If you are like me you have heard of geocaching for years, but never really knew what it was or how to do it. My son recently saw a YouTube video of people geocaching and downloaded the app to his tablet. I mentioned that we should look into it and do it. His eyes lit up as he was shocked that it was a real thing, and not just something online. I told him about an aunt of mine who used to geocache all the time, but I did not know much about it. Together we researched it and decided that it was definitely something we had to do. immediately.
So, what is geocaching? It is a global game where people hide a cache anywhere, they choose and upload the location to geocache.com. Then, whoever downloads the app can turn on their location and find caches near them. From there it is a fun journey of navigation and exploration. First of all, you are probably wondering what a cache is. It is a “treasure” that you hide. It can be a micro size up to a large size. Some of the treasures have prizes inside of them like little trinkets. The smaller ones just have a piece of paper in them that you write your initials on when you find the cache. The rule is if take something you have to leave something. If there are prizes in the cache, then you take something out and put something of similar size back in. We had a lot of fun making our own cache and hiding it on a nature trail near our house.
Now back to the game. When you find a cache near you that you want to find, you hit the navigate button on your app. It pulls up a map with an icon where the cache is. This is where the fun begins. My son got a crash course in map reading and navigating. He didn’t even realize he was learning, because he was so excited to find the cache. While I drive car, he tells me where to turn and which direction to go. Once you reach your destination, you will have to park and go explore to find it. The app will tell you how close you are as you navigate on foot. Once you reach the general area, the app will light up blue and you know it is time to start looking. This is really exciting because it could be anywhere. It may be under a tree trunk, or a light post, we even found one hidden under a gutter on the side of a convenient store. Once you find the cache you open it, take a prize, and leave yours behind. Then you put it back in the exact spot. Next, you log it on the app as found and the person that set up the cache gets a notification. Now you are on to the next one.
The fun part of the game is that they are hidden so many places. They can be in urban areas, trails, or national parks. When we go camping now, we have to add geocaching to our agenda. You can even do it in other states. You will be amazed at how many there are. I was. We can spend hours doing this on days that we are bored and needing some exercise and excitement. Not to mention, all of the neat places we’ve found in our area we didn’t know existed. For instance, we found one hidden in a butterfly garden that wasn’t too far from our home. I would have never known about that place and now it is one of our favorite places to visit. The boys and I have had so much fun together running around bonding as we try to figure out where they are hidden. It is such a favorite past time now that I have to limit it, or they would want to do it every day. It gets us out in nature and out exploring our community. It gives their critical thinking skills a workout as most of the caches have clues hidden in the name of the treasure. It is just plain fun.
The boys couldn’t wait to make our cache and upload it to the app. Making a cache is easy. You can choose to do a micro cache. These are little magnetic capsules that only contain a piece of paper for initials of finders. These are fun to find because they could be stuck anywhere. We’ve found them hidden under park benches and even on the side of a train at a nearby museum. If you want to do a prize cache, you need to find a container that can hold up to the elements. We used a Tupperware container with a locking lid. The boys decided to put marbles in ours as they were small and easy little trinkets to add. We hid it under a bridge over a small creek on our nature trail. We named our cache “Bridge over Rushing Waters”. This is the clue that will help people locate the cache when they get to the correct coordinates. That brings me to another great teaching moment. You have to upload your exact coordinates into the app. This led to an impromptu lesson on longitude and latitude and how to use those coordinates to find exact locations. This led to a great conversation about where else this information is useful and in what careers it is used.
Overall, I think this is such a great thing to do with you kids this summer on vacation, at home, or anywhere. Light up their sense of adventure and get their minds working. I am so happy that we decided to give this a try. I can’t believe we never tried it before. Now it is your turn, give it a try!!
-Nicole