I’ve written about my adventures in geocaching recently. There’s a great article in the most recent version of The Costco Connection, which basically describes Geocaching, what it is, how it works and why it’s appealing. Click here to read the article about Geocaching.

Although we did only hit two caches, I did snag my first geocoin (see picture). Geocoins are cool and come in all different designs. This particular one, the redhanded geocoin, has a couple goals: travel to all 50 states, all countries and continents and then return to the US.

After looking at the travel log of this coin I see that it has traveled a total of 77 miles between Utah County and Salt Lake County. So, for my part, I will be taking this coin back east with me in a few weeks to plant it in a cache beyond the Utah state line.

Our second cache was a virtual cache. This is usually a non-traditional cache that has some sort of historical significance or is designed to educate. This one was a memorial to a fallen Utah Highway Patrol Agent. Interesting, but I have to admit, not as fun as finding a little box hidden with trinkets or goodies in it.

Although my second geocaching trip didn’t prove quite as fruitful on the cache side I did learn some valuable lessons about going geocaching and how to make the most of the outing.

So, as a beginner, here’re my 6 tips to get ready for a simple geocaching trip:

• Decide ahead of time the area you want to geocache in.
• Download the cache waypoints and then upload them into your GPS.
• Review the map and choose a couple waypoints as starting points.
• Review or print off the hints for starting waypoints.
• Charge your GPS receiver.
• Be sure to take water and snacks, if needed.

Doing these beforehand could save you an hour or two before you get going, or, in other words, you could find a handful of caches or just two!

So as a new geocacher I set out on an adventure (well, we were close to home and went in the car so maybe not much of an adventure, more of an outing) with my buddy, wilsontribe, and my son, little beldog. The great thing, for us men, is that with a GPS unit I don’t need to ask directions, just give me the coordinates and I can call in an airstrike anywhere in the world. Now, given we were staying local in Midvale, getting lost wasn’t a real concern. So after downloading some cache locations (hidden stashes are recorded on geocaching.com where one can download them and then sync the coordinates into the GPS unit to go out and find them), we set out to find our first cache.

Now, a little info here, caches come in all shapes and sizes, from full size treasure boxes, to 747-sized caches to micro caches — okay, I made up the 747-sized caches, but you get the point. This first one was a micro cache, think of it this way, you’re looking for a needle in a haystack anyways, a micro cache is the little round head of the needle in the haystack. Thanks to wilsontribe’s hawk-like eyes, we found our first cache. Once we opened it and signed the log we realized we had violated a very serious geocaching rule: You can’t sign the cache log using a username that doesn’t exist! Recognizing the error of our ways, we headed to Sean’s office and immediately got me signed up. We then went into the parking lot, spun ourselves three times and spit on the ground, hopefully breaking the curse of the geocaching gods!

We were off to a bumpy start, but on the good side, we did find a micro cache that was very well hidden. Off to cache 2, aptly named “one old Cat.” This was a tricky one, we parked the car and daringly headed out on foot. Not sure what we would find, our trusty GPS led us to a rusty old tractor — the “old Cat.” We were daring this time, all caches, when originally created online, include tips and even hints on how to find the cache. Remember, the fun here is in finding the caches, although you want it to be out of sight, a cache that requires a ditch digger is not what this is about. So we proceeded to search the Cat for a cache. We were coming up empty so we had to resort to look at the hint/spoiler, it said, “look in the back, don’t get your hands dirty.” What does that mean? I’d already dirtied myself by laying on the ground, so no point in heeding the advice to not dirty myself, nonetheless, we peeled our eyes for the little prize.

At this point you’d think we’d have found it, with six pairs of eyes and mine counting twice because I wear glasses, we were feeling a bit had. Then it happened, I found my first cache! this little guy was tricky to find, what made it worse the cache was the same color as the tractor’s fashionable rust colored paint job.

Needless to say this is a fun way to spend a Saturday. Geocaching is a global sport, started in Oregon, a fellow northwesterner, Geocaching is very much a niche outdoor sport. Although we haven’t yet and probably won’t venture into any remote wilderness locations searching for caches, they are literally planted all over the globe — where it is legal and accessible.

If you’re looking for something to do on the week-ends or another activity to spice up your vacations, take up Geocaching. My GPS unit cost around $80 on ebay (a real deal), but good ones are pretty easy to find and you can get a decent unit for under $100. Once you’ve got your GPS, create an account on Geocaching.com, you need to have a unique username that you’ll write on logs, and then get to searching. Search for caches close to where you live or where you’ll go searching, download them and then load them up to your GPS unit via EasyGPS or a similar program. (Remember, everytime you find a cache you not only sign the log, but also need to log your find online and leave a little message for the person who planted the cache.)

When Geocaching remember to be safe, have a good time and respect other geocachers and muggles. I’ll post more down the road.

Here’re some more pics:

little beldog and the small cache

The “old Cat”