Have you ever gone geocaching? It is the perfect activity for week 8 of our adventure-a-week challenge! Once you have a GPS, it is something you can do for free, and is a great way to explore a new area – or even to see a familiar area is a whole new light. As it is described on their website, Geocaching.com, it is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online.
The fun is in the hunt – to find these hidden caches, more than what is inside them. They can range in size from micro caches in tiny capsules only a couple inches wide with barely enough room for just a sign-in sheet, to regular sized caches often in an ammo-box or other waterproof container which often have little trinkets of small value which you can trade out in addition to the sign-in sheet, to “virtual” caches which are not a typical cache with a log-in sheet, but just takes you to an area where there is an interesting sight to see and find. My personal favorite are micro caches- I think they are the most challenging to find! Often, in addition to the coordinates given for the GPS there are clever clues to help you narrow down your search to a more selected area.
To start, you sign up and download the waypoints from Geocaching.com, and input them into your GPS to get you to the area where the cache is hidden. Once there, you start hunting. But with a somewhat clandestine air- you have to be aware of “muggles”! The definition of muggles on the geocaching.com website makes me laugh: “Muggle: A non-geocacher. Based on “Muggle” from the Harry Potter series, which is a non-magical person. Usually this term is used after a non geocacher looks puzzled after befriending a geocacher searching for a cache, or when a non-geocacher accidentally finds a cache. Geomuggles are mostly harmless.” If you call too much attention to a cache, non-geocachers who saw you might move it or take it after you leave, not realizing what it is. So be sneaky! ;)
After you have found the caches and logged into the sheets and had your fun exploring, when you get back home you log your finds on the geocaching website. Geocaching is something we enjoy doing occasionaly – but it had been a pretty long time since we had gone geocaching, so this week it was fun to get out and try it again! Here was our adventure, there were very few “muggles” around where we were geocaching, so I was able to take pictures without too much trouble:
I don’t usually bother trading items in the larger caches – anytime I’ve seen someone give Geocaching a try thinking that the trading is the main thing, they’re usually disappointed …the fun is really in the finding! A lot of times the clues/names and such are very clever, too. But I did decide to leave one of my mini-art prints in one of the caches, as you see above. :) We had a great time, and one of the fun things about geocaching is it takes you to new places and helps you find interesting areas. We certainly made some new discoveries!
If you haven’t gone geocaching, you should give it a try! Here are a few more geocaching terms that might be helpful to know:
BYOP: Bring your own pen. This means the cache is too small to hold a pen along with the sign-in sheet, so you must bring your own to be able to log your visit.
Multi cache: This is where a single cache hunt is made up of a series of individual caches, in a series. It is usually on some theme, and you may need to find the caches in a certain order to get all the information needed to find the later caches.
Travel Bug: You might find a travel bug in a cache. This is a token of some sort with a tracking number, and hitchhikes from person to person and cache to cache, with its progress tracked online.
CITO/Cache in, trash out: This is a common practice that as you geocache and log into caches you find, that if you find litter in the area you are hunting, you take the time to collect it and throw it away. So do some good while you are out having fun!
Have you ever gone geocaching? Does it interest you?
Leave you thoughts and comments below!
I’ve NEVER heard of this before! It sounds really fun, and I already like that they worked in some Harry Potter terminology.
Yeah, it is definitely fun, you should give it a try! :)
Although, I probably should have said this is post, if you go into it thinking the stuff to trade in and out of the caches is the main thing, you’ll be disappointed. The stuff in there is usually just little buttons and stuff. But I’ve seen that happen where people get excited about the trade, but get disappointed cause there is not much in there. But the fun part is just finding the hidden caches! It can be a lot of fun, and there are caches all over the world!
I love geocaching! Thanks for the reminder:) We haven’t done it on our own yet since we don’t have a GPS. Any recommendations on them?
