Geocaching Basics

Wikipedia defines geocaching as "an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and "treasure," usually toys or trinkets of little value. Today, well over 800,000 geocaches are registered on various websites devoted to the pastime. Geocaches are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica."

Recently I've had several people ask about geocaching and some family members also recently began, so when I was cleaning out our geocaching pack this morning, I thought I'd take a picture of the contents to show what we take with us when we go out hunting.


We also bring the printout for the specifics on the cache (we keep these in a notebook, but when we're out on the trail we only bring the page for the cache we're finding), water, and often a stick for poking around in areas we don't want to stick our hands!


The packed backpack and our current stash of swag or trading items.

Small backpack contents:

GPSr
insect repellant
extra ziplock bags & plastic grocery sack for picking up trash
gloves for retrieving caches in questionable locations or among thorns
sunscreen
hand sanitizer
basic first aid kit
pens
extra batteries
flashlight for looking in dark spots
Kleenex
lip balm
pain reliever
bag of swag