6 Reasons GeoCaching Will Be Your Weekly Family Adventure
First off, what is Geocaching? Most people have never heard of it, but it is very popular with millions of people worldwide and has been around for almost 20 years. Basically, Geocaching is a real-life high-tech treasure hunt using the GPS feature on your phone to find hidden caches all over the world. There are probably a dozen caches hidden within 2 miles of where you are right now.
The best way to get started is to learn from the king of Geocaching, at geocaching.com. They have the best app, most updated cache result, and is the best place to get started. Simply log in and download the app and you are ready to go. There is a paid version of the app but many do not need it right away. Once you have a few successful finds with your family, it might be your every weekend bite-sized adventure.
Here are the top 6 reasons geocaching makes the best adventures for you and your family.
- Spending Time Outdoors - For the frequent readers of this blog, they know that I am all about nudging people to get outside in nature, and geocaching does just that. It is an outdoor-based activity that does not require any prior training or knowledge, your cellphone is your primary tool and geocaching can be done anywhere; new your home, out on a trail, in the city, on vacation. The cache locations are literally endless around the world.
- Exercise in Disguise - Once you start geocaching you will realize you are getting exercise by walking around looking for different cache locations, but since you are preoccupied with looking for the cache, you will often not even realize you are getting exercise. Consider looking for a few caches that are a few miles apart and walk or bike to see how many you can find in one day.
- Family Friendly - Geocaching is super family-friendly because it is an activity that the whole family can go on and enjoy. With a little research in advance, you can find caches that are located around paths for your stroller or only a short walk from the car in case you have little legs that need to be carried back, or even have your kids or teenagers be the ones that are in charge of the map reading on the cellphone. Geocaching can be catered to whatever kind of adventure you and your family are looking for. Some of my kids are not super excited about being in the woods, so finding locations that match up to the kind of adventure they are comfortable with is important in helping them have an enjoyable time. Often times when you find a cache, you can take a small trinket from the box and replace it with something you have brought with you. Have your little kids bring something they want to swap, like a small toy or a kind letter, this really helps the kids connect to the trip and feel like they are more engaged like an authentic treasure hunt.
- Takes you to new places - Geocaching will take you places you never knew existed. You can find trails that you would never have found below, you can find historic sites that will bring history alive. Taking the time to do a little research on your cache locations, you can take your experience to a whole new level. You can find places you have been to before but when looking for a geocache, it will take you on a new experience. Check out your normal hiking and outdoor spots and see if you can find a cache you never knew was there.
- Environmentally Friendly - As a person that is a steward of nature, you should use this opportunity to help clean up the environment while you are out. Bring a small bag and pick up trash while you are hunting for your cache. This will also show your children what it means to be environmentally friendly to our world.
- Knowing a Secret - The last really cool reason geocaching is the perfect bite-sized adventure for you and your family is that it will feel like you know a secret. Most people that hike or spend time in nature will walk or ride past the cache and have no idea that it is there, but you will know it is there.
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