Each cache has ratings..1-4 for difficulty and 1-4 terrain. (lets just say once Nathan climbed a rock wall to get to a cache in the Columbia Gorge LOL and another cache we just pulled up along side of in a parking lot) Geocaches are made for all levels and for all types of personalities and abilities.
Most of the Urban caches are ones you drive by when you are going for coffee or you park next to when you run into your favorite shop. They are located in parks, behind stores, in cracks on the side walk, in fences, trees...you name it - we geocachers are creative!
Then the Rural caches can be miles of walking & hidden by a waterfall or in a barn or old delapiatated building.
So what you do to get started....go to Geocaching.com and sign up (its free!!) Come up with some fun name to be known by, and you are in business.
You can purchase used GPS devices from online (Ebay- Craigs list) or go to a place like REI and get a new one. (We started caching with a Magellan Explorist 500).
Now days, though, you can get a program on your cell phone that works just a good as a GPS and it is alot less expensive for you to try out caching and see if you like it. We have a Droid2 that we are now using geocaching app and have used Geobeagle app. (we prefer the official app (geoaching) and you can get it for $9.99)Now you are ready to find a cache! Go to your geocaching account and click on "Hide and Seek a Cache" (it will be on the left side of your screen) It will take you to a page that will show you all kinds of ways to search. I think the best way (when you are starting out) is to type in your postal code (zip code). Type it in an hit enter.
Now you will be on a page that has a list of all the caches near you. (A bunch eigh?!) Look at the top of the page you will see something that says "with google maps" click on that and you will see the map of your area. Find the street where you live and then look for a little green box that is close to your home. Thats A Cache! :)
Click on the "little green box" and a bubble will pop up telling you a quick 411 about the cache. (for your first time I would recommend a 1 star difficulty and a 1 star terrain) when you find a cache you are interested in - click the name of the cache (this will be the first line of that bubble that pops up with all the info about the cache)
You will be taken to the cache page. Look at the blue box near the top of this page. See the list of numbers? That is the geo-coordinates to locate the cache. put these into your GPS or cell phone program...and start off looking for your first cache.
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