Years ago I had heard about "letterboxing", which seemed like one of those weird hobbies for outdoor fanatics or lifetime Scouts. It also seemed complicated for someone like me who can barely navigate my way to the mall with a GPS telling when to turn left. However, my daughter told me about a geocaching adventure she had at a Girl Scout meeting and it didn't seem that difficult. (Geocaching is a "modern" version of letterboxing that relies on GPS coordinates rather than puzzle-solving clues.) So what exactly is Geocaching? According to Geocaching.com, "Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location."
Invented a little over 11 years ago by Oregonian Dave Ulmer, this addictive hobby is fun for young and old alike... and GREAT for families! A “cache” (short for geocache) holds a logbook to sign and date and many also include trinkets for you to trade - nothing of value, just for fun - bouncy balls, erasers, magnets, pins, coins, etc. Geocaching rule: if you take something from the cache, leave something of equal or greater value in the cache. Trackable items called "bugs" are also a fun find in a cache and are meant to travel cache to cache on specific journeys determined by the owner. Each bug has a specific tracking number that you can log on the geocaching website to see it's stops to date and also check the bug's goal so you can help him reach it. We found one bug that started near our home and he's on his way around the world so we plan to take him with us back east this summer to help him on his journey. Caches come in many shapes and sizes, from prescription pill bottles to the ever-popular ammo can. Many are camouflaged with duct tape or spray paint - some are relatively easy to find, while others are suspended in trees or placed in clever and unexpected hiding spots.
So how did we get started? A few weekends ago we saw a family we know hiking around our neighborhood with their iPhones in hand. Sad to say that didn't surprise me to see parents on a hike with their 2 kids as they texted or surfed the net. We yelled our greetings and they responded with "we're geocaching" as if to explain why they were staring so intently at their phones while on a nature hike (I'm glad they did). I was wondering how such a "kitschy" activity had become so mainstreamed that even yuppie families in a gated community were headed out on a sunny afternoon to find a cache. Then my son's Cub Scout leader showed me an awesome app on her iPhone that makes geocaching simple enough even for a navigational dummy like me. Geocaching.com lists thousands of geocaches along with their coordinates, details, hints (only if you want them), pictures, maps, you name it.
Finding myself with a lot of free time in a relatively remote vacation area this spring break, I decided to check out this geocaching thing. Wow, what a surprise! There were hundreds within an hour drive of where we were staying. We tried a couple and it was like a real-life treasure hunt that was fun and challenging for our whole family. Some caches were along hikes or routes that we were taking anyway, but it added another dimension of fun to our explorations. Some caches took us to places we didn't know about or hadn't planned on visiting, but were another type of "guidebook" that introduced us to new areas or little-known treasures. It's not what's in the cache, but the challenge and excitement of finding it!
Even on the long drive home, it was neat seeing the live map as we drove down the highway, knowing we were passing by cache after cache that your everyday "normal" person (geocachers call them "muggles") would never know were there. (I must say it was also frustrating knowing we were driving past all these caches and didn't have time to stop for a quick find... but sometimes you have to weigh an extra hour or two of driving with just getting home fast!) I love reading the stories and history behind the location of the caches and the logs people write once they find them.
Now that we're back, we have discovered there are hundreds of caches within a few miles of our home that we never knew existed: near a rope swing on our favorite tree, in the fountain near the pet store, and even in the park near our school! The kids and I are looking forward to finding these hidden treasures in some of our favorite local spots, as well as discovering some new places that only caching would encourage us to find. I'm also looking forward to this new activity with my son as we wait during my daughter's soccer practice and carpool to the next. We can cache at home, and cache on the road. Caches are to be found all over the world. Geocaching is for all ages, all languages, all shapes and sizes. After all, who doesn't like a treasure hunt?
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