Geocaching is a new way to explore the great outdoors.

When I was a kid, I used to love playing in the woods. I would spend hours hiking trails, walking along creek beds, searching for fossils. Sometimes, I would pretend I was on some sort of secret mission or treasure hunt. As an adult, I still love playing in the woods – now, my time outdoors is usually spent hiking, hunting or exploring on our family farm.

My dad recently got a portable GPS unit, so we can mark the numerous trails that wind through our property. It’s also great for marking points of interest along the way – like the old, abandoned barns hidden deep in the woods; and for finding the stone foundations of homes that – according to surveyors’ maps of the day – once stood on our land back in the 1800s.

If you’re looking to satisfy your own sense of adventure and don’t have your own plot of wilderness to explore (or your name isn’t Jason Bourne), you might want to try geocaching.

Basically, geocaching is a modern-day treasure hunting game that uses portable GPS units (or GPS-enabled smartphones) to find hidden “treasure” or “caches.” A cache is usually some sort of container (like an old ammo box or sealed plastic container) with a logbook inside. They can be hidden in urban or rural areas, and some are harder to find than others. Using provided coordinates, geocachers seek out the hidden treasure, sign the logbook when they find it, and report their findings online.

Geocaching.com is the online hub for the geocaching community

Geocaching.com is the online resource for all things geocache. “The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site,” geocaching.com has everything you need to get started. Register for a free basic account and enter your zip code to find a list of caches near you. Just plug the GPS coordinates into your device, and off you go!

Like that old saying about finding happiness, geocaching is not about the destination – it’s about the journey. It’s a fun way to get outdoors and explore areas you might not otherwise visit. Some geocaches are hidden in parks along well-paved hiking trails, others take you well off the beaten path. Make sure you’re well-prepared for the terrain you’ll be covering. While it might be fun to strike out on your own, geocaching is also a great social activity for adults, families and children.

Brandy Burt Jacobs (an old friend from the Ohio Concours d’Elegance) says she’s participated in numerous geocaching adventures with her kids, through the Cub Scouts.
“I couldn’t believe how widespread the interest is,” she told me.

While most geocaches contain a simple logbook, some also contain items (called “hitchhikers”) that are meant to be taken from one cache location to another. “We have a family policy that you have to leave something to take something,” Brandy says. “There are also some items with a “tracker tag” on them that you can follow online and see where it’s been and where it goes next.”

A good GPS unit is essential for geocaching

Lori Rutherford is also an avid geocacher. She says the thing she loves most about it is that “it has taken me to parks and places that I never knew about.”

“When you find a cache, the idea is to keep it secret, so non-geocachers (called “muggles”) won’t mess with them,” Lori says. “The mix of stealth, problem-solving and achieving success is addictive. The next level is hiding one yourself!” You can submit your own geocache location at geocaching.com. After it’s reviewed, your geocache will be published to the site for others to find.

There are also a few variations of geocaching: “Letterboxing” – which involves collecting stamps from caches you’ve visited (and stamping the logbook with your own stamp, too) and World Caching – visiting famous geological sites around the globe.

The next time you’re heading out hiking or camping, you might want to check geocaching.com and see if there are any caches hidden along your route. It’s a fun and easy way to add a sense of adventure to your travels. There’s a vibrant geocaching community online – odds are, someone you know has given it a try. Maybe you should, too! Be sure to comment on this article or drop us a line if you do. We’d love to see where our readers have been!