What I Did:
Our family really likes geocaching. It's a game/activity where you use a handheld GPS unit to find a small treasure hidden somewhere in the city, in a park, on a trail, etc. In most cases the treasures are trinkets cached in a weatherproof container, like an old ammunition box or a strong plastic container. You take a treasure out of the box and leave one behind for the next person to find.
There are lots of geocaches all over the Salt Lake area. If you look at www.geocaching.com, you can find out how to get started geocaching and where to look for geocaches in your area.
How I Did It:
My favorite geocaches are the ones where you have to solve a puzzle to get the GPS coordinates to find the cache. Those are more fun than the ones that just give you the coordinates. Our kids enjoy finding fun and unusual things to leave in the geocaches. We usually use little party favors, corporate promotional gifts, etc. They have to be small.
For our family, geocaching is a way to get outside for a hike or walk and have something interesting to do along the way. It really can be exciting, like a treasure hunt.
Lessons Learned:
- Sometimes the geocache is just a very small container, like a pill bottle, with a piece of paper inside you can sign to say you found it. Those aren't too exciting. Sometimes you might get to the exact GPS coordinates for the geocache, and the box will be gone.
- If you find an object in a geocache with a metal tag that has a number on it, that's a travel bug. Travel bugs are used by more serious geocachers. You can find out how to use a travel bug on www.geocaching.com, but if you don't plan to learn how to use it you should leave it alone and not take it.
- Remember you can't put food or liquids in the geocache.
