Have you ever watched an adventure movie or read a book where a character goes on an epic hunt for hidden treasure? Well if you ever wanted to have a bit of your own adventure Geocaching is the answer. You can have your very own treasure hunt right in your own community.
Geocaching is a hobby that many people enjoy, including myself. What is geocaching exactly? It is a game played all over the world in which people hide and hunt for hidden containers. The types of containers that people hide are endless. Some may be extremely tiny while others are large enough to hold various trinkets. All containers contain a logbook of some sort to write your geocaching name down to say that you found it. There are over 3 million hidden geocaches all over the world. It is a fun activity in the community as well as abroad.
Once you find a geocache you sign the logbook, potentially trade for a trinket, and then put it back in place for another “geocacher” to find. If the geocache contains a trinket that you would like to take, then you must leave something of equal or greater value behind. There may also be “trackables” which are items meant to be tracked from geocache to geocache.
To help you on this geocaching journey there is a companion app called Geocaching that allows you to see all the locations of the geocaches in your area. The app provides helpful information such as hints about the geocache you have chosen to find, the size of the geocache, a description and when it was last found. The app also provides a difficulty rating which is useful if you have small children or want to have an easy challenge and lists the attributes of the geocache’s accessibility such as if it is wheelchair accessible and even if the cache is recommended for kids, ensuring that you choose the right adventure for you. Once you have found the geocache you can sign your username in the logbook as well as log that you found it on the app which keeps track of how many caches you have found.
The app also allows for the unique feature of trackables which are small trinkets that have a destination. Every trackable has a code that can be typed in on the app to tell you where the trackables goal destination is. Now, simply leave the trackable in a geocache that is a little closer to that destination.
You can even hide your own geocache for others to find by using your own materials at home or purchasing kits/specialized containers that look like animals or even a pinecone.
There are endless possibilities with geocaching and it is a fun activity that can help you stay active and enjoy the outdoors. There are even a couple geocaches hidden around Base Borden. Visit Base Borden and see if you can find them! If you are looking for your very own treasure hunt then give geocaching a try.
This article is part of a series made possible by Simcoe County Tourism. Follow #ExperienceSimcoeCounty to learn more about what Base Borden has to offer for the military and civilian community!
By: Amber Boies
