Geocaching - Hiking with a Twist

My sister Joyce has been talking about geocaching for awhile. I didn’t get all the hype, but this summer she took me with her. Our brother Harley went too. We were in Indiana for a reunion and she came prepared with her little yellow geocaching GPS and print outs of several “hunts.” I like how it gives you an excuse to go wandering around in the woods, off the trail. And you get to pick up trash!

In case you are not familiar with geocaching and are too lazy to google it – Geocaching is a fairly new sport where you use a GPS to find small containers that others have hidden in the woods and filled with little trinkets. Once you find the containers, you sign in, date it and if you want you can take a trinket and leave something for the next person. You will find things like key chains, buttons and magnets. It is also customary to bring a trash bag and gloves so you can pick up any trash that you find.

We had fun and got a little exercise and fresh air. It sure beats sitting around watching re-runs of the Brady Bunch.

(Originally published in 2008)