The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

From the MnGCA Forum discussion about this topic:

But the following quote is somewhat sad if it is true:

"Said Bill Roehl: "My entire friendship base is somehow related to caching.""

Is it sad that I am enthusiastic, immersed, and involved in something that I find enjoyable? Everyone believes that their job should be that way (which I personally don't agree with) so what's wrong w/your hobby being so closely connected with your friendship base?

---

Darlene Prois, the "Strib" reporter that covered our WeekNIGHT Caching outing, was very interested in the social aspects of geocaching -- especially in the suburbs...

Being a relatively new transplant to Minnesota, geocaching really helped me meet new people that were just as enthusiastic as I was about a common interest. I mentioned that our group was "very welcoming" to new players to which Darlene replied, "everyone that I cover says almost the exact same thing."

Any of you involved in an activity that you meet new people and feel that you are the most welcoming group ever?

I've found 901. I got rather obsessed with it but have toned down since. I was also a Board member of the 2005 MnGCA Board. It can be quite a bit of fun, especially as a bunch of them will take you places in your own neighborhood that you wouldn't otherwise know about.

A real treat when visiting friends out of town as well: Many times in the last couple years a friend that I might be visiting will say "take me geocaching or whatever it is" and then after 5 minutes with my GPS and laptop we're off to some place in his or her neighborhood only a mile or so away... and I'm the tour guide in their city to some place new to the both of us. It also serves to be a good break if you're on a long road trip in the middle of Saskatchewan, for example. :-)

sounds like a good time

Seems like somehow you could tie together geocaching with the hunt for the winter carnival medallion in a very cool way.

There are a number of Medallion Hunter crossovers at the end of every season. I even know a couple of geocachers (less it seems) that have become hardcore medallion hunters.

Currently it works well when a random passerby asks what you are doing... "Hunting for the medallion." :)

My dad wants me to try it with him. I remain unconvinced.

Are their cache's around the cities and surrounding suburbs at all? If I'm broke and without any sort of GPS technology or the means to purchase some, can I still join a group and see how it's all done. Is there drinking involved?

Looking to meet some cachers, find some caches (no GPS required, we have more than enough on hand) then check out this thread.

We're meeting up to do two geocaches in Roseville and then heading over to Joe Senser's for some food and *drinks*!

Anyone is welcome to join us.

I predict a GeoCacher will find the Winter Carnival Medallion.

i'm not anti-geocaching in any way, like i said i think it sounds like fun. hope to try it sometime.

on the other hand, i have heard it described as "organized littering." i think it needs to be done with some restraint. for a lot of the public, finding a tupperware container that other people happen to know is there isn't much different than finding a discarded can of mountain dew.

"no it really isn't any different. the searching out in nature part is a cool way to connect the nerd with the naturalist (if not connected already), but trouble starts when cachers want to bury stuff in, say, a restored prairie area, or leave a glass jar under a bridge in the water of a protected trout stream. there should be restraint or some sort of convention for this, but i guess i never really thought about it until now..."

There are guidelines against burying, using glass containers, and Hiding under bridges so it should Not Be A Worry for you.

Become informed before getting all worried about possibilities that dont exist

I wouldn't say just because geocaching.com has a notice on there somewhere saying where what should be buried, the possibility of geocaching being no better than littering "doesn't exist."

Guidelines are super, but I hope the geocaching community (which is obviously quite strong and organized, from the article and this thread) is aware that as it grows (and I would expect it to rather quickly in the years ahead) it needs to be very proactive in instilling good ethics in their membership.

I wouldn't say just because geocaching.com has a notice on there somewhere saying where what should be buried, the possibility of geocaching being no better than littering "doesn't exist."

I can't speak for other States but here in Minnesota, the geocaching community does go above and beyond the call of duty when a cache is placed in an unacceptable area or has been "archived" (delisted) and hasn't been removed.

I have met with members of both the Three Rivers Park District and the Minnesota DNR and had lengthy discussions with them regarding various issues that were of concern when geocaching originally was in the spotlight (2001/2002).

Three Rivers, for instance, has noticed no negative impact in their parks even though one of their *biggest* concerns in 2002 was the possibility of "cache litter" due to cache owners not picking up cache containers after they were delisted. In fact, the MnGCA Board suggested in December of 2005 that their limit of three caches per park be raised -- while we have no specific number of what the new limit will be it does appear that the numbers will be increased per park when the Three Rivers Board meets in late January to discuss this proposition.

---

To reply to jeanfid's comment that it has come up more than once in Scott County -- I'm surprised as there aren't all that many geocaches located in Scott County as Shakopee, Belle Plaine, Savage, and various other towns (minus Prior Lake which has a handful or so) just don't have the park land available to hide caches in (Shakopee is especially limited due to the National Wildlife Refuge running through it).

If someone in Scott County would like to speak to someone point them to me -- I'd be happy to help out in any way I can.

"...I wouldn't say just because geocaching.com has a notice on there somewhere saying where what should be buried, the possibility of geocaching being no better than littering "doesn't exist." "

Just an FYI, but geocaching.com does take it a step beyond posting guidelines for cache placement. Before any cache listing becomes active it is subject to an approval process. Geocaching.com has appointed approvers in charge of specific regions who do their best to make sure that all geocaching guidelines as well as local park guidelines have been met before making the listing active. Some approvers utilize satellite imagery with the coordinates plotted onto photos in order to aid them when appropriate.

As with any system there is always room for improvement. The geocaching community is very aware of how detrimental problem caches can be to the whole sport and many cachers take advantage of a feature called a "should be archived note". This allows cachers who have come across an inappropriate cache to make direct contact with the appropriate approver in order to communicate any problems with the cache and to recommend that it be disabled or removed from the website.

Happy Caching

Great article. Nice to see some positive exposure to this great activity.