Tag Archives: geocaching

Books

Book Bouquet: Geocaching

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

Programs

What’s up with our geocache travel bugs??

Geocache

A year or so ago, we dropped five travel bugs in geocaches, to see where they would end up. So let’s check in on them now, to see what kind of progress they have made!

  • Library Fan #1: dropped in a cache in Minnesota, and we have no updates
  • Library Visitor: dropped in Minnesota and has done a little traveling, but no updates in a while
  • Libraries Rock: looks like this one is sitting in a cache in the Aitkin Public Library. (If you are in the area – go check on it for us!)
  • Take Me To Your Library: after a short travel time, this one was marked as officially lost by the admins of the website.
  • Library Travel Bug: This one has had a lot of adventures, and is getting a pretty scenic tour of Colorado right now! A nice family has even added the travel bug to a stuffed bear, which does look pretty spiffy.

You can spread library information in all kinds of ways!! Does your library have a geocache? Do you send travel bugs out into the world?? Talk to us if this is something you would like to set up!!

CMLE, Communication, Programs

CMLE Resources: Travel bugs

Geocache opened

CMLE is here for you with all kinds of resources and information. Each week we will share a look at another piece of that information, to help draw some attention to resources that may help you as you serve your community.

This week we look at our geocaching resources!

We are always looking for strategies to share library ideas with people – and setting travel bugs loose in the world is one of our unique attempts.

Have you tried geocaching? It’s fun!

And what is it? “Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.”

What are travel bugs? “A Trackable is a sort of physical geocaching “game piece.” You will often find them in geocaches or see them at geocaching gatherings. Each Trackable is etched with a unique code that can be used to log its movements on Geocaching.com as it travels in the real world. Some of these items have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles thanks to geocachers who move them from cache to cache!

There are three main types of Trackables: Travel Bug® Trackables, Geocoins and other Trackables.

A Travel Bug is a trackable tag attached to an item that geocachers call a “hitchhiker.” Each Travel Bug has a goal set by its owner. Goals are typically travel-related, such as to visit every country in Europe or travel from coast to coast. Travel Bug Trackables move from cache to cache with the help of geocachers like you. See the “What do I do when I find a Trackable?” section of the guide for information on how you can help Trackables move.”

CMLE has set loose five trackables into the world. Some disappeared, some are still out there – but we like them all and look forward to hearing about their progress! We get emails as they are found, and it is always fun to see how they are moving.

If you want to track the CMLE travel bugs:

We are with you! Travel bugs can be pretty exciting. We are looking forward to checking in on their progress, to see how many libraries they visit! You can follow the links below, or just click on the travel bug on the geocaching.com site to get a quick email each time it moves around.

CMLE, Programs

CMLE Travel Bug Lands in a Member Location!

If you have been following the adventures of the CMLE travel bugs, you have noticed they have been quiet over the winter. Less hiking and exploring in the cold weather means less hunting for geocaches. But Spring is here (technically!), and our travel bugs are eager to get moving on their adventures!

This is the travel bug Library Fan #1, dropped into its first cache! As you can see in the photos, this is a very cool cache – big enough to hold some fun things, not too hard to find, and subtle enough that it blended into the scenery very nicely.

The cache is “Milo and Chevy’s Excellent Adventure!” hidden 2/26/2016 by Pink candy, Babeonbon. ” Milo and Chevy are our two fur babies. If they were dogs, they’d probably love taking walks when we’re out caching, but they’re both too lazy. Continue reading CMLE Travel Bug Lands in a Member Location! →

CMLE

CMLE Geocaching Travel Bugs are on the move!

One of our travel bugs has had an adventure, and was left in a geocache in the Myrtle Beach State Park!

Wanting to escape the Minnesota winters, it landed in this beautiful park. The cache gets a lot of traffic, as it is located in a very busy visitors center on the beach. There is a long pier into the ocean, filled with people fishing. They have a boardwalk to escort people through the dunes area, and several hiking trails through the Carolina pine woods. It is a lovely area!

The Library Travel Bug has already been picked up from this location, and is hopefully headed to some other great location!! We will keep you updated on its progress, as well as the progress of our other Travel Bugs!