Geocaching: Another Kind of Treasure Hunt Activity

Once upon a time a first cache appeared…

The very first geocache was found already on May 4, 2000 somewhere in the USA. At that time the game was known as the Great GPS Stash Hunt.

However, the current official name Geocaching was invented just a month later. The first cache in Czech Republic was placed exactly a year later. It is still active and you can find it in a nature reserve near Štramberk.

Geocaching became popular quite fast. In first five years of its existence it achieved global expansion. In 2005, there were more than 171 000 caches in 215 countries.

Last year the number of active geocaches exceeded 3 million. Czech people have also taken a liking to the game and because of it you can now choose from almost 53 000 caches to hunt down during your walks.

A Walk with an Objective

A geocache looks mostly like a smaller waterproof container, usually made of plastic. It has to be, nevertheless, big enough for a logbook (small notebook) and a pencil to fit in.

When you find a cache, you write your name and the actual date to the before mentioned logbook. Naturally, there are usually some trinkets hidden in the box.

If you like something you’ve found in there, you can take it. However, a common unwritten rule says that you should leave there something else for other finders.

The point of the game is to have fun while exploring beautiful places, usually off the beaten track. Treasure hunters, so called geocachers, keep travelling around Czech Republic or other countries to find and enjoy places they wouldn’t visit otherwise.

There are also several levels of difficulty in finding a treasure. Thus, some people prefer finding as many caches as possible in a short time, while others choose difficult terrain or hunting treasures abroad.

Rules of the Game

There are several kinds of geocaches of different character. Some of them can be localized by downloading its GPS coordinates directly from the websites for registered users.

However, if you decide to find a mystery cache, you need to solve couple of puzzles or ciphers first to get the correct coordinates.

Yet another type represent so called multi caches. To find one of them, you have to first localize few smaller hideouts and to puzzle out the coordinates of the final geocache from the information hidden in there.

If you are an experienced geocacher looking for something new in the game, you can create your own cache. The first step is to find a suitable place.

Good choice can be a spot with a nice view, close to a historical or natural sight and so on. By no means it should be hidden on a private property without its owner’s consent.

Step two is to get an appropriate waterproof container, stock it with a logbook, a pencil and some trinkets and conceal it really well.

After that use your GPS to obtain the coordinates of your geocache and then post it on the official websites. Just remember that the smallest possible distance between two containers is 161 metres.