We discovered a great new game yesterday. Using nothing more than a GPS device (Global Positioning Satellite), our car and the cooperation of other fun seekers, we participated in an anytime sport known as GeoCaching!
Essentially, people all over the world create the treasure that others would see. Take an old shoebox and fill it with various knickknacks. Find a place to stash it, often a public park. Get your hands on a GPS device and note the general coordinates of the cache. Then post it to GeoCaching.com, and VOILA, you've got treasure that others will want to hunt!
When you find a cache, you are supposed to sign the enclosed log book, take an item, and LEAVE an item. Thus the game is self-perpetuating.
Mary found the game in Better Homes and Gardens, and suggested we spend the day GeoCaching with the kids. They were very excited about it, as was I. So our first stop was Best Buy, where a found a very nice Magellan GPS device.
Before leaving, Mary printed out four GeoCache locations from the GeoCaching.com web site. Would you believe there are over 60,000 caches in over 180 countries?
So we head out in the van, with the dog in tow. We figured he would enjoy the hunt as well. What we DIDN'T account for was the heat. It was 100 degrees and miserable. Out of the four caches, we had no luck with the first three. Part of the problem was the heat. Two of them were hidden deep in the trees, surrounded by poison ivy. And we looked for one that was supposed to be out i the open for almost an hour. But we finally struck gold on the last cache. The kids each took and item and we left some stuff as well.
Lessons learned? It's a great idea for a game because you can do it ANYWHERE you go. Simply enter a waypoint on your GPS and let the hunt begin. BUT, we have to wait for cooler weather. It's just too darned hot right now. Also, next time we'll wear long pants and long sleeves to avoid poison ivy and other flora or critters of the forest.
Let me know about your Geocaching experiences!
It's Del.icio.us!
Furl It!
August 20, 2003 12:49 PM
Sound like you had fun GEOCaching! Sorry you could not find our easy to find Kids Cache that you mentioned. :) It is so funny that you guys were looking for one of our Caches and didn't know that it was ours...
Small world, even with a GPS! We have found that it is a great family sport that all ages can enjoy and take part in and enjoy. It is a great team building sport that can give families something to go and do together, and talk about back home for hours about what was found and making plans for the next big adventure.
We love your site, very cool! We are hooked!
Your friends, Dave and Carol
August 24, 2003 05:31 PM
Congrats on discovering the sport. News articles usually describe geocaching as 'High Tech Treasure Hunting', but unfortunately, that gives people the idea that geocaches are buried (which is one of the biggest no-nos regarding how and where to place a cache). 'Looking for tupperware in the middle of the woods' is a description I like much better, even though there are many types of geocaches that are not in the woods and are not made of plastic (I know one that is a hollowed-out metal bolt!)
In the couple of years since I discovered the sport, I've found 700+ geocaches and placed 20. I was so excited about it that I helped create this website: http://www.geostl.com.
Geocaching has brought me places I would have never seen otherwise. Other fringe benefits are exercise, beautiful views, history lessons and new friends.