Geocaching - Geocaching is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache’s existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS unit can then try to locate the geocache. – Courtesy of geocaching.com
When I was younger, I was very active in 4-H. I remember orienteering and playing Capture the Flag. Both of these activities were so much fun for me. I stumbled across Geocaching last July in an article. To me, Geocaching took the best of both orienteering and Capture the Flag worlds and combined them. This concept really intriqued me. I signed up for an account on Geocaching.com and did some research on the subject. As most of you know, my life is very full with work, DD and Zumba®. Therefore, my quest with geocaching ended there.
Until around Earth Day 2011 – In speaking with a friend (whom I’ll refer to going forward as JackPine Savage), I had been reminded lately of the things in life that had made me most happy. Being outdoors enjoying nature is something that I have not taken advantage of for many years. I’ve gotten too caught up in being busy and not stopping to “smell the roses.” I have lost the person that I once was. I know that we all grow as we get older and adapt to our environments, but I feel that I’m missing the real me. I’m missing the tomboy girl who grew up in the country (yes, JackPine Savage – it was the country). I was always outside with my brother and the neighborhood kids. We were running the woods, playing in the creeks, riding bikes, building forts, playing kick the can and ghost in the graveyard until it was so dark we could barely see to make it home.
I decided to reclaim that nerdy nature tomboy side of me and I looked up the nearest cache (A container hidden that includes, at minimum, a logbook for geocachers to sign.) to my home. The nearest cache was a mere 8/10ths of a mile from my house. The cache named Nemadji Out Cry is located in a spot so that the geocacher’s awareness is raised about what had happened here over 100 years ago - spoiler alert – here is a video of the spot where the cache is located – http://youtu.be/ufxNTOcI_EA. Anyway, so drizzling outside and cold, I drove myself as close to the cache as I could get. I walked the remaining way in using my iPhone 4 as my GPS. It only took about 10 minutes total and I had located the cache. The container had some “swag” in it and I signed the notebook showing that I had been there. I felt so accomplished…and HOOKED!
Easter Sunday found me 40 miles Southeast of Superior visiting JackPine Savage. We had discussed the geocaching I did on Friday and decided that we would try to find one out there. Well, one led to another and soon we had discovered 5 of them! I have to say JackPine is King of his territory out there which made these finds pretty easy. I had the most fun doing this!!! I am definitely hooked on this new hobby! I’m looking forward to creating and hiding my own cache soon!
If you love the outdoors and searching for “treasure” sounds fun to you, give geocaching a try! You can find a lot of information at www.geocaching.com to get you started. If you have a smart phone, you may already have the navigational tool you need to get started! There are over 4,000 caches located within 100 miles of Superior! Get in touch with Mother Nature, you may learn more about your environment (like the difference between a Red Pine and Jack Pine or an Oak Tree and a Scrub Oak – Thanks JackPine) or you may learn about the history of an area just by taking a little bit of time to find someone’s treasure.
Get the kids out there too! This is a great family activity! I’m looking forward to continued geocaching with my friend JackPine. My friends McManda, Cassadilla and The Rock have expressed an interest and are still geocaching virgins…can’t wait to get them out for one!!
Have a great day everyone!
