Newbie here

[TheBalks]

Greetings from Cashton, we started geocaching last week and our loving it. Any suggestions for family friendly caches close to our area? We have a 2 yr old who comes with us. We are 1 for 3 so far with GCY6WQ
Senor Troll’s Treasure being our only find so far.

[benny7210]

Congratulations on your first find. And welcome to a fantastic family hobby. Caching this time of the year and all the snow only make it more challenging. Hope to see you on the trails soon.

[Team Deejay]

If you just type your zip code into the front page of geocaching.com, you will see a big list of caches centering on your home. Now, family friendly means different things to different people, but here are some hints:

1. Stick with regular or large size caches for a while. These tend to be much easier to find and usually contain swag which will be fun for your kids to go through and trade.

2. I’m not sure how adventurous your kids are, but the terrain ratings on caches should give you some idea of how rough they are. I like to think of it as a “footwear requirement”:

Terrain 1 = Can be found in Sandals, should be handicapped accessible
Terrain 2 = Can be found in Sneakers
Terrain 3 = Hiking Boots and long pants required
Terrain 4 = Usually involves wading, rock hopping, swimming, tree climbing, scrambling up rocky cliffs, etc.
Terrain 5 = Requires a boat, scuba gear, climbing equipment, etc.

Consider your kids and what they like/tolerate. For some kids, a tree climbing cache would be great. Others don’t want to venture off the pavement. Note also that significant snow will raise the terrain rating at least one level in most cases.

3. Mystery caches should be evaluated individually. Most kids aren’t too interested in the desk puzzle variety, but some might enjoy the type where you visit a notable site and collect information to build the coordinates.

4. Consider a trip to a park with multiple caches. Most kids would rather be hiking/geocaching rather than riding in the car between them.

And don’t worry, it will get easier. Have fun, ask questions here, and don’t worry about a “no find”. It is all part of the game.

edit: I just looked at your log and realized that you have a two year old. Save the above advice and just look for regular/large containers with terrain of 2 or less. Looks like the closest one is Neshonic Kids Cache.

[-cheeto-]

Most kids would rather be hiking/geocaching rather than riding in the car between them

Very good advice to live by when you have kids in the 6 – 10 year old range. I speak from experience. I have 3 of them 🙂

Another good tip (especially if you have one child interested in geocaching and another that may be not so interested) is to choose caches in parks that have playgrounds or something else to do as well in addition to finding the geocache. Especially if you are going out to find a bunch in one day. It helps break up the “routine” of it all if the kids have a chance to do something else fun too. My kids especially like running up and down hills, climbing fences (like those that go around the edges of baseball diamonds), and looking at animals (except snakes.. none of them are fond of snakes).

On last tip from me is to watch the attributes. Poison plants, thorns, ticks, dangerous areas, difficult climbing are good ones to avoid with little ones in toe. Recommended for kids, Takes less than a hour, Watch for livestock (nothing makes a kid happier than seeing livestock..), drinking water nearby (kids are ALWAYS thirsty when geocaching it seems..), and stroller accessible are good ones to watch for.

-cheeto-

[furfool]

Welcome to the cult. It sounds like good advice from Team Deejay. If you are having any trouble on the easier ones, wait for a light snowfall (2-3) and follow the trail after someone else finds it. Sometimes you won’t even have to use your gps. 🙂 That’s my advice.

[Trekkin and Birdin]

Hi, Welcome to the fun. We’re in West Salem, and some I can think of would be “Trail Toys” on the bike trail in town, “Doggie Day” (over by the Humane Society) and any of the ones kendog and norski have placed out in Goose Island County Park on the far south end of LaCrosse.

There are others, but we’ve done so many it’s hard to think of them right off the top! Any questions, just pm us. cashtongs and jmcquilter are both Cashton area cachers, too.

[greyhounder]

Welcome!

My only advice is to have lots of fun, and keep in touch!

Bec

[Team Hemisphere Dancer]

Welcome to the activity.

I will just say Ditto on DJ’s and Cheeto’s comments. Whew that was easy.

My wife has family in Cashton. I used to get out that way a couple times a year. Can’t wait to get back through there and find some caches.

Hemi

[sandlanders]

Welcome to geocaching and the WGA, TheBalks!

Just keep trying to find the caches, and you’ll end up with more smilies. Learn from your DNFs and keep asking questions here. The blue frowny faces should go down with experience and with the melting of the snow (or sometimes not…).

And give that two-year-old lots of smooches and squeezes, Mom and Dad!

[TheBalks]

Wow thanks for all the advice, I didnt really expect this forum to be as active as it is 🙂 Hopefully we will get a couple more smileys this weekend.

[TyeDyeSkyGuy]

Welcome to caching and to the forums. So, are you from Cashton or Cacheton? 😆

Have fun with the new hobby.

[Author]

Posts