Anyone here ever heard of geocaching? Anyone participate? It sounds like fun. I just need to get my hands on a GPS device.

http://www.geocaching.com/

Added:

Well I forgot to say what geocaching is. #-o

Basically you hide a box of something (called a cache) out in the world somewhere. You take its coordinates and post them on the geocaching website (above). Then people go and find it. Of course, you also look at the site, get some coordinates, and go hunting.

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Quaeso quousque humi defixa tua mens erit? Nonne aspicis, quae in templa veneris?

I've done some without a GPS unit, just finding the location on some detailed maps that provide longitude and latitude, like the ones from USGS.

I mentioned it to a friend who. when he got a GPS unit, started hunting with his kids. It's a good adventure -- with trinkets at the end!

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And the caches are everywhere. I just did a search... some are only about 1 km away from me!

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Quaeso quousque humi defixa tua mens erit? Nonne aspicis, quae in templa veneris?

My picture is in there somewhere.

We were in the station one day loading passengers for the next trip. Somebody walks up as asks if I could hold this fireman keychain by the engine number.

O...K... weird but I'll do it.

They then said it was for geocaching and gave me that link. There's a dozen caches within a few miles of my house.

I've been meaning to try it some, but me being a gadget freak, the unit I want is a bit pricy and I got better things to buy.

Actually, I've been thinking about slipping a copy of Bad Astronomy into a cache with instructions to read it and then to place it in another cache. It may inform a few people as it makes the rounds.

With the BA's permission, of course.

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Quaeso quousque humi defixa tua mens erit? Nonne aspicis, quae in templa veneris?

My brother maintains a cache near his house.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

My plan to drive a coworker nuts, never implemented: plant a cache outside her office window, with directions for hunters to be sure to wave.

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My wife and I have been geocaching for several years. It's a lot of fun and we've discovered some beautiful little parks and recreation areas that we probably wouldn't have gone to otherwise. Anytime we travel, we make sure that we check for geocaches at our destination.

It's a great activity for kids as well. We've done some fairly elaborate "treasure hunts" with our nieces and nephews. Geocaching has become a regular part of our vacation time together.

I've got a few ideas for some caches with an astronomy theme. I hope to have time this summer to do at least one of them.

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"A mystic is a person who is puzzled before the obvious but who understands the nonexistent." -- Elbert Hubbard

Weird coincidence: I just got an e-mail from some friends in Canada about the very same thing. They've given it a try and are anxious for us (especially my husband with his GPS) to go up and try it out with them. Seems there are several of them even in their very sparsely populated area.

I did a search at geocaching.com, and there are three caches within easy walking distance, plus at least another three within a few kms. My county has 15000 people in the span of almost a two hour drive. Neat. I may borrow my father's GPS later this spring, track some of these down.

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[Dr. Horrible]___________________________[Penny]
Listen close to everybody's heart________And you believe there's good in everybody's heart
And hear that breaking sound_____________Keep it safe and sound
Hopes and dreams are shattering apart____With hope you can do your part
And crashing to the ground_______________To turn a life around

While hiking in the mountain just east of Albuquerque, I accidentally stumbled upon a cache. Fortunately an explanation was included inside, and I even had some items to "trade" the cache. I left a lengthy note in the journal, also.

I got on the website after that to find there are several located in the Sandia mountains. Someday I'll go looking for the rest of them.

edit: for spelling typo

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Wow, I've done a lot of hiking in the Sandias and wish I had run across one. About where did you find it?

It's near the summit of the Piedra Lisa trail. That's the trail that connects the Albuquerque with Placitas. The trailhead is further up the road from the La Luz trailhead. When you reach the summit head west along the ridge about 25 -50 meters. There is an outcropping of rocks -- a nice place to sit and enjoy the view. In one of the nooks of that rock outcrop is the cache.

My friend and I were doing just that, sitting enjoying the view when I looked down and saw this weird looking cannister...


When I looked on the geocache website, I noticed 1 or 2 more listed at the south end of the Sandia's. IIRC one of them is off the Embudo trail and the other one is off one of the branch trails of of the South Crest trail.

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http://boinc.mundayweb.com/one/stats...033/prj:6/.png

Only a matter of time before one of these blokes stumbles upon an old Soviet dead-letter drop by accident.