Thursday, July 21, 2011

Geocacher Of The Month Award

Groundspeak has decided to start recognizing a "Geocacher of the month."  They are looking for nominations for cachers that "stands out by inspiring other geocachers with their innovation, creative hides and/or logs, respect for the environment, and geocaching etiquette."  I can think of a couple people that I would consider nominating.  Is there anyone that stands out in your mind?

Here is the link to the post on the Lattitude 47 blog, check it out and send your nominations!
Geocacher Of The Month

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Thoughts On Travel Bugs

In my post about Introducing Some To Geocaching I mentioned that we found a travel bug in with the cache.  The frustrating thing was that the cache was supposed to be a travel bug hotel, the inventory indicated about six bugs when we went looking for it.

Now I wouldn't have taken all of them, though I do like to log them as "discovered" when there is more than one in a cache.  The missing bugs got me thinking though, wow many times have I, or you, gone to a cache expecting to find a travel bug, only to find out that someone either removed it without logging it or placed it in the cache online, while secretly keeping the travel bug? 

I enjoy finding travel bugs and I can understand the desire to keep one (with the original owners permission of course), but it is frustrating to think that I have checked a cache that was supposed have a travel bug and come up empty almost as often as actually finding them.  I have even found some bugs that were logged into a different cache in another state. 

If you find and move a travel bug or geocoin, make sure that you log it.  If you hold on to it for more than two weeks or so, send the owner an email letting them know that you will be moving the item along soon, then follow through.

Do you have any interesting travel bug stories?  Let us here them in the comment section below.

What is geocaching?
Geocaching Definitions
Hiding Geocaches

Friday, July 8, 2011

Now On Facebook!

Hello all, I've added an Adventure Colorado facebook fan page.  It will have info and links to not only this blog, but to my Adventure Colorado blog.  Check out the Facebook Fan page here.

Facebook Fan page.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Introducing Someone To Geocaching

Recently I had a conversation with my uncle about geocaching.  He had only recently heard of it and thought that it sounded like it would be a lot of fun.  We spent an evening talking about how to look up the caches on the Geocaching website, using a GPS receiver to get in the area, then finally searching for anything that could be used as a cache.

A couple days later we were out and about in town and had a chance to look for one.  We investigated a cache near a building that my uncle had never paid any attention to.  He had lived in the same small town for decades, but had never noticed this small log building.  We used the app on my iPhone to get us into the general location of the cache.  I looked up the size identified in the description and noticed that it was listed as "medium," I explained to him that it would probably be the size of a Tupperware container.

After looking for a few minutes my uncle noticed a bird house on the back of an information display.  He quickly noticed that the opening into the bird house was sealed.  Upon opening the bird house he found a plastic pitcher and a note explaining that it was an Official Geocache and was placed with permission.  We collected a travel bug from the cache, signed the log and replaced it for the next person.

I've had the opportunity to explain geocaching to several people, including here on this site, but this was the first time I actually had the opportunity to take a new cacher out and show them how it works.  I know my uncle really enjoyed it and likes the idea of going to new places while searching for caches.

Have you had an opportunity to convert a muggle to a geocacher?  Or do you remember someone introducing you to geocaching?  Share your experiences in the comment section below.

What is geocaching?
Geocaching Definitions
Hiding Geocaches

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Independence Pass Geocaching

Last week I got a chance to go up Independence Pass with my family.  It's always fun to be surrounded by some of Colorado's tallest peaks, especially with all of the snow we have had this year.  Even though it was almost the end of June, there was still snow on the peaks.

Independence Pass

I was hoping that there would be a few geocaches along the pass itself, but maybe they haven't been placed there due to the heavy snow that is typical in that area.  We were still able to find a couple geocaches, but most of them were closer to the Arkansas River.  It was still nice find some caches in an area that we don't visit a lot

What is geocaching?
Geocaching Definitions
Hiding Geocaches