at a late 90's dot-com era startup. The three men were inspired by the ways in

which location-based technology could enhance outdoor recreation. They founded

Groundspeak Inc. to explore this matter and manage Geocaching.com. The founders

obtained initial funding for the site from the sale of 144 donated geocaching t-shirts.

In the years since its founding, Groundspeak has continued to develop tools that

leverage technology to create unique adventures in the real world. The company's

product portfolio expanded to include Waymarking.com in 2005 and Wherigo.com in

2008.

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Geocaching.com how to get started with free membership

The first thing you need to do is Sign Up or Register on the geocaching.com website;

when signing up remember your user name will be your geocaching handle so don’t use

your real name think up a fun name related to your name, the activity, your family or

address (the last four cachers to visit my cache on Blaze Fell were the-muggler,

jigglybones, dalraddy and emolfow)

Once you are registered and signed into Geocaching.com

you are ready to get started! But before you start you need

to consider how you are going to navigate to the cache; as

we said in our opening words it’s perfectly possible to go

geocaching without a GPS in practice very few do so.

They either print off the cache details with hint decrypted

then enter the coordinates manually to their GPS or they

send the cache details direct to the Geocaching Manager in

their device (this is referred to as Paperless Geocaching for

obvious reasons)

If you are not able to send the cache details direct to your GPS you will have to manually

enter the cache coordinates to your device. How to do this is covered in detail in Lesson

6 of this course; but essentially you create a Mark and edit the Name & Location

coordinates and then do a GoTo.

If you have a cable you can send the cache details direct to your DeLorme, Magellan or

Garmin GPS using the Send to GPS tab on the cache page. The first time you use this

feature you may be asked to download the appropriate plugin for your device.

We recommend that you start with a fairly simple traditional cache not too far from

home just to learn the ropes. On the Geocaching website > go to the Play tab > and

select > Hide & Seek a Cache or use this link

Once you have the cache in your GPS you are ready to Go! In the GPS go to the

Geocaching Manager > select Find a Geocache > then select the cache you wish to GoTo

> you can view the cache properties by selecting the waypoint label at the top of the

screen > finally select Go and the GPS will navigate you in a Direct Line to the cache.

When navigating to a cache your GPS will draw a direct line to the cache on the map

page and the GPS compass directional arrow will always be pointing towards the cache

when the GPS is active (locked onto satellites). You can also setup the information

windows on your device to give you other useful information like the distance you are

away from the cache (find out how to setup your information windows in lesson 9 of this

course)

Remember a GPS is supposed to get you to within 15m of your destination once you get

that close to the cache you will need to start using your eyes and using the cache hints.

GPST Tip – your GPS will only be able to navigate you accurately to the cache if it is

setup correctly and the electronic compass calibrated if you have one (lesson 4)

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Finding a cache and Logging your Find

We’ll find out about the different types of caches later in this lesson but lets assume that

for this exercise we are looking for a traditional cache. What does a cache look like and

how difficult will it be to find?

A traditional cache will be a container of some sort

containing a logbook or logsheet for you to log your

find on site; larger caches may contain a logbook and a

number of other items left by the cache owner for you

to enjoy or trade. There is etiquette involved in trade;

if you take something, the rule is you should leave

something of equal or greater value in return. If you do

leave anything in a cache it is recommended that items

be individually packaged in a clear, zipped plastic bag

to protect them from the elements.

The cache listing will give a description, and give a rating for the terrain & difficulty

expected but will not give too much away as part of the challenge of the find is the hunt;

there are no hard and fast rules but generally a cache will be hidden well enough to

avoid a casual find by a muggle and difficult enough to give you a give challenging

experience.

GPST Tip – remember a GPS is supposed to get you to within 15m of your destination

once you get that close to the cache you will need to start using your eyes and using the

cache hints and do a bit of hunting about

Navigating using a Geocaching Dashboard

If you are using a new generation Garmin device you can add a

geocaching dashboard to your map page see right > to add

geocaching dashboard > from the Main Menu > select Setup >

Map > Data Fields > Dashboard > and select Geocaching Active.

When you are navigating to a cache you will see you current

location displayed on the map (if you have one) and the mini

compass directional arrow will give you a straight line heading to

your destination and the information window next to the mini

compass will display the distance to the

cache. If you select the properties box

with the name displayed you will see the

full cache description displayed.

If you select the Geocache icon more hints, logs etc are just

one selection away (some of this information is only available

to premium members of Geocaching.com)

Did you know that if you have Whole GB OS Discoverer maps in

your Garmin device you can navigate on road with turn by turn

directions – left we see Oregon 450 navigating to Geocache

Skelton Mast as the cache was right by the road we only had a

couple of steps out of the car and we were there.

