I’m a firm believer in never letting myself grow old, the “Peter-Pan” lifestyle, so to speak. With this irrational thought of never actually growing old, I try to keep myself busy doing the little fun things I used to do as a kid. This could be playing outside, making some simple crafts, or even breaking out some Disney movies on the rainy days. Recently though, as odd as this sounds, I’ve discovered the real adult treasure hunting!
Geocaching, a real life treasure hunt that’s been around since the beginning of GPS devices, so about the year 2000. I don’t want to get all history lesson on you, but it’s really pretty cool. Thanks to Dave Ulmer, hiding and GPS coordinating the first ever, “Great American GPS Stash Hunt,” Geocaching was born. The rules were simple:
If you were leaving a findable Geocache:
1. Plant Coordinates, make sure you have proper permission from any land owners to do this first.
2. Leave Log Book inside with pen and any various items inside weather proof box or container.
3. Enter into the Geocache website.
4. Always check on your box to make sure it’s not harming the environment, as well as maintaing the area so it is somewhat easy to find.
If you’re searching for a Geocache:
1. Figure out what Geocache you want to find
2. Follow your GPS
3. Once found, sign the Log Book and switch out or leave an object behind.
4. Close up the box or container properly, in the same place and move on to the next!
I know I said I wouldn’t get all history lesson on you, but I may have fibbed just a little bit. This is just so interesting, even the forming of the name! Did you know that the word “geo” actually means the “Earth”? And that “cache” actually has two meanings? The first being a French word referring to a hiding place and the second being used in the world of technology as cache memory, a computer storage for quickly receiving and frequently used information. I don’t think this was very coincidental…
Anyways, the point I’m getting to is go open an account on their site! With the weather getting nicer, go out and enjoy the sun. Let yourself be a kid again and go treasure-hunting! What could seriously be more fun than exploring the great outdoors and discovering things you otherwise would have known nothing about? Let yourself be taken be adventure and ambition. Get out there.