You go to the Geocaching website and find a cache near your location. Then you grab your trusty GPS receiver and head out to find the cache. But for many of the caches, that’s just the start.
Many of the hunts on the site are “multi” caches, involving multiple stages. For instance, you may find a cache at the first set of coordinates that contains a clue for the second location. It may be a “virtual” cache, which means you need to look for visual clues at the coordinates and use them to find the next location. In any case, it’s fun.
Once you’ve found a cache, there’s a written log inside each one as well as some miscellaneous trinket items. It’s customary to leave something of your own and perhaps take something from the cache as well. There are little items called “Travel Bugs” that you take and place in the next cache you find. Then you go back to geocaching.com and mark the cache as found, report on the bug if you found or placed one, and discuss the cache. You can also report a missing or damaged cache and read comments by other people who’ve found it.
I’ve always wanted a nice GPS unit and this was a major reason why. Even better, it’s something my wife and I can enjoy together. There’s a guy with the handle “Agent 6” who has written some really entertaining caches involving North Dakota history. We’ve done a couple of them and they’re really neat…especially if you love this area like I do.
So yeah, Jason…you were right. One of those caches led us up to Grant Marsh’s gravestone. For the rest of you, who might not know what Geocaching is, I hope I’ve been an enlightenment. I also hope to have convinced you to try it for yourself. And just in case the photo above makes you wonder if I always go geocaching at night, wearing a suit…no. Neither. It was just a good opportunity for the photo.