GeoCaching… Worldwide Hide and Seek

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment.

So I decided to find my first geocache with the help of my gps enabled phone. I was amazed to find that there were so many geocaches hidden so close to me. Going to the Geocaching.com website you can see in the image below how many there are in just the South Sarasota area.

I found one just a few blocks from my house that was called a “microcache” which means it was about the size of a film canister. I loaded an app on my Android phone called c:geo and set off to find the geocache.

The gps took me to within a few meters of where the geocache was hidden and I began looking for it in some bushes because one of the clues was “green cover”.

After ten minutes of searching I finally noticed a slight change in the green color, only to realize that there was some silk plant parts in the actual bushes.

When I pulled back the silk plants I discovered my first geocache   that had been there since 2007Inside was a log sheet with signatures of others that had been here and found it over the years

So I signed and dated it and then returned it back to where it was for the next treasure hunter to find.

The second geocache I took my 2 daughters with me to let them look for treasure. We parked near a trail in Oscar Scherer Park and walked down a dirt trail for about 1000ft watching the gps the whole way.

This one was off the trail about 20ft  and in an ammo canister. 

It was filled with a log book and a bunch of treasures left by other geocachers  We signed the log book and collected a treasure (Hailey picked up a gold coin and Heather picked up an Alvin) to drop off at the next spot.

Along the way we were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery and the fact that we weren’t sitting inside watching cartoons surfing the Internet.

Geocaching is a great thing to do with your family because it will allow you to be adventurous and find new areas that you may have never been to. They come in all different sizes and usually contain items that people have left there for the next person to find. They even have trackable items that when some one finds they take it to the next place and it gets logged online so you can watch as your item travels from treasure seeker to treasure seeker all over the world. 

Go to Geocaching.com to get started playing this worldwide game that actually gets you off your lazy butt and experience what the world has to offer.

Easy Steps to Geocaching

1. Register for a free Basic Membership.
2. Click "Hide & Seek a Cache."
3. Enter your postal code and click "search."
4. Choose any geocache from the list and click on its name.
5. Enter the coordinates of the geocache into your GPS Device.
6. Use your GPS device to assist you in finding the hidden geocache.
7. Sign the logbook and return the geocache to its original location.
8. Share your geocaching stories and photos online.