geocaching

by Kaylah Stroup

For a really long time people have been commenting “Are you into geocaching?”, “You should try geocaching, it seems like something you’d really like.”, etc. I miiight have been avoiding it for one main reason – things that other people are super into are kind intimidating to me. I guess I don’t like feeling like a “noob” Does that make any sense?

For those of you not familiar, geocaching is a worldwide treasure hunt of sorts. Participants use GPS to navigate to containers that other users have hidden. A traditional geocache will be a waterproof container with a log book and trade items inside. Treasures inside aren’t usually worth much but are still fun to find. According to the official website there are 2,803,842 active geocaches and over 15 million geocachers worldwide!

Anyway, my brother and my nephew are super into geocaching. My brother has logged just under 700 of them which he’s found all over the world! We were all together a few weekends ago for a birthday party when one of them mentioned that a few new caches had popped up in the area. I tagged along, figuring it was a good excuse to get out of the house. After seeing my both of my brothers, my nephew and Jeff all running full speed down the road to try to find the cache first I was into it. They all turned into adorably competitive children. I had a blast. We got two caches that day and that was all it took for me to want in on it. I downloaded the app as soon as I got home.

The timing of finally getting into geocaching couldn’t be better because it coincides perfectly with Jeff and I getting Fitbits. It’s the best excuse to do both things. This last week we’ve been getting lots of steps and lots of caches. My favorite thing about it so far has been the places it’s
taking us, spots we normally wouldn’t go to. I’m kicking myself for not
getting into it earlier because I can only imagine that awesome caches
we missed on both of the big road trips out west. I’m very excited to use geocaching as a fun way to explore new places from here on out.

My brother has told me about all these amazing caches he’s found, like super duper creative ones. So far it’s just been lots of pill bottles and pencil cases for us, as well as two or three larger containers. There was one in a cemetery where navigation took us right to a tree with a hole in it, obviously it was going to be in there. I bent down to peek inside before sticking my hand in and spotted a little bunny looking right back at me! It was really funny because when he raced out he went through the back side of the tree which was actually where the cache was. We wouldn’t have been able to reach it otherwise. Basically this guardian of the cache showed us where it was which is pretty darn awesome!

We made it one of our goals to hide some more around Cleveland. Surprisingly there aren’t many downtown. Cleveland is definitely an up and coming city so any way to encourage more people to get out and walk around is a good one. Plus it’ll be a blast for us to hide them!
xoxo

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34 comments

Melanie March 15, 2016 - 12:56 pm

I love geocaching!!!!! My husband and I were obsessed with it a few years ago! It really can be fun and I feel like once you find something very unique it sparks the interest more! If it's just a capsule with a log it can be very boring…but if done right you never know what you're going to find! In Tallman, NY I found an opera ticket from a Paris theater from the late 90's a few years ago. After that I was hooked! Another one in Maryland was in a shark sculpture's mouth on an off-road random sight-seeing attraction. Basically yeah it can be so much fun =)

Have a great day! Melanie | Blog: Toots + Dill

Kaylah March 15, 2016 - 1:20 pm

Holy cow, that's awesome! I'm really excited to find some fun ones, and to hide some really interesting ones! 🙂

Stephanie March 15, 2016 - 2:21 pm

I have friends that do this – but I don't even know what it is??? lol

Kaylah March 15, 2016 - 2:52 pm

LOL. I just updated the post with a tiny intro to what it is. Hopefully that helps! 😛

Cheap Glam Sugar Punk March 15, 2016 - 2:27 pm

I def. had to google geocaching. I got through the whole blog picturing you looking for geodes, or whatever those crystaly rock are called and was so confused. x-D That sounds so fun though, and I like that it seems like people can do it casually, or really get into it. A lot of times hobbies can seem like they're all or nothing and that can be overwhelming.

Kaylah March 15, 2016 - 2:53 pm

Hahah, I guess that makes sense! 😛

But yeah, that's exactly what I mean. It's overwhelming to just be starting a hobby where there are people that are just obsessed with it. I still have a ton to learn!

Marisa M March 15, 2016 - 3:13 pm

I've been meaning to get into it for a while. I work on a university campus, and there are supposedly a lot of of things hidden in fountains and statues. What app do you use?

Kaylah March 16, 2016 - 11:34 am

"geocaching", it's the $9 one. I think they're doing away with it at the end of the month though so I'm not actually sure if that's the one you should get…?

Laura Jones March 15, 2016 - 3:18 pm

sounds like you had lots of fun! my brother does geocaching as well, and although i've never tried it it does seem like a fun thing to do. and a cool way to explore new places! also, how cute was your lil' guardian bunny, haha! xx

Kaylah March 16, 2016 - 11:35 am

You have to give it a try! If for no other reason than it's a great way to bond with your brother! (Texts between my and my brother have increased exponentially!) 🙂

Jasilyn Albert March 15, 2016 - 3:42 pm

I did geocaching a few times when I was living in Cincinnati, but I never found anything. This post is giving me inspiration to try it again!

Kaylah March 16, 2016 - 11:36 am

Yeah, definitely! It's so much fun!

Jordyn Schwersky March 15, 2016 - 3:57 pm

Geocaching is the best! The competitive aspect really does turn everyone into little kids again. My favorite caches are the ones where you trade items. I love that kind of thing.

