Ardi and Reese's Geo Coin

Today is exactly 1 year since Ardi and I headed out on an adventure armed with the GPS receiver from the car. On December 4th last year I found my 1st geocache and today while out with my sister Judy and Ardi , I found cache number 390.

Ardi tries to budge Star55 into action

Geocaching is like a scavenger or treasure hunt using a GPS. Once you find the cache you can trade items or pick up collectibles or travelling game pieces.

The cache seeking provides the chance to get outdoors with friends and often Ardi or Reese come along. The hunt takes us to many places we may never have gone and the game gives us cause to document and log our trips.


Collecting and trading trackable game pieces is a whole other dimension of geocaching. Recently a fellow dog fancier and geocacher gave me a collectible called a Geo coin. It is a special coin called a Geo Dog coin.

Ardi & Reese's Geo Dog Coin

My plan is to take with me anytime I have Ardi or Reese with me and log every cache it visits with them. I will also take it to caching events and dog events so other cachers can discover it. Everytime I log a visit, the information is stored on the coins own web site (http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=1024566) and I will be able to track the mileage and places visited. Today Ardi travelled with me to 4 caches and we logged 26 kms. It will be interesting to see the log a year from now.

Caching with Ardi- Our 1st find

I had been waiting all week to get out and find my first Cache. It was December 4/09 and the temperature had dropped to -18 C. Ardi and I weren’t going to let the cold stop us, we bundled up and headed out.

Ardi in her borrowed Chillydog Great White North Coat

My plan was to walk to the Cache from home, but with the cold I opted to drive. The cache was located in an urban sub-division, about 2 km from my house. I didn’t have a handheld GPS, so headed out with the vehicle Tom-Tom as my guide.

We parked about 200 meters from the cache on the opposite side of the street. Had I read the map right, I would have known that I needed to cross the street to find it. I crossed the street a few times in both directions before I saw it. It probably took me 5 minutes and it would have been less if I actually was looking for it rather then looking at the GPS. I took the log book back to my vehicle to sign. Then drove around the block to end up on the right side of the street. We parked about 200 meters away, then Ardi and I put the log book back and proceeded to a near by park for a quick walk. Quick it was as we were both getting kind of cold.

Geocaching

I first heard about Geocaching about 5 years ago. Someone sent me an article about it and at the time I thought it would be fun to try. I had forgotten about it, until a competitor at a Rally O trial (November 2009) told me her husband travelled with her to the trial and was enjoying a weekend of Geocaching while she trialed.

Geocacing is a game of hiding and seeking treasure. What you need is a GPS and probably a PC or Laptop with internet connection to get you to the Geocaching .com website. The website helps you locate caches hidden in your area or area’s you may be visiting. It provides co-ordinates of where the cache is hidden, as well as a place to record and share your finds. Once you get to the cache there may be some trinkets, but most often there is a logbook to sign. The rule of thumb when you find a cache is “If you take something, leave something” and sign the logbook.

This is something you can easily enjoy with your dog. Both dog and Cacher (that’s you) can enjoy fresh air, exercise and some great scenery. Check out the Geocaching website at geocaching.com.