Join the Hunt! Start Geocaching

Have you heard? Spending time outside reduces stress, anxiety, blood pressure, and increases happiness! Intrigued? You can read more about the benefits of spending time outdoors in my Take a Hike post. But what if you don’t like hiking or biking or fishing or birding or some of the other popular outdoor activities? Then maybe geocaching is for you! 

What is Geocaching?

Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity that requires you to use a GPS device or smartphone to hide and seek containers. These containers are appropriately called “geocaches” or “caches,” and are hidden at specific locations marked by coordinates. The fun of geocaching is that caches are hidden in all kinds of places! You can find them in neighborhoods, city parks, nature trails, and more. Inside caches, which come in many different sizes, you’ll typically find a logbook and sometimes small artifacts. Geocachers navigate to a location, sign the logbook, and then return the cache to its hiding spot. 

Low-Tech to High-Tech 

Believe it or not, geocaching evolved from a low-tech activity called letterboxing. Letterboxing originated in Dartmoor, England in 1854. It began when a local guide wandered out into the wildest reaches of the moors and left a bottle with his card for people to find and then leave their own card. Eventually, a small tin box replaced the bottle, and people began leaving self-addressed postcards. People would find these stashes and mail the postcards back to their owners from their hometowns. 

As the activity became a more well-known hobby throughout Dartmoor and England, a country known for its enthusiastic walkers, cards were supplanted by rubber stamps. This somewhat obscure outdoor recreation activity only became known to the U.S. when it appeared in an article in Smithsonian Magazine.  And now you can find letterboxes in the U.S. and all over the world. 

A software engineer started Atlas Quest to provide an online platform for letterboxing in the U.S. You can create a login and become part of a community that enjoys getting outdoors in search of letterboxes. All letterboxes contain a coveted rubber stamp that the finder can then stamp to their logbook. It’s a fun way to document your adventure and discover the creativity of others!   

A big difference between letterboxing and geocaching is that letterboxers rely on clues to find their treasure while geocachers use GPS coordinates. Both activities combine elements of hiking, orienteering, treasure hunting, and problem-solving. There is also an expectation that you follow some basic safety guidelines and etiquette when handling the treasures you have found…more on that later! 

GPS Update Leads to the Hunt!

Back in 2000, global satellites received a software update that enabled a major upgrade to the accuracy of GPS devices. Boom! Geocaching was born. All of sudden regular people had the ability to pinpoint where an item was left so it could be found at a later time. Computer consultant, Dave Ulmer, decided to test this accuracy by putting on the “Great American GPS Stash Hunt”. Rules of the hunt were simple, “take some stuff, leave some stuff”, and share the coordinates, known as the “waypoint” with an online community. 

People of the internet responded! Soon people were posting their adventures of finding and hiding, and making suggestions about how to scale up the game. One major suggestion was the name, geocaching.  

Geocaching can take place in urban, suburban, or rural areas, and the difficulty of finding a cache can range from easy to highly challenging. Whether you are not so into more “traditional” outdoor activities or you are, geocaching will foster a sense of adventure, exploration of new places, and promote a community spirit among participants. There are literally (yes, I used that word correctly) millions of geocaches hidden globally. And the community continues to grow, by embracing new technology and developing inspiring and creative hide ideas.

Becoming a Geocacher

First, let me say that I didn’t know much about geocaching until I decided to write this post. I noticed a flyer at my local state park about a geocaching event and became curious. Then when I talked about geocaching at home, my teenage son was like “Oh, yeah! That’s cool!” Dare I say, I needed no further prompting to learn more about geocaching!

After a little digging, I found that for beginners Geocaching.com is a great place to get started with your treasure-hunting adventure.

First you can download the app, available on both Apple and Google Play and create an account. It is completely FREE, unless you choose to sign up for the premium membership. There are additional features that will be locked with the free account. However, I recommend maintaining the free account as you learn how to choose a cache, navigate to the location, search for the container, and log your first cache! On your app or the desktop version you can log your find and build a “life list” of all the geocaching adventures you have embarked on.

Hiders and Seekers

When it comes to geocaching there are two categories of players: hiders and seekers. And, yes, many people are both! Geocaching is a game and games have rules no matter which part you are playing. If you are just beginning with geocaching, focus on becoming a seeker. 

Engaging in the active hunting of caches will give you an idea of the types of containers, locations, and items that are hidden in the spirit of the game. Rule #1 for a seeker, when you find the cache and want to take the item, leave another item in its place. There are certain caches specified for “trading” and the expectation is that you leave something worth more than you have taken. After locating various types of caches, you will be able to recognize areas that would serve as good hiding places, and what may be fun for a seeker to uncover. 

As you get experience as a seeker, you may decide that you would like to hide a cache. The main rule to keep in mind when hiding is that you are hiding to get people outside to a certain place and the cache is just a bonus. Since the game launched in 2000, the international geocaching community created a set of guidelines for hiding. These guidelines are regularly reviewed and updated as the game evolves. 

Wise and Ready 

As with any outdoor recreation activity, it’s always important to take steps to ensure your safety and the preservation of the environment. Before you head out the door, be wise and ready. Always check the weather forecast and dress appropriately. If you are heading out to a more remote location, bring enough water and let someone know your plan. For more essential readiness and safety practices, read my post with 6 Essential Tips for Beginner Hikers. 

Geocachers are people that enjoy a little outdoor adventure! Outdoor spaces are meant to be shared with others, both human and non-human. Best practices for being in outdoor spaces are the Leave No Trace principles. Key practices to minimize your impact on outdoor spaces of Leave No Trace include: 

• Respecting other visitors to the space, 
• Respecting wildlife by keeping your distance, and 
• Simply leaving things as you found it. 

These practices will enhance everyone’s experience! To learn more visit lnt.org for free outdoor ethics training and other programs that will help be wise and ready for outdoor adventures.

Variations on the Game

One of the many reasons geocaching has grown into a globally popular outdoor activity is that people continue to come up with fun variations that add to the adventure and exploration of caches. Traditional geocaching involves choosing a cache to find, using a GPS device to go to those coordinates and then locating the container. But once you’ve got that process nailed down, how about a challenge? 

Offset caching is a variation where the coordinates may lead to some type of landmark or monument, but then the seeker must hunt around for additional clues to the cache. There are also multi-caches. In the multi-cache variation, the original coordinates lead to a container that leads to another location, and so on and so forth until you find the cache. 

Waymarking.com provides information for hiders and seekers to get involved with virtual caching. The goal of virtual caching is to visit a physical location, called a waymark, such as a landmark or building where physical caches would not be allowed. Seekers answer a question about the location or complete a task. Rather than sign a physical logbook, you can take pictures of the waymark to log the hunt.  

Join the Hunt

Spending time outside truly is one of the cheapest, quickest, and most effective ways to reduce the daily blahs. Perhaps you don’t have a backyard or a local park where you can spend some time. Maybe hiking or biking or birding is something you only like to try every once in a while. Or you just need a little carrot to follow to get you out the door. Geocaching can give you that carrot. Join millions of others who enjoy embarking on small, intentional outdoor adventures to hide and seek caches just for the fun and camaraderie! 

I don’t know about you, but I am ready to find a cache! After a long day working in the office, my family and I are looking forward to getting out to locate our first cache. We want to know what the fun is all about! Oh yea, and don’t forget to bring a pen! Embark, Explore, and Enjoy!

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