It’s spring and I wanted to share a favorite activity of my family. I’m not sure Charlotte could have ever imagined it, but I suspect she might have found it fun anyway! It’s called geocaching, and it is a terrific fun activity for families who love to be outdoors. All over America (and in many foreign places too!) there are containers hidden–some big, some tiny, with little logbooks in them. You use coordinates from an internet site like http://www.geocaching.com , a small GPS (global positioning system) device, and go find the hidden caches. You sign a logbook, sometimes you can leave a small gift item and take a small item from the cache, and you go home and log it. It wouldn’t suprise me to find that many members on this list might have hundreds of caches hidden within a few hours of their homes–maybe even on your street! This sport gets families outside hiking. We’ve been to some beautiful areas that we might not have known to find on our own, seen some beautiful animals, birds, flowers, streams, waterfalls . . . We’ve learned more about geography and orienteering.
This sport is totally free with the purchase of only a GPS unit. These CAN be expensive, but several members of my family have purchased them reconditioned for modest amounts of money. It has afforded us hours and hours of outdoor pleasure, challenged our hiking and climbing skills, our wits, our eyes and ingenuity. . .
Many county extension agencies and conservation areas/parks in my state (Iowa) have free demonstrations where you can show up, borrow a GPS unit, and participate in an introduction to this activity.
There are a variety of get-togethers in every state in America. We are heading to a competition event this Saturday in Iowa. Ask around, find out some information, and see if this idea might be fun for your family! I’ve found that husbands especially get enthusiastic! 🙂
At any rate, GET OUTDOORS! It’s finally above 60 degrees here and I’m starving for the sunshine and fresh air. Happy outdoor adventuring!
For some reason, this post got trapped in the spam filter for a couple of days. So I’m adding a line here to send it back to the top of the list so everybody will see it and benefit from this great idea!
HI, I just wanted to add that if you do not have a GPS you can also do Letterboxing. You just go to the website http://www.letterboxing.org and find cities near you or where you are going to be on vacation and get the clues to find the box. Each box has a stamp and a pad of paper in it. You take out the stamp and stamp it to your book and put your family stamp in the book that you find. Be sure to carry your stamp,ink pad, and notepad book with you. You can usually write a little something too, like the date you found the box. You will find all the instructions on the website. Another great way to get outdoors and do some hiking.