The word Cache has two meanings. Most of us, who are children of the digital age, would associate it with a computer’s memory where data is temporarily stored. However, the word has its origins in a French word referring to a hiding place someone would use to temporarily store items. In this context, the word cache stirs up visions of pioneers, gold miners, and even pirates (Alrighty matey!).
Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game that can be played by anyone across the world. All one needs is a GPS device or a smartphone. A Geocacher can place a geocache in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the Geocache’s existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS unit can then try to locate the Geocache. So what might a geocache look like? In its simplest form, it will just contain a logbook for the Geocacher to log his find but larger caches may contain any number of items turning the adventure into a true treasure hunt. If something is taken, something else of equal or greater value should be placed in the container. For eg. if you find a tennis ball in the container and take it, either replace it with another tennis ball or something of greater value like a cricket ball.
This is how a geocache might look like.
Geocaching became popular in the early 2000s when President Clinton removed the intentional degrading of signals received by civilians on their GPS devices. As of today, the game has spread into a 100 countries and is present on all SEVEN continents including Antarctica. If you think it is only child’s play, think again. The difficulty of finding a geocache can vary greatly in degree from finding one in your neighbourhood park to spelunking in a cave to unearth one. It is also a great way to stumble into places you never knew existed.
If this is not enough to get your adrenaline rushing, then there are also challenges that you can take up. At present there are only two kinds of challenges but they are also working on newer challenge types, mapping tools and other crowd sourced ideas.
To don the role of a Geocacher, all you need to do is follow these steps and you can set out to on your very own Indiana Jones-esque expedition. With geocaching, all the world’s a treasure map and we are merely explorers in it.
- Register for free
- Visit the “Hide & Seek a Cache” page
- You have the option of finding the nearest cache through multiple ways- by postal code, by state/province, by address, by country, by co-ordinates for other countries
- Enter the co-ordinates into your GPS device or smartphone
- Use the GPS to find the geocache
- If you take something from the geocache, leave something of equal or greater value
- Write about your find in the cache logbook
- Share your experience at www.geocaching.com. There is a whole community waiting to hear from you.