The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geocaching

by Geocaching.com

The ultimate global game revealed!

The Complete Idiot's Guide(r) to Geocaching, Second Edition is a comprehensive, yet entertaining and easy-to-understand book for getting started and having fun with geocaching-the high-tech version of hide-and-seek for global positioning system (GPS) users. In this edition, two new tools of the game-Waymarking and Wherigo-are included.

• The Geocaching website, which began operating in 2000 and is owned by Groundspeak, Inc., is the first and currently the largest website devoted to Geocaching
• Today, well over 800,000 geocaches are registered on various websites devoted to the pastime
• Geocaches are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Travel, Outdoors, Sports

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2004

About the author

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.

Reviews

[PirateSteve · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Not all who wander are lost... some are just geocaching."

"I use multi-million dollar satellites to find Tupperware in the woods."

[Jonathan Donihue · Rating 5 out of 5]

My wife and I started a new hobby this summer. It's an outdoor adventure game called Geocaching. It's a GPS game in which you interact with the real world. It's kind of like a Hi-Tech scavenger hunt.

With a community of more than 5 million geocachers and a history dating back more than twenty years, Geocaching is a complex and diverse past time. That beeing the case, I quickly realized that I needed an instruction manual.

There are severl books on the market on the subject of Geocaching, but The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geocaching was a recommended resource on Geocaching.com so I bought it.

If you are at all familiar with the Idiot's Guide format, you know already that the book is both well organized and comprehensive. What surprised me was the wealth of information I gleaned from this book.

Geocaching has been around for a long time. In it's infancy, Geocaching was done using privative GPS units, topographical maps, and compasses. Over the years it has become far less complicated and far more accessible. Today, anyone with a smartphone can download an app and play the game, but if you really want to make the most of your adventures, learning to use traditional GPS technology, understand topographical maps, and navigate by compass - or even the stars - is essential. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geocaching covers all of that and more.

I am pretty sure that I will continue Geocaching for years to come. It's so much fun! I'm really grateful for this introductory guide. It's given me a solid understanding of the history and culture of the Geocaching community and a great starting point to my exploration of navigation technology.

[Joey Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having jumped in feet first to Geocaching, I was happy to find this easy to read book that took me from preparing for the hunt, to going through the hunt, to finding the cache and then onto more advanced stuff that I'll probably get to eventually. Well written and in an easy language to understand. It included details on how to use the features on their site, to even recommending apps, devices and other websites and programmes that may be of use to the beginner or the master of geocaching. I found it very interesting and has only made me that much more desperate to get started and find my first cache. Overall, a good, informative book that is a great starting point for anyone wishing to join in the fun!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great resource! Regardless of your level of expertise, you will get something very useful out of this guide.

[John Stinebaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book to help you learn about this awesome game, especially if you are getting into it on your own.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though it’s outdated by a decade or two, it had information in it that was useful for a newbie in this adventure.

[Rob Robideau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a "Complete" Guide

I am an absolute beginner and have no geocaching experience whatsoever. I wanted a book that would tell me what it's all about and provide some resources to find out more. This book did the job and some. It really is a "complete" guide. It has information on each individual aspect of geocaching from maps and map reading to hiking tips to etiquette to GPS hardware advice. I realize that there is a newer edition and some of the hardware specifics were out of date, but I didn't find that this was limiting in any way.

This book is absolutely recommended for anyone looking for information about geocaching!

[Ingrid Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good way to get a lot of information about Geocaching. It tells you how it all got started and it takes you along a journey where you get all the information you need to become a geocacher.

I enjoyed it and I got a lot of tips of the lingo in the community and what to pack in my geobag when I go out to find a cache (a Tupperware box hidden somewhere in a specific location) plus all sorts of other advice.

I'm feeling a bit more prepared when I go on my adventures and I can recommend it to everyone who needs some basic knowledge

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something Mom wants to know more about, so it is something that I am going to get into with her.
Very informative. While I really haven't finished the book, I will always be looking back at it with questions that I might have. Tried Geocaching yesterday with what we know and it is a lot of FUN!!!! Cannot wait to do it again.

[Laura Cushing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent geocache guide

This book tells you everything you need to know to start your geocache adventures. We have been playing for a while now, but wanted a book that gave us some more detailed info. This did the trick.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by the originators of the geocaching phenomenon, this book is loaded with everything you need to know if you are just starting out. Even after 4 years I still refer back to this book on occasion.

