When did you start geocaching?

[rock_hound]

With all the talk of numbers and competition, I thought it would interesting to know how long some of you have been at it.

I started in May of 2004.

Is there anyone who started in 2000? Or when did GC.com go live?

[Gaddiel]

June 10th, 2002. Ah, yes... I still remember the day I signed up. As soon as I got home from work, I told OrangeDanish (my wife) all about it. I can remember excitedly telling her, "It's like a treasure hunt! These things are EVERYWHERE!!!" ("Everywhere", as it turns out, is a relative term. :D) At that time, there were only about 10 caches within 30 miles. Boy, how we've grown!

[walkingshadow]

I have been caching for about a year. I went to Iowa to visit relatives and my big sister (woburn) and her friend (ducky2) told me about geocaching. When I got back I went out and found my first cache without a gps on the clues alone. I was hooked and went out a bought a gps. Now I occasional email my sister and taunt her about surpassing her numbers. A little friendly competition and fun. We plan to hook up and geocache together next time we get together.

Walkingshadow and red

[cachemates]

September 29 2003. Heard about geocaching from a friend. Went to geocaching website, there was one five miles from home. Tried to find it with just the clues because We didn't have a gps. Couldn't find it so,We bought a gps went back and found it, and have been enjoying it ever since.

Jerry and Bonnie

[Geezer_Veazey]

Late July 2003, just 2 days before retiring. A co-worker mentioned that I ought to check into it since I was retiring. I had been to Maine a couple of weeks earlier to use up vacation time and taken lots of pictures. When I checked into geocaching, I discovered that I had actually been to a virtual cache in Maine and one in New Hampshire. I had pictures with the answers so I emailed the owners and got credit for the two virtuals I had seen before even knowing about geocaching.

140 cache finds is not a lot for two full years of geocaching. This may be hard for some to understand, but there is more to life than geocaching. Most people who say the numbers aren't important are working real hard to run up their numbers, even while saying it. Well, I think my record shows that the numbers are not important to me. I have sought out some for their scenic value or special reasons, but mostly I just find one or two if I happen to be in the area.

[BACKPACKNJACK]

I bought my first GPS in WallyWorld Oct 1999.

I started caching Sept. 22, 2003 when there were 68,459 active caches in 185 countries.

Now there are (so far) 183,969 active caches in 215 countries.

I printed up an Ark cache map for Sept 2003 and again for Sept 2004.
I can't wait to print up one for this Sept 2005.
Nothing like a picture to point out the changes.

Edit: I had to edit this one because I messed up the date and typed 1996 not 1999 :oops:

[cachecrazies]

We started in July, 2002 after our daughter in Colorado found a Where's George bill that led her to the GC.com site. She sent us a link thinking that we might find it interesting.

After checking out the site (and thinking "what a stupid thing to do!") we discovered that there were 3 (count 'em - three!) in our area! And we knew about where the first one was located - even without a gps. After a whole 5 minutes or so of indecision - we decided to go look for it. Found it and have been "looking" ever since! By the way, that cache was the "Gorilla Cache" which is the oldest in Arkansas and was one of the first 75 caches ever put out on GC.com.

Geocaching soon took over our lives and we were traveling every weekend to find caches! As hard as it is to believe, in the early days we had found almost every cache as far away as Hot Springs, Ft. Smith, Little Rock, Branson & Springfield. As soon as a new cache popped up, we'd drive 3 or 4 hours (each way) to find it. We even made a long weekend trip to Memphis to find new caches and celebrate our 35th anniversary (what better way to spend it together?). At that time there was 102 in all of Arkansas.

Thankfully, new cachers soon had hidden more caches than we could find - and we're still trying to catch up!!! :lol: There's so many caches now that we'll never find all them - but we're still having fun trying!

[thenaturenurd]

I have been a member of GC.Com since 2003. I found my first geocache in November 2004. I really got interested in it once my department (Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism) made a policy officially allowing geocaching. That was about the time I joined the Arkansas Geocachers Association. Its been a fun ride. I have been to many neat places...I look forward to many more! Happy caching everyone!

Craig

[Valorian]

I voted for 2003 but it was actually August 2004, after four sons my mind is going quickly and their not even teens yet 8O

[arkansas_stickerdude]

I like Cachecrazies found a Where's George Dollar which lead me to GC.com and that was Febuary 2004 and still going.

[nonnipoppy]

In the face of advice that said "You should never get into a p---ing contest with a skunk". I have decided to make a comment about some of the recent discussions. Please forgive me RockHound for hijacking your thread.

