Now that you’re interested in geocaching, let’s get started.
1. Visit www.geocaching.com. There is a whole section on getting started along with videos to watch.
2. Create an account with a username that you or your geocaching group will be known by. You’ll be signing it to the caching logs, so something memorable and relatively short will work. Some well-known caching names in Calgary are: bearberry, Sleepy_hollow and TrailGuider
3. Buy a handheld GPS Unit. If you want to sync directly with the website, Garmin is the brand you’ll need. There are lots of brands to choose from, so you may want to do some homework on what may suit you and your budget best. Units may range in price from $60 to well over $200. Many London Drugs in Calgary offer frequent sales on GPS units, so keep an eye out on the sales flyers.
4. Read your manual for your GPS unit. Some things you may want to note are how to input geographical coordinates on the fly and using any point plotting software you may have received.
5. Go to your profile on Geocaching.com and locate your profile. Using your new GPS unit, find out where your home is located. If you live in Calgary, your readings should be relatively close to N51 degrees ##.### and W114 degrees ##.###. After inputting your home coordinates, you should be able to “map it” and discover a Google map that shows all the caches in your neighborhood.
Subscribe or stay tuned for “How to Find Your First Geocache, Part II”, downloading the coordinates for an optimum cache and guaranteed find.
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