My family and I recently got back into geocaching now that the weather is warming up here in Colorado Springs. For those who don’t know what in the world “geocaching” is….here is the definition straight from Geocaching.com:
“Geocaching is an entertaining adventure game for gps users. Participating in a cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the wonderful features and capability of a gps unit. The basic idea is to have individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the internet. GPS users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches. Once found, a cache may provide the visitor with a wide variety of rewards. All the visitor is asked to do is if they get something they should try to leave something for the cache.”
Geocaching started in 2000 and has spawned out of control across the world. For my kids, it is like going on a treasure hunt; they love to find the cache and to see what is inside. We love to do it as a family outing (and it gets us away from the TV/computer and outside!)
The rules are simple:
- Take something from the cache
- Leave something in the cache
- Write about it in the logbook
Each cache online comes with clues and GPS coordinates.
We recently upgraded my husband’s GPS relic to a new Garmin eTrex which now show a map with the cache’s location. You can download the caches to the GPS and then follow the direction until you find the location and then it’s time to search away!
In Colorado Springs, there are over 500 caches spread throughout the city…too many for it to even plot on the Google Map of the city. Around Fort Carson, there are over 230 caches within just a few miles of the military base. They can be found off our local bike paths, in outdoor shopping centers, off scenic views, in trees, under logs and rocks, and anywhere else you can hide something!
