Mr Zimmer wrote me the following e-mail it inspired Shane and I go out and try out my GPS and make sure it I had it set up properly for our upcoming camping trip. Shane and I went out and found Spring Canyon Park (GCXV4K). It is a small cache, it had two AA batteries, a fast food coupon and a log file that went back to 2006, with most recent entry being just two days ago. It took on about 10 minutes to find it once we walked there.
From Karl Zimmer:
I finally had a chance to look into this. Jacob, Nathan, a neighborhood friend and I created a geocaching.com account, downloaded a geocaching app to my Droid and went hunting.
Found the one by our house in Cypress Canyon Park, the boys were having a blast so we went home, grabbed our bikes and found 5 more right in the neighborhood. The hiding places are incredibly inventive – I expected to find a ‘box-in-a-bush’ at each cache – only 2 of 6 visited were this style. It is amazing how these caches are hidden yet easily accessible in a public place. Finding the general location is just the start, when you are within 3 meters you must use the clues to figure out where the cache is hidden – this is most of the fun! The boys are hooked and want to go out again next weekend!
One bonus – we found GeoCoin in one of the cache. From the website: A geocoin is a special coin created by individuals or groups of geocachers as a kind of signature item or calling card. Like Travel Bugs, each geocoin is assigned a unique tracking ID which allows them to travel from geocache to geocache or to be passed amongst friends, picking up stories along the way.
At first we were just playing the game, leaving something in the cache and the boys would pull one interesting thing out if they wanted. Jacob pulled this cool looking idol medallion from one. We did not realize it was a GeoCoin until we were home – from the geocaching website:
“Bad Mojo” is a GeoCoin that has been traveling for over 2.5 years
Originated in Germany
Has logged almost 9,200 travel miles
I logged its retrieval on the website and will bring it to the meeting Wednesday as an example of geocaching. We can take it to the desert and deposit it there. According to the website this GeoCoin has a curse on it that can only be avoided by passing it on within 3 weeks.
We are hooked!
KZ