Happy Hunting!

This tuesday I met with my friend Steffi, and we both went geocaching. Since we live like 300kms apart, we met in the middle; in a small city called Crailsheim.
We had so much fun!
The sun was shining, the birds were singing. It wasn't too warm, and we had nothing to worry about.

We found 30 caches. :D

There were two series.
One had to do with jobs and the other with fantastic creatures. You'll see what I mean in a moment. ;)

The first cache we found was called "Night-Watchman". It was hidden in a small lantern in a tree. Too cute.
Once we found it, we knew that the hiding places always had to do with the actual job. This was so creative and a lot of work!

That's the cache! :)

Unfortunately there were some lumberjacks cutting down bushes, so we couldn't pass, and drove back to find the other caches first.

We stopped in a small town. The cache was hidden behind the mailbox. As soon as we got out of the car, I started to laugh. I don't know why. I just thought the whole situation was funny.

Two girls park their car directly in front of a cow barn. Two farmers were standing next to us, talking. An old woman was sitting on a bench, staring at us. How on earth should we act as if we were secret agents on a mission? We were suspicious (you know, geocachers try to be careful, so that non-cachers don't see what they're doing , and don't destroy the cache)!
I sat down on a bench, and my friend had to do all the work, because I couldn't stop laughing. I guess she was a little bit mad at me. :D At least she found the cache.

We then did the series about the fantastic creatures. Everything was so beautiful. There was a small lake, an awesome big tree, and loads and loads of nature. ;)

Me :)

My friend returning from the cache (not on the pic).

Tree Hugger

This was a huuuge tree.

Can you see the cache? ;)

Yup, that's a cache, too.

This was called the lake of the Nymphs.

The troll's chair (and our gps devices).

Sometimes we had to search a long time, sometimes we saw where the cache was hidden (when you've found a lot of geocaches, you know how things are hdiden. Rocks that don't belong there, branches, stumps...sometimes it's too obvious - for a geocacher).

After we found every cache of that series, we drove back to the other forest. The lumberjacks were gone, and we could drive to the parking ground.

It was as beautiful as the other forest. And the caches were even better.

Cute! (Cache: Exterminator)

Cache: Ornithologist

Cache: Shoemaker

Because we only own old gps devices, we don't have maps on it (just a small arrow, pointing in the right direction). At home I planned a route, and wrote the caches in that order down...
So we didn't actually know where we had to go.

And we walked, and walked, and walked.

The sun was slowly setting, we were tired and hungry, when we reached the car. But it had been fun. A lot of fun. Luckily, there weren't many people around, so nobody "disturbed" us.

After that, we did two other caches, which were on our way back, and then went to eat something.

And you know what? I had terrible tooth aches the whole day. I couldn't bite, I couldn't chew. It hurt so much. And I was like: Nooo, I don't want to eat! :(
But as soon as I started to eat, the pain lessened...Strange, huh?

My friend brought me back to the station (I took the train - the gas is way too expensive :P), and then after a lot of cuddling and hugging, I went back home.

Steffi and me after a long and nice day.

Getting to know me: Geocaching

I started Geocaching nearly five years ago.
A German comedian (Bernhard Hoecker) wrote a book about it. I read it, and was immediately hooked.

Geocaching is a worldwide treasure hunting game. The first cache was placed in the year 2000 in the USA.
It's difficult to explain, but very easy to do.

The most popular website is www.geocaching.com. Currently, there are over 1 million geocaches hidden.

What the heck are you talking about?
Geocaching consists of the words geography (caches are hidden outside. You have to go out in the nature!) and caching (cache is a term for computer memory. A way to store things easily).
All you need is a computer with an internet connection, and a gps device (it's similiar to a navigation system).

The so called owner places a cache somewhere, writes down the coordinates and information.
You - the finder - take these coordinates from the webpage. Copy them to your gps device, and go!

Caches are hidden. You have to search them. Sometimes it's pretty easy, sometimes it can be annoying.
Once you've found a cache, you have to sign a logbook (tell the person, who put it there that you found it). In bigger caches there are trading items. You can take what you like, but you have to leave something in return.

You place the cache exactly where you found it, go home, and tell the owner that you found the cache (and what you liked / didn't like).

That's it! =)

Where are these caches?
Everywhere. Literally.
You can find them in forests, parks, near streets, in cities, at places of interests, at memorials, in ruins (or the so called lost places), on hills, in caves, holes, tunnels, underwater, in trees - the possibilities are infinte.

Of course, there are certain rules (don't bury them, not near railroad tracks...stuff like that), but you can play with your imagination.

Types of caches
The most common one is called "Traditional". That's the one I described earlier.
Then there are Multi-Caches. They have different stages. You find clues, riddles, tasks at them, and have to find your way to the final. Like a scavenger hunt.

Mysteries are riddle caches. You have to solve different puzzles to find out the coordinates.

A cool thing are the Earthcaches. They show special greographic characteristics, things that our Mother Nature created and changed.
You don't find a box, but you have to answer some questions and take a picture of you.

Oh, and of course there are different sizes of containers from nanos (1cm) to big boxes.
And there are different difficulties from 1 to 5 (that involves diving, climbing, stuff like that).

Meeting people
Although geocaching sounds like a secret society (we try to be careful, so that Muggles - non-cacher - won't get suspicious), we like to meet others.
Where I live, we meet at least once a month. It's always fun. Most people are really nice.
And nobody cares, if you're a woman or a man, if you're white, brown, or green, if you're rich or poor, if you're pretty or ugly...
the only thing that counts is that you love geocaching.
We try to support each other, create new ideas, go out together, and just have fun!

Impressions

That's how a cache container can look like...

Scary, isn't it?

Signing the logbook on a ship!

Caching with friends

me, my friend and the geocache

solving a riddle

car wreckage

an old tennis court

that's a mini logbook

a micro cache container

me :P

my friend and I...having fun

Celebrating ten years of geocaching in my hometown

If you didn't understand what I tried to tell you...

here is a short video that explains everything.