Wednesday 26 September | Geocaching

Apologies for a late blog - I pulled a Mike and was out of town. So rather late than never, here is a bit about the meeting last week (27 September)

"Geocaching... what the....  are you nuts?" If that is your first reaction to the word, then join the club! Geocaching or modern-day treasure hunting may just change the way you look at life.

Melanie Walker was the speaker last week and she enlightened the members on the game of geocaching.

What is geocaching you ask? Well, it is an outdoor, real-world treasure hunting game. To participate you will need a GPS device to help you navigate to a specific set of coordinates to find the container (or as it is called a "geocache") hidden at that location.

Where did it start?

The US Government implemented Selective Availability (SA) on all GPS systems for national security reasons. SA was an intentional degradation of the GPS signal which meant you could not pinpoint your exact location unless you were in the military. Back in May 2000, at the direction of President Bill Clinton, this practice was discontinued to make the GPS system more responsive to civilian and commercial users.

GPS enthusiasts celebrated the fact and newsgroups on the internet were teeming with ideas on how to use this technology. Dave Ulmer (computer consultant) wanted to test the system by hiding something in the woods and posting the "Great American GPS Stash Hunt". The rules: "Take some stuff, leave some stuff"

Within 3 days 2 people read about his stash and went hunting for it. Afterwards, they shared their experiences online and soon others followed in Ulmer's footsteps by hiding their own containers. That, in a nutshell, is how geocaching started.

Today there are more than 1,400 geocaches around Johannesburg alone.
So why would you want to play this game?

It will get you in the outdoors
You can have fun and exercise at the same time
You can see the world (if so inclined)
Discover places in your own neighborhood you never knew existed
You can help and give back
You can make great friends
You will have stories to last a lifetime
.. and that is just a few reasons.

How do you play?
At its simplest level, geocaching requires these 8 steps:

1. Register for a free Basic Membership.
2. Visit the "Hide & Seek a Cache" page.
3. Enter your postal code and click "search."
4. Choose any geocache from the list and click on its name.
5. Enter the coordinates of the geocache into your GPS Device.
6. Use your GPS device to assist you in finding the hidden geocache.
7. Sign the logbook and return the geocache to its original location.
8. Share your geocaching stories and photos online.

For more on geocaching go to the website  GEOCACHING

A thought...

Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.
-Henry J. M. Nouwen - Humanitarian