Geocaching

BY SKEETER

The Saint and I started a new Hobby this past Fall outside of our Georgia Gardens. We enjoy this new found game of Geocaching!  Geocaching is an outdoor treasure hunting game using a GPS device. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location. Click HERE to see how Geocaching started.

 

Georgia State Parks are participating in this fun game offering a Geo-Challenge in some of their parks. Click HERE to see.

I found the first cache in the form of a Military Ammo Can! I was surprised and saddened to see it locked to a tree to prevent theft. This is the only container we have found locked with our two months of caching though.

The box contained a stamp pad and stamp for us to stamp our Passport. Mistletoe State Park is close to us so this was our first stamp. After we have 15 State stamps, we will earn a Bronze Coin. After 30 stamps, a Silver Coin. And after 40 stamps, a Gold Coin! I don't believe they will be real bronze, silver and gold but fun to collect just the same.

 Since starting this challenge over Thanksgiving Weekend, we have visited 3 State Parks and found the caches! We have also found other caches within each park that people have hidden.

We learned quickly to invest in a geocaching GPS as the Auto and Phone GPS's are not always on the mark with this game.

The larger containers such as the Ammo Cans contain small trinkets for trading. Things such as hot wheel cars, small dolls, pins, coins, toys, plastic bugs, discount cards, little statues and all kinds of fun stuff. We always look at the trinkets but rarely do we take anything. But we always add something to the mix. 

This container is much smaller being a medium size. I am sure to have trinkets of many sizes with me when we cache.  

The one the Saint is holding was his first find and on his birthday back in December. On a nice warm day as you can see with him wearing a tee shirt. No trinkets go into this small sized cache container. All it contains is a Log for signing your name and date of find. All Caches have Logs to sign for verification. 

Here you see a cache in a tube style and covered in Cammo colors for an easy hide.

Those which hide caches use some interesting things such as this old 35mm film container covered with cammo tape.

Some people are really clever with their caches. This bird was a fun find for us.

As was this pole. We had to go fishing for this cache!

The directions of the Geocaching site told us to find a near by fishing pole and go fishing. There were holes all over this pole but the small magnetic cache was down inside the pole and reachable only by taking off the top piece of the pole and fishing for it. Tricky indeed.  

Do you see the cache in this photograph?

This would be a mini sized container inside the hole of a tree! People get creative with naming their caches as well. This one is called "Pull my Finger"  

We were only able to unscrew the lid and carefully pull out the small log to sign. One must have a nice sharp pointed pen with them when caching.

This one is a Micro sized container.

It was so small it fit inside of the Saint Wedding Band! The smaller they are, the harder to find! And yes, there is a log to sign within this container! However small, we could sign it. We find and download cache sites from the official Geocaching site on the Internet. Click HERE to see.

I have only taken one trinket from a Cache and here you see the little sombrero on Cheetahs head. She is not too happy about this Kodak moment. Can you tell?

The Saint and I are hooked on this new Hobby! It gets us off the sofa and into the great outdoors! Into parks, walking trails and spots of interest all over town. We have seen some wonderful things the past two months and I have yet to become depressed with the Winter Blues with all of our caching keeping me refreshed.

Here is an example of something we would have never seen had we not started caching! A tree curved due to one of natures storms and below it a huge patch of Saw Palmettos. This past weekend, we found our 60th Cache! The fun thing about this game is, it is played all over the world so just about anywhere we go, we can find a cache. We pass them every day but never knew until now. There could be one within walking distance of your house! Our friend refers to it as a "Secret Society" ha ha.. Thursday, I plan to show you more of the wonderful things we have seen and enjoyed while GEOCACHING, In the Garden... 

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden