3 Must-Know Pages on Geocaching.com

Don’t you just hate it when you KNOW that Geocaching.com does FILL IN THE BLANK but you can’t remember where you saw the link? That happened to me the first time I was hiding a geocache; I wanted to print out that cool sheet that appears in the caches. You know the one I’m talking about, right? The printout that says “Congratulations, You’ve Found It!” and then goes on to explain what geocaching is.

I knew that printout had to exist. Somewhere. After all, I’d seen it in caches around Northern Arizona. I just didn’t know how to navigate the geocaching.com website in order to find what I was looking for!

This article is actually a reader’s request and addresses just that issue: What ARE the parts of geocaching.com?

Since this website is HUGE and offers a ton of information, I’m giving my top three pages you need to know the anatomy of! If you have a section of geocaching.com that you feel everybody should know about, then let me know!

The Home Page

We all know the homepage of geocaching.com — that’s where you can log into your account!

Well, have you ever scrolled DOWN the page a bit? There’s a ton of really neat links hidden towards the bottom of the page.

So, starting on the top left and heading down the page:

1. You can search for a geocache from this page using a zip code or a GC code
2. A section for interesting products and services
3. Upcoming geocaching events around the world

From the right side and heading down the page:

1. A link to follow geocaching.com on Twitter
2. Information about CITO
3. Geocaching in the news

Hide & Seek a Geocache Page

To me, this page has a wealth of information that is hidden! Even though the title clearly says HIDE a cache, I never remember that this page has all the links I need to do that!

Left Side of Page – Seeking a Cache

This is where you can search for a cache. It starts with an area where you can enter different parts of an address to find a cache. It includes address, postal code (zip code) and state.

Below the first section, you can enter in lat and long in either a WGS84 Datum or a decimal format, depending on how your GPS is configured. The standard for the USA on new GPS units is the WGS84 Datum.

And, then a really exciting section! This is where you can search by keyword (I want to find a cache with “yellow” in the name. You can also search by a telephone area code. If you know the exact GC code of the cache, you can enter that as well.

(I use the GC code search function when I am returning after a day of caching and need to log my finds.)

And, my favorite part: Found by Username and Placed by Username. This lets me see what my favorite geocaching buddies have found lately AND I can also search for my favorite cache hiders.

Right Side of Page – Hiding a Cache

The right side of the page is always the part that gives me the most trouble. Since I am usually looking for a cache, I forget that all the links I need to place a cache are on this page as well!

From the top down:
The cache placement requirements. I review these every time I place a cache just to remind myself of all the little particulars of the game.

Right below the requirements is actually the form you use to tell geocaching.com that there is a new cache. It took me placing about 5 caches before I remembered where this link was!

And the cache note is next. Not only is this the “Congratulations You’ve Found It!” note, but it also has a log sheet that you can print out and include with your cache. Below this section, the cache note has been translated into a myriad of different languages to help cachers around the world.

Trackable Items Page

This page has all the links to Frequently Asked Questions regarding all things trackable. But, below that section is where you can enter a tracking number of an item you have (or discovered), you can activate your trackable, or search for a trackable item by name.

The first time I activated an EatStayPlay.com geocoin, I had no idea what I needed to do. I didn’t even realize that below the three boxes on this page were the forms that I needed!

If you’re confused about trackables, I’ve got two articles that might help you out: The Truth About Trackables and 5 Tips About Trackables

To all you experienced cachers out there:

What are the most useful pages/sections on geocaching.com for a new cacher?

What have you discovered about the website that would have made life easier for you if you had known it when you had just gotten started caching?

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