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Now you’ve found the cache

When you have found the cache, sign the logbook and return it to the cache. You can

take an item from the cache if you like - just make sure to leave something of equal or

greater value in its place. When you are finished, put the cache back exactly as you

found it, even if you think you see a better spot for it.

Quite often you may also find a Trackable in the cache; it’s a sort of geocaching "game

piece" that you can learn more about later in this lesson.

Once you’ve signed the log; replace the cache as you found it so others can enjoy the

same experience - please do not move a cache from its original location.

Remember some caches are harder to find than others and it could be that you don’t find

it; you may feel a like a failure and a bit frustrated but it happens; it doesn’t mean that

the cache is missing just that you missed it. When you log your find you can log it a

"Didn't find it"

If you feel that the cache may not be located in the correct location, please email the

cache owner directly or post a log on the cache listing page, notifying the owner of your

concern. Cache owners are responsible for maintaining their cache placements.

If you visit a cache location and the cache is missing, make sure to log the cache with a

"Didn't find it" log so that the cache owner is notified. Cache owners who repeatedly

receive "Didn't find it" logs should check to see that their cache has not been removed.

As a geocacher, if you notice that a cache page has an unusual number of "Didn't find it"

logs, please let the local reviewer know or contact us. We rely on the geocaching

community to let us know the status of caches in their area

In most cases you will have absolutely no problems finding the cache you’ve set out to

find; having found the cache you should return to Geocaching.com and visit the cache

page to log your find and share your experience with others.

Go to Geocaching.com and login and visit the cache page for the geocache you have

found. You can do this by visiting the Log a Cache page seen below and by entering the

GC code or selecting a recently viewed cache both actions will direct you to the cache

page.

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Step1 Visit the Log a cache page enter the GC code or select a recently Viewed Cache

Step2 You will be directed to the cache page you have chosen > now in Navigation (top

left of the page) click on “Log your visit”

Step3 You should complete the post a new log form seen below.

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Use the Select Type of Log from the options in the drop down box (usually Found It or

Didn’t Find It) edit the date you found it (NB the date format is Month/Day/Year) and

add a comment for the cache owner on your experience with thank you (TFTC see this

glossary for other geocaching abbreviations) & a Smilie.

Having posted off your Found It log you’ve complete the Finding a Cache cycle; you’re

now ready to move to other geocaching experiences or even hiding your own cache.

Before we move on to hiding a cache we’ll talk about the different cache types out there

for you to find.

Geocaching Types (Events & Mega Events)

You will have to explore the different types of geocaches for yourself and find out which

type appeals to your sense of adventure most. We have listed the main types on this

GPST worksheet which you can download as a PDF – Geocaching Types. For the full list

you can visit this page on the Geocaching.com website

A quick word about Geocaching events; the geocaching community is great at organising

events that you can join for free. Community organised events are a great way to meet

other like minded cachers and learn; here in the UK we have a Mega Event each year

(an event with over 1000 cachers registered to attend). We have attended the last 4 UK

Mega Events and will be at Mega 13 & Mega 14.

The last Mega event (Mega 12) was held at Cartmel Racecourse in Cumbria (England’s

Lake District) with over 2000 geocachers attending and a week of geocaching activities

including a guided walk over Morecambe Sands by Cedric the Queen’s Guide. It was a

great event and enjoyed by all.

The UK’s 6th Mega event will be held in the West Midlands at the Heritage Motor Centre

on August 3rd we hope to see you there. You’ll find a list of events worldwide under the

community tab on the Geocaching.com website alternatively keep an eye on listed

events for something in your area.

Groundspeak Newsletter & First to Finds

Once you have registered your membership on Geocaching.com you should receive a

weekly newsletter from Groundspeak the parent company; the newsletter every week

airs either a geocaching topic or useful hints & tips to improve your geocaching

experience.

The newsletter also lists upcoming Mega Events & events but most importantly contains

the latest list of recent Geocaches by nearest to your location; this list is eagerly awaited

by some cachers as there is considerable kudos in being listed as “first to find” a cache.

Geoswag & Trackables (Geocaching Accessories)

There’s a considerable industry grown up around geocaching accessories either direct

from Groundspeak in the USA or from local suppliers; here in the UK like other countries

there is a wide choice of companies large and small offering everything from a variety of

cache boxes to trackables and Geocoins. Local events and Mega events are great places

to make contact with these suppliers as most have a trade stand for at least one trader.

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What are Trackables? They are a sort of physical geocaching "game piece." You will often

find them in geocaches or see them at geocaching gatherings. Each Trackable is etched

with a unique code (authorised by Groundspeak) that can be used to log its movements

on Geocaching.com as it travels in the real world. Some of these items have travelled

hundreds of thousands of miles thanks to geocachers who move them from cache to

cache and follow their progress on Geocaching.com!

