The Geocaching Handbook - Softcover

Cameron, Layne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0762730447 ISBN 13: 9780762730445

Publisher: Falcon Pr Pub Co, 2004

Synopsis

02

Geocaching is a fast-growing outdoor sport, which combines aspects of treasure hunting, high-tech navigation, and exploration.

The Geocaching™ Handbook is a complete introduction to the fast-growing sport of geocaching. It includes a history of geocaching; instructions on creating a cache; hiding it and sharing it with others; geocaching etiquette and conventions; basic land navigation techniques including using a GPS unit; basic backcountry safety and etiquette; where to look and where to hide; types of treasures; and everything the aspiring geocacher needs to get started in this fascinating, family-friendly, high-tech outdoor-oriented pastime.

Geocaching is a fast-growing outdoor sport, which combines aspects of treasure hunting, high-tech navigation, and exploration.

The Geocaching™ Handbook is a complete introduction to the fast-growing sport of geocaching. It includes a history of geocaching; instructions on creating a cache; hiding it and sharing it with others; geocaching etiquette and conventions; basic land navigation techniques including using a GPS unit; basic backcountry safety and etiquette; where to look and where to hide; types of treasures; and everything the aspiring geocacher needs to get started in this fascinating, family-friendly, high-tech outdoor-oriented pastime.

About this title

About the Author

Layne Cameron is an avid outdoorsman who has authored or coauthored four books and more than 300 articles for national magazines and newspapers. The Hoosier native has enjoyed assignments ranging from riding and mapping Indiana's mountain bike trails, ballooning New Mexico's red rock canyons, ice fishing Minnesota's walleye-laden lakes, and barefoot water-skiing Florida's tea-colored waterways. His first exposure to geocaching was a January 2001 brief in Outside magazine ("If You Hide It, They Will Come.")

From the Back Cover

Geocaching is one of the fastest growing outdoor sports of the millennium, combining aspects of treasure hunting, high-tech navigation, and exploration. To get started all you have to do is select a local cache listing from a geocaching Web site, enter the waypoint or coordinates into your GPS unit, and then plot your route to adventure. The Geocaching Handbook is your complete introduction to this fascinating outdoor activity.

Discover how to:

Select a cache listing and begin your hunt for the treasure
Buy a GPS receiver and use it to navigate to the cache
Create and hide your own cache for others to find
Practice backcountry safety and geocaching etiquette
Play other geo-games, such as Are U Nuts? and Geodashing
Connect with other geocachers through clubs and geo-events

And you ll learn how the game began - from its creator, Dave Ulmer. This book contains everything you need to know to get started in this fun, family-friendly outdoor pastime.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Brief History of Geocaching:

In 1996, President Bill Clinton penned Presidential Decision Directive NSTC-6, America's GPS policy. As a result of that directive, President Clinton ordered the Defense Department to turn off Selective Availability (the jamming signal) that prevented recreational users from receiving accurate positioning. On May 1, 2000, the White House announced that it would "stop the intentional degradation of the GPS signal available to the public beginning at midnight tonight. This will mean that civilian users of GPS will be able to pinpoint locations up to 10 times more accurately than they do now."

As history was being made, self-professed techno-geeks like Dave Ulmer, an electronics and software engineer from Portland, Oregon, followed the announcements. After brainstorming new ideas for this budding technology, Ulmer came up with the idea of a treasure hunt.

On May 3, just two days later, Ulmer placed a five-gallon bucket near a wooded road about one mile from his home. Inside the bucket were a logbook and some trinkets for trading. He dubbed his game The Great American GPS Stash Hunt.

Ulmer posted a message on the Usenet newsgroup sci.geo.satellite-nav announcing the inaugural stash and its GPS waypoint. He noted only one rule: "Get some stuff, leave some stuff."

Less than five days after setting out the inaugural cache, other caches were set out in states from California to Illinois and as far away as Australia. Today, there are more than 65,000 active caches in nearly 200 countries across the globe.


Tips:
Once you get within 25 feet of the cache, it's best to really turn up your sleuthing skills. You need to remember that the waypoint can be either the location of the cache or a vantage point from which to spot the cache. Look for places that could hide a five-gallon bucket, an ammo box, or a foot-long plastic tube, such as hollow stumps, clumps of cattails, in the nooks of boulders, or under a pile of pine needles.

If you are seeking out micro caches in cities, think to yourself, "Where
would I hide a small tin?" Your search may have you peeking under park
benches, loitering around alleys, or, in the case of "Chief Muncie," wading through hedges.

Edition details

• Publisher: Falcon Pr Pub Co
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0762730447
• ISBN 13: 9780762730445
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 113