Have you ever been geocaching?
Geocaching is basically a giant treasure hunt.
It’s the old fashioned version of Pokemon Go, except instead of finding Pokemon’s you find all sorts of things that other geocachers have hidden. A cache is hidden and the coordinates for that cache are then entered into the app. Any user can pull up the app and find where caches are supposed to be based on the coordinates provided. Once the cache has been found, there is usually a log book inside and sometimes a leave-a-treasure/take-a-treasure prompt.
Some geocaches are tiny (a matchbox) and some are huge (a full shoebox). Some are easy to find and some are EXTREMELY challenging! There are caches in the city, in the country, in the woods, and in suburban park neighborhoods.
Theo and I went geocaching for the first time last fall on one of our date nights. We decided to go to downtown Dayton and find some caches, and we had a BLAST! It was SO MUCH FUN. We had so much fun on that date night that we decided to take our kids out and look for some caches, too. Kiah of course had no clue what was going on, Tera wasn’t really into it, and Heavenly thought it was so awesome that she wanted to invite her friends to go along next time. So, I’d call that a total win.
Geocaching is free and easy, here is what you have to do:
- Download the app from the App Store or Google Play
- Create an account- it requires your email address and password, and then you are all set!
- Find a geocache
- Log your experience. In addition to writing your name in the logbook at the actual cache, you can also interact with the cache on the app. If needed, you can look for a hint (sometimes helpful, sometimes not so much), and you can read all the previous comments/feedback that geocachers have left at that cache.
That’s it! It’s so fun, and so easy! It’s the perfect couple or family activity and is such a fantastic way to get out of the house and spend time outdoors!
After just a few geocache outings, I have gathered a few tips and tricks to share with you:
- HAVE FUN! Some of these are really hard to find, and some require a little bit of trekking. As long as everyone has their attitudes set on fun, it will be fun. Don’t make it all about how fast to find it or who finds it first (because in our family that will always, always, always be Theo), but make it about how fun the whole process can be!
- You are going to get strange looks. Listen. Most people don’t know what geocaching is and it looks mighty strange when you are searching through newspaper boxes or a cannon at the courthouse. Make sure when you are geocaching you are being respectful of people, places and laws.
- Some caches no longer exist. Even though they are still on the app, they are just…gone. It’s nice to be able to check the logbook on the app to see when it was most recently found. If it was found a few days ago, it probably still exists. If it’s been a year or two since it was found, its probably gone.
- Take fun things to trade! Once you find a geocache, you can often take something out of it…as long as you put something back in! We told the kids to each grab one tiny toy to take with us, and when we find the caches they get to pick something out of it. The item needs to be very small- think small plastic toys, painted rocks, stickers, etc.
- Coordinates are sometimes not exact. The coordinates will lead you to the basic vicinity of where you need to go, but then it takes some searching to find the actual cache. This is the fun part!
