Geocaching is a great way to get out and about and treasure hunt with Children. For the uninitiated Geocaching is an outdoor activity where you navigate to a cache (or treasure for children ) using GPS. Now that most of us have built in GPS on our mobile phone this is a great family activity and it is becoming a much more mainstream and Geocaching activity.
What is Geocaching?
It is a modern day treasure hunt using GPS. There are over 2 million caches worldwide and to show you just how popular and accessible it is there are 14 within 2 miles of where I live on the North Yorkshire Coast!
How do I find the location of Geocaches?
You can search by location, postcode, county on geocaching.com. It is a great way to get out and explore an area that you are going on holiday too. There is a North Wales Geocache Trail, which is great for people holidaying in that lovely part of the British Isles (we had our honeymoon here and are looking to visit with the children next year). The North Wales Geocache Trail is a great introduction to Geocaching as a family, it has a map for you to look at and decide which trail you might wish to use and the added bonus of prizes! You can also search on difficulty, which makes it great for children.
What equipment do I need?
Now that you can get Geocaching apps on your mobile phone, such as Geocaching by Groundspeak Inc for the Iphone and CacheSense for android you do not need to have a dedicated GPS device. As with any walk it is recommended that you have good shoes or boots and dress appropriately, but as you can see it is a very low outlay activity.
What is a cache?
A cache is the treasure and a cache always contains a logbook or logsheet for you to log your find. One of the guiding principles of geocaching is “take something, leave something.” A geocache hider places a number of goodies in a container when a new cache is first started. As people find the cache, they exchange goodies that catch their eye with trade items they’ve brought with them on the search. The rule of geocaching is that if you take something from the cache, you must replace it with something of equal or greater value
Have you been on a geocache with your children?
Your Comments
We discovered geocaching last year. My son loved it.
He still talks about finding treasure and when are we going to look for more treasure? Hope to do some more again soon
We love love love it and have done many in out area.
What is also fab is the opencache’s that some NT places have
BNM
Ever since I first heard about Geocaching a few years ago I’ve been wanting to do it but can’t seem to get my family interested. It’s the sort of thing I’m going to have to just get organised and get on with and do and THEN I know they’ll like it!
First part thank you very much for watching. I alwyas love hearing how I can help people who want to learn more about geocaching.. Second, I keep with me extra log sheets, baggies and duct tape among other things to repair a broken geocache. That is to keep it usable until the owner can come and replace if needed. Third geocaches get wet no matter how hard we try and it might rust depending on environment. then again if kept in baggie might be useful. I say go for it.
I love geocaching unfortunately we haven’t found time for it since the move. Must head out during the half term! Xx