This is a prompt:

What are your ideas on geocaching?
If you do, why do you geocache?
In comparison to a climber's normal adventures, is geocaching a "child's" game?
Is geocaching just a game or can it be called a sport?
Is it possible to develop geocaching to a more "extreme" level, say, a cache 5 pitches up?
Should the Burger King toys be left out?
Is geocaching "alright"?

Geocaching is littering.

I search geocaching websites for "caches" when I am going somewhere.

If I find your "cache" in a wilderness area, I pack it out and throw it away, like the garbage that it is.

If you want to hide garbage, do it on your own property, not in my mountains.

Oh, yeah, and have a nice day!

I used to geocache, and then one day it dawned on me that I was just littering. So I've stopped.

Now removing them from wilderness areas, that's an interesting idea....

Sierra Ledge Rat wrote:Geocaching is littering.

I search geocaching websites for "caches" when I am going somewhere.

If I find your "cache" in a wilderness area, I pack it out and throw it away, like the garbage that it is.

If you want to hide garbage, do it on your own property, not in my mountains.

Oh, yeah, and have a nice day!

Quite unlike the slings, pins, and fixed gear which we all leave up there on a relatively regular basis.

Why would you want to pack out a cache? Is the "litter" harming anybody or the environment? And how is it unlike a summit log- do you pack those out as well?

-Mark

I personally never got drawn into the hobby, and particularly not for the trading of trinkets. I believe it is littering as well, even if it's hidden in a discreet strong box (this begs an obvious question, which I'll skirt past...)

It is a good way for families, especially with smaller kids, to get out and into the backcountry. Kind of like a glorified egg-hunt, but if it lights a spark in Junior's head at age 6, maybe he'll get into this silly climbing and hiking business when a little older. As you can imagine, kids may not appreciate a "summit" or something esoteric like that... yet.

A reasonable compromise that I enjoy on a casual basis are the integer lat-long "virtual" hunts (see confluence.org). This is geocaching I suppose, but generally there's no box full of goodies laying there (maybe a pile of rocks, though).

I have used some trip reports on the geocache sites when planning a peak. In a particular case, one site had some decent directions and description of a road leading up to one peak of interest, whereas at the time SP did not (ahem).

The two hobbies have a fair bit of intersecting interests.

surgent wrote:A reasonable compromise that I enjoy on a casual basis are the integer lat-long "virtual" hunts (see confluence.org). This is geocaching I suppose, but generally there's no box full of goodies laying there (maybe a pile of rocks, though).

Cool. I live a few miles from one of those: http://www.mytopo.com/maps.cfm?mtlat=36&mtlon=-115

And a lot of western state boundaries coincide with the integer lat/lon positions. Or at least they exactly would if the surveys hadn't been a bit off.

Day Hiker wrote:

surgent wrote:A reasonable compromise that I enjoy on a casual basis are the integer lat-long "virtual" hunts (see confluence.org). This is geocaching I suppose, but generally there's no box full of goodies laying there (maybe a pile of rocks, though).

Cool. I live a few miles from one of those: http://www.mytopo.com/maps.cfm?mtlat=36&mtlon=-115

And a lot of western state boundaries coincide with the integer lat/lon positions. Or at least they exactly would if the surveys hadn't been a bit off.

Ah, good old 36 N, 115 W My folks don't live far from there. I haven't logged that one yet. I might this Feb when I visit, looking for something to do.

A lot of state and national boundaries were intended to follow lat or long lines, but these were surveyed probably in the 19th century, and even today, with new updated datums (e.g. NAD-1927 being phased out by WGS-1984), there will be little tweaks to "exact" locations. The AZ-UT boundary along the 37th Latitude North is actually pretty accurate: we logged one in Colorado City only about 40 feet from the marked boundary. On the other hand, the 49th Latitude, which marks off the US-Canadian border, can be way off - by hundreds of feet - at some locations, when compared to where the border actually is.

The confluence website is set up pretty nicely. Where else are you going to see places all over the world, "as is". Plus, there are some remarkable peaks just begging for SP pages. Check out these peaks in Mali:

http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?id=7449

Mark Straub wrote:

Sierra Ledge Rat wrote:Geocaching is littering....

Quite unlike the slings, pins, and fixed gear which we all leave up there on a relatively regular basis.....

Okay, I see your point.

But I don't leave slings or anything else unless my life depends on it. And I've made mistakes in the past that I regret, like leaving things behind or building rock shelters.

If you can show me a cache that was left in place because someone's life depended on it, then perhaps I will be more lenient towards geocaching.

The rest of the geocachers -- and climbers -- who leave shit in the wilderness should report to me promptly for an ass-whipping.

One of the reasons I refuse to support the Access Fund is because they insist that it is a climber's right to leave bolts an other gear in designated wilderness areas.

In the goold ol' days, most climbers revered the backcountry and climbed because they enjoyed the beauty and wonder. Nowadays, climbers -- and others -- seem to think that the backcountry exists solely for their entertainment, and they feel entitled to do whatever they want in the backcountry.

The backcountry is still my temple, don't be messing with it.

I do geocache and I really enjoy it.

I discovered my first one while on a backpack. I thought that the ammo cannister I had discovered was left behind by hunters. I was going to cart it out as trash when I saw and read an exteriorly placed sign. I opened up the cannister and discovered a new, secret world.

Global teasure-hunting for kids of all ages- well count me in. Combining two things that I love, geocaching and backpacking....fantastic.!!

What do I get out of it...well;
I've learned alot from some of these geocaches, especially those placed at points of
cultural, historic or geological ("earthcaches") interest.

I enjoy the physical challenge of finding these "hides"- especially as I do not use a GPS,
I use only maps and the hints provided.

I enjoy the mental challenge of the puzzle caches.

I get a kick at how creative people are in the design of the containers.

As for the trinkets left behind I could care less. I know that some people like to trade or
to win prizes (like "first to find" prizes). To each their own.

I get a kick out of the fun that other people get out of finding my "hides".

There is an extreme variation of geocaching that involves racing cross-country and having to locate "stations" in the woods wher you must key in with your own mag key.

Someone placed a geocache at the main entrance to UCSC a couple of years back. For reasons unknown they used a small box with wires sticking out of it. Freaked out the right people and the entrance to campus was shut down for the better part of a morning. I'm not a fan of geocaching, but this couple of hours of inconvenience is the only reason. Petty I know.

Oh, geocaching. I read geoCoaching and thought, boy howdy what is this about.