Geografun Club – Geocaching!

Today we found our first Geocache!

What is Geocaching?
Geocaching is a treasure hunting game, where participants retrieve GPS coordinates from the internet and navigate to the outdoor location using a GPS device (Garmin, TomTom, smart phone).The basic idea is to locate hidden outdoor containers, called geocaches and then share your experiences online.
Those of us with techie kids, should have no trouble getting them hooked on the idea! Geocaching has been made more accessible in recent years as many people now own Smart phones.

What is inside the Cache?
A cache is a waterproof box that contains a log book, pen and various small items for the children to swap. If you are lucky, you may find a cache that contains a trackable item.
Trackable items have a unique serial number that allows their travels to be logged and followed on geocaching.com. The most trackable items are ‘Geocoins’ or ‘travel bugs’.

How to take part:

  • Register for free at www.geocaching.com. There’s a great video on the site showing you how to get started.
  • Under ‘Search for Geocaches’ type your postcode, or the town you want to search in. This will display a list of caches. For example, if you’re going on holiday, you may like to look on the website before you go, to see what caches are hidden near your holiday destination.
  • Click on the cache name to display; coordinates of the cache’s location, additional information about the location, difficulty rating, clues and hints.
  • Print the page to take with you, and if you’re unfamiliar with the area pack a map just in case.
  • Tap the coordinates into your GPS device and follow the directions until your GPS device shows that you have reached the cache location. Or if you are using a Smartphone, you can just go to the App whilst you’re out and about e.g. at the local park, and simply choose ‘Find Nearby Caches’ and the app will show you a list of caches hidden in the vicinity.
  • Look around you and if necessary use the additional clues and hints to find the cache, you will usually be looking for a small plastic weatherproof container. Some caches can be tiny  – like the size of a film canister!
  • Be discreet – Geocaching etiquette says you shouldn’t let non geo-cachers, see what you’re doing. They’re known as ‘muggles.’
  • Once you find the container, open it and enjoy your victory. All geocaches contain a log book but many contain prizes and other small objects. If you take something, leave something of the same value. It’s worth keeping a little bag of swappable items in your rucksack eg keyrings, rubbers etc
  • Once home, log your visit on www.geocaching.com or you can log it via the app whilst you’re still out.
  • Didn’t find it? If you didn’t find it, go online and log that too, try again or try a different cache.

Once you’ve got the bug, why not hide your own cache? It can be very exciting for children to track visits to their cache online. You could get your own personalised LEGO trackable, register it online and then hide it with your cache. Further details on getting started, what GPS device to use and on registering a trackable can be found at www.geocaching.com

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One comment

  1. We’ve been doing this for years. Jake loves it. It’s a great way to get outdoors and explore nearby !