Geocaching: Modern Day Treasure Hunting

We all have our hobbies… birding, butterflying, etc… keeping lists of what we see and when.  What about treasure hunting?  Now, I’m not talking about pirates (Arrr!) and a leather-bound wooden chest full of gold and silver waiting a few feet under the crystal blue water and white sand beaches of some forgotten tropical isle.  I’m also not talking about walking slowly along the beach with a metal detector and huge headphones being “that guy”.  (But really you can find a lot of cool stuff that way!)  I’m talking about geocaching. 

What’s Geocaching?

Geocaching is about as modern as modern day treasure hunting can get… without all the expensive equipment.  Wikipedia defines geocaching as:

“an outdoor recreational activity, in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", anywhere in the world.”

Basically, you can use the GPS in a cell phone to find the locations of waterproof containers (think Tupperware or ammo cases).  The containers have logbooks, stamps or little prizes (nothing too expensive) and the whole idea is to log your discovery, take or trade a little prize and move on to the next site.  There are websites where you can also log your discovery online and keep track of your count… hmm… this might sound familiar to birding or listing!  So it’s not that weird, right?

Websites like Geocaching.com organize entries, provide maps, and give hints to cache locations.  Hints are given in code so there’s one more element that makes geocaching more like treasure hunting.   A common code is the folding the alphabet so A = N and N = A and so forth:

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H |  I |  J  | K | L | M |

N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

Cache Containers

Containers get pretty clever!  They’re not just Tupperware.  They can come in all different sizes from small (aka nano), medium, or large.  A typical medium container is an ammo box.  Others are designed to look like everyday objects or things you would expect to find in nature.  These are called “devious caches” and include magnetic bolts that can be stuck to the backs of metal signs or park benches, or fake rocks and logs.  Still other cache containers are actually large enough to stand in!

Two examples of "devious" caches.  Images taken from shop.geocaching.org

Caches Can Be Educational!

It’s not just containers with logbooks or prizes… geocaching can be all about the location.  Some caches, like a "virtual cache", are really a point of interest.  For example, a certain statue of someone famous in Texas history located near the gift shop at Washington-On-The-Brazos is a virtual cache.  (I can’t give out too much information in case anyone wants to search for this cache)!

If the location is of geological interest it’s called an EarthCache.  For these types of caches there isn’t a prize to collect or trade but maybe a question to answer.  By posting the correct answer or uploading a picture you can get credit for visiting that site.  For example, a famous geyser in Yellowstone National Park is an EarthCache!

Umm... the REALLY famous geyser at Yellowstone National Park!

Geocaching is a great outdoor activity that uses maps and technology to find a location.  Once there, you need to be able to solve a clue or hint to find the actual cache.  It’s a great way to introduce kids to map reading and the basics of GPS or at least understand directional clues (coordinates, latitude and longitude, etc…).  And if the caches are virtual or EarthCaches, there’s a lesson built in to the trip!

A Geocache Near You!

Geocaches are located all over College Station, Texas, the US and the World!  There's even one at McMurdo Station in Antarctica!

Geocache locations close to home!

I went to seek out a local cache and was not disappointed.  I found a typical cache from a location that shall remain nameless.  

A typical local geocache.

Goodies from the cache.  I traded the astronaut for the coin.

It was a lot of fun and a great way to spend time outside.  I found this quote from a comments section on link to a geocache on the A&M campus:

“I use multi-billion dollar satellites to find Tupperware in the woods. What’s your hobby?”

Interested in finding out more information about geocaching?  Check out the websites listed below!

J    UNCCL UHAGVAT!

References:

Wikipedia link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching

General geocaching information: Geocaching.com (www.geocaching.com)