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Read Thread: If you had a whole Saturday to spend, would you...

Re: If you had a whole Saturday to spend, would you...
Board: Geocaching and Other Stashing Games
Reply to: #106983 by Trailtracker
Jul 7, 2007 2:36pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote Hey Lone R---I'd love to hear your perspective on why. I have been letterboxing since the beginning of 2004 and have purposely held off getting knee-deep into geocaching because I figure I'd get every bit as addicted to that as well and might even lose interest in letterboxing because it's less tech-y. So, I would really love to hear what you find better or what the down-sides are of both! :)


Similarities:

* they are both hide 'n seek treasure hunting games. The goal in both games is to find a hidden container.
* The treasure in geocaching are trinkets - take a trinket and leave a trinket.
* The treasure in letterboxing is a stamp image - take a stamp image leave a stamp image.

Differences:

* Geocaching is high tech. The hider gives the seeker latitude/longitude coordinates. The seeker enters the coordinates into a GPS receiver which directs the seeker to the box. Often, extra clues are provided by the hider because coords take you to, at best, a 5 meter (20 foot) radius of the hiding spot.
* Letterboxing is lower tech, the hider gives the seeker directions to the hidden box. It is somewhat high tech because generally, you find the clues online - which of course, requires the use of a computer.
* Letterboxing is more arts/crafts oriented
* As a hider, geocaching is easier to do. It's easy to take a waymark (latitude/longitude coordinates) with a GPS unit. Most units even have an averaging feature so you can get more accurate coords. Letterboxing requires the time and skill it takes to carve a stamp. It also requires a write-up. I find I write and re-write my clues, check and re-check to make sure that everything is correct. It can take me a few days to set up a letterbox.
* as a seeker there are more geocaches to find. Sometimes it's a bit overwhelming but you can read the logs and can decide if it's the kind of cache you want to find. If the logs say - 'Wow what a great view. I wouldn't have known this place existed if it wasn't for your cache' - then this might be one you'd like to try. If the log says 'I slipped on the trash on the way through the wild raspberry canes and landed on a pile of poison ivy' you might want to skip that cache.

I like them both because:

* the sense of discovery, adventure and intrigue
* getting exercise without realizing it
* having a goal while I'm out walking
* losing my fear of the woods
* seeing some scenic, historic, unusual, beautiful places and things that I would have missed if it wasn't for these treasure hunt games
* discovering my own town while looking for boxes and especially while looking for good places to hide boxes
* increasing my driving confidence - before geocaching and letterboxing I didn't do much driving and was afraid to use major highways or country roads
* the gift that someone left for me to find - it's especially wonderful when the hider really considers the finders' experience and writes clear clues, responds to emails, and regularly maintains boxes.
* the online community
Re: If you had a whole Saturday to spend, would you...
Board: Geocaching and Other Stashing Games
Reply to: #106974 by Beach Gal
Jul 7, 2007 2:52pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Having tried both, for me letterboxing trumps caching hands down. The most important reasons for me are the artistry of carvings, the cleverness in box design including stamps and logbooks, and the clues. Good clues are in themselves an art form.

Geocaching left me pretty cold. I gave it 25 finds of various types and then decided there was not enough satisfaction in it.

Cheryl
Team Mad Dawg
Re: If you had a whole Saturday to spend, would you...
Board: Geocaching and Other Stashing Games
Reply to: #106981 by Lone R
Jul 7, 2007 3:08pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote Definitely both. I'd plan for the letterboxes and then see what geocaches were close by.

Lone R


Just thought I'd add, this is how I get ready for the letterboxing/geocaching trip....

* I print out my letterbox clues - do the research for them to figure out where they are. Use my mapping software to set waymarks for the general area they're in and download the letterbox waymarks to my GPS unit.
* Go to the geocaching site and set up and download a Pocket Query for geocaches within x miles of the city/town I'm travelling to.
* The Pocket Query (a premium member feature) sends me a gpx file which includes waymarks (for my GPSr) and a mobipocket ebook file of the corresponding clues (for my PDA).

When I find a letterbox I check my GPS unit for any nearby caches, and check my PDA unit to read the cache description and logs to see if the nearby geocaches are caches I'd like to try to find.
Re: If you had a whole Saturday to spend, would you...
Board: Geocaching and Other Stashing Games
Reply to: #107118 by Lone R
Jul 7, 2007 5:43pm
Thread (disabled) Board
'box or 'cache?? Or both??

While planting a series the other day, what we thought was a great spot was another letterbox and again searching the area there was a geocache. We didn't even plan it!! I love when that happens.

I perfer to box first and cache second.

Yellsalot