Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is an widely popular, high-tech treasure hunting game that has taken off in popularity, especially in the past few years. Many adventure seekers throughout the world are finding caches of treasure (called “geocaches” or “caches”) that have been left for them to find by fellow Geocachers. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, usually a Tupperware or ammo box containing a logbook and treasure. You hunt and locate geocaches with your GPS device, and inside you find treasures that other people have left. You can even leave your own treasure for the next person to find and share with a their friends.

Don’t think there are any geocaches in your neck of the woods? That’s because they are not in plain view but hidden, so you need to hunt for them. You also need the longitude and latitude (coordinates) of their location to be able to find them. There are over 800,000 active geocaches around the world and they can be found on all seven continents, including Antarctica. With that number growing rapidly, you are sure to find them in your own neighborhood, on vacation half way around the world, in urban locations and even way out in the woods on your next camping trip. Don’t forget to mark your car or campsite as a waypoint to ensure you find your way back. the

Typical cache treasures are not high in monetary value but may hold personal value to the finder. Aside from the logbook, common cache contents are unusual coins or currency, small toys, ornamental buttons, Cd’s, or books. Also common, are objects that are moved from cache to cache, such as Travel Bugs or Geocoins, meetyou whose travels may be logged and followed online. Cachers who initially place a Travel Bug or Geocoin often assign specific goals for their trackable items. Such goals might include a destination like to visit all seven continents or certain country’s. Occasionally an item of higher value is included for the first person who find’s the geocache, or in locations that are harder to get to or find.

How to know where to look for Geocaches

The GPS coordinates of the caches are published on Geocaching websites like Geocaching.com (also known as “Groundspeak”) and the original site Groundspeak.com. You can find the locations (coordinates) of geocaches, along with the details of their location’s so you know what to look for and how hard it is to find before you get there. After you find the cache you can share your adventure and photos with the rest of the geocaching community online. There are also many local geocaching chapters that cater to just a state or even city that have information on caches in that particular area. Most Geocaching associations and chapters hold annual functions or outings, Ciberseguridad en Colombia much like a high-tech Easter egg hunt. That is a great way for the whole family to get out and have fun together. There are many blogs and forums that are dedicated to Geocaching where you can read about other Geocachers experiences, events and functions that are in your area as well as in other countries all around the world. They are also a great way to keep in touch with the Geocaching community and learn the In’s and outs of Geocaching.

There is also a invitation only Geocaching community (TerraCaching.com). This isn’t so much to keep people out, but to delegate much of the responsibility for ensuring high  quality, legal and appropriate caches to the community itself. They use a complex, dynamic rating system which learns from members and actively encourages a focus on the quality, not quantity, of caches that members post to provide more fun, Maui waterfalls memorable and challenging cache hunts. To become a member you need two existing members to sponsor you. To start you just register a “starter account” and their system will automatically look for potential sponsors in your area, 1185 also you can post a message pleading your case to the “Applications for Sponsorship” section of the forums. They say that most new members who post here get sponsors within a few hours depending on time of day and the day of the week.

Caches come in all shapes and sizes. From a small vial the size of The Wedding Planner your pinkie that is only big enough to hold the paper with the log on it, to a five gallon bucket and even larger. Geocaches vary greatly in difficulty and location from simple caches commonly referred to as “drive-bys,”  to much more complex multi-staged geocaches with points containing the coordinates for the next stage along the way. The final stage contains the log book and trade items. There are even underwater caches and caches that are located 50 feet up a tree. There are even night time caches where you may need to shine a flashlight in a particular direction and fallow the reflectors to the cache. There is really no limit to how you can hide a cache, 8811 the only limit is to the imagination and that adds to the fun of the hunt.