What is Geocaching?

Geocaching is a modern day orienteering sport. Years ago, people would have orienteering competitions to increase their skills, have fun, and even for cash prizes. These competitions made competitors use a variety of compass, map, and adventuring skills. Geocaching makes use of modern technology, mainly GPSs or Global Positioning Systems. Geocaching started out when GPS technology first became very accurate. Someone decided they would test out the accuracy of the devices. They picked a remote location, and left a little prize package and a log book there. They then found the location using a GPS and posted the coordinates online. People would find this location using their GPSs and take the prize, sign the log book, and place a new prize of equal value. This got the attention of other GPS enthusiasts and other people began setting up geocaching locations.

The Sport of Geocaching

The term for a location is called a "Cache" from the name of the sport. There really aren't any rules to this sport but the basic idea is to get something from the cache, return something of somewhat equal value to the cache, and write about your experiences in the logbook. You can find the coordinates of a Cache online by searching or on geocaching forums. Geocaching is mainly consider a sport for its fun. There really isn't much of a competition factor. Some people just enjoy searching for caches and creating a log of how many they could succesfully find. Some people make special coins that you can collect if you visit their cache. The sport is more for enjoyment than for anything else.