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Treasure Hunt Geocaching is a surefire way to get kids busy outdoors BY NICOL A ROSS
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ne of the great things about kids is that they remind adults of the pure joy of things such as seeing all the presents under the tree on Christmas morning or riding your bike down a really big hill – or a treasure hunt. So when I read that geocaching is the “biggest treasure hunt in the world,” I decided to borrow some kids. I needed them to help me understand why more than 360,000 geocachers in nearly 200 countries have hidden upwards of three million geocaches. That’s gargantuan! I googled “geocaching” and up popped geocaching.com. This great, child-friendly website had everything I needed to get started – everything, that is, except some kids! I read through the instructions and learned about the etiquette of geocaching. A couple of really good, childfriendly videos helped a lot. Then I downloaded the free version of the geocache app to my phone.
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When I logged in, my location showed up as a moving blue dot, similar to what you see on Google Maps. It was awash in a sea of green circles marking geocaches. These dots didn’t move. In the area from Terra Cotta through to Highway 10 near Orangeville, dozens of these concealed treasures were waiting to be discovered by me and my kids, once I found some. I felt as though I were about to embark on a clandestine operation – first to find some kids, then to locate the treasure. I clicked on a green dot close to my home and up came a description of a geocache named “Dancing on McClaren” [sic]. It was 2.8 kilometres away, the difficulty in finding it was 1.5 on a scale of 1 to 5, and the geocache would be some kind of waterproof container that would hold a scroll on which I could add my name to those of others who have also found the cache. The container might also contain small treasures
such as a figurine or a toy car. The etiquette of geocaching is that if you take a treasure, you must leave behind something as good as, or better than, what you found. Geocaching is about trading, not taking. The app also explained the geocache had been placed by “dancer man” on 2016-07-10 and included a list of all the people who had ever found it. Finally, there was a hint to make it easier to locate. It read: “Hollow there … come and find me!” Next up were some kids. Fortunate ly, my nephew, his partner and their three sons, aged 12, 9 and 6, were also intrigued by my description of the biggest treasure hunt in the world. On a cold day in May, we convened at the corner of Forks of the Credit Road and McLaren Road, and I gave Leif, Waverly and Xavier a brief description of what geocaching is about. The boys focused on “treasure,” and the eldest, Leif, caught “hollow.”
“What’s a hollow?” he asked. “It’s likely a depression in the ground,” I suggested. “What will the cache look like?” Leif wanted to know. “Beats me,” I said. “Let’s find out.” Following the blue dot on my phone, we came to where the green dot indicated the geocache was hidden. We were in dense cedar woods with some depressions on the forest floor. “It must be in that hollow,” I told Leif, pointing to one of the depressions. Before clambering down the bank (spoiler here), he glanced into a hollowed-out tree trunk. “There’s something blue in here,” he said casually. And sure enough, tucked inside the hollow was a small plastic container. Leif fished it out. It contained a few pieces of sodden paper and a small ziplock bag with something in it. “Take it out! Take it out!” Xavier screeched, stamping his feet with glee. Waverly stared, mouth open, as his big brother withdrew a small scroll. Unfurling
