Life 2.0: Geocaching tips are a real find
It’s been a few months since I gushed about my new TomTom auto GPS, and in the earlier Life 2.0 column I promised to try out some geocaching and report back when the weather improved. It’s obvious why the mention of this activity, which combines taking hikes or walks while hunting for a small hidden cache with a spiffy piece of technology, prompted such enthusiastic response from readers: It’s really cool.
Nevertheless, there’s some bad news. Auto-based GPS is probably not the best choice for anyone attempting to do serious geocaching. The battery life for such a device, as opposed to the sturdier, more robust GPS units, is roughly four hours. It’s usually just enough battery to get a geocacher to the closest road to your location, but rarely on a trailhead.
Yes, I managed to piece together a successful retrieval of a three-part cache up in Palisades Park with my friends Jen and Dave, but that involved using the TomTom and a Bluetooth GPS dongle with a smart phone. The upside was that the TomTom did have an accurate pinpoint GPS location, which came in handy for locating the hidden boxes.
The first stop for anyone looking to try this out is to check out Geocaching.com.
As the site explains, geocaching is nothing more than a treasure hunt, finding hidden items — a cache — using GPS devices and then sharing the locations with others.
There’s really no better resource and there are hundreds of caches hidden all over this metropolitan area and in surrounding parks. A few hours in Manito Park meant uncovering four different caches – and discovering parts of the park we’d never seen.
Be sure to read comments and clues on the site thoroughly. We spent a fruitless extra half hour last weekend near Nine Mile Recreation Area because we hadn’t read that a cache’s coordinates had moved. That was one instance in which having a smart phone with Web access was handy.
After a few weekends of getting by with the makeshift setup, Jen and Dave were pretty serious about buying a dedicated GPS device for geocaching. They went through three purchases and returns before settling on a Garmin. Some of Dave’s learned lessons are applicable to anyone getting into this activity:
“Look for a device that reads which direction it’s pointing, whether or not you’re moving with an internal compass.
“Color is the way to go. A stream and a road look similar in black and white, so that blue tint makes a big difference.
“Finally, make sure the GPS device easily plugs into your computer so you can load maps and locations without typing them in.
Readers also suggested some great beginner’s tips: Carolyn Clark, recalling a friend whose private property had become trampled by geocachers, stressed the importance of using and searching only on public land.
Reader Edward McCarthy and a number of others noted that the Washington State Geocaching Association (geocachingwa.org) has a local Inland Empire Chapter that can be reached at inlandempire.wsga@gmail.com.
Take advantage of the beautiful weather. Try some geocaching this weekend, and let me know how it goes.
Heard a great podcast, found a useful tool or read a smart blog? Got a tip for the next column? E-mail me at stevenrneuman@gmail.com.