One Tip- Urgent!!!

[pshelto]

Tomorrow morning and afternoon I am speaking to a class about geocaching. My question to you is this: What is one tip you would give a new geocacher?

Just one please (I figure one per everyone on here will cover just about everything).

These kids are jr high and sr high, in case that makes a difference.

[Spice]

When the GPSr gets you close to ground zero stick the GPSr in your pocket and just look.

[grzz51]

Ditto to paris1time
and...... don't give up too easily.

[AR-HICK]

Why is that there? Just look for stuff that is out of place. That is my best advice.

[flannelman]

Be prepared for anything and don't focus completly on your gps. Also think about how you would hide something.

[arkfiremedic]

Tell them to have fun, but warn them it can be addictive!

[OldRiverRunner]

Don't hide a geocache until you have found at least 50 caches of different types of hides placed by different geocachers.

[pshelto]

Thanks for all the tips! I will pass them on to hopefully a few new cachers.

[Ashallond]

Don't always look on the ground.

[cachemates]

Ditto to paris1time
and...... don't give up too easily.
Double Ditto.

[pshelto]

Well the kids really seemed to enjoy the hunt. I hid about 8 caches on the school campus and let them go looking. I tried to relay to them all the advice and I think they got everything...except the not using a GPSr once you get close. Whoever had the GPSr stuck to it like glue while those without ended up finding the cache most of the time. It's amazing how creative kids can be when finding caches. They made me realize some of the caches hidden on campus weren't that great while others were pretty good and they LOVE the big caches.

Thanks to everyone for their pointers and lets hope to see some new cachers in the Caddo Gap, Glenwood, Norman, Mt. Ida area in the next couple of months as the local school tries to bring it online.

[Spice]

Thank you pshelto for promoting geocaching to the kids!

[QuartzCachers]

Great job Blair! You are to be commended for this project. I hope to see more programs like this in the future. I think geocaching is a great tool to excite kids about math and science classes. It is a tangible result of these interests, being put to use in a fun and productive way.
Thanks for doing that! :D :D :D

[pshelto]

No, thank you guys for keeping me so pumped about geocaching, even after DNFs, bad logs and bad caching days. Your creative caches and friendliness helps me to promote such a wonderful hobby.

After my last post, I had a great thing happen to me. I went to eat with family and one of the students came up to me. He said he knew he was coming to town and looked up some nearby caches and he found one. He was so excited! I think he might have the bug, even without a GPSr.

[arkfiremedic]

even after DNFs, bad logs and bad caching days.

I didn't know there was such a thing as a "bad caching day"! On the other hand I am an expert on the ability to DNF a cache and an expert on getting bad logs. On a couple of occasions the log was bad enough that it made me want to quit hiding all together, and archive the ones I had. But thanks in part to some pep talks last year from some of the 'elite' members of this group I decided to stick it out. Thanks guys and girls- you know who you are!

[BSA534]

Sorry I missed this thread I had a great tip for newbies (or anyone else), Take Woodwalker with you, chances are he's already found most of the caches you are looking for! :D

[pshelto]

I can already see the looks on the kids' faces when I say "one of the biggest tips is to take Woodwalker with you. Oh, you don't know who that is? Well see on the website you get a nickname..."

Thanks again for all the tips. This thread could be useful for new cachers, so feel free to keep the advice coming!