If you want to find out more about trackables or want to register a trackable then visit

this page on the Geocaching website, this is also the place you go view Recent Trackable

Logs.

There are three main types of Trackables: Geocoins, Travel Bug® & Promotionals

For more info on trackable follow the links from this page on Geocaching.com

Hiding your first Cache

Once you’ve found a few caches we’re pretty sure you’ll want to hide one of your own;

how do you go about it? There’s nothing difficult about it just a few simple rules and

you’re away. Here are few pointers on how to get started and links to the official

geocaching guidelines you should follow when thinking about creating your first cache.

Remember if you don’t follow the guideline your cache may fail during the review

process.

Who can a hide a cache? Anyone in the Geocaching community; if you hide a cache you

have to undertake to submit the cache for review before listing and maintain the cache

afterwards. Before hiding your first cache we suggest that you find a few caches so that

you can experience how others have gone about the task.

As you prepare to hide you first cache we recommend that you visit this page on the

Geocaching.com website on Hiding your First Cache it’s packed with hints & tips plus

there is a useful link to the Geocaching Guidelines the rules you need to consider when

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hiding a cache. It is important that you understand these guidelines before submitting a

cache for review.

What do I put in my first Cache?

Let’s assume that your first cache is going to be a traditional cache such as a sealed and

waterproof plastic container. First and most importantly you should include a logbook,

pencil and cache note after that what you add is down to you; perhaps some small items

for trade like key rings, coloured pencils, anything that appeals to kids is good as they

love to find things on their treasure hunts. You can move on to trackables & coins etc

when you understand how the system works.

A quick word about logbooks and the note; your logbook need not be anything elaborate

it should be small enough to fit inside your cache and be ruled up to allow any finder to

sign in and register their find on site. It’s really important to leave a note in the cache in

case a non-geocacher (muggle) finds it by mistake the note invites him/her to restore

the cache to exact place they found it.

Geocaching.com usefully supply you documents with their recommended wording that

you can download and print off to include in your cache. You will find 2 versions of the

wording on the Hide & Seek page under > Hide a Cache > Cache Notes > choose from

English (this version displays the complete wording on one page) and Micro (this version

displays the wording X 4)

Hiding and Listing the cache

So now you’re ready to go out and hide you cache; we recommend that you hide the

cache first > mark the cache location using your GPS > then use these location

coordinates when submitting a new cache listing.

While you’re at the new cache location think about what you’re going to call it (it has to

be a unique name – we hid a cache on Blaze Fell so we called our cache Blazeaway) you

could also think about a description of the cache and a Hint to give the finder a clue to

find your cache more easily as you will have to add this information to your cache listing.

The final task is to complete the cache listing by going to this page on the

Geocaching.com website http://www.geocaching.com/hide/cachebasics.aspx

Cache Listing page on Geocaching.com

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When completing your listing you will be required to

� Choose a Cache Name

� Select your cache type

� Enter location coordinates in Lat/Long

� Add additional waypoints like handy parking once again in Lat/Long

� Add cache description, cache hint and cache rating

� Submit your cache

GPST Tip – Geocaching uses the default decimal format and will be seen as

hddd.mm.mmm (hddd means hemisphere and degrees and mm.mmm are minutes in

decimal format) and should look something like this N 54° 46.930 W 002° 47.090.

To find these coordinates in your GPS go to your satellite page and make a note of them

(you have to be on site) or Mark your position and save then when you return home you

can find your waypoint and refer to the location coordinates.

You’re listing in Geocaching.com

Once you have submitted a new cache listing you have to sit back and wait for the listing

to be reviewed; caches are revived by a volunteer to ensure that the cache meets the

Geocaching Listing Guidelines. It may take up to three days for the volunteer to contact

you and make your cache live on the web site. Sometimes the volunteer will need to

work with you to fine-tune the listing so it can be published.

The volunteer doesn’t physically check the cache placement before the listing is

published; he relies on you to abide by the geocaching guidelines, to ensure that

permission for cache placement has been sought and given, to provide accurate

coordinates, and to keep the contents family-friendly.

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Once you listing is confirmed by the reviewer the cache will be listed and can be found

listed under your profile. The listing will appear in the Groundspeak newsletter (on the

next Friday after the full listing) and you can expect a first to find pretty soon after that!

Deleting Geocaches from your New Generation Garmin

Caches sent to a new generation Garmin device appear by default in the GPX Folder in

the internal memory of the device and can be viewed in the Geocaching Manager;

however to delete caches you have to connect your device to your PC > then on your PC

go to My Computer > then select the internal memory which will generally be seen

alongside the Blue Triangle and listed as something like Garmin Oregon (F:) > now

select the Garmin Folder > and select the GPX folder where you will see any caches held

on your device listed.

