Treasure Hunting 2020

By John

Want something to do that involves the outdoors, a bit of a mystery, travel to new locales and which won’t break social distancing guidelines? Welcome to geocaching!

At its heart this fun activity involves you, a GPS or phone app, your keen eye and wits.

Geocaching players hide caches all over the world from Concord, NH to South Korea. Though they have since been discontinued, even NHTI had several on campus many years ago. The caches are generally waterproof Tupperware containers that hold a log book, paper or pen and maybe some swag (small toys, ornamental buttons, or coins). To play, merely travel to the website. There you can search a map for nearby cache locations, download coordinates into a handheld GPS or phone app, read the description, read the hint if you need a little help and set off to find the hidden treasure. Many of the caches are located in state parks, off wooded city trails and along hiking paths so be sure to dress appropriately. The GPS coordinates will get you close but its your wits and sharp eye that bring you to the prize. Geocachers are clever with their hiding spots – the end of a hollowed log covered by leaves, beneath a large rock, or pushed under that toppled tree. Once you have the container in hand you generally sign the log book. If there are treasures it is ok to take one though you should leave a little something in return. In today’s COVID-19 climate it is acceptable just to have the personal satisfaction of finding the well-hidden treasure box if you didn’t wish to sign the log or trade a treasure. Once done you place the box back as you found it for the next hunter.

That is the description of the traditional geocache. There are many different types to keep you entertained. Examples include:

• multi-caches - one cache leads you to another and that one to another until you find the final treasure box
• mystery-puzzle cache - you must solve a puzzle to receive the coordinates
• moving caches - each person who finds the cache re-hides it in a new location and updates the coordinates.

Among the swag you may find a travel bug. This is a special item that someone placed in a cache with the sole purpose of having it move from cache to cache. Each geocacher who finds the item will move it to another cache and log it on the website. That way the owner of the travel bug can watch its progress. Once upon a time, I launched a travel bug and asked that it travel the world. This is how a poor and humble Gumby went from Maine, to Oregon, to Utah, to Norway, Latvia, the Netherlands, Belgium and France with many stops in between.

Hopefully I have piqued your interest in a fun way to spend an afternoon outdoors solo or with your family. It won’t be long until you take your explorations out of your home turf and start to explore other parts the state and country. To learn more, check out the geocaching website or page through one of these books from our collection: 

• Geocaching: Hike and Seek with Your GPS
• The Joy of Geocaching: How to Find Health, Happiness and Creative Energy Through a Worldwide Treasure Hunt