The letterbox hybrid cache contains the important materials for this.3335 Typically, letterbox hybrid caches are not found at the given coordinates which only act as a starting location. Instead, a series of clues are given as to where to find the cache such as “take a left past the bridge” or “about 25 paces past the big oak tree”. Also called a ‘puzzle cache’, players might need to solve a puzzle or bring a special tool to reveal the next waypoint or final coordinates. Geocaching Toolbox, a website dedicated to create and solve puzzle geocaches, provides a comprehensive list of common puzzle cache ciphers.
You can order geocoins from Shop Geocaching (U.S. Orders) or from an international retailer. Once you have successfully grabbed or retrieved the Geocoin, it will remain in your online inventory until someone else grabs it from you or you place it in a cache. There are also some subcategories of the mystery cache, which are normally listed as a Mystery Type, which are listed below. Trackables (Travel Bug® and Geocoin) add a great twist to the Geocaching adventure but there can be some confusion as to what to do with them. Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser’s search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Tracking websites
They may represent a variety of things from raising awareness for certain diseases to helping out after a natural disaster to personal artwork. Over the years, geocoins have also increasingly seen non-traditional coins, or trackable geocoins that do not confirm to the traditional circular coin shape. Geocoins can be both exciting and intimidating to new geocachers. Let’s look at what you can do if you find a geocoin or buy a geocoin. A more controversial version of paperless Caching involves what is a geocoin mass-downloading only the coordinates and cache names (or waypoint IDs) for hundreds of caches into older receivers. This is a common practice of some cachers and has been used successfully for years.
Examples of goals are to be placed in a certain cache a long distance from home, or to travel to a certain country, or to travel faster and farther than other hitchhikers in a race. Less common trends are site-specific information pages about the historic significance of the site, types of trees, birds in the area or other such information. Higher-value items are occasionally included in geocaches as a reward for the First to Find (called “FTF”), or in locations which are harder to reach. The Opencaching Network provides independent, non-commercial listing sites based in the cacher’s country or region. The Opencaching Network lists the most types of caches, including traditional, virtual, moving, multi, quiz, webcam, BIT, guest book, USB, event, and MP3. The Opencaching Network is less restrictive than many sites, and does not charge for the use of the sites, the service being community-driven.
Dangerous or illegal items, including weapons and drugs, are not allowed and are specifically against the rules of most geocache listing sites. Food is also disallowed, even if sealed, as it is considered unhygienic and can attract animals. In the first few years the number of coins that were a signature item for a geocaching group, or individuals far outnumbered the coins that were made to sell.
- A type of virtual cache whose coordinates provide the location to a public webcam.
- Additional international sites include Geocaching.de, a German website, and Geocaching Australia, which accepts listings of cache types deprecated by geocaching.com, cache types such as TrigPoint and Moveable caches, as well as traditional geocache types.
- Several ways that geocachers have combatted the theft of geocoins include to physically damage the released coin by drilling a hole to attach something, or releasing proxies.
- A geocoin is a collectible coin that travels from place to place.
Some things you should know about Travel Bugs® and Geocoins:
By logging the find you are also “grabbing” the Geocoin and putting it in your account’s online inventory. This will ultimately allow you to drop the Geocoin in another cache. In order to log your find and “grab” the Geocoin, you first need to locate the coin’s tracking number. Make sure to write this number down before trading with another geocacher or dropping the item in a cache.
The Geocoin(s) will transfer from your inventory to the online cache listing. Once you log that you have retrieved or grabbed a Geocoin, you can drop it into a cache. The cache listing acts as a virtual container allowing you to indicate that you have placed the Geocoin in the physical cache. If you are shown a Geocoin by another geocacher but do not actually trade it, you may “discover” it instead. This is a virtual log type which will not place the coin in your inventory but will keep a record of the find in your profile. Once you reach the Geocoin listing, you will want to write a log to let the owner know you found it.
Owner Questions
From 2005 to 2017, the geocaching website no longer listed new caches without a physical container, including virtual and webcam caches (with the exception of earthcaches and events); however, older caches of these types have been grandfathered. Many get sold on eBay, but you should be careful to make sure that any listings indicate that the coin is “Unactivated”. Any activated coins should include references to adopting the coin. Numerous businesses exist online that sell trackable geocoins. You can also find geocachers at events who sell coins as a side business. These caches include at least one stage in addition to the physical final container with a log sheet.
Geocacher’s Compass
Some (or all) listings may or may not be required to be reviewed by community volunteers before being published and although cross-listing is permitted, it is discouraged. Some listings are listed on other sites, but there are many that are unique to the Opencaching Network. Features include the ability to organize one’s favourite caches, build custom searches, be instantly notified of new caches in one’s area, seek and create caches of all types, export GPX queries, statpics, etc. Each Opencaching Node provides the same API for free (called “OKAPI”115) for use by developers who want to create third-party applications which can use the Opencaching Network’s content. As well as concerns about littering and bomb threats, some geocachers have hidden their caches in inappropriate locations, such as electrical boxes, which may encourage risky behavior, especially by children. Hides in these areas are discouraged,79 and cache listing websites enforce guidelines that disallow certain types of placements.
However, as cache reviewers typically cannot see exactly where and how every cache is hidden, problematic hides can slip through. Ultimately it is also up to cache finders to use discretion when attempting to search for a cache, and report any problems. This is a Garmin-created innovative on multi-caches using wireless beacon technology.
