Have you been geocaching?? We’re into it!

And while we haven’t updated our pages in a while, we have travel bugs out there in the world that are traveling from cache to cache – exploring the fun things they can find!

If you like the idea of being on a constant hide and seek adventure and exploring new places both at home or when you are traveling, geocaching is for you!

You can get all the info on their website, and we have some suggestions below.

We put five tracking bugs out there into the world, to see where they would go when (if?) people would pick them up and move them to new places. We have one that has been doing some moving around lately: Library Travel Bug. Check it out to follow its adventures!

You may need a few items or some more information about geocaching – check them all out at Amazon! (We get a small percentage of Amazon’s profits if you buy things when you click thru that link, so we really appreciate it!)

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Geocaching, by Editors & Staff Geocaching.com “Geocaching has steadily grown into a fun and enduring outdoor adventure and with the popularity of GPS units and the development of applications for nearly all of the most popular smartphone platforms, it has become an adventure that’s available to pretty much anyone.

In The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Geocaching, Third Edition, the editors and staff of Geocaching.com open the world of geocaching up to a much broader audience and take the reader through all of the core essentials for caching including how to play, tips and tricks for finding and placing caches, variations on traditional caching, and much more. In addition, the reader can learn about exciting new changes to the game and the new GPS-enabled games that will take cachers to an entirely new level of fun and adventure.”

 

How To Puzzle Cache, by Cully Long “Faced With A Map Full Of Blue Question Marks And No Idea Where To Start? Geocaching novices and pros alike are often daunted by puzzle and mystery caches. Ciphers, enigmatic photos, nonsensical text, or just a blank page — it often isn’t clear what the Co wants or expects you to do, and even less clear how any of it will lead you to a cache. This Book Will Help You Ask — And Answer — All The Right Questions. 300 pages of lessons, tips, tricks and hints for dealing with even the trickiest puzzle caches, plus step-by-step techniques that start with examining the cache page and lead you through codes, ciphers, steganography, math, music, and dozens of other common puzzle cache types will have you on the trail in no time.”

 

Geocaching logbook, by Journals Unlimited, “Uniquely guided format includes; Find Name, Posted by, Difficulty rating, Terrain rating, Size, Searched with, Coordinates, Information, Hint, Contact geocache owner, travel bug/geocache info, Date Searched/Found/Not Found, lined back-side of page for notes. Each of these guided pages repeats allowing one page for 88 finds. While there are many geocache logbooks on the market that stay with your cache, this is the first of its kind designed for the treasure seeker to carry with them and log in all of their finds.”

 

You might want a cool shirt to wear as you cache!

Not All Wander Lost Geocaching T-Shirt  (available in a variety of podcasts)

 

 

You can use the app from geocaching.com and use your phone to cache; but a handheld gps is more useful. There are lots of different ones you might try; I’ve had a few Garmin devices and had pretty good luck with them. Here’s one for you to get the idea, but there are lots of other Garmins and other brand names. Feel free to browse around other devices if you like different features (fishing info, hunting, hiking, etc.).

  Garmin eTrex10 GPS

• Rugged handheld navigator with preloaded worldwide basemap and 2.2-inch monochrome display
• WAAS-enabled GPS receiver with HotFix and GLONASS support for fast positioning and a reliable signal
• Waterproof to IPX7 standards for protection against splashes, rain, etc.
• Support for paperless geocaching and Garmin spine-mounting accessories. Power with two AA batteries for up to 20 hours of use (best with Polaroid AA batteries)
• See high and low elevation points or store waypoints along a track (start, finish and high/low altitude) to estimate time and distance between points

Do you want to drop your own travel bugs? It can be a fun way to interact with people, and tell them about your library or other cool programs!

4 Pack Travel Bugs by Groundspeak