GeoCaching

So Junior had a birthday last week and, at 4:00 in the afternoon with no present in sight, in desperation I went online at Target.com and looked up "Cool Gifts for Teens and Tweens."

Up came the Apisphere Geomate Jr., a GPS device wtih 250,000 preprogrammed geo-cache sites that got excellent reviews, particularly for it's ability to get tech-savvy kids away from the Gameboy and outside. SCORE! Found one nearby at REI and bought it.

After his birthday dinner, we walked outside and within about ten minutes had found our first geocache, a well hidden magnetic duct tape pouch that contained a little toy critter that was exactly the kind Junior is collecting these days. The exclamations of "Best Gift EVER!" did nothing to harm my ego!

So I had heard of geo-caching and thought it was a kind of a cool concept, but now after our first conquest, as an outdoor activity with kids, I'm thrilled with the idea.

Anyone have experience here?

I have friends that are geo caching freaks!! they made up their own coin things to leave at the spots where they have been. The guy even made up a geocach spot to "find" one weekend and the ring was their waiting for him to propose when they found it.

They went all over london on their honeymoon caching as well

my MIL was in love with it for awhile

when we went on a couple of cruise she would drag my FIL to find some things

now she's no longer interested in it

I did one hunt. Not a huge fan, but could be interesting.

I've done several. Use them to help train people for GPS and Map use in preparation for a search. Great tool for training people in search & rescue teams.

They are fun to do!

I doubt that would be my thing, as surprising as that sounds given how outdoorsy I am.

When I go for a hike, I'm content to just see the scenery and flora and fauna. The thrill of unearthing someone's used bubble gum under a rock doesn't hold much excitement for me.

I only do advanced ones, especially at night. Night caches are fun too.

I haven't personally done any of these "hunts" but figure it would be great especially for kids. Probably A LOT better than the orienteering training I went through when I was in Boy Scouts but back then I was just interested in being outside. It seems like you have to provide incentive for most kids these days to even step foot outdoors much less get interested in the outdoors.

Hey - something on the adult side, have you ever heard of Urban Exploring? I know it is a really big thing in Detroit - I figured given your geography there might be active groups in your area as well.

JR

^The UE thing sounds interesting to me. I generally don't give a hoot about most of the touristy stuff anyway. (I like zoos and aquariums and botanical gardens and all that though) I've always been fascinated by that stuff. I keep wanting to book a tour of the old City Hall subway station in NYC, but they always sell out so quickly.