“You’re doing what?!” My brother said, staring at me in amazement.
“We’re going on a sort of treasure hunt” I repeated, laughing to myself as my face started to go bright red.
“Basically, you go on this website and there is a map on it and it shows you where lots of little boxes are hidden outdoors. And you have to go out and find them. Some of them have little toys in but others are just boxes with a little book in it for you to sign.” I added, gradually losing more and more enthusiasm for this treasure hunt as I explained the concept while my family laughed at me like I was losing the plot.
The real name for this particular type of treasure hunt is ‘Geocaching’, which has been described as an “Any day, any time adventure that can take you to amazing an beautiful places”. As you’ve probably gathered from my above description, it involves going out into local parks, fields and woods to track down little boxes aka ‘caches’ that have been hidden by more experienced members of the Geocache craze. All you have to do beforehand is type your postcode into the Geocache website and you’ll be given a map with hundreds of tiny boxes on it, each tipping you off to the locations of nearby caches. You can also read clues from other ‘treasure hunters’ on the website and once you’ve found a cache you can sign the online diary.
I only first heard about Geocaching about a week ago and when I clicked on the website I immediately imagined Carl and Ellie from the amazing movie Up taking part and excitedly looking for mysterious treasures on their way to Paradise Falls. Maybe this makes me a massive geek but I kinda like the idea that I’ve probably passed tons of geocaches in the past without realising it. I also like the idea that for ages there’s been this sort of secret club of little adventure-loving treasure hunters. To be fair I’ve probably walked by a few in the past and wondered why they seemed to be closely inspecting the contents of a tree and rummaging through bushes.
Anyway, although my family had initially laughed at my latest adventure, my mum decided to tag along with me and Jake that afternoon.
From looking at the map on the website, we could see that there was a cache hidden in a very small park not far from my parents’ house. And from reading the clues on the website for this particular cache, we got the impression that it was hidden in a tree of some sort. (Lucky for us, you aren’t allowed to bury caches, so there’s no need to go crawling through the dirt on your hands and knees)
Wandering around the park, we looked carefully in every tree trunk we could find. It wasn’t long before Jake spotted something lodged in what looked like part of a tree stump and so I dashed over to examine it. He had found it! Hooray! To be honest, my excitement soon subsided when I realised just how small the cache was. It was a tiny black tube with a rolled up piece of paper in it that was too damp to remove, let alone sign with our names as you’re supposed to.
Jake and I with the tiny cache we found
The good news is that while this cache was tiny, there are thousands and thousands of caches in the UK, and potentially millions across the world, many of which are much larger and filled with random goodies. The idea is that if you take something from the cache, you have to replace it. So you could take an old Spiderman figurine and replace it with a ring that you got free in a Christmas cracker if you wanted to. Some die-hard Geocachers even travel the world looking for the most exciting caches they can find. And I’m convinced that’s something that our favourite cartoon couple of all time, Carl and Ellie, would do.
If you enjoy the great outdoors but want to add a fun little twist to your walks and adventures, I’d recommend giving Geocaching a go. It’s good fun, free, great for keeping children happy, and even if you’re not a parent (like me) it’ll make you feel like an excited little kid again!
What do you think? Do you fancy it? Or maybe you’re already a Geocaching enthusiast? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you!
I may not have found anything particularly exciting, but here are a few Instagram snaps from other people’s Geocaching adventures…
Found it! #geocaching #ammobox #geocache #cache #geocachinguk #geocachingfun #geocache_finds #geocachenation #geocachingadventures #cornwall #hiking #geocachecontainer #groundspeak #geocachingkids
A dog is for life not just a geocache haha what a lovely container! #geocaching #geocachinguk
Just found my engagement ring a geocache in #Kandy #SriLanka :))) The most exiting cache ever! :)))))))))) #geocaching @geocaching @geocaches
Did an excellent #dinosaur #geocaching series today. Some great containers that the kids loved. #geocachingscotland #geocachefinds #geocachinguk #groundspeak #forestwalk #familyfun #familytime #creativecache #nature #naturelover #forest #getoutsideandplay #Killearn
#Geocache #Geocaching #Caching #Geocaching.com #Geocoins #Travelbugs #Groundspeak #Gogeocaching #CM #churchmicro #earthcache #sightsofgeocaching #sightsyouseegeocaching #geocachingadventures #cache #extremecaching #geocachinguk #geocachingamerica #garmin #geocachinggermany #geocachingsweden
Deady Bears picnic at yesterday's Halloween mega @geocaching #thehalloweenmega #geocachinguk #geocaching
Editor's picks
LOVE, LOVE this story! We are Josh & Liz (from Peanuts or Pretzels blog) who are discovering the world through Geocaching. Not only do we love your story because we are ambassadors of Geocaching, but because we LOVE the movie “Up” and the concept of living life as an adventure. So your story really struck us. We even have our own “Adventure Book” just like Carl and Ellie to document our adventures together.
Thanks so much for including a link to our post “10 Top Geocaching Destinations Around the World” and for sharing your new found hobby with the world. So awesome!!!
Thanks & Happy caching!!!
You’re very welcome, and thanks for commenting. I love the idea of having an Adventure Book. I always try to take at least a couple of photos whenever I go out and do something new so I’ll have to start a similar thing.
Looking at geocaching photos that I searched for on Instagram, I found your post and followed up with reading your blog post about caching.
Well written article, and the reaction from your family is generally how most people feel about this activity when we try to explain it. I would like to think we all have varying degrees of adventure in our lives … levels of acceptable risk. While there are some cachers that live for the extreme finds like mountain climbing, scuba diving, or finds deep in a cave, the mainstream cacher is content with the elusive cache well hidden in the woods, or a well thought out urban cache that thousands of people pass by every day, but are oblivious to the container that is hidden in plain sight.
I hope this isn’t your only geocaching adventure and that you continue to increase your number of finds. A GPS or smartphone app will help locate these hidden gems dramatically. My wife and I are in our 50’s here in the US and we enjoy it very much. It takes us to places we never knew existed, many that are within a short drive, yet rich with either incredible views or unknown history. Our adult children have a passing interest, but not as much as we do. Should you or any of your readers care to stop by, I invite you to visit my geocaching blog at http://t4th.net and learn more about our geocaching experiences.
I enjoyed your other articles as well … your blog posts remind me of our youngest daughter who recently got married this past May. :-)
Thanks for posting your article … I hope others are encouraged to give it a go. My wife and I are headed out for a day of geocaching … it’s currently 8°F with several inches of snow on the ground. We may not find very many today, but the adventure itself and time spent together makes it all worth it.
Thanks very much for such a nice comment! I hope it’s not my only geocaching adventure too. On the one hand I can understand why people may automatically think that geocaching sounds a little strange, but on the other hand if you like going out for walks to new places anyway, why not throw in a bit of a challenge in too? I mean, if a non-cacher stumbled upon an unusual cache accidentally, surely they’d find it fairly interesting? I’ve had a look at your blog and it’s a shame so many people are apathetic towards your caching posts on Facebook, but at least you know there are thousands and thousands of others out there that share your enthusiasm for it :)