Some General Comments about Geocaching -

 

... People hide boxers/containers with all sorts of items in them

... If you take something from the container, you have to leave a replacement

... They are sort of like treasure hunts

... The box location is specified by Latitude and Longitude

... There is a web page which tells all - http://www.geocaching.com/

... Almost all hikes that we take have Geocaches near them

... You can find Geocache Lat/Lon's by Zip Code, area, or Lat/Lon

... People hide them under rocks, in cracks, bushes, etc

... They are usually near most peaks

... It is good practice in using your GPS to make good and accurate readings

... You should go to the web page before a hike and see if anything is near where you are going

 

I have found them in cracks, split rocks, bushes, holes, under leaves, etc.

 

Jeff KG6AXR and I did not find one. We stood on the top edge of a steep cliff and our GPS units said that the Geocache was 2 meters out OVER the edge of the cliff !

 

One at the mud caves was not found because we are convinced that someone removed it.

 

Then there are linked Geocaches where you can take an object from one cache and take it to another cache as long as it moves in the right direction. I was involved in one moving from Northern California to the San Diego area.

 

The last search at Oakzanita, while I found the cache, it really was only because of Paul KB5MU who had the proper settings for his GPS ... my GPS was about 150 feet off ... darn .. my GPS was using NAD 27 datum while Paul was using the correct datum, WGS84. Which again points out that you need to read your maps or map program and make sure that your GPS and your map are using the same system of coordinates.

 

Check the above URL for more information and to sign up (free) as a member of the group.

 

Also, try ....     www.google.com

using a search argument of      GPS + Geocache

which will get you a long list of sites and experiences.

 

73,

Stan

W9FQN