Angelica Haggert
Clues … treasure … the outdoors …
All things a pseudo-nerd like myself loves.
Sometimes hunkering down under the
covers in December or blasting the AC in
June just don’t make the day awesome last winter I was getting cabin fever and
needed to find something to do.
Committing to an(other) extra
curricular activity can be difficult. So
what could I find to do that would get me
(and the boyfriend and the dog) out of
the house on occasion?
A friend recommended geocaching.
Like a “real world treasure hunt,”
geocaching uses a GPS device to search
for coordinates where other participants
have hidden canisters, tubs, or containers
- all called a “geocache.” Geocaches can
be anywhere from the size of the
fingernail on your smallest finger, or as
large as a peanut butter container. Some
“caches” only have a strip of paper for you
to sign with the date and your geocaching
name from the global website
(www.geocaching.com). Other caches
have small items for trading. My favorite
items to leave behind are mini glow sticks
or toy cars, available for cheap from the
dollar store. The best item I’ve ever seen
in a cache is a Nerf football.
Geocaching is incredibly simple to
do. There are free apps for Apple and
Android phones, or paid apps if you want
to be able to post to your geocaching.com
hung from branches, hidden under rocks
- you name it - now try and find it! One of
the best ones we’ve ever found looked like
a metal nut: it was magnetic and tucked
under the edge of a metal staircase in a
certain Windsor park.
Caches are hidden across the world.
There’s also almost twenty within a
twenty minute walking distance from my
house in West Windsor. The boyfriend
and I have walked half the Greenway Trail
- ERCA has hidden caches every 150
meters.
Where
We add caching to almost everything
will
we do - it’s like an added adventure to an
geocaching
everyday trip to the grocery store, or a
neat way to see the neighbourhood. There
take
are three hidden near the University of
you?
Windsor, dozens along the waterfront, ten
at St. Clair College and even a movie
theatre series at Cineplex Odeon and
Silver City. You can take the dog for a walk
and cache along the way, or “park and
grab” a cache at the intersection of Parent
and Tecumseh.
Some caches are designed as
“winter” caches, whereas others need
seasonal foliage to keep them hidden.
There are almost 500 caches in Ontario
accessible by canoe - talk about my next
summer camping trip! Meanwhile,
coordinates works!
We take the dog when we go caching bundle up and get exploring … there
- he’s even found a few for us! Caches can could be hidden treasure right around
be tucked up inside holes in tree trunks, YOUR corner.
page directly from your phone. GPS
devices are more expensive but more
accurate. Ours is a geocaching.com
sponsored GPS unit and fits in my pocket,
but any unit where you can input
Got a favourite geocaching find? Tell us about it!
Use the tag #ExploringMatters on Facebook and Twitter to let us know!
8 The HUB - December 2013/January 2014