Paper Caching
What you need:

• A computer (duh)
• A Geocaching.com account
• A printer – Not necessary, but handy
• Access to Google Maps or Google Earth

This is probably the easiest of all the ways to cache without a GPS.

Step 1. Log on to GeoCaching.com and find a cache that you would like to look for.
Step 2. Take the coordinates and paste them into Google Maps.
Step 3. In Google Maps, click the ‘Satellite’ button on the top right of the map and zoom in as far as it will let you. This will give you some idea of where the cache is physically located.
Step 4. (optional) Print out this zoomed in satellite view
Step 5. On the upper left of the page click the link that says ‘Get Directions’. A dropdown will appear below it with a spot for you to enter your current location. Enter it and click Get directions
Step 6. Change the view of the map from ‘Satellite’ to ‘Map’
Step 7. (optional) Print out driving/walking directions to the area the cache is in
Step 8. Follow the maps and find the cache! It may be advisable to also print out the GeoCaching.com page.

iPhone Caching using ‘Geopher’
What you need:

• An iPhone
• A computer (optional)
• Download of the free iPhone app ‘Geopher Lite’

Step 1. Fire up the app store on your iPhone
Step 2. Search for ‘Geopher Lite‘. This app currently costs $0.99. Download it
Step 3. In Safari (or optionally on your computer) browse to GeoCaching.com and find a cache to look for
Step 4. Open Geopher Lite, click Set Target and enter the coordinates. It will now point towards your coordinates
Step 5. Go out and find your cache!

ALTERNATIVE METHOD

Step 1. Fire up the app store on your iPhone
Step 2. Search for ‘Geopher Lite‘. This app currently costs $0.99. Download it
Step 3. Open Geopher Lite. Tap ‘Set Target’ and then click ‘New Search’. It will automatically list the geocaches closest to your current location. This is a great way to cache on the fly!

iPhone caching WITHOUT Geopher Lite
What you need:

• iPhone
• Computer
• Some paper

This one is a tiny bit more complicated to start, but easier to use!

Step 1. On your computer, find a cache at GeoCaching.com
Step 2. Write down the coordinates of the cache on your piece of paper
Step 3. Here you have to convert the coordinates to a different style so they will work with Google Maps on the iPhone. Let me explain what I mean. Take for instance the coordinates N 52° 07.550 W 106° 40.051. If you simply keyed that into Google Maps on the phone, it would not work. Also, good luck finding the ° symbol. Instead, you have to strip out the N and the W, and replace the ° symbol with a space. Also, put a dash between the latitude and longitude. With the above example, the converted coordinates would be 52 07.550 – 106 40.051.
Step 4. Open the ‘Maps’ app on the iPhone and click ‘Directions’
Step 5. In the first space type ‘CU’ and select ‘Current Location’ from the dropdown list
Step 6. In the second spot enter your newly-converted coordinates
Step 7. The map should take you right to where you want to go! When you end up near the dot on the map, put the phone away and start digging around!

59 Chevy Impala – N 52° 08.973 W 106° 41.508
Jeux Canada Games Park -N 52° 07.077 W 106° 40.679

Just 2 of us went out today, we visited Canada Games Park and found a micro magnetic cache….real easy find with some neat stuff in it… and then went on to an amazing cache! In the middle of an open field on the outskirts of the north end of town (getting close to the airport) was a clump of trees. It was the perfect day to trek out to this cache, as it was only maybe +2 out! We trudged out to the outcropping, after hopping a fence and battling through knee-deep snow. Thankfully someone else had recently been there, so we had some tracks to walk in… Once we made it to the trees we looked around but found nothing… We were stumped! (har har). How could a 5 gallon pail be hidden so well? After half an hour of searching and walking around the area, lisa finally recovered the frozen treasure! This was by far the biggest cache we’ve ever found! Inside was everything! From a Dr. Seuss hat to currency from other countries to a giant penny! What a great cache to end the day!

While I Was Out Swimming
and
Oops! Wrong Parking Lot

This was a much more interesting outing. I got together 2 teams of 3 players. We even came up with some highly original team names….

1) Team Awesome (My team, naturally)

2) Team Speed/Victory (A facetious and assumptive name, actually)

The object was to race to our respective caches (My team got Oops! Wrong Parking Lot), replace the contents, take a picture for proof and return to the rendezvous point. Losers buy the winners lunch. I was the wheelman for my team, and we raced to our location quickly, finding it with relative ease but finidng ourselves lost as to where to look… Our co-ordinates placed us in the parking lot of a local box-store sporting goods outlet. We split up and looked around the building to no avail, and finally reconvened at the large sign… Upon a thorough investigation, Kacey found a small altoids tin inside a beam, attached via a magnet! Inside were a couple of pins and the first geocoin I’d ever seen, turns out that sucker has been to Toronto, Vancouver, and obviously around here in Saskatoon. I’ll have to find a way to get it to the east coast! We raced back to the rendezvous point only to find Team Speed/Victory (turns out they were right, jerks) huddled on the couch watching Jemima play Call of Duty. How disappointing! But it was a fun and rewarding experience!

Pesticide Free Cache #1

I left from the Northwest end of Calgary, walked about 10 minutes to the Dalhousie C-train station, and hopped on the train down to Sunnyside station, just on the other side of the Bow river from downtown. I took a look at the surrounding neighborhood, and it seems like a really nice area! It’s near the Kensington area of Calgary, which is probably my favorite area.

Finding the location was pretty straightforward. I punched the GPS coordinates into Google Maps on the iPhone, and it took me right there. The problem was precision. After digging and searching the location for about 40 minutes (and looking like an idiot to all the people around) I gave up. I’m not sure if the problem was the cache being covered by snow, the cache having been destroyed or removed (a post 2 days ago mentioned that the lid was missing and the cache was exposed to the elements). In any case, I retreated to a little cafe I saw on the walk out, a nice little place called the Heartland Café. The people working there were extremely friendly and made a mean Chai Latte.

Hopefully my next hunt, back in Saskatoon, will be more successful, but this was fun anyway!