Geocaching

A couple of weeks ago Andy and I joined the Geocaching craze. For those that are not familiar with the activity, Geocaching is, according to it's official website, "a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online." (http://www.geocaching.com/) So far we have found 7 caches around the Vail area. A couple were hidden in town, others out on the mountain, and a couple required quite a hike. Caches come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The first one we found was a little plastic container hidden under a rock. Inside that one we found something called a "travel bug". A travel bug is a little trinket attached to a dog tag with a code on it. When you enter the code online you can find out where the travel bug was originally placed, where it has traveled, and it's desired destination. The one we found last week started out in Hawaii and is supposed to be returned to the U.P.! Shouldn't be too hard for us to help it find it's way back to Michigan!! Inspired by the travel bug we found, Andy placed a travel bug of our very own here in the village and set a destination that will for now remain a secret...who knows, the travel bug may someday end up in a cache near you!!!

Our Travel Bug!!! It is currently sitting in Vail Village waiting patiently for someone to help it move toward it's final destination!!




So like I said, the caches vary in size and shape. The caches we found last weekend were the size of tupperware containers. Larger caches are what I like to refer to as "treasure boxes". These caches are stocked with a variety of little objects (figurines, pencils, stickers, suntan lotion, etc). The idea is to take something out of the box and replace it with something of equal or greater value. At one location we took a little plastic donkey and replaced it with a dolphin air freshener. While skiing on Sunday afternoon we found a cache burried in the snow inside a little cluster of trees.

Andy writing down the date and our code name in the log book. Each cache, regardless of it's size, has some sort of log. The cache is sitting open in the snow.

Andy looking at other peoples' entries. This particular cache has been hidding in this location since at least 2005. We were excited to find somebody from Holland MI had visited this cache in 2008! Small world!!
The view from the cache. People must have thought we were crazy when we stuck our skis and poles in the snow then proceeded to climb into the middle of a cluster of trees.



The final type of cache that we have found is called a magnetic nano cache. These things are, in my opinion, the hardest to find because they are tiny (the size of a marble) and can be attached to any metal object. We found two this weekend. One was attached to an outhouse back in Blue Sky Basin and the other was right in Vail Village (we searched for days for that particular one).

The cache is attached near the top of the pole on the right side. Inside is a rolled up strip of paper not even a centimeter wide on which you are to log your information.




Geocaching is a lot of fun. Check out the website (http://www.geocaching.com/) to find a cache near you! There is bound to be a few within driving distance because there are 760,667 active geocaches worldwide.