Geocaching (also known as Caching) is a new age, electronic treasure hunt using a hand held GPS and making use of the military satellite system. You also need a computer and an Internet connection. People hide Tupperware containers, or other water tight/ weather proof containers and using the GPS take a reading of their location and then publish it on one of the many geocaching websites.
Once it has been published on the website then anyone can go and find it using their GPS. Geocaching is all over the world and is for all abilities.
There are different types of geocaches and different difficulties so if you are not a hiker and just want some that are literally a walk in the park, there are geocaches for you as well as the people that like to hike up mountains.
A few years ago we hiked over 12KM to get to one cache! Some people would say that is nuts to do that, we didn't think that it was nuts as we were camping right in the area and it was on a trail that ran by the campsite and we were going to go for a walk along the trail anyway… maybe not for 12 KM but for an hour or so.
On the web page that the geocaches are listed on there is usually a description of the cache and sometimes a hint to narrow down the search area. A GPS can only get you close to the actually cache, sometimes it zero's out, so this is where the hint is useful. For example, a cache is placed in a forest and the description tells you about the area, the hint will be able to literally POINT you in the right direction. The hint could be, " Beside the stump with the tree growing out of it." So now you know that it is in the forest and it is hidden beside a stump with a tree growing out of it. That will help narrow your search down a lot.
We cache as a family and majority of times I will have two kids with me when going to find one, no matter what the weather is like. We have found caches in all of the seasons and know the different difficulties that can occur with each season.
Our favorite type of caches for the family to do is the 4x4 trail caches. We incorporate our love of 4x4ing with geocaching each time we go out and play in the truck. We not only hunt for caches we also place them on 4x4 roads as well.
I know this really doesn't have anything to do with walking today but I just wanted to share how I also get motivated to go out for a walk in a new area or in a new park. It is fun to have a destination, or goal when walking, even if it is finding a geocaches in a park that is close to home or in the next town.
Also, geocaching can take you to trails and parks in your town or city that you never knew were there.
This is just my two cents worth on my favorite hobby.
Keep on Walking!
©2011 7Ladybugs
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