by Anne Stone

Created on: November 06, 2009

So, you've heard about geocaching and you have decided to give it a go, now where do you begin?

The obvious place to start is by signing up to the site Geocaching.com.* This is were you will find all you need to know about geocaches. It's free to sign up and use but memberships are also very cheap and give you those extra little bonus' such as being able to view caches close to home as soon as you log in.

So first you need to decide on where you are going to go looking. This might be close to home or maybe somewhere you want to go and visit, or if you really don't know you can just browse the geomaps. On the geocache site, click on Hide and Seek A Cache in the menu and put in the details of where you would ike to start your search. You will be given a list of all the logs of the caches hidden in your chosen area. Alternatively on the hide and seek page you will see a link to googlemaps which will show you where all the caches are hidden in your chosen area.

If you are checking the maps you will see little boxes as indication of where the caches can be found.
When you see a cache you might like to try you can click on the map and a box will pop up with some details.You get the name of the cache and it's number, the name of the person who hid it, how difficult it is to find in star ratings (the ratings are 1-5 for difficulty and 1-5 for terrain, with 1 being easiest, 5 hardest,) the date it was hidden and it's size.

You can then click the name of the box and you will get a page of details about the cache and some further clues on how to find it. You also get some links that will help you download the information to your GPS or mobile phone if you have the right equipment and software. You will also get at the bottom of the page a list of logs created by all the geocachers who have previously found the cache.
From this page you gleam all the information you need to find your cache including the most important co-ordinates for your GPS. This will give you the location of the hiding place or ground zero as it is known.

Most descriptions let you know what you are looking for, for example, a small plastic box, and what is in the cache i.e. log book, geocoins, swaps etc. But caches can be very different, from teeny tiny little magnetic capsules with just a log book which a rolled up tiny piece of paper, 35ml camera film containers with little coins/swaps, magnetic key hiding boxes to a range of sizes of plastic boxes (tupperware) or ammo boxes. Some caches may involve solving puzzles on the site or by visiting several locations before finding ground zero. This are usually rated more difficult and are probably not a good choice for your first geocache find.

When you are armed with all the information you can gleam from the internet, and your GPS is loaded with the co-ordinates you are ready to go looking.When your GPS tells you that you have arrived at the correct co-ordinates, ground zero, then you can begin your search. Your clues may give you an idea of where to look, for example in a tree, under a bush, behind a rock etc. It may be that you find it easy, but they are usually well hidden so be prepared for a good rummage. Sometimes your biggest obstacle is other people, muggles as they are known. If you are seen finding the cache by a stranger then it makes the cache vulnerable. If caches are found by none geocachers they are sometimes left, but often get moved, or taken away completely, or their contents destroyed. It is important not to let strangers see what you are doing.

Finally, good luck and have fun.

* Geocaching.com is not the only geocaching site but with currently over nine hundred thousand caches listed world wide, it is the largest and most accessible.

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