My
other hobby is geocaching.
For those who don't know what
geocaching is,
below a small
description.
Geocaching is an outdoor
recreational activity, in which the participants use a Global Positioning
System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to
hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", anywhere in the
world.
A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook where
the geocacher enters the date they found it and signs it with their
established code name. After signing the log, the cache must be placed back
exactly where the person found it. Larger containers such as plastic storage
containers (Tupperware or similar) or ammunition boxes can also contain
items for trading, usually toys or trinkets of little financial value,
although sometimes they are sentimental.
For
the traditional geocache, a geocacher will place a waterproof container
containing a log book (with pen or pencil) and trade items then record the
cache's coordinates. These coordinates, along with other details of the
location, are posted on a listing site (see list of some sites below). Other
geocachers obtain the coordinates from that listing site and seek out the
cache using their GPS handheld receivers. The finding geocachers record
their exploits in the logbook and online, but then must return the cache to
the same coordinates so that other geocachers may find it. Geocachers are
free to take objects (except the logbook, pencil, or stamp) from the cache
in exchange for leaving something of similar or higher value.
Typical cache "treasures" are not high in monetary value but may hold
personal value to the finder. Aside from the logbook, common cache contents
are unusual coins or currency, small toys,
ornamental buttons, CDs, or books. Also common are objects that are moved
from cache to cache called "hitchhikers", such as Travel Bugs or
Geocoins, whose travels
may be logged and followed online. Cachers who initially place a Travel Bug
or Geocoins often assign specific goals for their trackable items. Examples
of goals are to be placed in a certain cache a long distance from home, or
to travel to a certain country, or to travel faster and farther than other
hitchhikers in a race. Higher value items are occasionally included in
geocaches as a reward for the First to Find (called "FTF"), or in locations
which are harder to reach. Dangerous or illegal items, weapons, food and
pornography are generally not allowed and are specifically against the rules
of most geocache listing sites.
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