We live in America and we are blessed with the opportunity to do as we please about many things. A very tiny part of that is to be able to play this game as we each choose.

If we can go from this:

........140 cache finds is not a lot for two full years of geocaching. This may be hard for some to understand, but there is more to life than geocaching.

and then do this:


..........Geocaching soon took over our lives and we were traveling every weekend to find caches!

It is an individual choice. Just like smoking or drinking. Each person is guaranteed the right in this country to make those choices. You can choose to play as YOU want.

Then would some please answer for me what difference it makes how many cache finds we each have.

There seems to be a great deal of time spent worrying about the cache find numbers of other players.

If a couple gets interested in motorsports and chooses to stay in front of the Speed Channel and watch at least two races each day, are the guilty of running up their race count? You can insert any pastime you choose into this analogy it is about the same difference.

Some people are more addicted than others. Some are more involved in other things. But so what? If you do not like another cachers find count do not look to see what it is. If our find count is a problem for you then please email or private message me and we will avoid your caches so you do not have to see the logs.

We enjoy caching. We also work lots of hours. When we are not working we are very possibly caching and will continue to do so as long as it is what WE choose to do.

Criticism of the way others choose to play has no constructive place on this forum.

Sheesh..........poppy

[Clark~Griswold]

April of 2003.

A guy I work showed me the GPS he got for Christmas. Since we travel a lot (big surprise heh), I though it would come in handy. About the same there was an article in the Demazette about Geocaching. Ellen read it and wanted to try it. We found a cache only a few minutes away at Bona Dea Trails. At that time, however, I think the next closest cache was at Mt Nebo, a good 45 mintues away.

In May we were headed out west on the Annual Griswold Family Vacation. We found some caches along the way and were hooked. As it so happens, the second cache we ever found along the Interstate in Kansas is the oldest active cache in existance.

As an aside, I totally agree with Poppy's last post. I can't understand why people worry about the way others play this great game.

[Geezer_Veazey]

...We live in America and we are blessed with the opportunity to do as we please about many things. A very tiny part of that is to be able to play this game as we each choose.... It is an individual choice. Just like smoking or drinking. Each person is guaranteed the right in this country to make those choices. You can choose to play as YOU want....Criticism of the way others choose to play has no constructive place on this forum.

Sheesh..........poppy

Well said, poppy, well said. And at the risk of being redundant I'll say it again: Well said.

There is a way to stop flamers in their tracks, most of the time. That way is for no one to reply to their posts... Zero replies. That means everyone...Absolutely No Replies. Think about it. Choose any of the inflamatory posts that have been made recently. If there had been zero replies, they would have been long forgotten.

Sheesh.........

Thanks for the expression, poppy. That rolls out pretty good.

Geezer

[Gaddiel]

There is a way to stop flamers in their tracks, most of the time. That way is for no one to reply to their posts... Zero replies. That means everyone...Absolutely No Replies. Think about it. Choose any of the inflamatory posts that have been made recently. If there had been zero replies, they would have been long forgotten.

Geezer, you are absolutely right on. I have been guilty of "feeding the trolls" from time to time, but restraint is a sign of maturity, and has proven to be an effective course. Great advice that we all need to hear.


Criticism of the way others choose to play has no constructive place on this forum.

Poppy, I share your view on this, and I couldn't agree more.

Getting back to Rock Hound's original question, I wanted to add that reading the replies from others has made me remember some of my first experiences with geocaching. There were several Arkansas geocachers that helped us out when we first started (most are members here), and I appreciate their patience. Even though I was full of dumb questions and ideas, they were still encouraging and helpful.

I found this answer your question about when GC.com went live:

In July of 2000, Jeremy Irish found Mike Teague's web site and found his first cache outside of Seattle, Washington. Recognizing the potential of the game (but never expected the growth), Jeremy approached Mike Teague with a new site design, used the name Geocaching, and developed a new web site adding virtual logs, maps, and a way to make it easier to maintain caches as the sport grew. The site was alive for a while, but the official torch was passed to Jeremy on September 6.

[arkansas_stickerdude]

I agree with Poppy.

