A Quarantine Activity: Geocaching 101

This week, we have been reintroduced to geocaching and I had forgotten what fun it can be! We first tried geocaching last summer as a way to get out of the house and explore new areas around town. We’ve also tried it a few times when we were on vacation and it was a fun way to see parts of a new city. But this week, we went back to it again for some quarantine fun and it checked all the boxes of social distancing entertainment: you’re not with other people, you’re outside, and you usually aren’t in public places.

Geocaching is like modern-day treasure hunting. We use the app, which uses location services to show you where geocaches are close to you. You can use Google Maps to get close, but once you get in the area of the geocache, you have to do a little hunting to find them.

So, what exactly are you hunting for? It depends. Each cache is different, but usually it is a small, hidden container of some kind. Inside the container, you will find a “log,” which is a piece of paper where you write down the names of your party and the dates you found the cache. Most also have small little treasures in them, which is what the kids really like. We have found keychains, pom pom puffs (like for crafting), stickers, pennies, and other little tchtochis.

When you find the cache, there are a few things you should do:

1. Log your entry on the piece of paper in the physical cache.
2. Log your entry in the geocaching app and mark it as “Found It,” so that others know the last time it was found.
3. Take an item from the cache, if there’s anything you want. I usually let each of my kids pick one item.
4. Leave a little treasure of your own in the container. We keep a small baggie of marbles and Mardi Gras doubloons in my glove compartment all the time so that we have them to leave if we decide to stop and hunt for a cache.

I’ll warn you that not every geocache is a good one. In fact, some of them aren’t even there anymore. People take them, animals find them, or weather ruins them, so don’t be disappointed if you look and can’t find it or when you do find it, it isn’t a great cache. Also, most of them are out in parks and that can mean bugs and dirt! To us, that’s part of the fun. But just wanted to give you a fair warning!

If you want to try geocaching for the first time, here are some tips and trips our family has learned along the way:

• Wear tennis shoes. You’ll have to tromp through some dirt, sand, or grass at some point and my flip flops just don’t hold up!
• Choose caches that are close together in an area so you get more for your time. If you pick one that is out randomly away from everything and it’s a dud, it is way more frustrating than if there are several in one area and you get a dud. Increase your odds of finding good things by choosing areas with at least 3 caches that are less than a mile apart. See this picture below? These are the four Gracie and I did this afternoon. It took us about an hour to find all four of them. 2 were great, 1 was a dud, and 1 we never found.

• Look for caches in neighborhoods if you aren’t really a fan of nature or if you have little kiddos. Typically, the ones in neighborhoods are easier to find and a little better cared for than the ones in parks.
• When you find a cache you want to go hunt, check a few things on the app before you go, just to ensure you have more success. We usually check the ACTIVITY first. This is where people log in any notes or messages when they find the cache. You want to make sure that the most recent messages aren’t too old and that people have been able to successfully find the cache. You’ll see immediately if people have a hard time finding one or if it is missing and you’ll know to skip that one.
• We also check the HINTS. These are left by the creator and usually help narrow your search down once you find the area to look in. You can also find hints from people who have found the cache before in the activity log.

Geocaching is a fun, easy way to get the family out of the house and trying something new. Give it a try and break your quarantine rut! 🙂