Am I doing it wrong?

[blue_lutra]

I went on my first geocaching expedition today. My friends and I all dress up like pirates and used a GPS from my friend's car. Every time we would put in coordinates, the GPS would lead us in circles, and when we were able to follow the clues and find the exact location of the coordinates, it was nothing; the middle of a gravel path in a cemetary, for example. We found absolutely nothing.

Were we doing something wrong? Is this a usual occurance, to not find anything? Are the caches hidden, or in relatively plain sight unless specified?  

[Shellykulele]

Caches are usually very well hidden. GPSr's are also not totally accurate, so yours might be saying 0 metres, but in actual fact the cache might be 5 metres away.

On the geocaching website, try to find a cache that has a terrain and difficulty rating of 1/1 and something with a descriptive clue helps too. Try some of these easy ones first so you get to know what caching is about.

Also, you could try looking up caching groups or associations in your area and see if someone is happy to take you out to find some.  

[Esper Ranger]

Shelly is right. Most GPSr are only accurate to within 16' (maybe 10' if there are no hills or trees to block reception) and the auto navigation GPS aren't exactly made for geocaching when it comes to accuracy. They're fine for roads and addresses but not much when it comes to finer details.

Once you do get some caches under your belt you'll develop an eye for the likely hiding spots such as fallen trees, old stumps, piles of rocks and so on. Some caches get clever and hang cache containers above your head by a fishing wire and you have to find the end to lower it down. Others are micro caches such as 35mm film cannisters hidden in evergreen trees or magnetic key cases hidden under/behind signs or guard rails.  

[7raindrops]

You don't have to wear pirate gear haha  

[Hatshepsut Queen of Egypt]

Going in circles, yep, you're doing it right (at least, that's how we cache!). It helps to get an eye for suspicious looking UPSs (unusual piles of sticks), or UPRs (unusual piles of rocks), etc. that look man made. Also, look for where you would hide something, sometimes there will only be a few obvious spots to hide stuff and you can find the cache that way. Cheers!