Geocaching in my kids eyes equals what they call ‘just living a life’ or the ultimate fun and games…Spending time exploring carefully all the nooks and crannies found outdoors in search for containers (with ‘treasure’) also known as caches or geocaches, kind of does make you feel like Indiana Jones or one of the Goonies members.
The thrill of finding the cache, discovering what treasures are hidden inside, the secrecy element as we have to avoid getting seen by so called Muggles (all non-geocaching people that might be around, term borrowed from Harry Potter, obviously…), solving puzzles to get the right coordinates and for me personally the best part -getting to know parts of the town/country/area we would have never get to see if we were not searching for our next cache.
We only have 17 finds for now but we have already climbed trees, faced some skeletons, ‘disarmed’ a Pandora’s box, hung under a bridge and looked for clues around graveyards. And of course, enjoyed every second of it!
Follow clues…solve mysteries… 
…search up high and down low…. 
…until cache is in your hand…
How does it work? Geocachers place waterproof containers with a log book (to prove you have found the cache you have to sign the log) and trade items (if you take something from the cache it is only fair to leave something as well for other treasure hunters). Cache’s coordinates are then recorded, along with some other interesting details about the location (fabulous for learning local history) and a helpful hint. Other geocachers using all of the above seek out the cache. The game is on!
Usual objects that can be found are small toys (Lego being our favorite find), coins, rubbers and similar. Nothing dangerous should be left, and also food of any kind is not allowed as it could get animals interested in the cache. Sometimes there are so called ‘hitchhikers’, Travel Bugs or Geocoins that can have specific goals set by the cachers who placed them. For example their goal can be to travel to another country.
Those should be picked up only by cachers who are going in the direction of the ‘hitchhikers’ destination. Apparently there are also higher value items occasionally included in geocaches as a reward for the First to FInd (FTF) or in a location that are harder to reach, but we haven’t come across any of those yet.
Caches can vary in size from nano ones, smaller to larger boxes (usually Tupperware), our favourite ones being the ones big enough to contain treasure. Nano ones are the most challenging ones to find, as they are super small and used often in the locations with a high concentration of Muggles. Although our last find had a really awesome twist to it making it our number one nano find (we are also sworn not to give any spoilers).
And yes, geocaches are placed all over the world. Can’t think of a better way to explore while traveling, especially because geocaching counts into those rare occasions where no one complains no matter how long we are walking. 😊
To start you only need to create an account and you are good to go!
Also read 15 reasons to love geocaching…