Chris and I love to go hiking, often there are great hidden gems along the hiking trails leading away from civilization and into the woods. It is here that we find solitude, peacefulness and natural beauty to enjoy – a great combination for stress reduction and personal reflection. Sometimes we need a change to a more engaging adventure or need to add some interest to a hike with a less than beautiful scenery (think of the flat plains). This is when we pick up the handheld GPS and go geocaching.
So, what is geocaching you ask? Geocaching combines elements of hiking, orienteering, a scavenger hunt, and handheld technology (what’s not to like?) in a cross country search for a hidden “cache” located at or near GPS coordinates you find at geocaching.com. Caches can be anything from a plastic film container (you do remember what film is, right?) up to an ammo can. Inside the cache you might find trinkets from previous visitors, a log book, or even a travel bug. A travel bug?!? No we’re not talking about stomach discomfort from something you ate. A travel bug is a coin, a toy, or some other object that is tagged with a serial number. When people find a travel bug in a cache they are free to take the travel bug a move it to another cache, hence they “travel”. Geocaching is an international sport, so it’s possible for a travel bug to be picked up and travel the globe. The Kousin’s Kitty is one travel bug that Chris and I picked up and moved between caches. Since we had the Kitty it’s moved to Central America and all around Europe.
Geocaching is something you can do pretty much anywhere. Caches are located in urban areas, in rural areas and all places in between. We have looked for geocaches near our home, along hiking trails, behind a retail shopping center in a drainage ditch, and next to a fast food drive through. In Texas geocaches are permitted in State Parks so it is easy for Chris and I to add geocaching to our camping adventures. Finding geocaches is a great way to be active but it also takes you to places you would have never gone – off the hiking trail, out of the campsite, and down roads you would not normally travel. The discoveries that await you, not just the discovery of a geocache, are fantastic! We’ve taken more than a few of our most popular and unique photographs while looking for a geocache.
Getting started with geocaching is not difficult. There are two things that you will need: 1) a free user account on geocaching.com; and, 2) a handheld GPS unit to help you find the caches. If you have a navigation system for your car or a portable GPS that you use for driving along the highway, you probably will not be successful at geocaching. Geocaching involves navigating to GPS coordinates and often walking off road quite a distance to find a cache. Navigation systems typically will not support this type of use. Instead, opt for a handheld GPS unit designed for use by hikers. These battery powered devices can range from the simple with text information displayed on an LCD screen, to units with color screens and maps. We like the Garmin GPS 60Cx for our geocaching. If you have an iPhone or other smartphone, you can also geocache using the onboard GPS receiver and geocaching software. We like the iPhone geocaching app for its ability to identify geocaches near our campsite, but we switch to our Garmin handheld GPS as we start our hike to locate the cache. The handheld GPS unit has far better sensitivity than the iPhone and does not consume the battery like the geocaching app does.
If you enjoy hiking or camping, give geocaching a try. You will add variety to your hiking or travel adventure and you will discover some interesting and amazing places. Who knows, maybe you will even pick up a world traveling travel bug like we did. See you on the trail!
