a certain fast food restaurant at a local farm attraction. We call the geocache Old McDonald’s Farm.
Next, make a note of the GPS coordinates of the cache location and register this with extra clues on
www.geocaching.com. Geocachers in search of treasure must check on this website for hidden geocaches. Then they choose the ones they would like to find, enter the coordinates into their GPS and go in search of the cache.
Once you have found a cache, always replace whatever you take with something
of equal or greater value and log it in the cache logbook. There is a lot of exciting competition to be the first to find one. Occasionally, the first to find a cache will be richly rewarded: in one geocache in Yorkshire, the first person received a £10 gift voucher! Keep a lookout for people unaware of geocaching (also known as muggles) when you hide or look for your treasure. Some geocachers (mainly dads) are quite competitive and take pride in the number caches they have hidden or found. Others like to find geocaches all over the country, or even the world. Be warned – it can get quite addictive! Geocaching is a great way to get the kids out walking, because they love looking for treasure and can often learn something new about the history of an area. My family recently discovered a hidden monument in a local park we’ve walked through for years. You probably pass several caches on your favourite walk or commute to work. Why not try and find some of these hidden treasures with your family and join the geocaching club?
Have fun hiding and seeking!! Transport GEOCACHE FACTS:
✔ Geocache container sizes can range from five-gallon buckets full of toys, down to James Bond-style film canisters often called microcaches. There are also tiny nano caches that will only hold a rolled up piece of paper which acts as a logbook (bring your own pen.) They are often found in busy urban areas, so be on your best spy behaviour and be discreet.
✔Muggles are people unaware of geocaching. You can buy special waterproof labels, or simply write a note inside the treasure box you’re hiding, in case it’s accidentally found by a muggle. There have been cases of geocaches reported to the police as suspect bomb packages, so label it clearly and careful where you are hiding your geocache!
✔Cache and Dash are smaller geocaches found in supermarket car parks and motorway services. Good for those not so inclined to walking long distances.
✔Travel bugs are dog tags with a unique identity code. This is attached to a special item so you can track its progress round the world. For example, a Hare and a Tortoise were ‘released’ to race each other up to Scotland. True to form, the tortoise won and the hare raced like mad around the country! The tortoise is now on its way to the Galapagos Islands for a well-earned rest.
A more romantic example was a Yin and Yang travel bug. We sent one half around the world to Australia in the hope that Yin and Yang would meet up again. On the back is a secret message that will only be revealed when the two halves meet again.
✔Geocoins have many different designs and can be tracked from location to location using a registration number. Like travel bugs, geocoins are not swapped or kept, but moved on to another cache according to their specified mission. Last year, we set up a treasure hunt to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Captain Oates and sent a Centenary Commemorative travel coin on its way to Antarctica.
Many caches are hidden in the middle of the coun- tryside, often away from public transport routes. A car or bike is most likely required, although there could be several caches within walking distance.
Small items/ toys
Don’t forget to take some with you to swap for toys you find in the caches you visit. Good items to swap are pencil erasers,
marbles, toy soldiers, Squinkies, Moshlings (all highly collectible!)
WEBSITE LINKS
www.geocaching.com is the official global website for Geocaching
Provisions for a long-ish family walk Water, snacks, sunscreen and suitable clothing for the changeable British weather. Gloves sometimes come in handy (excuse the pun) if the treasure is hidden in or near nettles or in a thorny bush. Geocaches are never buried underground, so that pick and shovel will not be necessary. Be mindful to not disturb the environment; destroying dry stone walls is not cool. Keep children from trampling all over plants and try to leave the area as you found it. Cache In, Trash Out (CITO) is an initiative promoted by
Geocaching.com. Geocachers are encouraged to take along a spare carrier bag and pick up stray litter as they go along. Every little helps.
You Will Need:
A GPS receiver GPS (short for Global Positioning System) uses signals broadcast from Earth orbiting satellites to calculate the coordinates of its location on the planet to within about 5 metres. You can spend from about £80 up to several hundred in the UK, but a basic receiver is sufficient for geocaching. A cheaper option is to buy an app for your smart phone. The Groundspeak Geocaching app is currently £6.99.
Internet access
Geocaches are listed on the website
www.geocaching.com. Here, you’ll find coordinates, clues and information about the hidden caches. Put these into your GPS unit to help you get within a few feet of the geocache. Then comes the fun part: hunting around for the treasure!
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