Geocaching

GEOCACHING is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online.”

We have recently discovered this past time that allows us to go exploring and find new places. The kids love it, because they think it is the greatest thing to go “hunting for treasure” and we love it because it leads us to new places that we most likely would not have discovered on our own. Below you can see some of the “caches” that we have found so far!

Be warned, however, that there are spoilers below. If you don’t want to know too much about these caches, then don’t go any farther

Bust

Last modified on 2012-06-24 18:38:16 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

June 24, 2012

Today we decided to go to a park in Olching and check out some caches. What we found, however, was nothing more than the short comings of using a cell phone instead of an actual GPS device.

On the first cache, we had a stretch of about 5 meters where it might have been. This area was covered in non-cachers, and the rules say that non-cachers shouldn’t see you grabbing your treasure. This made it difficult, and the face that my cell phone couldn’t decide exactly where it thought we were supposed to go didn’t help much.

We decided after a while to just try another one. There were 7 total in this park, so we picked another from the list and set off. This was another one that was in the woods and of course I was there in my shorts and sandals. That hasn’t stopped me in the past and it wasn’t going to stop me today. We got as close as we could with the path and then I took a hard left and start going through the brush between the trees. This included Posion Ivy, Burning Nettle, Thistles, and so much more. Good times…

I got to within 5 meters of the goal and my GPS recalculates and tells me I am 25 meters away. I go where it tells me to and once I make it within 10 meters of it, it switches once again and I am 45 meters away. After playing this game of cat and mouse for about 30 minutes I decided that it was time to get home and wash all the “fun” off of my legs.

Now, sitting at home on my computer, I have a tab open in Chrome for Amazon so we can decide what kind of GPS we want…

Didn't find it.

Didn’t find it.

Blaumilchkanal 0239-2

Last modified on 2012-06-19 12:49:34 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

June 19, 2012

So there we were, picking Lillian up at Kindergarten, when we got the idea to check if there were any caches in the area. There was, so we decided to go for it! Several hundred meters and we were there.

It was a bit of a pain to get to the cache because it was on the other side of a busy road from the bike path that took us most of the way there. Once we got close enough to it, I left Anya and the kids on the path and made a mad dash across the street to retrieve it and bring it back. This one just had the log it in; no pen, no tradeables, and no trackables. It was still fun though.

Once I finished my second death defying dash across the street it was time to head home. Very uneventful, and no funny stories to accompany it, but still fun! It was a beautiful day and we made the most of it.

Blaumilchkanal 0239-2

Found it!

 

Am Moos

Last modified on 2012-06-08 07:06:43 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

June 7, 2012

Today was a beautiful day so we decided to go check out a Letterbox in Germering called Germeringer Burg. It was right next to the Germeringer See and was supposed to be in the woods. Sadly, the clues that were listed on the Cache description didn’t help us one bit. Not even once we were there. After wandering lost and clueless for about half an hour we decided that we needed to try a different one.

That is where Am Moos came in. It was just a couple of hundred meters from where we were looking for the Burg, so we decided to give it a try. The difficulty on this one was 2.5/5 stars, meaning it was harder than any other one we have done so far. It was also our first Cache that was off the beaten path. So we put it in the cell phone and started walking. Once we got within approximately 20 meters we had to go straight to the right even though the path kept going straight. That was my cue to get to work. The three girls were all standing on the path cheering, and Ryan was staring at them like they were crazy.

Whoever it was that created this Cache did an amazing job. The coordinates were right on. The reason for the difficulty was that the Cache was in a hole and covered with branches, but I found it anywho. We hadn’t paid that much attention to the Cache when we picked it, so when it ended up being a small Cache instead of a Micro like all of the others we were presently surprised. As is now tradition, the girls traded what was in the cache for something of their own, we signed our names, and I put it back.

While I was putting it back Ryan decided that it was time for lunch. We were quite a ways from the car, so Anya decided to go back to a bench that we saw a little ways up the path and feed him. When she got there, however, the bench was more ant than wood so she decided to sit on the ground. When I came walking up with Lillian she said that she had to pee. Still far from the car, I decided that she could just pee in the woods. While she is peeing, and Anya is breastfeeding Ryan, Lavinia decides that it is time for her to take her pants off as well and join the party! Luckily no body walked by, because we must have looked ridiculous!

