Geocaching

GEOCACHING, HIGH-TECH TREASURE HUNTING

• Combine your love of the outdoors with your love of treasure hunting, and you've got Geocaching, a high-tech sport that uses a hand-held GPS unit to guide you to a cache of goodies.

HOW GEOCACHING WORKS

• One of the main purposes of geocaching is to direct the treasure-hunter to a particular spot on the planet, be it a beautiful piece of scenery, an important geological or historic site, or your own favorite waterfall, cave, or lookout.

• The concept is simple, really. 1. I'll hide a waterproof container somewhere on the planet, and upload the co-ordinates online. 2. You go to Geocaching.com, the official site for world-wide geocaching, load the location into your GPS unit, and go find the cache. 3. Sign the logbook you find in the container, and, if you like, trade one of your trinkets for one to take home with you. 4. Go back to geocaching.com and log your find.

WHAT IS GPS?

• GPS (Global Positioning System) technology was first developed by the U.S. Air Force in the 1970's, then made the logical leap to civilian use.The first GPS satellite was launched on February 22, 1978 from Vandenberg Airforce Base, in California, U.S.A.. GPS is a tremendous aid to navigation, using satellites to pinpoint any position on the planet in three dimensions, longitude, latitude, and altitude.There are currently more than two dozen navigation satellites in orbit around the Earth today, managed by the United States Army 50th Space Wing, (yes, there is such a thing).Officially known as Navstar GPS, this technology was made available free to civilians by order of U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1983, after the downing of a Korean passenger jet by Russian jetfighters.

Try this link for a history and timeline of GPS dvelopment. Makes for interesting reading...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_the_Global_Positioning_System

If you love the outdoors, sightseeing, hiking on (or off) woodland trails, this is a great sport! Start with this site...

www.geocaching.com

• Have fun, I may see you out there!