Adventures in Geocaching
Posted on September 4, 2009
Todd and I have had several different hobbies over the years. For me, its been photography (yes…photography is a hobby for me as well as my job), scrapbooking, Star Wars Galaxies MMO, and ghost hunting. For Todd it’s been mountain biking, rollerblading, and various video/card/board games. We sometimes get involved in each others’ hobbies. But most, if not all, Ava wasn’t really able to participate. And really, I don’t have a passion for any of his hobbies, and he doesn’t have a passion for any of mine. I don’t love mountain biking, but I’ll go with him because I know he loves it. And he might go on a ghost hunt with me, but he isn’t as excited about it as I am.
Insert Geocaching. I posted on a Facebook status that I am a total geek and that I was going to the Renaissance Faire. My friend Monica (whom I love dearly, and have yet to actually meet) agreed with my geekiness and said that she was surprised I wasn’t into geocaching. Monica doesn’t geocache. She just thinks it’s perfectly geeky for me. (She’s right!) I thought “What pray tell is this geocaching she is speaking of?” Ok, I don’t talk like that, but I DID think “What the heck is that?” I looked it up online, and came across www.geocaching.com. This is what I read:
Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment.
You had me at hello. But I thought, “I wonder- I bet there aren’t any in our area.” Wrong. I typed in our home address and it came up with thousands, THOUSANDS, in our area. I was so excited! I signed us up and we went on our first geocache hunt.
We were able to bring both of the girls. (I sling Lily and she just comes along for the ride, inserting her very loud, unintelligible opinion when she is not sleeping)
And we got exercise, we were outdoors and away from the computer/tv/whatever, and we had a lot of fun. We had two caches marked to do. One is very close to our house. We went there and searched around. Nothing. We couldn’t (and still can’t) find it. We weren’t too discouraged because we had another bigger one planned. That first one was supposed to be a snatch and grab. But our second one was going to be a hike on a trail in a forest preserve.
So, with our Garmin in hand, we went to our first real geocache. Basically, on the website, you type in your address, or the town you’re going to be in, or even the route you’re going to be driving, and it will show you in a list and a map all of the caches in that area. You choose the cache(s) you want to find, and upload the coordinates into your GPS. And then you go. The cache is at the exact location on your GPS, but you have to get to that spot (sometimes, that’s the hardest part) and then you actually have to find it. And they’re tricky sometimes.
Yesterday, we went on one and we searched for a half hour and we couldn’t find it. But, that’s part of the fun is the search.
When you find the cache, you sign the log inside (there is always at least a log).
And sometimes there is “treasure.”
You don’t usually take anything, but if you do take something, you have to leave something of equal or greater value. Then you pack it back up, hide the cache in the same spot so someone else can find it. When you’re done, you come back online, and mark whether you found the cache or not, and you’re experience. I usually include a few pictures as well (as long as they don’t give away the location). That’s it!
On our first hunt, we went walking on a bike trail for a bit in the direction that our GPS said to go.
She (Our GPS is a she, ok? She has a woman’s voice. We call her Garminia. Yes, we’re geeks.) told us “arriving at destination, on right.” So we started walking into the woods to the right of the trail.
We walked, and walked, and hiked.
And backtracked, walked, and hiked, and searched.
And we were getting a little discouraged and tired. Todd went back to the spot that Garminia announced our arrival, and sat on the fence that was there.
He pulled out his compass, stared at the GPS, read the cache description over and over again.
And turned and looked at the fence. Huh. Curious. What was that doing there on the fence? It looked like an outlet cover mounted to the back of the fence. He opened it. Voila! Our first find.
And it was exactly where Garminia said it was. It really made for a fantastic first hunt.
(By the way, if I ever blog about geocaching, I might show pictures of the exact locations of the cache, something that I cannot do on the website, for fear of spoiling the fun for everyone who goes on that particular hunt, but I will not disclose the location on a map. If I do link the location on a map of a picture I have taken, I will not show a picture of the exact location of the cache. And I will never link the cache page for any of the hunts we go on. There has to be some mystery to it!)
So, we’ve gone on a few hunts since then, and we have a lot of fun. Some we’ve found, some we haven’t. But, that’s the fun of it. We’re together, doing something other than being cooped up inside. We’re on a treasure hunting adventure. Ava likes it, though she’s girly and doesn’t like going through the woods.
So we found her an “Oogway” walking stick and she seems to like it more.
She doesn’t mind puddles and getting dirty.
But she whines and cries over sticks and bugs and spiders. But, she still has fun, she learns a little about geography, and she finds ways to be girly.
Maybe most important, she’s playing outside. With us. Gotta love that.
So, I’m guessing we’ll be doing this a lot. You can leave your own cache, which I’m sure we’ll start doing once we’ve gone on a few more. You can form groups, or become a part of a group. You can find geocoins, which I haven’t yet figured out. You can go on event caches and “Cache in, Trash out” hunts. We’re planning on driving to Disney in October, so we’ll be mapping out some geocache hunts along the way. And I’m happy I can practice my photography and take pictures of everything I see.
So, we’re at the beginning stages, but I’m so happy we’ve found something we can all enjoy and we can do together as a family. There really is nothing like accomplishing a goal together as a family. I really hope this turns out to be a passion for us. If it isn’t already.
P.S. On a side note, the delicious texture on the picture above is courtesy of Totally Rad Actions.
