This summer, I picked up a new hobby that everyone could and should enjoy: geocaching. Think of it as an Easter egg hunt on steroids: little capsules hidden almost anywhere you can imagine, with only a set of coordinates (and sometimes a hint) to help you find it. Geocaching is something that everyone can enjoy, no matter their age or skill, for the following reasons and many more.
1. Geocaching is a great learning experience.
In every cache is an opportunity to learn just waiting to happen. You could stumble upon a part of town you've never visited, or find a beautiful spot in the woods that looks untouched by everything but nature. Find a special kind of geocache called an earthcache to learn more about a special geological marvel near you. Earthcaches require you to do a little reading and research to answer a few questions before you can add them to your log, which presents a perfect new way to learn about your area’s geography.
2. Geocaching is as difficult or as easy as you want it to be.
Geocaches are rated from one to five on their difficulty and the difficulty of the terrain around them. Do you feel like your hobbies should be more relaxing and gratifying? A difficulty of one usually equates to what seasoned geocachers call a “park and grab,” where you can just pull your car into a nearby parking lot and take a short walk to the location of the cache. A difficulty of five, however, is much more to contend with. Some difficulty fives will require you to kayak or swim across a body of water to access the cache. In the case of one devious difficulty five I tried (and failed) to log, the location of the cache is given clearly, but is locked with a bag of more than a hundred keys sitting teasingly on top of it. Would you like something more in the middle? No problem! There is a geocache that you will love, just waiting to be found.
3. Geocaching will help you make unexpected friends.
On my very first geocaching experience, I thought I was foiled by a mother and her three children having a picnic exactly where I expected the cache to be. I took a short walk to re-strategize how, or even if, I would log the cache. When I finally looped around again to see if the family had left, I heard a voice call out to me, "You wouldn't happen to be geocaching, would you?"
With a little help from the kids, I found my first geocache. We sat around chatting for a few minutes afterwards, at which point their mother told me about the wonderful community that surrounds geocaching. Most areas have monthly meetups for geocachers, which can be found directly through the app. You can grab a bite to eat with like-minded people while discussing your favorite recent caches!
4. Geocaching is just plain fun!
Make a day out of it! Pack a lunch and head out on your very own geocaching adventure. With the Geocaching app (available for both iPhone and Android) in hand, finding a cache wherever you go is as easy as pressing "Find Geocaches Near Me." Whether you’re breaking up a long car ride or just killing some time, there is almost always a geocache close by that you would have never known about!
