Geocachers Beware!

[Prudie]

http://www.thisisdorset.net/news/10457345.Woman_rescued_from_tree_after_GPS_cache_search/

I don't know much about this puzzling pursuit but it can obviously impact on your personal safety!

[daisya]

Looks like it Prudie, but how silly to climb a tree just for that (if the cache was there anyway). I love the idea of geocashing but couldn't possibly do it...but apart from times like this, it looks fun - something like treasure hunting methinks.

[Prudie]

I've been on treasure hunts that you do by car and they were a lot of fun. Surely the treasure, or the route to it, would never be placed up a tree anyway.

[daisya]

I would have thought not too Prudie though the cache can be in hidey holes or bushes et al...but I certainly wouldn't have thought up a tree though I guess there's no accounting for what some people would do.

[coccinelle]

The cache can be up a tree as this happened to me a few weeks ago but I decided not to risk it. Each cache is registered as to how easy or difficult it is to get to it (terrain) and find it. If you're not very athletic you just don't go for the difficult ones. There are some caches where you need a dingy or swim to get to (they're 5 star) however, the easy ones ( 1 star) are accessible to everybody. A lot of kids go geocaching as that's the fun to do it as a family event.

[puddle-duck]

I've never heard of it, but it does sound like fun. Probably best for me to stay away from climbing trees though. Being rescued by hunky firemen sounds like fun too. :)

[coccinelle]

puddle-duck; it is great fun and there are millions of caches around the world. You go to places near you that you didn't know existed! All you need is a hand held GPS (most mobiles now have this) and a pen. Go into geocaching.com and see all the caches near you. It can however get addictive.

[Snafu03]

i dabbled with it for a bit.

i also tried laying a few of my own - gave up in the end. Everytime I submitted them there was some ridiculous red-tape reason why it wasnt allowed. Jeez, anyone would think I was submitting plans for a nuclear power station!

[coccinelle]

Really snafu? What were the problems? Other than not being there/nearby to keep an eye on things I can't see what the problem would be....

[Snafu03]

one of them (even though just off a public footpath) was on land designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. I had to contact some quango who were clueless and useless.

I then moved it - they bounced my request again as it was less than 545ft from another geocache - against the 'saturation' of geocache regulation. Various other reasons - it was farcical. I gave up in the end.