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What In TheThe World Is Geocaching ?

© Barry Houseknecht

It's free! It's fun! It's adventurous! It's informative! It's easy! It gets you out of the house! It's everywhere! Did I mention that it's free! It seems that this geocaching thing has been around forever but it's new to. I really think it's a fantastic way to fill an afternoon with the family, see some of the local countryside and perhaps learn a little of the local lore.

Geocaching is rather like a treasure hunt. Other geocachers have hidden these treasures or caches. GPS coordinates, a description, and a clue or two are posted on various websites such as www.geocaching.com. We can go on one of these websites and do a search by zip code or GPS coordinates and locate caches that are near or of interest to us. With our clues printed out, GPS in hand we are off on our adventure for the day. Following our instructions, watching our GPS and a little luck we will arrive at the proper location find the cache. Most caches contain a logbook so you can note your visit. We then return to the website and proudly log our find.

Caches can be of several types:

1. The traditional ---- these caches could be anything from a pillbox to a peanut butter jar to old ammunition can. They can contain almost anything but usually contain trinkets and baubles that have no real value except to us geocachers, the fun is in the find, a logbook and a pen.

2. Chain or multi cache ---- These caches have more than one location, usually two or three. When you find the first cache you are directed to the second and so on until you locate the prize cache. These are for the diehards as they are usually much harder and take more time to locate.

3. Virtual ---- These caches are a little different, virtual cache takes you to a historical marker or location. These caches are great for us RVers or other people that are in an unfamiliar area. They can tell us a lot about an area that we never otherwise be aware of. With these caches you normally have to answer questions tat can only be answered via an actual visit to the site.

4. Travel Bug ---- This is an object that is left in a traditional cache that is meant to be moved from one cache to the next with some sort of travel plan. It might be just to see how many miles it travels or it might be say found in Florida and it wants to go to California as its final destination. The bugs that I have seen look like the military dog tag but it is labeled as a travel bug and it carries an identifying serial number for tracking this particular bug.

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