Adventures in Geocaching

One day, it occurred to me that it was my husband’s birthday in two days and that maybe I should be a good spouse and get him a present. Always looking to share the blame and responsibility, I turned to the kids and asked them what we should get their father for his birthday. “Well, the other day Dad said he wanted a GPS,” said my daughter.

Lightbulb. Of course! My husband (who has many other great qualities) is directionally-impaired, whereas I can memorize any map and find my way anywhere (a skill I seem to have passed on to both children). The GPS was a huge success, but it also whetted my husband’s appetite for any kind of GPS-related toy or activity. And that’s when we discovered geocaching.

Geocaching is an activity that requires a GPS and a sense of adventure. It’s the perfect activity to get the whole family out of the house. Using the GPS, you download coordinates to a “cache,” a hidden treasure. Then you follow your GPS – and maybe some helpful clues as well – to find the treasure. More often than not, the treasure is a waterproof plastic container. Inside you’ll often find a notebook, a pencil, and some small toys. When you find the cache, you should sign and date the notebook and trade a small toy for another toy inside the box.

Last Sunday, on Easter, we ventured out to Roger Williams Park to find a few geocaches. We started at the Botanical Center and followed the directions till we came to the spot that we knew the geocache must be hidden. Most geocaches are hidden out of view, under leaves or branches or fallen logs. This one was a bit harder than most to find, but we eventually did, and we traded a small fish for a rubber ball, and my dolphin key chain for a miniature pig.

Then, my daughter guided us over to a quiet mossy spot on the edge of the lake, where we could see the Temple of Music across the water. Meanwhile, my husband started to pick up empty bottles and wrappers he found there. Note: bring empty trash bags to any geocaching adventure to turn it into a mini-park cleanup opportunity. It’s a shame how many people use our green spaces as their own personal trash cans!

But it reminded me what activities like geocaching do for us. Even though we use technology to do the activity, we go outdoors and spend some time in nature, seeing it up close, finding places, examining flora and observing fauna we didn’t remember – or even know – existed.

A close relative of geocaching is letterboxing. However, instead of using GPS navigatio, letterboxing gives participants written clues and puzzles to solve. Then, instead of trading toys, you use stamps both to indicate that you found the letterbox and also to mark your own record with the stamp you find in the letterbox. We went to Cape Cod a few summers ago and found several letterboxes in Nickerson State Park.

Seekonk itself is home to many geocaches. There are several by Turner Reservoir, Burr’s Pond, and even the library! Now that spring has finally arrived, we should make a commitment to getting outdoors and exploring Seekonk’s parks and green spaces.