Have you ever wished you could be like Indiana Jones and travel to exotic locations around the world on the quest for hidden treasure? Do you enjoy solving puzzles and piecing together clues? Or would you rather hide treasure and clues for others to find? If any of these things appeal to your sense of adventure, then geocaching (pronounced "geo-cashing") may be for you.
What is Geocaching?
Geocaching is a game played around the world using global positioning satellites and a handheld gps unit. First, a cache, which is a container filled with a log book and various items often referred to as "swag," is hidden. Then, using global positioning, the coordinates are logged. Next, the owner of the cache will post the coordinates, usually on a website where users can access them manually or by downloading them to their handheld gps unit, and then the hunt begins.
But don’t think it’s that easy. The coordinates may get you to the general vicinity of the cache, but some cache owners are very clever at hiding their treasure. Caches can be any type of container, from the traditional ammo box to the "micro," a very small canister that can be easily hidden. It’s common for caches to be camouflaged in some very interesting ways, for instance, fake pine combs, fake utility boxes, and even fake bricks just to name a few.
What Kind of Treasure?
Just as there are different types of containers for caches, there are also different types of geocache hunts. Traditional, where you just have to find the coordinates and then the cache, Multi-Cache, where the coordinates are only to the first set of coordinates and from there you get the next set, Event Caches, where you can meet up with other geocachers, and Puzzle or Mystery Caches, where you have to solve a puzzle in order to get the coordinates.
Geocaching is designed to be family friendly, and you’ll often find beads or toys in the cache for the little ones. Occasionally you may score it big and find something really nice, like cash or gift cards, especially if you are lucky enough to get the "FTF," short for "First to Find," on a new cache. There are also much sought after items like "travel bugs" and "geocoins." Both items are specially numbered so they can be tracked online as to who owns them and where they’ve been.
Some geocachers make it a mission to see who can find and log the most travel bugs and geocoins. Although a geocoin is usually just a numbered trackable coin, a travel bug can be attached to almost any item and it makes it much for fun for the person "releasing" the travel bug.
How to Get Started?
So how do you get started and feed your inner adventurer? First you’ll need to get a handheld gps unit. These can be fairly inexpensive, especially if purchased online or at your local pawn shop. Then just log onto one of the geocaching websites and look for geocaches in your area. Most allow you to search by zip code. Once you’ve found a few geocaches, you’ll probably be hooked on the game and you’ll want to start hiding caches of your own!
Beverly Hill - Beverly is an outdoor adventure writer who owns and maintains Northwest Florida Outdoor Adventure.
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