Our First Geocaching Adventure
January 4th, 2009 - A day that will live in infamy… Well, maybe not, but it is the start of a new hobby for the Williams family.
The Treasure Chest
Like most hobbies in my life, this one started with technology…
I was perusing a list of iphone applications when I came across this geocaching app on sale for a mere $2.99.
This being our last day Winter Break and feeling a need to get away from the myriad of to-dos on our various lists, the wife and I decided to take LW on our first geocaching adventure. Using the cool new application, we found something close to home and headed out.
Using Grandpa Mike's "oldish" GPS
For those not in the know, geocaching has been around for a long time, and for years Dave and I have periodically threatened to search for some. Simply, hikers create treasure boxes and leave them in various places, then they log those treasures, or caches, onto a geocaching website. Other people like me then log into the website, search for caches close to where they wish to hike, log the coordinates into a GPS, and away they go: Indiana Jones in the making.
Most caches have a log book for signing in, and most provide a trading treasure system, where finders are welcome to take a treasure as long as they leave one. Our cache today had several interesting items: several geocaching “business” cards, a Burger King toy from Flushed Away, a sequined ponytail holder, etc. LW traded a Luke Skywalker bobblehead for a glow-in-the-dark rat. It was fun.
Indiana Jones has nothing on us.
After looking through the entry for this cache on the website, I discovered that this site has been found over 150 times prior to us and the last person to visit was only two days ago. Interesting.
LW loved the whole treasure exchange thing, and we really enjoyed the hide-and-seek aspect of this hike, so we’re hoping to search for more caches in the future. We’re already looking for caches we can find while on vacation in Utah. :).
“Read More” for additional pictures.
