Geocaching! Oh, my!!

I am the Outdoor Adventure leader for the 4H club.  This is an awesome project because really all we do is GO OUTSIDE!!  Yes, I love it!  We take hikes, learn about the wilderness and we have had one overnight campout.  We are getting ready to canoe down the Kansas River from Lecompton to Lawrence this weekend.  We also had a session with a friend of mine to learn about geocaching.  It is a crazy, cool hobby that involves maps, GPS and hunting for hidden caches.  I have heard about it but never done it and I thought the kids would like to learn about it.  Herb met with us and gave us the basics.  We also used his GPS to make a group find.  Pretty cool!  The kids loved it.  He also donated a geocache container to our group so we can hide our own.  I think we will be creative AFTER the 4H Fair!  Anyway…

Apparently, it was a hobby back in the day before GPS when people would use maps and essentially hunt by map only.  With the change in the ability to access the various satellites, the hobby has exploded as more and more people access GPS navigation devices.   The short version of the story is… people hide various things in various locations around the world then they post the GPS coordinates on the special Geocaching website. People can create an account and search for the things that are hidden.  Herb says that there are approximately 1.7 million geocaches hidden around the world.  There are all different types of caches with various implications for your action when you locate them.  Some are easy and some are really, really difficult – as in scuba diving or rock climbing.  Basically, you can use your GPS to search for Geocaches near you then follow the map into the location.  They aren’t exact so it requires some searching and use of the clues the person who hid the cache lists on the website.  Now, I am obviously a serious noob at this but it seems pretty cool.  Most geocaches have a log to sign when you find them and you can log into the website and report that you found it with a note about your trip.  It seems that once you figure out the basic of how to do this it unfolds into many levels of difficulty and challenge.  Also, one of the things I think is cool is that most geocaches try to take you someplace neat to see something out of the ordinary or to visit a piece of possibly forgotten history.  Others are just quick little finds stashed in parking lots or even tiny magnetic ones on sign posts.  We found two with Herb.  The weather was going down hill but we still thought it was cool.  The spirit of the chase and the unraveling of clues and just searching for something you know is there – exciting!

After our introduction, we decided to give it a shot.  I have downloaded the official geocaching app for my phone and we made an attempt to find a couple.  I couldn’t figure out the app very effectively for the one in the woods (just like me to rush out without reading any of the instructions) but we found one very close to home!!  Very cool!  Marek wanted to look for more! It was technically called a “Park and Grab” and an “urban” one at that (although I really don’t think Oskaloosa is very urban).  Marek thought it was cool and exciting to secretly search for this.  Because, of course, part of this is to be very, very subtle.  No one should notice that you are treasure hunting anything.  Pretty cool.  I spent this morning playing with my app and checking out the website.  I think I figured the app out.  We may venture out again today to hunt for a close geocache.  Kind of neat to think that there are literally hundreds of little secret caches all around us everywhere we go! 

Yet another reason to GO OUTSIDE!! We will also be learning about longitude, latitude and the Prime Meridian as well as more about maps.  Pretty neat I think.  We will see if we maintain an interest.  Right now, Marek thinks it is super cool.  We will take Marcus along on a hunt sometime soon and see what he thinks.  We are always learning, always growing!!  Hope you are excited about something today!!  Have a good one!

~ Denise