What is geocaching and why should I be doing it?

Geocaching is a fun family activity that combines high tech toys (for Dad’s enjoyment), exercise, and the thrill of a treasure hunt (fun for everyone that participates in the search). I was traveling to Minnesota for a family vacation, and had not even heard of the term “geocache” which is pronounced “geo-cash” before discovering how obsessed my cousin and his kids are with this global phenomenon. Upon getting a brief tutorial on the hand-held GPS device and its basic functions, and printing out the closest “caches” from our location, we were off and running.

Now there are a few things to know before you begin your search. The first being the whole concept that while things are hidden in plain sight and you have the coordinates to the hidden location (see photo to the right), there still is quite a bit that goes into hiding the cache container itself. They are camouflaged so the average person does not see the container and take it. The common non-geocacher is known as a muggle, and great care must be taken to insure that a muggle (or muggles) is/are not aware that you are geocaching when they are around. You should be discrete once finding your cache, and quickly sign the log and exchange any items that you want to trade for. Promptly return the cache to its original hiding place, and cover your tracks. Also important is the rule of cache-in, trash-out; while trailblazing on your way to the cache, it is your duty to remove any litter along the way. We are a global community of do-gooders, and it is only right to keep our parks, trails, and community clean in the process.

You can learn a whole lot more from visiting the geocaching.com website, as I am only giving you the basics in my little story about my experience in this amazing well kept secret. I was astonished to find out that there are over 2,000 geocaches within our 92126 zip code alone. Once you find your first one, you are hooked. Here is a photo of our first find from Minnesota. The ammo box was hidden in a hollow log. The next step from finding a geocache is to hiding a geocache. This is a commitment that shouldn’t be taken lightly. You must maintain your cache, but it can be rewarding to the cache owner every time someone finds your hidden treasure.

It is free to join the geocaching community, and you can use this link to get started. There are premium memberships available, which will send you updates on newly posted caches in your area, special members-only caches (which to me defeats the purpose entirely, since not everyone knows about geocaching in the first place) and the updating of your coordinates directly to your GPS unit from the website. There are many more features to upgrading your membership, and once I upgrade mine, I will follow up with another article.

Purchasing a GPS unit is another thing you may want to do your research on before getting started. I used my Cousin’s Garmin eTrex handheld device, and within the week, I purchased the newer model which is the  Garmin Legend H Handheld GPS Navigator. I got mine at Best Buy for around $100 while in Minnesota, but prior to purchasing it we asked the salesman there for information on the various models. You can also find them online through amazon or on e-bay. Doing your research can save you a few bucks whether you buy one new or used.

One thing I found useful was combining my cousin’s car GPS to locate the quickest route to the general area of my search, then once we parked and got out to walk to the coordinates, I used my hand held unit. It is shaped somewhat like a cell phone, which is great to throw off the muggles!

My 6 year old son loves the whole concept of treasure hunting, and we are gathering some S.W.A.G. (stuff we all get) to trade from the larger caches. Did I mention that there are different types of caches? There are micros which are tiny and you only log your find on them, while larger containers have space for a log book, pencil/pen, swag, geocoins which are meant to travel/trade to other cache locations, or travel bugs which have a whole different purpose of traveling across the globe via geocachers traveling to different states/countries. The swag takes many forms from rubber balls, army men, Pokemon cards, or anything that can be traded or collected. The rule for trading is you should always trade for items of equal or greater value. This keeps the ball rolling so to speak.

The Wikipedia definition is: Geocaching is an outdoor activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called “geocaches” or “caches”) anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container (usually a Tupperware or ammo box) containing a logbook. Larger containers can also contain items for trading, usually toys or trinkets of little value. Geocaching is most often described as a “game of high-tech hide and seek”, sharing many aspects with orienteering, treasure-hunting, and waymarking.

Geocaches are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica. There are over 850,000 active geocaches in the world right now.

Taken from the Geocaching.com website, here are the three rules that the geocaching community follows:
1. If you take something from the cache, leave something of equal or greater value.
2. Write about your find in the cache logbook.
3. Log your experience at www.geocaching.com.

That’s pretty much it. If you are a local geocacher, I would love to hear from you. If you are excited about trying this out for yourself, please share your results with us. I had a great time searching for caches in Minnesota, and on the second leg of my family trip we even did a virtual cache at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. I am looking forward to my first one in Mira Mesa after lunch today. I hope you enjoy this article, and enjoy the quality time with your family as I sure do with mine.