Geocaching: Geo-what!?

Geocaching at World's End State Park

When I first met my boyfriend, he told me that he loved Geocaching. "What the heck is geocaching?" I asked him. Little did I know that this globetrotting treasure hunt would become one of my new favorite pastimes.

So what is Geocaching?

According to www.geocaching.com, Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache's existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS device can then try to locate the geocache.

       So basically, I spend my free time out in the woods, searching for plastic boxes with nic-nacks in them. And it's REALLY FUN!

One of our Geocaching adventures at Hot Dog Johnny's- Here's J.J's GPS along side of the cache, hidden in a plastic hotdog!

A few added bonuses of Geocaching:

• It can be a really great workout. Especially if you get lost in the woods and have to hike a few extra miles to find your way out! 
• It provided a really great way for me to explore the area, considering I didn't grow up in a very woodsy, hiking conducive area.
• I have some really crazy stories from times when my boyfriend led me into various terrifying places, such as a tick infested swamp in North Jersey, or the Loyalsock State Forest where we saw a copperhead snake AND a black bear. Ah, the bonds of a great relationship!
• I had an excuse to buy a really stellar pair of Merrell hiking boots- on sale for way cheap!

   I think I have found about 65 geocaches to date. Sometimes we plan a whole day out of looking for caches, and sometimes we grab a few that are hidden in more populated areas (near restaurants or shopping centers). Geocaching reminds me of the Pokemon saying- Gotta catch 'em all! 

The swamp that I was led in to in North Jersey- Yikes!