GeoCaching 101: Sponsored by the Attleboro Land Trust

Are you and your kids tired of being cooped up all winter?  Are you aching to get outside and explore some great preserved woodlands and meadows in your own ‘backyard’ of Attleboro?  Do you always have your smart phone on you?

Then come join Mason Bourdeau and friends onSaturday, April 12, at 10:00 am in the parking lot of Colman Reservation, located on Steere Street.  Additional parking is available on Virginia Meadows Drive.  Rain Date is Sunday, April 13, at 10:00 am.

The adventure begins by searching for cleverly hidden containers called geocaches.  You use a hand-held smart phone with a GPS app to guide you to the place where a “cache” is stored.  Upon finding it, you log your visit in a logbook stored in the container, and perhaps trade one of the many contained trinkets for one of your own.  Some of these trinkets may be a “travel bug” with a hoped for destination – which you may help it continue on its way by placing it in another cache.

There are many geocaches in and around the Attleboro area, in fact there are millions of geocaches waiting to be found, scattered through more than 185 countries around the world, several of which are located in the Colman Reservation, and other Attleboro Land Trust properties. 

This is an orientation and walk through.  Even if you do not have a device you are still more than welcome to join in.  If you have a (non-automotive) GPS device or GPS-equipped android smartphone, then register in advance for a free user account at www.geocaching.com then if you have an android phone, download the free app called C:Geo.  If you have an iPhone, then install the app called Geocaching (by groundspeak) (there is a one-time fee of $10.00 for this app)  There is a free version, but it is limited and only shows SOME caches in the area – and not the ones we will be using for the demonstration.

Bring a pen or pencil, a small trinket to leave, a smile, an explorer's attitude and a willingness to get your hands dirty (yes – some caches require some poking around to find them).  Most of the caches we will find are within a mile of the street and the terrain is easy.

Mason has been Geocaching for about 4 years now and enjoys not only finding them, but also enjoys creating them.  He has deployed 5 caches in the Attleboro area, and has found 71 caches some as far away as Costa Rica, The Netherlands, Maine, and Cape Cod.