If you have a smart phone there is an app you can download that shows you driving GPS directions then changes to walking GPS when you get close to the location which is fantastic. You can also use any regular car GPS by going to settings and changing it from driving to walking mode then inputting the coordinates. :-)
We don’t have a regular gps, or a smart phone, but there is a gps in our car. As Lizzy mentions you can use the car one if you have it … but it doesn’t work that well, even on walking mode, it’s more used to giving directions with 1/10th of a mile and only does so-so on getting closer.
If you don’t know how well this would work – but you could try putting the coordinates into google maps using this format: 41 05.625 – 90 12.500, and then zoom in (using street view if it has it for that area) to get an idea of the general area it is hidden. And then use the clues (if there are any given for that particular cache) to help you find it when you get there. Not sure how well this would go, it might work. :)
Geocaching is so much fun! My first one I ever found had a travel bug which was exciting. The first full day out caching I took as an opportunity to get to know my brother-in-law better. My husband was out of state on business for several weeks and I was trying to occupy our 5-year old, since my brother-in-law and I never spent much time together and he loves playing online games I thought this might be a great way to integrate his love of technology and my love of the outdoors. It ended up being a really fantastic day and helped build a better relationship between me and my husband’s side of the family.
Oh, and kids love it, too! My daughter is 4, so just a little younger than your 5 year old. She loved it, too! She kept saying we were searching for “treasure”. :)
i don’t know about geocaching until today!
thanks for make me discover it, it seems very fun!
and thank you for share it
Great, Fede! I know they are all over the world – you should check and see if there are any in your area! :)
I can’t decide if I would think geocaching is the “most fun ever” or if it would drive me bananas! I have never done it, obviously. I do think it would be delightful to find your mini art print tucked into a tin behind a loose brick.
Haha! Curious to hear why is would drive you bananas! :) Although, I do agree its not for everyone. And like I mentioned in a comment above .. whenever I’ve seen people going into it thinking that the trading items will be the main thing, they’re disappointed. It’s more just about finding the cache itself, often the clues/names etc., and very clever. And you log in on the sign in sheet. Sometimes they’re in very public places you’ve pass all the time, and I think it’s so fun to know there is a cache hidden there! :)
We had so much fun learning how to geocache with you and Tim! We still enjoy it, but it is REALLY hard to geocache covertly with two LOUD, highly active little ones in tow! :) I hope when they get just a little bit older, it will be easier to do as a family. Actually, we may be there now, so maybe we should try it again. Thanks for the nudge!
Well, and rural geocaches you don’t have to worry about being so clandestine … like in state parks and stuff like that – there are just fewer people around than with urban geocaching. So that might suit you better and you wouldn’t have to worry about the kids. :)
My wife and I have been geocaching for several years. It’s a fun way to get out to see places you wouldn’t ordinarily go. It is also something you can do no matter where you are. We have geocached in nearly every state we have traveled. We just got back from visiting one of our sons who lives in Montana and spent two days there doing nothing but geocaching. In fact he and his wife have embraced the hobby to the point that they now place caches for others to find. Just beware of muggles :-)
Oh, yes, I definitely agree about how it takes you to see places you wouldn’t regularly go. I love that you’ve done it wherever you have travelled – I think that is such a great idea!!! :) And yes, you have to be careful of muggles. Luckily where we were, there wasn’t really much of anyone around so I was able to take photos, which I don’t usually do while geocaching. :)
What are muggles?
Here is the definition, as given in the post, quoted from the geocaching site: “Muggle: A non-geocacher. Based on “Muggle” from the Harry Potter series, which is a non-magical person. Usually this term is used after a non geocacher looks puzzled after befriending a geocacher searching for a cache, or when a non-geocacher accidentally finds a cache. Geomuggles are mostly harmless.”
Just discovered geocaching this summer and now I’m totally addicted!! You are so right that the fun is in the hunt and the find! Cache on!
I love geocaching! I would have never thought to leave little bits of inspiration in them… Great idea!