Treasure Hunting

Over the weekend, we discovered a new hobby and have become big fans, quite quickly. After hearing about "geocaching" from several friends, we decided to look into ourselves.

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.

http://www.geocaching.com/

We prefer to call it "treasure hunting." Using an online source, we locate where the "treasure" is hidden by using GPS coordinates. We then travel to that location and search for the cache. The container might be in an old tree stump, under a rock, who knows. Using the oordinates, you search the general area until you find it. Be careful of muggles though (those are non-geocachers!). Inside you can find a variety of different things, but there is always a notebook to record the date that you were there and whether or not you took or left anything for other geocachers to find. Some people leave a calling card type thing with the name of their "group," some people leave little knick-knacks. There are also "travel bugs" which are coded items that you are supposed to take, log on the computer that you took it and from where and then you are supposed to leave it somewhere else for another geocacher to find and place somewhere else. These travel bugs can end up all over the place. Today we went on 2 geocache adventures and found 2 of these travel bugs!

Emma thought it was really neat to go hiking in the woods and looking under rocks. The neat thing is that it is virtually free (unless you don't already own a handheld GPS), you get to spend time outdoors, and find new places. If you have older kids, they learn about team work, cooperation, problem-solving, maps, coordinates (latitude and longitude), and it is a nice way to spend time as a family.

Our first successful geocache adventure!


Our first look inside!


Another successful find!




Being cute while looking for treasure