Five for five

FIona and I went geocaching today. Our family got into geocaching a year or two before she was born and kept at it periodically for a while afterwards. But for the last five years or so we've hardly logged a cache. We have one cache that we placed near our home which we maintain, but that's her only experience with geocaching: checking our little cache a couple of times a year.

Today I suggested we go hunt some caches. We got out my Garmin, which is far more accurate than the unit we were using back in 2002, and downloaded some GPS co-ordinates onto it. There are a dozen new caches within a half hour drive of our home since the last time I went hunting, so we chose five off to the east of us and set out.

Geocaching involves using clues and GPS co-ordinates to seek treasure caches hidden in hundreds of thousands of locations around the world. Each cache contains a logbook and usually some trinkets. You sign the logbook. You may choose to take a trinket; you should leave something new in its place. And if you like when you get home you can log your find at the geocaching website.

Along the way you'll likely see some places you wouldn't have otherwise seen, and maybe learned a little about the history of the area thanks to clues and background information. Fiona and I ended up in Cody, a mining ghost town, at the 110-year-old Sandon cemetery (see photo), in an old-growth cedar forest and also along a couple of familiar trails, looking at them with a new perspective.

Thanks to the new Garmin's accuracy and a bit of luck we were able to quickly find all five of the caches we looked for. We brought along a thermos of tea and enjoyed some steaming mugs now and then in the cool autumn air. Fiona had a lovely time. She thinks geocaching is really cool. We've decided it's time to place another cache and after considering all the locations near us that already have them, we've settled upon the perfect unique spot in which to put our new one.