It's Been Awhile

As you can see, it's been a while since I've last posted here. Not sure why, but I just sort of forgot about it. Once in a while it would pop up in the back of my mind, but I never did anything about it. I've been on many hikes since the last posting, but I've either not taken my camera, GPS, or both. I figure I'll now make this blog multi-purpose. I'll try to remember to record my hikes, and I'm also going to start including my Waymarking and Geocaching adventures here as well.

For those not aware of what Geocaching and Waymarking are, here's a crash course. Or feel free to ignore what I have to say and visit http://www.geocaching.com and/or http://www.waymarking.com for yourself.

Geocaching is a GPS based "treasure hunt" mixed with a little hide and seek. The basic premise is someone hides a container in a park, or where ever, and records the coordinates of said container using a GPS receiver. After obtaining permission to place the container, one then posts the coordinates online at geocaching.com with a little description about the "cache." Once posted others can then input those coordinates into their own GPS device and then head out to find the cache. The original hider of the cache will normally stock it with small trinkets, and the subsequent finders can, if they wish, trade a trinket they bring along with something inside the cache. Some caches are large with lots of "swag" inside, others are too small for anything inside. However all caches must contain a log book of sorts. When someone seeking the cache finds it, trading is optional, but you must sign the logbook. You can then record your adventures on the cache's page at geocaching.com. It's a great way to get outside, and get some exercise. Geocaching is also great at introducing people to places and things they may have not known was there otherwise.

Waymarking is a branch of Geocaching. Back in the day there was what were called virtual and locationless caches. These were eventually disallowed and the locationless caches completely removed from the geocaching.com website. They have essentially been moved to Waymarking.com. The idea here is a gathering of waypoints of various sites of a historical, interesting, or utilitarian value. You can find anything here from the local McDonald's and Wal-Mart, to Civil War Battlefields, and ancient Roman sites. I've been getting more and more interested in the waymarking aspect of things. I like to "show off" my local neck of the woods, and along the way I'm learning things about my own hometown while doing research. The way it works is everything is broken down into categories. Let's take McDonald's for example. There is one large heading for all McDonald's restaurants that is run by a group. So I, as a waymarker, can do two things within this category; visit, or list. As a visitor, I can look to see what's near me, or what's near to a place I may be traveling to. If a particular McDonald's is listed, I can post a "visit" to that McDonald's. On the other hand, I can also "list" McDonald's restaurants. For example, the McDonald's right down the street from me is not currently listed on the waymarking.com site. I can go there, snap a few pictures of the building, and get coordinates of the location using my GPS. I then "list" the waymark under the appropriate category. Once it's approved by the group, I now "own" this waymark.....sort of like owing a cache in geocaching. I get notified when people visit it and whatnot.

Now that I've bored you with all of that information, go and visit the various sites and give it a try sometime!