[grandkid44]

We actually began playing a geocaching game with our grandchildren in the late 90s . We have explored the Ouachita forest extensively since 1990 and bought an early gps for tracking . We would place a flag ,ie ribbon, and see if we could return to find the sucker, or, place one and dare one of the kids to find using the gps , all in an effort to keep them from getting lost on future trips . I read about official geocaching in 2002 in the Wall St Journal , saw the web-site and began going after the very few available at that time. We rarely geocache without our kids or going with friends . My totally precious little Alex is a veteran geocacher but refuses to go if its too hot. She is 4 1/2 , and , in my unbiased opinion , one of the neatest kids on the planet . Bryce , my shadow and running buddy,is almost six ; he likes to geocache from a 4 wheeler . Both are easily distracted . They have found and refound blu beards , squealing with delight on every occassion : ransacking with glee . We cache , build camp-fires ,roast dogs n smores ,nap by big red-oaks, and they listen patiently to poppys yarns...they love my story of walking 5 miles to school through three feet of snow, uphill both ways . even in the summer. We swim in streams , throw rocks , build imaginary castles and hunt saber tooth tigers. We have eaten some of mountainborns MREs . They have found indian arrow-heads and zillions of crystals. I buy iron pyruvite locally and seed areas for them to find 'gold'. I did'nt learn about ark geo till 2004 and when we signed on we were number 50. As it should be , we all have our own reasons and goals for geocaching ; ours is family n' friends .

[TeamMGGPS]

I have been a member of GC.com June 2001. I know it said before 2001 on the poll but the next category was 2002.
My first find was Dec 2001. "Not The Elbow" by Solohiker.
(Edited to add) Oh and if you think 140 finds in 2 years is low how about 85 finds in over 4 years. But hey this year I'm really going to get with it and break 100 :D

[Pignewton]

April of 2005 here. 1st cache was Clark's Vacation Pit Stop. I was using a borrowed GPSr and we had discovered the GC.com website after I said I was wanting to get a GPSr for use on fishing trips and we started looking up other uses. Unfortunately, I didn't get to buy the GPSr because they decided it looked fun also..haha! I did get my hands on a GPS 2000! Wow..was that thing bad..hehe 60ft accuracy in a field was good. It only carried the decimel 2 places also. I found probably my first 20 or so with it and decided I had to get a decent GPSr. Now using a Magellan Explorist 300 and really like it except the manual entry only on it. Oh well, live and learn. I have to say I agree with Poppy of Nonnipoppy. I used to stay on my computer for many, many hours at a time but now I stay in the woods or on the road for some of those hours..hehe. Some don't understand that even though they don't see how anyone could spend that much time doing their hobby, they probably spend a lot of time doing something that someone else couldn't comprehend doing for a very long period. Like watch baseball on tv....snore.......or Nascar.....zzzZZZZZzzzzzzz...

Thanks for the poll!

[arkhiker]

I heard about Geocaching in June (2005) from a friend, canoe guy, in Tennessee. He told me about the hobby, and I went to the website while still on the phone with him. At the time, niether of us had ever been on an actual hunt. I saw a cache that looked like an easy find even without the GPSr, and immediately went out searching. I found it and have been addicted ever since.
I actually kind of hijacked this fine pasttime from canoe guy, who was still waiting to buy his GPSr while I was out locating my tenth (or so) cache.

Now, when is someone going to start a thread for new geocaching addicts who estrange their spouses to trek off into the woods to find a box of stuff hidden under sticks and rocks?!? :lol:

[twooldcrows]

We posted, that we are going to stay away from the forum, but: We found our first cache @ Blue Mountain, GCH3PV. November 24, 2003 by twooldcrows (581 found)
Our very first cache... nonnipoppy stopped by to take a photo of our birdhouse and set us on to the chase... This is about 1.5 miles from our home so it was our first choice.. My husband was so set on finding the GPS location of he took thru the woods straight thru the briar patches... he left me way back along the way ...I am a native and was looking for snakes and a trail around the briars.... After yelling awhile we found each other. He of course was transfixed on the GPS locator me looking down for crawlies... He had step on the cache three or four times and never saw it... I spotted it first off.... Ha. Ha. What fun...we are hooked... Birdhouses for locationless cache.
Thank you nonnipoppy for getting us started and many other. We still enjoying Geocaching. Thank you.

[BACKPACKNJACK]

Now, when is someone going to start a thread for new geocaching addicts who estrange their spouses to trek off into the woods to find a box of stuff hidden under sticks and rocks?!? :lol:
I already have..."You may be a hard core cacher if" :D
So, welcome to the just gotta hunt for trinkets in the woods crowd :roll:

[arkhiker]

Thanks, BPNJ.
Didn't think that list was too funny. Hit a little too close to home. 8)

I will say that the heat has kept me indoors for the past couple of weeks. August may be a slow month for me. Such a wuss!! :oops: