The Geocaching Handbook (Falcon Guide) (Paperback)

~ Layne Cameron (Author), Dave Ulmer (Foreword) "Welcome to geocaching! This fascinating, family-friendly, outdoor-oriented pastime is equal parts scavenger hunting, hiking, outdoor adventure, and gift exchange-with a technological twist..." (more)
Key Phrases: geocaching clubs, stash hunt, virtual cache, United States, Selective Availability, National Park Service (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Geocaching is a fast-growing outdoor sport, which combines aspects of treasure hunting, high-tech navigation, and exploration.

The Geocaching™ Handbook is a complete introduction to the fast-growing sport of geocaching. It includes a history of geocaching; instructions on creating a cache; hiding it and sharing it with others; geocaching etiquette and conventions; basic land navigation techniques including using a GPS unit; basic backcountry safety and etiquette; where to look and where to hide; types of treasures; and everything the aspiring geocacher needs to get started in this fascinating, family-friendly, high-tech outdoor-oriented pastime.

From the Back Cover

Geocaching is one of the fastest growing outdoor sports of the millennium, combining aspects of treasure hunting, high-tech navigation, and outdoor exploration. To get started all you have to do is select a local cache listing from a geocaching Web site, enter the waypoint or coordinates into your GPS unit, then navigate your way to the treasure. The Geocaching™ Handbook is your complete introduction to this fascinating outdoor activity. Discover how to: select a cache listing and begin your hunt for the treasure; buy a GPS receiver and use it to navigate to the cache; create and hide your own cache for others to find; practice backcountry safety and geocaching etiquette; play other geo-games, such as "Are U Nuts?" and "Geodashing"; connect with other geocachers through clubs and geo-events. And you'll learn how the game began--from its creator, Dave Ulmer. This book contains everything you need to know to get started in this fun, family-friendly outdoor pastime.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Falcon; 1st edition (July 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762730447
• ISBN-13: 978-0762730445
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 6.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #123,248 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Misleading information, September 8, 2005

By	A. Pfeffer (State College) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I used to geocache and so I read this book with interest. The information is misleading ("GPSr: Slang of a GPS receiver." An initialism is hardly "slang") to slightly dangerous (the author recommends turning off the GPS for most of your trek to "save batteries." Instead of losing your breadcrumb trail back to your camp or car, why not just carry spare batteries?).

It appeared to me that the author had never really spent much time geocaching. Take his advice with a grain of salt.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good for Brand New Geocacher, November 3, 2006

By	Reader0111 "29erSavoy" (Anaheim, California) - See all my reviews

This is a good book for someone that is interested in or brand new to Geocaching. If you have found a couple of geocaches you will probably not find much of interest here.

31 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good intro to this fascinating new sport, August 13, 2004

By	magellan (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

I'd never heard of geocaching before so when I saw this interesting title I had to find out what it was about.

The idea is simple and sounds like a lot of fun, though, because basically, it's a game where people leave secret stashes of goodies hidden in places all over the world that you use your GPS system to find. The stashes typically contain things like CDs, DVDs, books, non-perishable food items, maps, inexpensive gifts and trinkets, and so on. Enthusiasts sometimes follow a trail of clues like an old treasure hunt to find the cache, in addition to using their GPS system. They can be buried in the ground in remote wilderness areas or left under a park bench in a city. There are caches in every U.S. state and many countries around the world, from England to Estonia. The book gives the GPS coordinates of each cache.

Since the game was invented a few years ago, it has rapidly evolved and many new variations have been invented, including geodashing, garmin games, geoteaming, hide and seek, just 4 openers, letterboxing, microcaching, minute war, multicaches, orienteering, poker run, project ape, tag, virtual caches, webcam caches, volksmarching, story cache, and something called the "stampin' fools game."

The book covers GPS basics as well as the history of the technology, and the chapters include GPS units, Creating Caches, Geo Games (which I just listed the names of above), Backcountry Safety and Etiquette, Geo Happenings, Clubs and Websites, and Cachinary 1.0.

The book has a forward by Dave Ulmer, the inventer of the sport, including the dramatic story of his snowmobile crash on Mt. St. Helens back in the days when the civilian GPS system accuracy was only 1/10 of what it is now--which was the reason for his crash. Because of that positioning error, he'd gotten into the chute right next to the one he was supposed to be in, which led to his crash.

Overall, this is an interesting, entertaining, and detailed introduction to the sport of geocaching that should be of interest to beginning and seasoned geocachers alike.