What do my readers know about me? (Besides my love for baking, eating and being silly…) Well you certainly don’t know about one of my favourite hobbies which I thought I’d share with you today. It makes me feel like Indiana Jones and a spy all rolled into one: Geocaching.
It’s really easy to participate. You create an account on the Geocaching website (don’t worry- it’s free). And then you enter your current address and find caches (aka treasure) that’s nearby. You pick a cache to hunt for and follow the clues and the GPS coordinates to find it. Sadly, this game is only really playable if you own a smartphone. I am addicted to it. Sam and I have found all the local caches in our neighbourhood and are going to have to go further afield from now on.
The brilliant thing is that it’s not organised by anyone per se; just other adults like me, who like hunting for treasure. So someone hides a cache, uploads it’s coordinates and hints to a website and then sits back and waits for people to search for it. If you hide a cache occasionally you’ll have to do maintenance on it. Aka make sure it’s still there.
A cache that I found in Crystal Palace Park.
Being super pleased with myself for finding it!
At first Sam was a bit unsure about geocaching; he wasn’t sure if he was going to like it. But I can safely say that he enjoys it as much as I do now!
A man on a hunt for some treasure!
Yet another beautiful London park.
Of course there’s bound to be some shenanigans. I do have a short attention span. How deep is this deep water?
Another cache.
To give you an idea of what a hiding spot may look like.
Or a hiding spot may look like this!
Voila!
But what is in your typical cache you are probably wondering? Well there are different types of caches. But they all have one thing in common: they all have a log so that you sign and date when you found it! Micro caches are so small that they just fit the log, but larger caches usually have funny gifts in them. Gumball rings, stickers- that kind of thing. But here’s the kicker. When you take something out of the cache, the etiquette is to leave something behind that you have brought with you! (Except you never take the log!)
A micro cache example
It’s a hobby that even has it’s own lingo which never fails to make me chuckle! A muggle is someone who might be in the aware but isn’t aware of geocaching or the treasure that is around them. TFTC means “Thanks for the cache” it’s the “typically” thing to sign the log book with. It’s so nerdy but I love it!
Have you ever heard of geocaching before?
