Scavenger Hunt

A GPS treasure hunt. Can you think of anything more exciting? It's like an Indiana Jones-style scavenger hunt. This style of treasure hunt brings to mind the movie Scavenger Hunt from 1979. (Yes. I saw that as a child, which makes me 46 this year.)

*coughs*

Anyway.

The Basics of the GPS Treasure Hunt

A treasure hunt with your GPS is called geocaching. That's pronounced (jee oh cashing). Instead of a treasure map with a large X to mark the spot like pirates use to bury treasure, people hide caches and mark them with GPS coordinates. Also, they're not buried in the ground. Instead, there are a variety of cache styles and types that people hide in plain sight. There's no digging involved.

There are millions of hidden geocaches around the

Bring your own trinkets and treasures to leave behind in the cache.

Trouble Finding the Cache

Even with some research, it can be tough to find cleverly hidden caches. If they were right in the open, it wouldn't be as much fun! On the website or app, there can sometimes be clues to help you find the cache. In some cases, other cachers have left pictures of the cache, which can give you a clue to its whereabouts.

If you read the clues, check the pictures, and still can't find the cache, you can label it as a DNF, which means Did Not Find.

We Found the Cache!

Once you find the cache, you can do a little treasure-finding dance. Open the cache to see what's inside. This is the best part of the experience. There will most likely be a log book, and there could be trinkets. If you take a trinket, leave one in its place. The traded items has to be as awesome as the one you take.

Fill out the logbook with the date of the find and replace it exactly where you found it originally. It might be tempting to place it in a spot that is even harder to find, but that could potentially ruin the clues.

You can report your find in the log for the cache online. Don't forget to thank the cache hider with a TFTF (thanks for the find) or TFTC (thanks for the