Geocaching with My Portable GPS

Posted by Jennifer W. Miner Sep 5, 2006

I love to travel, to see new places and experience other cultures. But anyone who knows me, knows I'm not a "roughing it" type of woman. My respect is boundless for backwoods campers who need only a sleeping bag, some bacteria-free water and relatively fresh food to have a great time outdoors; I however, am very unhappy when damp, cold, and bug-bitten. Yeah, yeah, that's a lovely view, can we go home now? I need a shower.

That's why I really like my portable handheld GPS. It's a Garmin eTrex Legend, and with it, I never need to worry about getting too lost during a hike. People use portable global positioning devices professionally, of course, but I am a pure GPS hobbyist. One particular hobby that would be impossible without a portable GPS is geocaching. Geocaching is essentially a worldwide, collaborative scavenger hunt. Geocache hobbyists use their handheld global positioning system to locate, via satellite, containers previously hidden by other geocachers. A world-wide scavenger hunt, the fun is in the finding.

The first geocache I found is less than 1/8 of a mile from my house, in a tree stump. (The decoded clue was, "Stumped?") I reached in, found a small container, and opened it. Voila! Inside each container is usually a pencil and small memo pad, to note who you are and when you found it. There are often little "prizes" with no monetary value as well; btake a keychain, leave a glue stick. It was pretty exciting to know there was a hidden world all around me. And, all around you as well; there little containers are scattered all over the world, with new ones hidden every week. Geocaching is not only like a riddle to be solved on foot, it's a hobby that makes the world seem like a smaller, friendlier place.