Have you ever gone Geocaching? Do you even know what Geocaching is?
Imagine being able to go on a treasure hunt in your own neighborhood. There are millions of treasure boxes just awaiting your discovery. Placed by good samaritans like ourselves, interested in an adventure and exploration.
That’s what I did today. Freshly downloading the Geocaching app onto my iPhone 4s, and taking advantage of its GPS capabilities, I was ready for a treasure hunt.
Having location services on the phone immediately showed me the geocaches closest to my location. Down the road I went. Just a few blocks away I parked along a strip of woods in my neighborhood. Today I am searching for Pumpkin Cider.
This is the first time I’ve geocached with my iPhone, and I wasn’t quite certain how to read the direction the route showed.
Off I went…in the wrong direction. I also quickly realized that I had the wrong shoes on for bushwacking in the woods. Turning around, I headed into the right part of the woods.
I was using the directional page of the map and even though I thought I was going in a straight line to the geocache, I kept getting further and further into the woods. Trying not to get attacked by the prickle bushes, this cute little wild flower caught my eye.
I finally realized that using the compass option on the map was much easier, as it tells you how many feet you are away from the target. Heading one way..getting warmer..warmer. Nope…getting colder, colder. Trying to find the right bearing that gets me to the treasure.
This should have taken five minutes ! Oh well, at least I got to see this ruined who knows what in the woods.
96 feet….77 feet….52 feet. I’m getting closer ! Finally ! I have found the ‘pile’ as given as a hint for this geocache.
A small waterproof box hidden under the logs is my treasure.
Inside are all sorts of little trinkets, as well as a log book. I signed my name and left a little treasure for someone else to enjoy. Taking the postcard I feel like a true urban pirate.
You should try it ! It’s great fun and who knows where the adventure will take you.
Canon G12. Processed in Lightroom 4 with various OnOne filters.
Categories: 2013 Project 365, Foot Prints, Maryland Area Hikes, Nature
Emily Carter ~ Nature as Art 
Sounds like a super cool activity. Thanx for sharing and happy hunting!
It really is ! I meant to leave one in Machu Picchu and totally forgot. Oh darn! You should try it.
I might. Seems like a super nice reason to get out of the house and explore. Thanx for the tip!
I never tried it but know people that do it all the time and really enjoy it. Sure does look like fun and you had a cool adventure too!
It is fun and I really should do it some more. Now that I’ve had to get off of hiking for health reasons (long story) this will help me get out into the woods.
Actually not a bad idea, a very great idea for adventure… 🙂
Very cool. I have often thought I’d like to try geocachng. I like to do Bookcrossing, and some people leave books in geocahes. I’m not sure how to go about it, but if there’s an app to download, maybe I can figure it out. My son’t been wanting to do it, too. I’ll get him to help me. Thanks for the reminder.
Hum, interesting. I’ve never heard of book crossing. How fun is that? Thank you so much.
Sounds like a lot of fun, but I can see you and your camera were having fun too.
It was a little hard juggling the camera and the GPS, but great fun.
I’ve tried it, and I still have a bunch of the caches loaded on my GPS unit, but I get sidetracked looking for wildlife and flowers.
That’s funny.
I’m so glad you experienced this game. We have this in Vancouver and watching these two ladies playing hooky just do the treasure hunt was so much fun. What was the postcard look like?
It was a simple card off of a beer six pack. More for fun. I should do it more, as if I didn’t have enough distractions.
plus you show the real treasure- your images-very nice essay-i am always well entertained with your work
You are really too kind Will. I was really needing an idea for today, and this one popped in my head. Glad it was just two blocks away from my house!
I had never heard of Geocaching before, but it really sounds like fun. I might look into it when I get back home to see if anybody is doing it. I like the fact that people can take something out and leave something different behind for the next person to find.
How cool is this!! My friend in San Francisco told me about it and I haven’t tried going on a hunt yet, but I’m definitely going to give this a try. Like you find!
As if you weren’t busy enough my dear. I bet there are tons of fun ones in San Francisco. Almost worth an airplane ride!
My hubby and I started geocaching last year, love it! I also get side tracked looking at flowers like quietsolopursuits does. Either way is a great hobby as it exercises both your brain and body.
I agree ! I would love to do it more as it’s such fun to go on a treasure hunt. Wonderful to meet you and look forward to sharing more with you in the future.
I love geocaching – it makes hiking more fun than it already is. I agree, though, it is far too easy to get distracted by wildflowers and other interesting things…. 🙂
Reblogged this on maliachy's Blog.