Geocaching

I have recently begun to enjoy Geocaching with my son. It is a fun little 'treasure hunting' game that uses GPS coordinates to locate the 'cache'. You create a free account at www.geocaching.com and search for caches near you. You read a description of the cache, read logs from previous finders and can then get an aerial map view of the location if you so desire. The description and hints usually give you the details of what to look for once you are near the GPS coordinates.

I find the satellite view from Google Maps to be the best way to pinpoint the location of the cache. Up until the most recent update to the Google Map website (as well as the Maps app on the iPhone) has been spot on every time. The new update however seems to snap the location to a street instead of the actual coordinates. The easiest way around this is to just add "loc: " to the beginning of the coordinates when you use them in Google Maps.
Incorrect coordinates will look like this:
N 47° 24.034 W 122° 14.599
Correct coordinates will look like this:
loc: N 47° 24.034 W 122° 14.599
Hopefully this will be fixed in future releases of either the Geocaching app or in the Maps app for iPhone. Until then be sure to add "loc: " to get the right placement on the map!!

I've recently purchased the Geocaching app for my iPhone. While the app is a little too expensive for my taste, it is so fast and easy to use I highly recommend it for anyone using their iPhone for Geocaching. The iPhone GPSr is not the most accurate (about 55feet at its best) but the ability to see recent logs, descriptions, hints, maps, nearby caches etc....makes it a very useful device while out and about.

My son (who is four right now) really enjoys going to "look for treasure". He's been able to trade things when we find caches large enough for toys and such. He's traded hot wheels cars and small McDonalds toys. It's a fun adventure and a way to get out and explore! This summer we are going on a trip to Yellowstone and hope to find some caches along the way.

We've purchased a few 'Travel Bugs' to drop along the way. Travel Bugs are special dog tags that have a unique serial number printed on them. When someone finds one in a cache, they are supposed to log in to the website and report that it has been picked up. They are then able to drop it off in another cache and report where it has been dropped. This will be a fun way to track your items and see where they travel. Most Travel Bugs have a goal listed, so when you pick one up you are supposed to help it go to it's goal location.

Here are a couple of ours so far:

( not yet dropped off in a cache )


http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=39caccfb-f327-4840-b423-6f432b9af647
I hope people add items to the key chain as it travels. It will be fun to see what kinds of hitch hikers it can pick up.