Read a bit about it and quite fancy having a go to get me out and about in different places.
What do I need to know?
Any apps worth looking at?
The official geocache app is the one you need. I did over 200 a few years ago, had a look recently and several required a subscription to see 'premium' caches.
Some of the ones I did find last year were in a bad state - logs missing or the whole thing waterlogged.
It's a great way to see different places though, great to encourage kids to get out. I loved it...
Grown man going out geo-caching on his own? I ain't heard of that.
If you want to take the kids / nephews or nieces out it's good fun finding them, some are hidden quite creatively, but the unfurling of water sodden log papers and absolute tat you find in them isn't too exciting.
Pokemon Go is better tbh.
Geocaching in the local area is 'closed' because it involves people finding and touching the same thing(s).
Otherwise it's a great way of getting out and about and exploring new places. There is a 100 cache walking circuit a few miles from where I live, people plan to do it in a day, but that involves a 5am start and a torch unless you get very lucky with the weather, so it's not all about the kids!
Flipping that over - There is a ~10 cache route also near me that is x-mas themed and gets restocked by its owners in the lead up to Christmas so it is great day out for the little-uns in December.
C:geo app is pretty good, it is free and open source. Unlike the official Geocaching.com app, which is just trying to sell you stuff.
Some caches can be a bit crap. Seems to be a lot of pointless dull roadside caches, or poking around in dodgy parks. But more interesting caches in remote places. And yes, can encourage you to go new places, or find things you've never noticed before.
If you're an android user the c:geo app is a better option and lets you drill down your stats a lot more. I used to do it quite actively, only really do it now when I go to a new country to get the souvernir for it or if I'm in a completely unkown place and want ideas of where I can walk. It's not all just about the kids, I made some good friends at the time doing it and went some places Id never have visited otherwise. I've kayaked a mile down a disused canal tunnel in an inflatable kayak, abseiled off buildings, climbed huge massive trees, climbed 100 odd steps up a church in Germany twice and even waded in the mudflats near to Clevedon. There's all sorts of ways and challenges you can do with it. Trying to complete a yearly calendar, getting more than 100 in a day, filling your difficulty and terrain combination. It's something a bit different and at the time got me out and about meeting people and discovering the area when i moved to Kidderminster.
I used to do it. Moreso when I was with my daughter and we'd be looking for interesting outings. I set up a cache near my home town too. It was fun but I stopped when she became a stroppy teenager 🙂
It's been mentioned on the Strava thread but VeloViewer Explorer has a similar concept - an encouragement to seek out new places. The main difference is that VVE can take you to some really remote (bleak) places whereas clever geocache placement means you often discover little gems that only the locals know.
I do it as a way to provide an incentive to a six year old to get out and find stuff. We only looks for ones marked kid friendly and it's proving popular. Can't see it lasting into teenage years but right now the novelty factor is high.
I use the official app. I also download coordinates onto a Garmin GPS as my phones lock isn't great sometimes and you do need to be pretty precise. Some of the hiding places are inventive and if you're not within 6feet to start you're going to struggle.
I've done it with the kids. I got a bit infuriated with it - people seem to stick things in the shittest places or take pleasure in making things virtually impossible to find. Basically a lot of it is just fancy litter - and now its fancy litter handled by people who might have covid. There's no skill in using a GPS to find the area so the only way to make it challenging seems to be to make them very hidden or add cryptic puzzles.
If you want a way to make a walk more interesting have a look on the British Orienteering Federation website for permanent orienteering courses - https://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/pocs at least then you are working your mind/map-reading/navigation skills.
I did a bit last summer. Had a new baby and was forever out walking with the pram to get the damn thing to sleep. Gave me something to do on the same old walks.
I dabble a bit, used to do more but got a bit tired of “ micros” thrown down where a decent size container could have been placed.
On the other hand I do still enjoy an ammo can hidden up a moorland track or deep in a forest, even more so when they take me to an interesting feature in the countryside I didn’t know about