We like to go on nature walks and day hikes but the kids are still young and can get bored and tired as the walk gets long. Geocaching is the perfect solution to this. Have you heard of it? It’s an outdoor treasure hunting game that’s fun for the whole family and if you already own a GPS then it doesn’t cost you anything. It works like this, geocachers hide their caches in tree stumps, behind a large rock, under a log, or any off the path camouflaged place and then record the waypoint (set of coordinates). The cache is a water/air tight container that has small trinkets, toys, or supplies and also the log book. We have one hidden in a park nearby (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=9468b341-6760-4f05-9bdc-737dbab659ad.) 

When you find the cache you log your team name and the date of the find along with any friendly comments you might have. The kids take something and leave a new something behind for the next finders. It’s great fun that turns an ordinary hike into a treasure hunt. You would be surprised at how many caches are hidden, I guarantee wherever you live there are hundreds within a few miles. The JEEP corporation has joined in the fun and hidden little JEEP “travel bugs” throughout America. A travel bug is passed from cache to cache and tracked online. You can read all about geocaching and get all of your questions answered at http://www.geocaching.com/.

Here’s some pictures from our most recent hunt: http://fountainacademy.blogspot.com/2008/04/lets-go-geocaching.html