Railfaning and Geocaching

[Anonymous]

Are any of you out there Geocachers? I've noticed a lot of railroad oriented caches.

For those not familiar with Geocaching, check out geocaching .com

[Anonymous]

Anyone???

[railman]

I should not be this lazy, but for those with slow internet, just a quick summary as to what a geocatcher is, please?

[cwclark]

yeah..me too...geocacher?....the way i railfan is train chasing...I get the # board or engine number and chase it down the track...always getting ahead of it so i can set up my camera, take a shot, take some shots of the surrounding area and back on the road again getting ahead of the train ...I chased a train from Houston to Del Rio Texas one time..it was fun!...that's the only way i can think of to railfan...geocaching?..esplane this to moi!

[cwclark]

my curiosity got the best of me so i checked it out and looks like this thing called geocaching is like an easter egg hunt or a scavenger hunt using a GPS locator...looks like it could be fun but what are we going to use for the cache?...old railroad spikes?...old ties?..disgarded rails or switch stands?.....way too heavy to just pick up and throw in the back of a pick-up truck!....I guess i could mount a crane in the bed or something to lug the stuff out of there...the only thing i could see useful would be keeping a notebook and giving out the GPS coordinates to others with a GPS so they themselves could find some point of interest along some railhead somewhere along the track...I think i'll just stick to railfanning...lugging a camera along and keeping up with the train is enough for me...Chuck[:D]

[AntonioFP45]

Visited the geocaching website.

States: The sport where you are the search engine.

Sounds interesting but can you share with us the benefits, fun points, etc? Until you mentioned it I had never heard of this.

In my case, between this forum and my "actual" modeling I would have very little spare time for it, but I'm willing to learn about it. Nothing worse than ignorance!

[Big_Boy_4005]

I was pretty much with the rest of you on this one. I looked at it yesterday and said "what the heck is that?" I went to the website and read about it, but in spite of a few railroad references, I don't see any real railfan value. If I go railfanning I go to take pictures not take a hike.

[Anonymous]

Here in NW Georgia, there are a number of "caches" that take you to interesting points along rail lines. The most interesting part of the activity is that it takes you to places you would otherwise not visit. For instance, someone used magnets to hide a caches on the underside of a caboose that's on display and on abandoned rolling stock way up in the mountains. Others have been hidden at historic stations. Some have been placed along abondoned right-of-way, tunnels and bridges.

The actual caches use a variety of containers. The big ones - with lots of goodies inside - are usually ammo boxes or tupperware containers. These are the best for kids/grandkids. The smaller ones - often only including a log book to record who found it - use plastic tubes, breath mint containers, film canisters, etc. The "smallest" ones are known as virtual caches. There is no actual container, but something you see when you arrive at the location and then report via e-mail.

Some of the people that are really into this have become VERY clever in how they hide them. I've seen them use fake bolts, pretend bricks, and fake tree stumps.

I'd bet you guys know of a lot of historic railroad structures that others, like me, would love to learn about.

[AntonioFP45]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Thom

Here in NW Georgia, there are a number of "caches" that take you to interesting points along rail lines. The most interesting part of the activity is that it takes you to places you would otherwise not visit. For instance, someone used magnets to hide a caches on the underside of a caboose that's on display and on abandoned rolling stock way up in the mountains. Others have been hidden at historic stations. Some have been placed along abondoned right-of-way, tunnels and bridges.

The actual caches use a variety of containers. The big ones - with lots of goodies inside - are usually ammo boxes or tupperware containers. Some of the people that are really into this have become VERY clever in how they hide them.
I'd bet you guys know of a lot of historic railroad structures that others, like me, would love to learn about.

With all due respect, maybe I'm naive & goofy, but strategically hiding objects in specific areas and challenging people to dig for the items.............sounds rather unrecommendable in today's Terrorist concious society.

QUOTE: I've seen them use fake bolts, pretend bricks, and fake tree stumps.

--This part here is what creeps me out. Sounds paranoid, but again these types of activities could invite unwanted scrutiny from authorities. I'm sure 99% of the guys and gals that are into "Geocaching" are doing it for fun, but it's the Tim McVey's, Ted Kazinski's, and the other wack jobs that police and military authorities worry about.

Take care!

[Big_Boy_4005]

I suppose when you put it that way, it does sound kind of fun and interesting. I could set up tons of railroad related courses. It would be a fun way to take a hike, and maybe get others interested in trains.

[Anonymous]

Exactly my thought.

Its all done in fun. Why would anyone who planted a bomb post its coordiantes on a highly trafficed web site and invite everyone to go find it. There have been a couple times where during the process of finding a cache I was questioned by someone who wondered what I was doing. Fortunately most caches have information in them that explain what they are and who placed them. Both times the questioning people thought it was great activity and wanted to learn more.

[Javern]

usually the cache sites are in public parks and public areas or land where owners have already agreed to let participants trek onto their lands, the owners likely to be fellow geocachers themselves.

Its a growing event using your skills with a GPS and to seek out the hidden treasures and perhaps leave a token yourself. Never heard of a railroad oreinted one though

[Anonymous]

Sounds neat, I think I've heard of it before but I'm not 100% sure.

[Anonymous]

never heard of it until now. it sounds really complicated to me, though.

[cnw4001]

It all depends upon your mindset. My wife & I have gone to several sites and enjoyed the walking and to a much lesser extent the searching. Like anything else, you might enjoy it or you could well ask, why did I try this? Other than the odd cache location it has essentially nothing to do with railfaning as such. Most of the places we've searched were in parks or other wooded areas and as noted in another message, all public so you really don't appear to be doing something you shouldn't, rather you look like any other visitor in the park.

[Anonymous]

Surprised I hadn't seen this thread before. Not that I've ever posted here but I do read a lot of threads. I've been GeoCaching just over a year. I have five caches in the Cajon Pass dedicated to railfans & geocaching. I SEE TRAINS!, I LOVE TRAINS TOO!, Are We Not Men, Mormon Rocks & Roll, and the Cajon Pass TB Exchange. Four these are at great locations to take train photos in the pass.

For some of you, like anything else in life nothing is fool proof. I'm sure there is a great percentage of railfans that are just idiots or break rules so they can do as they please. Geocaching is no different, but with geocaching if you've done something "iffy" you'll know about it pretty quick by the logs from the people finding your caches. There also is an administration that regulates what can and can't be done. Whackos are everywhere.

I know of at least 4 geocaches blown up by bomb squads and not once were the authorities pissed off, they made light of it almost. I've seen law enforcement become a member just so they could track down a caches owner. I saw one cache picked up by the police for some unknown reason, but some non-cachers but some drugs in it (only time I've ever heard of this) and the police took the cache to the jail, took a photo of it in a cell then emailed the owner asking him to contact them, hilarious!

The problems compared to the number of caches, finds per cache and number of geocachers is so minuscule you couldn't even give it a percentage.

Dave
Firehouse16

[darth9x9]

I don't have enough time now for this forum much less geocaching.

BC