What is geocaching?

Perhaps you have read about geocaching somewhere. Maybe one of your outdoor friends have mentioned it in passing. Or maybe you just found this blog and wondered what the heck geocaching is. Here is the answer.

In short, geocaching is a high tech treasure hunt. It involves a geocacher hiding a container somewhere on public property and marking the exact longitude and latitude using a GPS receiver. After the placer publishes the cache on geocaching.com, other people can go and find it, using their own GPS receivers, (GPSr). At a bare minimum, the cache will contain a logbook and usually a pencil. When found by a geocacher, they will sign the logbook and put the cache back in the same spot for the next finder. You can find more about this great fun activity here.

Cache #400

w00t! I just found my 400th cache. It was a pretty neat cache to hit a milestone on, as it was the first cache in Alberta and the second in Canada. The waypoint number is GCA6 if you want to look it up (you need an account with geocaching.com).

Coming soon...

Coming soon, an entry about essential FREE software for every geocacher. If you are just starting out and need some free programs, or are an experienced cacher already, we'll discuss all the great freeware that is out there!

How to camo ammo cans

Here is how I camouflage ammo cans. It is quite easy and can be done by spending relatively little money. For paints, I use Krylon Camouflage. It is nice and dull and isn't too expensive. It comes in four colours, but we're just going to use brown and black and the ammo cans are already green. Depending on where you live, you might want to use different colours. If you just use regular gloss paint, it is bright and shiny.

It doesn't look too bad, but it doesn't do much if you are actually trying to hide your cache better.

Remember to use spray paint in a well ventilated area!!! This stuff is toxic and doesn't smell very nice!!

Begin by making sure that you have lots of paper underneath and around your can. I suggest spraying outside or in your garage. Make sure to read all the directions on the can.

I cut a basic stencil of leaves out of some cardboard. You could buy one, make one or just use real leaves.

I also suggest wearing gloves of some sort so that your hands don't become camouflaged either.
Hold the stencil (or leaves) against the can and spray, move the stencil to a different spot, use a different colour and repeat! Don't worry about drips, it doesn't have to be pristine.





Thats all there is to it!

What is in my Survival Kit?

Here is what I take as a survival kit. It all fits in a lock&lock container, so it is waterproof and compact.

What do I keep in my Backpack?

Here is what I take geocaching. There is a few things missing from the photo (like my GPSr) but generally this is what I take.

Ammo Cans

I have a bunch of Ammo Cans to camo for an event so I will make a how-to-make-camoflaged-containers tutorial which should be up in the next couple weeks.

W00t! A new blog!

This is my spiffeh new geocaching blog! I will post links to resources, tutorials, GPSr reviews, software reviews, stories, news and neat stuff. I will also post outdoors stuff, so you can expect survival info and equipment reviews as well as other geeky things! Enjoy!