[Sandie Bushey · Rating 3 out of 5]

good info, plan on reading the newer edition soon.

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great hobby, disappointing book. Not much here that you can't find in the app itself or through experience. A lot has changed in ther 7 years since the book was published, so a lot of the information is outdated. Okay as a primer to the totally uninitiated, but even modest experience makes it unnecessary.

[Melia (she/her) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some information for beginners but a lot of the information from this edition is outdated.

[Holly Underwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a newbie geocacher. Though some things I could tell were now out of date - no surprise since it's a decade old - this book filled in some gaps in my knowledge.

[Rick Schultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dated old references. Still recommended for the definitions of the game, I haven't seen it ever spelt out so clearly.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This first edition of the book is outdated. Several cache types mentioned in the book are no longer allowed, several features of the geocaching website important to know for deciding which cache to see are missing from this book, technology covered is now outdated and the chapter on the future of geocaching is a fun look at the state of geocaching technology today. The book does do a good job of explaining how GPSr's work and makes good note of the importance of following some basic guidelines when caching, such as asking landowner permission when placing a cache. While it may have had information that couldn't be obtained elsewhere when it was printed in 2004, now everything you really need to know about geocaching is on the geocaching.com website. Chapters 11 and 12 are completely unnecessary to learning how to geocache. I've been geocaching since 2002 and this is the first time I have ever read a book about it, mostly because I'll be conducting a seminar for the Girl Scouts on geocaching. TFTR (Thanks for the read)

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent and very complete introduction to geocaching. I knew little about this fascinating hobby and so far, my family and I have already found 23 caches in 5 cities! To get started with geocaching, read a few chapters in this book, a few pages of your GPS' user manual and then go outside and try it out to put everything in context. Repeat the process until you understand the game and know your way around Geocaching.com, can work your GPS, and develop a sixth sense as to where the caches could be hidden!

[Josh Liller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this up from the library just because it was the only book they had on the subject. This is the 1st edition and published in 2004. If you want a geocaching book don't even bother with this one but at least get the 2nd edition (published 2009) instead.

It seems a comprehensive guide to all things related to geocaching but really you could just visit geocaching.com to learn pretty much everything you need to know.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Covers all the topics useful to the beginner geocacher and applies to players anywhere in the world.

If you're passingly familiar with GPS and map-reading, then you can probably get most of what you need from the geocaching.com website and forums, but if you want everything in one book, portable and without the need to pore through a hundred forum posts or FAQs, then the book may be worthwhile.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a couple of years old and technology has advanced a lot since this book came out. The website and some web browsing should answer most of your questions if you're interested in geo caching. The book did help me understand a few things (Wherigos for example) but then it still refers you to the internet for alot more information.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would have gotten a higher rating had I read it ten years ago. A lot of the information (largely the technology bits of course) is quite outdated now but there is still some really good stuff to be found inside. I liked that there was a big section on using good old fashioned compas and paper maps.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

My family and I are new to this, though we are avid letterboxers. We found this book to not be as helpful as we had hoped it would be. A lot of it seemed like common sense versus learning about something new. However, from a stand point of not knowing anything about either hobby, I could see that it would be helpful to brand new cachers.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find this series of books very helpful as a primer on a variety of topics. I think it gave me the necessary information to go ahead and get started with geocaching. I would recommend it for others looking to start this hobby.

[Ceci Perez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource. Even though it was written a mere 3 years ago, lots of the techie info is outdated. Pathtags aren't even mentioned. I'm going to keep this one. Learned a lot that I didn't know I was supposed to know. It will be interesting to see what the 4th edition has to say.

[QuesterMark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned what Geocaching was like in the early years.
Things have changed.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a great introduction to geocaching. I would have given 4 stars but it was quite repetitive.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book to renew my interest in geocaching, now that I have someone to go with me (my granddaughter). It's been over five years since I have hunted down my last cache ...

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book, good info about the world of geocaching. It is very helpful for new people as well as experts, I really like some of the tactics for finding GZ :)

[Lesley Looper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learned some pretty interesting things about geocaching in this book, but there's nothing like getting out there and looking for caches. Good exercise, too.