Kaylah March 16, 2016 - 11:37 am

Me too! I keep forgetting to pack my pockets with fun things to leave so I haven't been able to take anything yet… not that I've seen anything I actually need but still! 🙂

Elise Brunkel March 15, 2016 - 4:56 pm

So excited that you are into this! I've been doing it for a little while and I love it! I always try to leave something, even if it's just some stickers. They have things called a travel bug and it's a dog tag that you put on an item and put it in a cache, when people find it they are supposed to move it to a new location and so on. Eventually it ends up traveling the whole country! I hope you enjoy your new hobby.

Kaylah March 16, 2016 - 11:38 am

Yeah, yeah, yeah! I'm super excited to find one of those. One of the caches I found last week said it contained one but it wasn't there.

Julia A March 15, 2016 - 5:34 pm

Oh man I've wanted to go geocaching for a while. Now that I've heard such a good review my only excuse not to start is the weather (its supposed to snow this Friday where I live D: ).

Kaylah March 16, 2016 - 11:38 am

Heeeey, nothing wrong with a little snow! 🙂

Damaris // The cat, you and us March 15, 2016 - 8:03 pm

I love the pics, the boys look so into it! 🙂 We had a friend at home a few months ago that had just came back from a trip to London where he visited the city only by geocaching, he explained us all about it (because we were clueless) and encouraged us to try a catch in Barcelona that was near our apartment. The "fun" (also known to my play-safe self as "incredibly nerve-wracking") thing is that the catch was attached to the firemen building and according to the GPS position and our more trained friend it had to be in one of the exterior pipes of the building. He swore he had seen it and started to unscrew what it looked as one of the pipe screws (O_O !!!) but luckily he was right and that was indeed a catch, with a paper inside! 🙂 I'm not sure I will be able to handle another thrilling catch as this one, hahaha, but we told him that we would give it a try on his next visit here. Looking forward to see your catches!

Kaylah March 16, 2016 - 11:41 am

Oh, that's super awesome! I would love to explore a city just by geocaching. That's a really fun idea. 🙂

Jessica Acton March 15, 2016 - 10:04 pm

I've heard that there are great geocaches where I live (Edinburgh) but I've never been! You're really convincing me though, especially with that idea that you can find new and exciting spots in the place you already live. I think if I saw that baby bunny I would have died from cuteness! I'm excited to hear about the interesting things that you find 🙂

Jessthetics xx

Kaylah March 16, 2016 - 11:42 am

Yess, go for it! It's so much fun, plus you might find a bunny! 😛

Sarah Pete March 16, 2016 - 1:14 am

I don't think my first comment went through, so forgive me if this is a duplicate, but… I'm so happy you're getting into this!! I love it, and haven't done it since last year I think; I've wanted to lately, but I got logged out of my account, and couldn't remember my login, haha. Now I'm back in, and ready to find some caches! Good luck!!

Kaylah March 16, 2016 - 11:45 am

Hah! I hate when that happens. Good luck to you too! 🙂

Jess Cohen March 16, 2016 - 9:56 am

I actually heard about Geocaching when watching a series (Switched at Birth) and I became interested. I haven't done it yet, but maybe I should. Definitely seems like a ton of fun.

http://jesandbleu.com

Kaylah March 16, 2016 - 11:45 am

Yes, definitely try it! So much fun! 🙂

Heather March 16, 2016 - 11:21 am

That's always been my favorite part of geocaching… the way it leads you to places in your own city that you didn't even know existed! We found the most creepy/cool abandon old golf course this way! There's also one that we found that is a foreign coin geocache… and you're only allowed to leave foreign coins, and the cache was full of some really neat coins to trade.

We've been giving Geocache year memberships, along with a trackable bug and a cache to hide, at all of the bridal showers we've been going to lately, as they keep asking for "Things we can do outdoors". XD

Kaylah March 16, 2016 - 11:47 am

Oh wow, that foreign coin cache sounds so cool! That's a fun idea. I'm really looking forward to finding some neat ones like that.

That's a really awesome gift idea!

Sam March 16, 2016 - 10:38 pm

I haven't geocached in so long but your post has reminded me just how fun it is. The rush to be the first to find and it's such a good reason to go for a walk (I need prompting). My dad once found an owl in a tree like your bunny, it really makes you look at nature in a different way. =^-^=

Sam | Momentarily Dreaming

Kaylah March 18, 2016 - 9:04 pm

Ahhh! That would be so exciting!

Jennifer March 17, 2016 - 1:10 pm

I should really try to do this, I actually like walking around! XD I do know that my parents accidentally found one of the geocaching boxes in Utah, which isn't hard since they are in the rocky deserty part.

Kaylah March 18, 2016 - 9:05 pm

You should definitely give it a try. It's a blast. 🙂

Lauren Lalicon March 17, 2016 - 5:40 pm

Oh man I've thought a lot about doing this, but this post is definitely enough motivation for me to actually do it! Seems like so much fun. Do you get to keep what you find, do you add something to the container you find, or do you just leave it?

Kaylah March 18, 2016 - 9:08 pm

If you take something from the container, you have to leave something equal in return. I haven't found anything yet that I've wanted to take but I have left some pretty little pieces of beach glass in some. 🙂

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