Table of Contents
Synonyms for "Geocaching"
What is Geocaching?
How is Terracaching Different?
What is Letterboxing?
What are the different types of caches or games?
- Geocaching or Geostash
- GPS Stash Hunt or Global Positioning Stash hunt
- Navicaching or Navistash
- Benchmark Hunting... (a distinct variation)
- Terracaching (a distinct variation)
- Letterboxing (a distinct variation)
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Geocaching /jee O cash ing/
Geocaching is a TREASURE HUNTING game played with a GPS. This international sport has many flavors and styles.
One "cacher" hides a cache, and then posts the geographic coordinates, and possibly some clues, on an internet
listing service. Then other cachers hunt for that cache, logging their success on the same listing service.
You've probably passed by a geocache without ever realizing it, especially the more simplistic ones:
- A 35mm film container hidden in the base of a lamppost in a mall's parking lot
- A breath-mint tin held to a park bench with Velcro
- A tiny bottle clinging to a roadside guard rail via a magnet
Inside these "micro" caches you'd find a slip of paper that serves as a log book.
Geocachers would sign the log book when they find that cache. Larger and more elaborate caches
would contain "treasures." For example, deep in a forest, hidden in a fake
tree stump, a "lid" lifts to reveal a metal box. Inside that box you might find toys,
handmade "signature" items, collectables, or possibly unusual coins. After signing the log book,
the finder would take one of the items, while leaving another item of equal value in trade.
For some, the trade items are the highlight of the hunt. For others it's discovering a new location,
or the journey, or the physical challenge, or solving a puzzle cache. For every type of geocacher
there is a matching style of geocache. Follow these links (and the others in this article) for
more information on geocaching:
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The emphasis is on QUALITY. TerraCaching.com
uses complex algorithms to promote quality caches. Other members rate the quality of the caches that a
terracacher places. Your cache's score impacts your personal score, which in turn impacts your sponsor's score.
Each member must maintain two sponsors at all times, so the system promotes quality through peer accountability.
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Letterboxing existed long before the invention of GPS technology.
It originated in Dartmoor, England in the 1800's. A letterboxer seeks
the container using clues, puzzles, and/or navigational instructions
(e.g., "60 paces to the North").
The other distinguishing aspects of letterboxing are the rubber stamps
and log books. When you find a letterbox, you stamp your log book with
its stamp to record your victory. Then you stamp their log book with
your own, personalized stamp, to show that you were there. The collecting of
stampings, for both the hider and the seeker,
is the letterboxer's reward.
The stamps used in letterboxing are generally hand-carved or at least
custom made stamps (that is, if not hand-made at least one-of-a-kind). They serve as a
unique signature of the letterbox and of the seeker.
While letterbox hybrids can also be found at geocaching services (see above),
the primary U.S. sites are:
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- Micro or Nano caches: Extremely small containers such as 35mm film canisters, Breath-mint tins, Breath-strip boxes, or tiny bottles.
They are especially favored in urban and suburban locations where they can be hidden and retrieved in populated areas without being noticed
(this expectation can be unrealistic). Micros are a very common cache type due to their ease and appeal to the lazy (for example, a film
canister lying on the ground next to a trash-strewn roadside guard rail). But not all micros are lame. Some micros are creatively and
frustratingly disguised as pine cones, broken branches, fixtures, bolts, etc.
- Regular caches: a small to large container that has enough room for both the log and "treasure." Common containers are ammo boxes,
Tupperware/Rubbermaid style containers, or plastic buckets.
- Multi-Cache or Offset Cache: The coordinates given are for the start of the hunt, and involve multiple locations with the physical
container at the last location. The other caches in the series give coordinates, clues, hints, or puzzles that will lead to the next
"link" in the chain.
- Letterbox Hybrid: A letterbox that is also a geocache, or a cache found via clues rather than coordinates.
See "What is Letterboxing" above.
- Puzzle or Mystery Caches: The solution of a puzzle is used to determine a cache's coordinates. This category has many variations.
- Webcam Cache: A location where you will be photographed by a camera attached to the internet. If the images are only captured in real-time,
you'll need a method to capture the "proof" of your find. This could be calling a friend at a computer or using a laptop with a wireless internet connection.
- Benchmark Hunting: The object being sought is a marker placed by surveyors to mark coordinates. The most sought are the
geodetic control points of the National Geodetic Survey. More information can be found at
on Geocaching.com's Benchmark page,
at BenchmarkHunting.com, and
the NOAA.gov (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) website.
- Virtual Cache: The coordinates are not for a container, but for the location itself. This should normally be a spot of extraordinary
visual or historical appeal.
- Event Cache: A location and time specified for a gathering, usually of other geocachers.
Of special mention is the CITO event (Cache In, Trash Out) where cachers gather to remove trash from an area.
See www.CacheInTrashOut.org for more information
- Reverse or Locationless Cache: You must find a specific item (e.g., a historical monument) and log its coordinates.
- PodCache: An audio version of a letterbox. Instead of using a GPS, you listen to an MP3 file that contains instructions
and clues for finding the cache. You can find out more at www.PodCacher.com
- Hitchhikers, Travel Bugs, and Geocoins: Serialized coins or uniquely numbered tags (the tags are usually attached to
an item such as a figurine). The hitchhikers are moved from cache to cache by cachers who find them. Each
hitchhiker is assigned a task (e.g., visit a cache placed in each state capitol). The unique number on the tag allows the finders
to log the hitchhiker's movements and then the owner can track its progress online.
- Geodashing, Geo-Golf, GeoPoker, Minute War, etc.: Games played with a GPS. You can find out more at
GPSgames.org
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A geocacher with a super-race mentality that is demonstrated by ridiculing
and persecuting any player that uses different equipment, uses different
techniques, or searches for a different style of cache. They are so
convinced of their perfection that any ideas or suggestions made by other
players are considered blaspheme against their supreme deity. A Geo-Nazi
frowns upon any utterance by a player until they have proven their
geo-genetic purity by finding 1,000 caches, placing 500 caches, slaying a
dozen newbies in forum combat, and signing an oath of loyalty in their own
blood to the Geo-Reich
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