What is Geocaching?
Geocaching is a treasure hunt designed for the 21st century because is practiced with a handheld GPS in the wild or in urban areas.
How Does it Work?
Visit one of the official Geoaching websites such as Geocaching.com or OpenCaching.com and enter in your zip or postal code. This will return a list of Geocaches near you that other families have hidden in the great outdoors. You can then download the co-ordinates (to an accuracy of 20 meters) to your handheld GPS device and then get started.
What Do You Do?
You and your family can then head off to the general area, using your GPS, and using the clues download from those websites you can start looking for your first Geocache. It will be hidden somewhere in the wild, and is usually a small plastic box with hidden treasure inside – never anything of great value, but the idea is that you add your own piece of treasure for the next person. This could be something like a playing card or small toy car.
When you do find a Geocache there will also be a notebook in there which you and the kids can sign and date so the next person knows that you found it!
Which Handheld GPS Should You Use?
The best GPS devices for Geocaching are designed by a company called Garmin. Look for the eTrex and Montana models. They have even now released a new GPS wrist watch which makes things even easier and means you don’t need to carry a handheld. Click here for full details on the new Garmin Fenix GPS watch – it’s quite expensive but a GPS is essential if you want to take this past time seriously.
Why Geocaching is Good for Families
So many kids now spend their time indoors playing on computer games. Geocaching gives the whole family the opportunity to do something fun together, and get some much needed fresh air outside. You can be outside in nature discovering a new place you have never been to before and spend some quality time with your children.