You can now delete GPX files by > highlighting and right click and select delete.

In My Computer you will see your internal memory as something like Garmin Oregon

(F:) the Removable Disk (G:) is your SD Card and generally holds any mapping

External Memory (SD Card) ---- Internal Memory

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Getting more involved

Be warned Geocaching is addictive and can take over your life; many get really involved

not only in the activity but the wider geocaching community and live to go out at the

weekend searching for new caches and logging their finds.

For these happy individuals we recommend that you move on to Premium Membership of

Geocaching.com; as we’ve already found out basic membership on Geocaching.com is

free and requires only a valid email address and your name to create an account.

Premium Membership is $30USD per year or $10USD for 3 months and provides access

to additional website features and functionality that will help you get the most out of

your geocaching experience!

This Ad lists the benefits of Premium Membership

We hope you find this lesson useful; it’s been intended to get you started on the road to

becoming part of the vibrant geocaching community. There will be a follow up lesson

that covers Premium Membership, the use of a GPS camera and the geotagging of

images and the use of Chirp the Geocaching Beacon.

Finally which GPS you use is crucial to the quality of your enjoyment of the activity; here

in the UK the Oregon 450 seems to the GPS of choice for most people. If you are

thinking of upgrading to a new GPS then we have listed some key features you may

want in your device. Before you maker a final decision use the list to check out whether

your choice offers all it could do, if not then think again or call us and we’ll help you

decide and offer you an unbeatable geocaching bundle into the bargain.

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What sort of GPS do I need to go Geocaching?

A question we are frequently asked; there are no hard and fast rules in essence you will

have to choose a device that suits your needs and pocket. If you’re thinking about

buying your first GPS or upgrading to one of the latest GPS devices then deciding which

GPS is right for your needs can be a daunting task; however the task can be simplified if

you bear these points in mind

� Whilst there is a market for GPS without mapping; our experience is that most

users would prefer to use a GPS with mapping and the more detailed the map the better.

� In the UK it is standard now for all outdoors mapping GPS ranges to at least offer

a whole GB 1:50k Ordnance Survey Landranger mapping bundle some packages offer turn by turn routing as part of the package.

� The days are gone when you needed to buy maps for your PC and maps for your GPS; good systems ensure that you only need to buy your maps once and offer

free software for PC & Mac that allows you to manage, save and Import/Export user data like waypoints, routes and tracks to/from GPS by a cable included in the box.

� How you access premium mapping like OS 25k can be a deal maker; downloads

in small self-selected areas are best; other options are where manufacturers offer self select areas of mapping on pre-programmed SD cards.

� Size of screen if an important factor; the larger the screen the better the

overview and if you really want premium maps like 25k then a screen size of 3” or over would be best.

� Interest in maps from around the world is growing; how you gain access to these maps can be a deciding factor when purchasing a device. Once again map

downloads in small self-select areas are best; maps on SD card usually cover wider areas of mapping which is reflected in the price

� Still key to customer satisfaction is how user friendly the GPS and mapping

software is to use; sadly few manufacturers or map makers give too much thought to this issue.

� Most manufacturers see geocaching as a growth area in GPS use; most new generation devices offer paperless geocaching (download caches direct to the

unit) and offer Geocaching features & wireless sharing with geocaching beacons. � Expect to see a growth in apps for Smartphones; whilst we don’t expect to see

many people wandering the hills with an iPad, we do think that many users will want to make use of the GPS capability on offer in most Smartphones. If you do

go down this route then we recommend ViewRanger apps or Open Street Mapping.

� Support is crucial; does the manufacturer offer UK based telephone support and

regular free updates for your GPS software & hardware. � Finally consider; when was the last time the manufacturer upgrade the GPS and

is it old technology? Don’t end up buying something that doesn’t offer the latest features. Some manufacturers spend more on R&D then others and it shows in

the product. GPST Tip – in the UK the best value is generally to purchase a GB Bundle; in other

words an Outdoors GPS with Whole GB 1:50k included in the deal. You can buy GPS without maps and save a little on the purchase price but you will then have to pay full price of up to £200 for a Whole GB map card. Outside the UK many outdoors retailers offer bundles that add premium maps in a similar way.

Armed with the above information you can now compare the various products on the market but when you do so remember that the cheapest is not always the best value.

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GPS Training have pages dedicated to geocaching on our website with links to our sister website which always has great geocaching offers online www.gpsforgeocaching.co.uk

However if you would prefer to speak to a real person then call Peter on 01768 885855 All this and part exchange too!! Not only can you get a great deal on GPS from us; if your GPS is in full working order and good condition we will give you a fair price for your

unit when you upgrade to a new GPS purchased from us. Interested call Peter on 01768 885855 today!