Our Geocaching Adventure

If you're reading this, you're either thinking, "what in the world is geocaching?", or, "geocaching is so old, haven't you already done that?"

If you're like me though, you fall a bit into both thought categories. Geocaching has been around for years, and I mean years. The first geocache was hidden May 3rd, 2000 in Oregon, USA. So yes, I'm over 20 years behind on trends. I'm old enough (barely ahem) to have been aware of geocaching when it first began, but it wasn't until the county we live in assembled geocaching kits for purchase, a pandemic hit resulting in the closure of everything, and I had a little one at home starting to get into crafts that I really took a chance to try geocaching for myself. So I'm kind of in the zone of how do you geocache, and why have I not done this before?

To give you the short version, geocaching is a giant treasure hunt where treasures are hidden and found using GPS coordinates that are shared online through the Geocaching website. I could try and explain more, but why reinvent the wheel? There are lots of resources that offer clear details, instructions, and tips on the subject including this information on the Geocaching Official Blog site. If you really feel like being confused by my newfound knowledge of geocaching, please let me know. I will be happy to oblige your request. 

In our case, the kit was assembled for us, but you could easily assemble your own using the Kid Made Modern Over the Rainbow Craft Kit featured on our website, or use whatever trinkets you think would be of interest to seekers. You would just have to pick up a waterproof container to store your treasures for discovery in, a log book, a pen, and a geocaching sticker (optional, but helpful for those seeking to know they found the right thing). Making a geocaching kit would also make a great gift for an adventurous youngster on your list, or a slightly older individual (not that I can relate) that has not had the chance, or push, to try out geocaching for themselves yet. Here is what the kit we received looked like if you need some inspiration:

Being spring in Alberta, we had a few cold and windy afternoons that we could use to spend inside creating our treasures. These could have also been made outside if we had a warm day, but, spring in Alberta is not exactly full of hot days. If you live in Alberta, you know what I mean by this. I have to say, our little creatures and trinkets turned out pretty darn cute! We used a hot glue gun to make our fun little turtle, and to seal the ends of the keychain for extra insurance against the string coming undone and the beads falling off. I, being the adult of the house, operated the hot glue gun instead of the two-year-old. Safety first everyone. Safety first.

I thought I should include another picture of our little turtle because it was so cute. We had a lot of fun making this little puff creature. We hope you enjoy looking at it like we did!

After our treasures were complete, we made a plan to hide our newly created geocache. We used this as an opportunity to take a little afternoon trip. Our afternoon involved getting a lunch out (and an excuse for me to take a break from trying to figure out what to eat), and a playground for our little one to explore. This was a welcome break for us since, like most people during this time, we have been spending a LOT of time at home. 

We found a nice spot near the playground, hid our adorable little creature and trinkets, recorded the coordinates on a smart phone, and enjoyed the playground. All that was left was logging the coordinates on the Geocaching website. Oh, and writing this post.

As a side note, logging the coordinates on the geocaching site was pretty straight forward. It did require an account, and the cache does have to be reviewed which we were told would take around 7 days. But all in all, the process was not difficult at all to figure out.

So, how would I rate our first geocaching experience? I might be late to the party on this, but I think it is still a current and enjoyable activity that we would participate in again! And, speaking of parties, when we are allowed to have them again, I can see using this as a party activity. Perhaps that will be the subject of a future post. Until then, I hope you've enjoyed reading this, and are encouraged to get outside and go on your own geocaching adventure!

  Current as of March 22, 2021