New to MFP (and "relatively" new to Geocaching) Questions!

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Hi Everyone!

One of my close friends encouraged me to join MFP, so i've started setting up my profile and the excercises/activity I do on a regular basis.

I had a question though, and I'm not sure if its been asked before.

How do I log Geocaching as an activity/exercise?

My dog and I Geocache and Letterbox 2 times a week, usually for 2-5 hours. The places we go to (here in Virginia) aren't too difficult in terrain (maybe 1-2 stars on the Geocaching website). (When we go on vacation, totally different story!)

We visit a lot of state parks and rural "city parks" (if your familiar with Chesapeake, VA, you know what I mean).

Do I log it as walking, hiking, or backpacking? When we go out, I'm carrying a pack with almost a full days worth of water, and a basic first aid kit as well as camera/gps equipment.

Thanks for your help!

-LeftOvers4Dinner

Replies

  • daydream58
    daydream58 Posts: 572 Member
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    For standard easy urban caching I just do slow walk 2.0 mph for instance today I was out from 10am to 3pm and I logged 120 minutes of slow walk as a lot of time is spent standing around, staring into suspicious looking piles of rocks, etc.

    When I'm in the hills, on rocks at the beach, etc. I mark it down as hiking. If you're carrying a pack with under 10 lbs there is a choice for that. This is quite a good burn but again I only log the time I estimate to have actually been moving along without breaks. I'm usually out for 4-6 hours and log only 2 hours of activity at most.

    So slow walk or hike <10 lb pack are the two I use. If you really push the pace you might try 2.5 mph walk but with a dog that would be pretty excessive. The database shows 3mph as being "dog walk" speed but it's really not. Walk 3.0 on a treadmill sometime and tell me a dog goes that fast without constantly stopping to sniff and/or pee on stuff, LOL! Don't think so.

    3 mph is actually a pretty good clip. I never walked a dog that fast and I've had some rather large dogs. Anyways hope that helps and that you keep up with geocaching as well as MPF both sites together are really helpful in a healthy lifestyle!

    xoxo Deedee
  • Talazws
    Talazws Posts: 101 Member
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    I geocache here in NYC, so it is mostly paved roads. I spend a lot of time caching in central park as well, but nothing there is too strenuous. I always have a backpack with me, carrying 10-15 lbs (lots of good snacks, water, book for the subway, gear for the pool, etc.), so I usually log it as " walking carry a 15 lb weight" or something like that. I actually time myself when I geocache, noting how long it takes me to get to the zone, how long I am waiting/searching, how long it takes me to get to the next. That way I can easily log the time I spend actually getting from place to place, and not the time I spend nonchalantly waiting for muggles to leave or closely peering into holes. Hope this helps! I only recently began caching, but I have found it a great way to burn off some extra calories while doing something I love-- and discovering lots of interesting nooks and crannies of NYC!