Geocaching=Modern Day Treasure Hunting!

A few months ago, there was an article http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/technology/10geocache.html in The New York Times about geocaching and how it’s becoming so popular. This was actually the first time I had ever heard of it and I was really interested-especially since my son loves treasure hunting. Think of it as just that-modern day treasure hunting. The boy scouts also now have a geocache badge-so that immediately makes it a really big deal.

By the way, it’s pronounced geo-cashing. Nonetheless, it’s a high tech treasure hunt where millions of cache’s are hidden throughout the world. All you have to do is log onto the website
http://www.geocaching.com/ and get a free membership. You can also upgrade to a yearly membership for $30. Basically, you type in your zip code and the gps coordinates of caches near you pop up. That’s it. You type in the gps coordinates on your device-in our case it was a droid cellphone-and drive near the site. Once you are near, you can switch your gps unit to compass or map and hunt out the hidden cache on foot.
Some of the cache’s are harder to get to with tougher terrain-but, the cache’s are rated for difficulty.

Some of the “finds” are capsules with logs inside. In some cases, you sign the log and add the find to your profile-bragging rights are immediately in order by the way. But, there are some cache’s that contain kids toys, trackable coins, and other treasures. If you want to take something out of the official geocache box, you must replace it with something of equal value. It doesn’t get much better than this to make a child happy, right?

And, with my 4 year old really into treasure hunting, we are officially hooked! We got him a metal detector for his birthday and it’s quite a sight to see his face light up when he locates something on the ground or in the sand. So, this was right up his alley. We found 2 cache’s on Saturday morning-the second one was a little hard to find, but, after taking a break and returning we found it! Sunday morning when I asked my 2 year old if he wanted to go the movies he said, “Hunt treasure.” That’s when I knew this was a hit.

The great part is, we can do it anywhere in the world. Sure beats sitting inside watching The Da Vinci Code! Happy Hunting!

Amber is a mom of two boys. Her blogs can be found here every Monday.

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Comments

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[managed forex accounts]

Thank you for the info. It is my first time as well hearing about geocaching! happy to learn something new from your post.

[Jackie Johnson]

This is really exciting for kids. We are teaching global positioning systems (GPS) and geocaching in our Mop Top Shop summer camp. I know kids will find this activity quite exciting