After everyone was done eating, peeing, and getting dressed, we headed home to decide which Cache to do next.

Am Moos

Found it!

Blaumilchkanal 0236-2

Last modified on 2012-06-01 00:41:21 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

May 31, 2012

Today we went back to the cache at Mai Berg, because it had things inside to trade and Lillian really wanted to put something in. Since we have already completed that one, we decided to not waste the opportunity so we found another one in the area.

This second cache of the day was labeled as a “park and grab” so we decided to check out what that meant. Shocking though it may be, park and grab means that you park right by the cache and just grab it. No wandering, and no searching out coordinates. That was perfect considering we had already walked all the way to Mai Berg!

This time Lillian managed to find the cache without so much as a clue from Anya or I! It was “hidden” in plain sight since it was a similar color to the thing it was hanging on. She spotted it, I grabbed it, and we all logged it together! This is really so much fun!

Blaumilchkanal 0236-2

Found it!

Blaumilchkanal 0237-2

Last modified on 2012-05-29 06:55:48 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

May 28, 2012

I think we are hooked! We finished Blaumilchkanal 0238-2 and decided to check if there was another one near by, and there was. Since the weather was just amazing, we decided to take on two at the same time.

Just as the one before it, this one was a straight shot there with a bike path, and also like the one before it the hint helped us find it.

When we finally got there, a car pulled up to the same spot and seemed to be waiting for us to leave. Since we are supposed to try and find it without letting others see where it was, we pretended to be messing with the kids. They finally decided to take their dog for a walk so we were clear to pull it from its hiding space and sign our names. We then put it back just as quick as we could and headed for home. Along the way we noticed that the people with the dog were coming back from a very short walk. Before they got in their car, though, they made a stop at the cache that we had just left. Small world!

Blaumilchkanal 0238-2

Found it!

Blaumilchkanal 0238-2

Last modified on 2012-05-29 06:50:55 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

May 28, 2012

After our success on our first excursion, we decided to take a trip on the very next day for another. We found one that was close enough to our house for us to walk, so we packed the kids a drink and snack and took off.

Unlike the first cache that we found, this one had us taking a bike path right up to it…almost. The GPS said that we were there, but we weren’t sure where to look. This is where the helpful clue that they give you made all the difference. I am not going to tell you what it was. If you want to know, you can go decipher it yourself 😛 Needless to say, after checking the clue we found it. This one was out of reach of the kids, but with a little help from Daddy, Lillian was still able to retrieve it! As is customary (and required by the rules) we added our name to the list, and put it back for the next Geocachers to find.

Blaumilchkanal 0238-2

Found it!

Mai Berg

Last modified on 2012-05-29 06:46:10 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

May 27, 2012

This was our first cache, and it was a great trip! The night before this trip, a friend of ours mentioned that his neighbors were Geocaching, and that he had done it in the past as well. We were clueless, so after a bit of explaining we decided to give it a try. The idea was so simple, but at the same time it seemed very intriguing.

On the day of the trip, we got off to a bit of a rough start. This particular cache starts at a “parking lot” and then just has an end point. Seems simple enough, except that we couldn’t find the parking lot. Once we realized that “parking lot” meant “somewhere you can park your car without getting it towed or getting arrested” we found it.

Seeing, once more, as this was our first attempt at this thing called Geocaching, I had my cell phone (our GPS device) out the whole time, counting down the meters. It was, relatively speaking, a straight shot from parking to the end. Once we got there, we released the kids to find whatever it was we were trying to find. Lo and behold, they found it! Like everyone told us, it was hidden in plain sight so everyone “could” see it, but no one really does. The kids freaked! They were loving it! To add to it, we found a spot just a couple of kilometers from our house, where we have never been, that had a magnificent view of the Alps! We were hooked!

The family at the Mai Berg Geocache

Found it!