Geocaching

Noah and I have recently begun dabbling in a new sport/game called geocaching. Basically, you use a GPS to find little packages or goodies that someone else has hidden in a public location. At the official geocaching website, you can find a list of all the geocaches in your area. You can plug the coordinates into your GPS and then head out on a modern day treasure hunt. See the official geocaching site for more details. We found our first one last weekend, and when we decided to go for a hike at the Haw River today, we decided to see if there were any geocaches along the trail. We picked 3 (of several) to load into our GPS. We got close to the first location and headed off the trail in the direction the GPS told us to go. Now, you would think that with the coordinates and a GPS device, this sport would be simple enough, but once you get out there, and you're in the woods where all the trees look the same, and there are leaves all over the place, it's a different story. We spent about 30 minutes scouring an area about the size of our whole apartment but didn't find anything. These are some pictures of Noah looking, looking, looking.

We decided to keep heading down the trail, and when we got close to the next geocache, we again followed the direction of the GPS. After a good 10 minutes of scouring, I sat down on a fallen tree trunk in disgust while Noah continued to wander around. Noah says to me, " Are you sure you looked around here?" With hand in head, I grumbled, "Yes." Noah then joined me on the tree, and I happened to look down at that exact moment and saw the top of our treasure. I let out a slight squeal and pulled the box out from underneath my feet! There were all sorts of goodies in the box. Generally with geocaching, you write your name in a log, and you can take out something from the box as long as you leave something behind. We didn't have anything to leave, so we logged our find and then just enjoyed examining the contents: almost complete first aid kit, small stuffed animal, Czech Republic coin, jump drive, exacto knife. See more pictures from our adventure. It was a fun afternoon!