We've been hearing a lot about this crazy thing called Geocaching. People hide containers all over the world, you take the coordinates and your phone or GPS, and head out on a treasure hunt.

Treasure you say? What kind of treasure? Toys, trading cards, key chains, trinkets, coins, random stuff. You just never know until you open the cache.

Why would I want someone else's junk? Good question. It's not about the random "treasure" you find in the caches, it's about...well, this.

Mother nature's beauty

Geocaching can take you places you may not even know about, right in your own back yard. Being nature lovers, and in desperate need of a new mini adventure, we decided to give it a try. The first two coordinates we attempted were complete failures. We searched and searched. Nothing. We started getting frustrated. So frustrated I deleted the app, twice!

I refused to be defeated, so we tried one last time. We headed to one of our favorite parks and went to work. We were looking for a tree. Okay, we were surrounded by trees. A specific tree, according to the hint. We find a tree that matches the description but it looks like someone got here before us and we were really hoping he wasn't still around!

Sneaky serpent. Guardian of the cache

We did not want to meet the owner of that snake skin! We almost gave up but I was pretty determined. We knew it had to be close.
I tiptoed, ducked, danced around the tree assuming random ninja poses any time a spider web touched my arm, and finally found our very first cache! I almost missed it. The little camo container did a pretty good job of blending in.

Our first cache blending in quite well!

We snagged the container and attempted to sign the log book but the log was a bit damp so we just settled for logging it online and replaced it exactly as we found it.

Okay I admit, that was fun. I got bit by the geocaching bug. I would have done a happy dance at this point but between the jumbo sized banana spiders and that snake I just knew was lurking, we were out of there! On to the next cache.

This contained a log only

This one was a bit larger and completely full of swag. The only thing we took were pictures. We had absolutely no idea what to expect. Now that we know how this works, we'll come prepared next time with some goodies to trade or to fill up a dwindling cache.

This one was well hidden but termites were having a feast so we had to carefully place it back together and toss some foliage on top to hide the cracks in the lid.



We stopped to take in the scenery many times. I have to admit, my favorite part of this experience is getting to explore places you wouldn't normally think to go. The wonderful, creative owners of these caches put a lot of thought into finding these amazing hiding places.




This next cache was tricky! We had to do some searching to find it. I'm pretty sure if we didn't work together to find it, I'd still be out there searching.

This cache contains two little trinkets and a log. We weren't able to sign any of the logs because of the dampness but we really liked the idea of using a stamp as others had done.



This little guy was hanging out and watching the action. We asked him for hints but his lips were sealed. I'm sure the critters got a good snicker out of us trying to be stealthy so people in the area wouldn't see us searching.

If you are out in the woods wearing a bright purple shirt, stiffly hiding behind a tree and you have to ask, "am I blending?" the answer is most likely, no. I will neither confirm nor deny that I have done this.



There are geocaches out there only reachable by boat, and we are going to find them! But not today. The weather was changing and we did not want to get caught in a downpour, plus the temperature was approaching Mordor, so we headed out.



We learned a lot from our first geocaching adventure. Next time we plan to go prepared.

We'll need:

1. A stamp or really good pen to log our visits
2. A kayak to reach those hard to get to areas
3. Fun swag or signature items to leave behind
4. Neutral colored clothing for better blending

Now we just have to get creative and figure out some unique signature items. As soon as the weather cools off (and all the creepy crawlies go into hiding) we will be back. There are so many geocaches to find!


If you want to join the fun we suggest visiting Geocaching.com and sign up for a free membership.