What Is GeoTravel?

When you have two things that you like to do, sometimes it becomes difficult to choose between the two.  However, when you like to go Geocaching, and you like to travel; well, the two interests work well together.

Geocaching is a high tech treasure hunt played with a GPS receiver or smartphone and an internet connection.  Geocaching.com is info central for the hobby/obsession simply referred to as "caching" throughout the world.  A "hider" hides a cache (a container with a logsheet, a note explaining the presence of the cache at its location, and some "swag" or trinkets).  The latitude and longitude co-ordinates are then recorded with a GPSr and a new cache is posted to Geocaching.com.  The cache is then sought out by other cachers, the logsheet signed, and the cache re-hidden for the next cache finder.  The finder then records his/her find on the cache page on Geocaching.com.  What really makes this treasure hunt fun is the location of some of the geocaches.

A geocache can be a physical container hidden at the posted co-ordinates (a traditional cache), or it can be a place of unusual or historical interest (a virtual cache).  Virtual caches are no longer created, but there are still thousands of them to be found.  Finding a virtual geocache involves visiting the posted co-ordinates and learning something about the site, be it history, or intriguing, and then reporting that back to the virtual cache owner.  Earthcaches are not physical container caches but caches that teach you something unique and interesting about a geological feature found at the posted co-ordinates.  An Earthcache owner will require some proof that you were at the posted location by asking you to answer some specific questions.  There are Unknown caches which are not physically located at the posted co-ordinates, but require you to meet some challenge requirements, or the solving a a puzzle to obtain the co-ordinates where the cache container is physically located.  

So, perhaps you can see where this is headed..... Traveling lends itself to geocaching in that there are always new caches to seek.  Geocaching lends itself to travel in that some of the caches may take you to rare or unique sights not normally seen while passing through an area.  So whether one is in a metropolitan city, or on the Loneliest Road in America (the Lincoln Hwy, or Hwy 50 in Northern Nevada) geocaching can take you to spots that will make your trip memorable at the very least.

The intent of this blog is to record some of our more interesting or memorable adventures while geotraveling and to share them with others.