One of the things I love most about geocaching is visiting new places with only a GPSr and the coordinates given to me by a complete stranger. It’s like I’m being shown the way to thousands of peoples’ favorite places on earth, without having to deal with all that pesky socializing and friend making (if I don’t feel like it). Last summer while visiting a friend out west, I found out about a whole new set of GPSr activities that I love ... GPS-Swimming.
You won’t get any “smilies” from gc.com (or your alternate listing site of choice) for finding these swimming spots using your GPS units, but if it’s not about the numbers for you, then you should dive into the world of GPS-Swimming…the water’s fine.
I know, I know ... it’s April ... and for most of us, it’s still a little cold, but there’s nothing wrong with planning ahead for the spring thaw and beyond. GPS-Swimming may not be the next big thing, but it combines my techlust with a long-term love affair with swimming, dunking, soaking, splashing, diving, and floating in bodies of water until I’m all pruney…if this sounds good to you, then read on ...
I was in Utah last summer, talking with a friend about geocaches I hoped to visit while I was out there, when he mentioned a couple of hot springs I should visit. I thought that he was hijacking the conversation with a non-sequitor until he gave me a sheet with the coordinates for like 50 hot springs all over the state. In the middle of finding a bunch of caches, attending a friend’s wedding and missing my wife and son (although enjoying sleeping in and reading for more than 5 minutes at a time), I visited a couple of hot springs using the coordinates that my friend gave me.
When I got home, I checked the site out and also found another site offering coordinates for swimming holes all over the country (there is only 1 hot spring listed in New York State, but there are a whopping 73 swimming holes with coordinates given for New York).
Over the course of the rest of the summer I visited some of the swimming holes described on the swimming hole site, and had a fun time tracking them down in a “dash and splash” kind of way; it’s like geodashing in a way, except that at the end of the journey, you can cool off (or heat up if you’ve found a hot spring). It’s a fun way to find and explore beautiful places you’ve never been to before, with a guaranteed swim at the end of your adventure. There is a Geo-diving site that looks cool, but scuba diving isn’t my thing (although you will find a link for it at the end of this article).
I don’t see GPS-Swimming evolving into competition for geocaching, but it is a lot of fun in its own right. You can list a swimming hole or hot spring with either of the sites to share a great spot with the (hopefully) growing community of GPS-Swimmers, or just enjoy the large number of places already listed that you can hunt with your GPS unit for swimming or soaking. I’m hoping to visit some more swimming holes in my area this spring and summer, and to list some of my favorites as well.