Geocaching: A New Game
Last year we started this hobby by finding large caches on the scenic trails in and around the Finger Lakes of NY. The views of the gorges, overlooks and trails were just what I needed each week to give me a re-charge knowing nature in it’s glory was still in charge. We did visit some suburban caches on some local trails and even picked up some lamp post micros. That prompted me to set up a filter to delete all micros.
This year, I added the micros back into the pocket queries and removed multi caches and puzzles. Our goal was for exercise and chasing down leaky film canisters 50 feet from the car wasn’t getting it. Spending time entering coordinates for multis and solving puzzles doesn’t fit into the exercise equation either. Since adding back the micros we have found 3 of the tiny nano caches smaller than a dime. The first one was neat.
In order to get the walking in that we wanted, and needed, we have started increasing the amount of caches we go after. Last year 4 caches on the deep woods trails was a days work and usually a 7 mile hike. Last weekend we mixed it up and between the micros and short hikes we grabbed 18 caches in one day and only walked 7 miles. Most of them were in towns and out of the 18 there was one “Rails to Trails” Kodak moment.
With only 23 caches left before we meet our yearly goal the plan is to grab them up early and then go back to the long wooded hikes away from populated areas and take our time enjoying what got us into this hobby to begin with.