How did you get started geocaching?

[T-Hunter]

I've been looking for this topic on here for a while to see how people got started caching and haven't found one yet.

For me I was at work one day and my good friend PVSCHRO1 (we call him psycho) says to me " Hey, you like finding things (referring to me arrowhead hunting and metal detecting) maybe you would like this. He tried explaining it to me and I was a little lost at first since I didn't even own a GPS unit. So I looked it up online and joined in Jan. 23 2007. I bought a Garmin I que m3 pda and found my first cache on 2/27/07 and was pretty well hooked from there.

[cheechgang]

Now are you really expecting me to remember something that happened 5 years ago? Cheezits

[GeoFlint13]

Great topic idea!

On July 13, 2008 I read about geocaching in the July 6 edition of the Defiance Crescent-News.
I guess it was a good thing that that week old newspaper was still laying around! The article included interviews of Pipenella and Yogi57 with a picture of Yogi at some waterfalls. I've known Pipenella for 30+ years, so it was really neat reading about somebody that I already knew that was a geocacher. I joined the same day, bought a GPS on eBay a couple of days later and found my first cache on July 22. I hoped that it was going to be a family thing, but the wife only likes the quick park and grabs and the kids end up fighting and arguing in the car, so 95% of the time it's just me. I love it and would be out caching 24/7 if I could.

[rowdie]

Memsochet bought a Cobra GPSr to play with on his 40+ mile commute. One of the people at work introduced us to geocaching (just something he had discovered while surfing the net). Memsochet ask me if I wanted to go look for one of these things that day at lunch. We set out and found Air Force by Clan Long on Dec. 29, 2004. It was buried under 6 inches of snow.
I didn't have a GPSr until almost a year later. So I mainly tagged along at lunchtime.

[Cachemeister]

I was introduced to Geocaching about 6000 miles from here.

A business trip took me to Dresden, Germany in March of 2005. An associate that had heard about geocaching happened to have an E-Trex with him and decided to try this out.
We walked to the coordinates, and then discovered the hidden container. This is also when I learned about Travel Bugs, as he picked up a Beavis TB to bring back to the States.

When home, I looked up GC.COM and seen that there were tons of hides all around the area where I live.
After becoming a member, I picked up Teal Pagoda for my first find…

[Mighty_Mo]

I got my 1st GPS for on road navigation. It was included with the DeLORME Street Atlas program for my laptop. I needed to do some off-road trail blazing and took the laptop with me and was gravely disappointed with it's capability. However a friend had a DeLORME PN-20 that worked very well. I hinted to my wife A PN-20 would be a good Christmas present. The hint worked.

I spent the next 3 months familiarizing myself with the GPS. In doing so I was frequenting the DeLORME forum and they were mentioning "geocaching" and a website geocaching.com. Curiosity got the best of me and I visited there. I saw there were some "things" in Oak Openings. So I decided to see is I could use my GPS to find these.

On Good Friday 2008 (3/21/08) Donor was my first cache. I spent a long time looking for Santa Clause at the posted coordinates. (I still am in a fog much of the time) and Beetle Juice was my second. 5 Days later I finally understood the Reindeer caches and finally found Santa Clause. On April 6, with the help of my wife (sudoku puzzle) I found the North Pole and I was hooked.

[sunrenay]

Some of the girls on my mommy-board used to tell stories of their adventures pre-kids. They've all gotten out of it, for the most part, as their families have grown. Three and half years later, I'm finally able to explore a new hobby.

[TeamMina]

I was in the scrapbook store when I heard the owner talking about her husband finding things with his GPS. I asked a few questons and was intrigued. It was shortly before Mr. TeamMina's birthday so guess what he got? Our first GPS and all the info on geocaching!

[cachergirl27]

Well, I guess my story is boring compared to all these! I went to Walbridge park to hang out with a friend (bravo872) on a Sunday afternoon, and he had just found Baby Boy Bulitt (w/o a GPS!) and told me approximately where it was. I found it, we proceeded to the Overlook to try to find that one (again, no GPS!). He got his laptop GPS up and running, and we hit several in the Perrysburg area. I was hooked. As soon as I got my bonus from my 2nd job, I bought a GPS. I've since gotten my father-in-law, mom and a friend interested in this crazy hobby!

[GeoFlint13]

Now are you really expecting me to remember something that happened 5 years ago? Cheezits

Yes we are. Come on spill it! Or do you something to hide (and I don't mean another puzzle cache)?

[cachergirl27]

Now are you really expecting me to remember something that happened 5 years ago? Cheezits

Yes we are. Come on spill it! Or do you something to hide (and I don't mean another puzzle cache)?

Hey, lay off him, it's all a part of his witness protection cover story......oops....sorry Cheech!

[yogi57]

My sister from California was surfing the net and found the site. She kept taking about geocaching and we had no idea what it was. Thanksgiving weekend in 02' we went out and found our 1st geocache and I was hook. On the same weekend we hid 2 caches, the 1st cache to be hidden in Hancock Co. and 2nd one to be hidden in Putnam Co. Both are still active and now are oldest cache in each county.
I went on my own solo trip Dec. 28, 02 it was amazing.

[GeoFlint13]

Now are you really expecting me to remember something that happened 5 years ago? Cheezits

Yes we are. Come on spill it! Or do you something to hide (and I don't mean another puzzle cache)?

Hey, lay off him, it's all a part of his witness protection cover story......oops....sorry Cheech!

I'm a part of the witless protection program!

[linzypooh49]

Lindsay read about geocaching in parenting magazine and decided that it might be fun to try while on vacation in Gaylord, Michigan where we travel every year. So on our way in July 2006, we stopped at Cabella's and picked up the Garmin 60 and took it north with us. When we arrived we found computer access to figure where some caches were and then went after some. The GPSr didn't have maps on it yet so we had to follow the arrow the best we could through some seasonal roads and trails that really weren't trails at all. It was great and we found a cache less than a mile from where we vacation up there every year for many many years(by my many many years, not Cheech's). Took almost a year to get maps for my GPSr so we just followed the arrow to where we were going. Maps make it a lot easier. Lindsay doesn't go out as much anymore but I am addicted and get out when two kids allow.

[cheechgang]

Now are you really expecting me to remember something that happened 5 years ago? Cheezits

Yes we are. Come on spill it! Or do you something to hide (and I don't mean another puzzle cache)?

Hey, lay off him, it's all a part of his witness protection cover story......oops....sorry Cheech!

here is the b-list witness protection program they put me in.