The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

My wife and I discovered Geocaching a little over a decade ago while on a double date with a friend from work and his wife. We went to a local park and with our GPS-enabled cell phones in hand, raced around looking for buried treasures. We found a half dozen hidden treasure boxes our first afternoon. The fun is in the searching. Geocaches are often hidden in ingenious locations, sometimes disguised and sitting in plain sight. In the years since, we have gone searching for geocaches on dates, while traveling, during family outings, and sometimes just because. It's often referred to as the "World's Largest Treasure Hunt" with over 3.2 million individual hidden treasure caches around the globe. The idea is simple: for nearly 20 years, people have been hiding treasure boxes and registering their locations online using GPS coordinates and hints to help people find them. Caches are sometimes as small as pill bottles or magnetic key holders with log sheets to fill out to designate that you have found them. Other caches are ammo cans or Tupperware tubs containing trinkets. If you can find a cache, you can trade your own trinkets for items you find. My family usually keeps a supply of odds and ends for this purpose.

Today, geocaching is much easier. Instead of writing out the GPS coordinates and using your GPS device to hunt, you can download one of several popular geocache apps. The most popular apps give you hints and sometimes photos of other searchers. Though many caches contain trinkets, some feature "bugs" or other trackable items. These are objects that have been placed in caches somewhere in the world. Anyone who finds them can choose to move the trackable item to another geocache. You can look online and see where your moving trinket has been during its lifetime. While in Indiana, my wife and I visited a handful of caches that were simply locations with great views or had historic significance. There are several other types of caches that are easy to learn about on the website or with a decent app. Caches are rated by size and difficulty to locate, which can add to the fun of searching. During our time pursuing this hobby, we have visited the same location several times before finally finding the cache. Others are obvious within the first minute of searching.

There are currently 4 caches hidden in Big Sandy, with another handful within a 15 minute drive. All of these hidden treasures are in locations you have certainly walked or driven past hundreds of times without noticing anything unusual. If you have a couple hours to invest, there are hundreds of caches hidden in a 50 mile radius of our town, ensuring plenty of options for a family looking for something fun to do on a Saturday. Dozens are tucked away in Beaver Creek Park and on the road between Loma and Hingham.

Some users decide to hide their own caches. My brother and his boys have done this along one of their favorite hiking locations. Part of the fun of this is seeing how often people visit it. Their first cache was found within a few hours of being hidden, despite having been hidden in a remote location. The geocaching website includes guidelines for hiding caches including making certain that permission has been properly obtained.

If you are interested in trying out geocaching as a hobby, you can start by downloading one of the many apps, though be aware that some require that you pay to use them. You can also visit geocaching.com to learn more. In addition, there are several rules you are encouraged to follow. For example, because the game requires that caches remain hidden, you are encouraged to be careful to be secretive in your hunting so that it isn't obvious that a hidden treasure is present. If you choose to trade trinkets, you should leave an item of equal or better value. If you find a cache, you should replace it carefully when you are done to ensure the next person can find it.

As a hobby, geocaching is a great way to spend quality time with your family. It is also a good way to introduce a little excitement and mystery into a family outing for the kids.