Geocaching

Geocaching, Found It!

Geocaching is a fun sport, or activity, or lifestyle.  Did you know there are about one million hidden signature logs or little treasure boxes all over the world, which you can find using a Global Positioning Satellite receiver?  When you find one, you log your visit and sometimes (if the container is big enough) you take a trinket and leave a trinket.  Here I'm showing that geocaching will melt your hair if you do it at noon in the Summer in the woods.   Its good exercise and uses your creative sense, because these are often hidden in very good camoflaouge.    (Camo, as I like to say since it is hard to spell.  )  

Children especially love it.  Last week, we took a friend's daughter who is about 8, geocaching in downtown Tahlequah.  Several people wanted to know what we were looking for as we circled around and around a park bench downtown.  We were looking on the underneath side of the bench for a magnetic little micro-sized keyholder-type container.  But we guessed wrong about the size.  It turned out to be just a teensey lil bolt-sized magnetic log to sign, and we were off about the location too.

Some of the best geocaches are big hefty ammo boxes hidden deep in the woods, where you have to hike and there are no trails.  We call it bushwhacking.  We lunge thru the greenbriars, startle the deer, watch for the snakes, roll over the big rocks, climb the cliffs, and whatever else it takes to navigate the terrain.  We like the woods, and this gives a purpose to our trek.  We lap up the exercise and the activity away from our desks.  And as we go, we have a sense of adventure and accomplishment.  We've found about 175 geocaches and we have hidden about 15 geocaches in different places for others to find.  We've helped about a dozen people go geocaching for the very first time:  Gail Ross, Sara Cordle, Ed & Terri Fite, Ray Goldman, Katy & Josh Brinkley, Terra Bellamy & Family, and others.

About the treasure:  Sometimes the best geocaches are only published to premium members at geocaching.com because those are the more serious geocachers and they don't want "muggles" to stray upon their boxes and loot the treatures for trade.  When you take something from a box, you have a duty to put in something for trade which is of equal or greater value.  Some of our best trades have been for a picture from the grave of Jack Kerouac, gold coins, pretty feathers, and gear like caribiners, insect repellent wipes, coozies, bungee cords, etc.

Read some of our adventures by searching for "Fluffy & Friedrick" at http://www.geocaching.com/ .  We encounter snake dens, rock climbing tasks and more.