Did you know that modern technology can be a great way to get you connected to the outdoors?? If you answered no, then maybe you haven’t heard of geocaching – “a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game where players locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices.” While hiking and exploring are fun, treasure hunting is REALLY fun, especially in the woods.
This is how I most recently convinced my family to go for a hike at Hillsborough River State Park. The last time I convinced them to do something outdoorsy was our canoeing trip down Fisheating Creek around New Years, so we were long overdue for an adventure. Since we are a very goal-oriented (aka competitive) bunch, I thought geocaching would be the perfect activity. The adventure began by googling “geocaching Hillsborough River State Park” and several caches came right up. I picked a cache that would take us down a trail along the river and plugged the coordinates into my iphone. And off we went!
The trail turned out to be SWARMING with mosquitoes due to all the recent rains and warm weather, forcing my dad and stepmom to head straight back to the car. My brother, husband and I persevered though, dousing ourselves with bug spray along the way. This was not for the faint of heart, but there was treasure at stake!
The hint that accompanied the coordinates we found online was “magnolia,” so once we were in the vicinity of the coordinates we found a magnolia tree just off the path, and lo and behold, there beneath a bed of dried magnolia leaves was a camouflaged box of goodies! We had found our treasure! We added a beaded necklace to the stash (I don’t normally wear crazy jewelry when hiking, duh), as it is customary to bring something new for the cache and trade with something else in there. Note that my iphone coordinates crapped out on us part way through the trip, but luckily we had another smartphone (meaning my husband takes full credit for the success of the adventure)! May be best to stick to a non-phone GPS if you have one, though the aerial imagry you can get on the phone can be a huge help.
So while it may sound silly to say you are going on a treasure hunt, geocaching is a great outdoor adventure that anyone can do (especially these days with smartphones)! Do you have any geocaching adventures or hot spots you’d like to share? I’m a big fan of Ocala National Forest – it’s PACKED with caches. Get out there!!
Cool! Ya learn somethin new everyday,
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Like you we have used geocaching to pursuade reluctant children on a walk. The novelty has worn off a bit now but there are still some local geocaches I want to visit. We had a trip to the States in February 2011 and the staff at Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada very helpfully printed us out some great geocaches to go hunting for.
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That does sound like a great way to pursuade children! Will have to keep that in mind for when I have some of my own 🙂
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That was such a fun hike Kristen, great idea. In spite of the mosquito infestation I was still able to enjoy the natural beauty of the park and the peacefulness of hiking. I can’t wait to do some trails up in Yellowstone and Grand Teton, I wonder how many geocaches there are at those two NP’s. I may have to splurge on a Garmin Montana GPS…
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I just might restoke the fire under geocaching for our family! The kids are older, and we can use it as incentive to go new places….ONCE THE WEATHER TURNS….although – I am sure there are caches in cool places like the springs, beach, rivers etc!!! Get out there everyone! Thanks Kristen and Eric for sparking the fun in the outdoors!
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Nice! I recently camped with my son at New Germany State Park in western Maryland and the park had free GPS’s with instructions and coordinates already plugged in. Great way to see new trails and find ‘treasure’. We picked up a travel bug so now we have to go geocaching again. Darn!
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