Meercat Caching

So I went caching with Meercat.  No not some long hariy weasel looking think from the Lion King.  But with the app.

Basically it is a streaming service.  Using it took a little planning to take caching.  Basically the app lets you stream a video from your phone.  People can send you messages and ask questions.  I decided I wanted to go caching.

Well the first thing was that I was not going to be able to use my phone to find caches.  Yep.  I was going to need to actually have another device. Problem solved, I have a tablet.  I loaded the local caches in offline mode, and off I went.

The tricks?  You need to stay in 4g coverage area.  I lost signal when I went into a little more remote of a location in the valley, so I had to head back.  However traveling around town was not bad.  I have a gps mount in my car.  It will also hold phones.  The camera on my phone is high enough I can stick it there and it shows a view out of my front window.  So I can see what is up, plus the people following me.

Another problem? Holding the phone.  As you are streaming you want to make sure that you show what you are doing.  Show the area you are hunting, under the trees, in the bushes.  Flashing around right to left, and showing the ground as you walk would most likely turn people off.  I had to hold my phone up. So I am sure I looked goofy.

Plus I was narrarating what I was doing. When I started to get watchers things got better.  They were asking questions.  Typical muggle stuff. "what are you doing?" "What are you looking for?" What is the best stuff you have found?"

I avoided questionable spots.  Though someone thought it was cool that there was a LPC. Most of what I found were micros in bushes.  However they were in the rural area and people were commenting that they thought utah looked like deserts, and Bryce canyon, not green fields.

I had three guys, one from Dallas, and another from somewhere in California that were going to run out and try it.  I pointed them to apps, and they were going to give it a shot.

Note: It is really tricky to hold a phone, open a cache container, take out the roll of paper, and sign it with one hand.  A friend might come in handy.  However the entire reason I did this is because I cache alone.  This gave me friends to talk with.

I think the others got more out of it than I did. It drained my battery pretty fast, about 45 minutes and it was done.  I was not charging it in any way.

It was fun. I will try it again sometime. I made a few new friends.  Right now it is just available on Android, it was pretty buggy, but it is getting much more stable.  It has been out a while on Iphones, so if you have one of those you are in luck.  A similar one is Periscope, but it is only on Iphone for a while.