Truthfully I don't know if any of this has been mentioned here before, but I figured I'd relate some recent discoveries to you.
For some time I have had it in the back of my mind to try Geocaching ( www.geocaching.com ) as an outdoor activity for myself and to possibly share with my kids as a "treasure hunt" to get them interrested in outdoor activities. Well, I think my kids are finally approaching the age to enjoy this activity, so I have begun delving into it more deeply.
Well, firstly I think Geocaching looks to me a nice outdoor activity. At its most basic level it involves a GPS and a hike. Some caches also involve riddle solving and observation skills.
Now, this got me investigating into wether or not the GPS I use for my car is usable for geocaching. I have a Mio Digiwalker C220 that I use for navigation in my car. Normaly GPS's meant for automobile use are not recommended for geocaching as most of them do not operate well off of roads, or for extended periods on battery power. I did discover that mine is meant to be used by podestrians (DigiWALKER? Hello? I felt silly.) and that I can enter "points of interest" by coordinates. I have added many geocaches to my Mio as POI's and they show up. As of yet though I actually have NOT had the time to go and seek out my first cache, so the jury is still out on how well this performs off road.
BUT, that is not what I wanted to tell you about my, and probably other GPS's. What I wanted to tell you is that in poking around among the features of my GPS I discovered that mine, and others have a "travel log, tracking, or trip recording" feature. I gave this a try during one of my lunchtime walks and was able to get a bunch of feedback information. My GPS told me what time I started and stopped the recording, how long I walked, how far I walked in miles, yards; and even my average speed! I think this is going to be a VERY useful tool in urban rangering! I think my $1 fleamarket pedometers are going to get swapped into geocaches.
Now, if you DON'T have a GPS, but are still looking for motivation to get outside and maybe "treasure hunt" I discovered there is an activity similar to geocaching that does not require a GPS. It is called Letterboxing ( www.letterboxing.org in the US, but as far as I know it started in the UK and could be practiced in many other countries.) In letterboxing you are often given directions and clues, and you use a compass and your wits to find a cache containing a log and a rubber stamp. You also make your own stamp. When you find the letterbox you use your stamp to mark the letterbox log, and the letterbox stamp to mark your log. It sounds pretty neat to me!
So, there are just some new things I discovered that may enhance or motivate your urban rangering experience.
Enjoy.