So now that you have a solid understanding of the overview of Geocaching, you’ve made your way to the Geocaching.com website and tried out the search feature to locate a cache close to you that will be reasonably easy enough for your first try, it’s time to check out the clue itself. Click on the clue from the search screen at Geocaching.com and let’s take a look.
At the top of a clue page, you will see the name of the cache and the cache placer’s name along with a link to his or her profile.
Underneath this you will see a series of numbers and letters. This is the location in longitude and latitude that the cache is hidden on the earth. You will take this “address” and input it into your GPS unit as a “waypoint”. This is usually very easy to do but will differ from unit to unit so check out your owner’s manual for more information on how to do this.
This is all you really MUST have from the page. Pretty easy, huh? With this bit of info, you can follow your GPS and find the cache! It seems very straight forward, not much of a mystery. Don’t be fooled cache placers are incredibly creative people. I have heard of caches placed in the bottom of lakes, high inside hollow trees, inside “fake” utility boxes in the middle of urban areas and even inside baseballs in a park! Nothing is ever as easy as it seems!
Back to our clue page, there is generally a clickable map or a link that says “view map”. This shows the location of the cache. Waypoints are nice but when you are just looking for a general whereabouts, clicking on a map can help you out. An added bonus is that you can usually see other nearby caches on the map when you click on it.
Further down the clue page you will see the clue information. Sometimes this is cryptic – so cryptic that you may have to decipher it like a puzzle or a code. Usually it is pretty clear information about the clue. This is where you’ll likely find information on parking locations close to the cache; park hours if applicable, etc. If the cache is rated higher in difficulty or terrain, it will frequently have notes indicating why.
Below these notes is a link to find additional hints, otherwise known as “spoilers”, written in an encrypted format. You have to click on the ‘decrypt’ link to read the hints so they aren’t available by default but are still easy enough to access, just a click away. My family always prints the page with decrypted hints but we don’t read them unless we get to the cache site and simply can’t find it.
Below the hints, if any, are ‘logs’. Every time you attempt to find a cache, you should return to the geocaching website and log your find or attempted find. This is how people know whether a cache is still active or if it is damaged, lost, etc. Be forewarned: reading logs sometimes exposes additional “spoilers”! You will see some common terms and abbreviations in the logs such at:
- TFTF = Thanks For the Find
- TFTC= Thanks For the Cache
- TNLN= Took Nothing, Left Nothing
- SL= Signed Log
Don’t worry about this stuff right now; it will just help you read the logs.
The only other major thing you need to know from the clue page is how to easily print the clue pages since many people like to print a copy to take with them. In the middle of the page, under the map info is a link to “make this page printer friend (no logs)”. Click this link and, if you want a page with no logs, print the subsequent page. If you want a page with some logs on it, the printer-friendly page will have yet another link on it under the map area saying “Make this page printer-friendly (show 5 logs)”. Click that and print the subsequent page.
There is more information on the clue page that we will talk about later in a blog devoted to advanced techniques. The information you have now will be a great start. You are ready to hit the road!
Next up: Intro to Geocaching 4: Preparing For The Hunt!