Bullet Points @ timlongo.com

One of the things I personally love most about video games is that fantasy of exploring an area and finding and collecting some kind of treasure. Whether it is ammo for a gun or coins for a plumber or gold from the dead body of a goblin, they are all the same thing. Loot, as we have come to call it. Well, I finally found an equivalent for real life (at least something I can do myself without risking my life). Treasure hunting that is designed for and operated by regular people like you and me. You don’t have to mount an Antarctic expedition. You don’t have to apply for grants to plumb the depths of the ocean to raise ancient sunken ships. This is in your backyard and it has all the same draw as loot in a video game, but you get some exercise and fresh air at the same time. It is called “Geocaching”. Here is how it works:

• Get some kind of GPS device. (I use my iPhone which has a special app so it is even easier.)
• Go to Geocaching.com and look up your zip code. (Again, with an iPhone you just do a “look at my current location” and find the ones that are nearest to you.
• Find one on the map that is near enough to your current location or home.
• Set out on your first treasure hunt using your GPS device and by following the directions on the site or entry.

It is that simple. There are 935,939 (as I write this) Geocaches in the world right now. Grows every day. Anyone can hide one and anyone can find one. This is a voluntary activity on both sides. All you have to do is chose a container that will last, put some trinkets inside with, ideally, a log book and pen so people can sign it when they find it, and go out and hide your cache and log it on the site with its GPS coordinates. Most people give some clues on where it is specifically hidden to give people a better shot of finding it seeing that GPSs have a margin of error of 10 to 50 feet. But once you get close enough it really becomes that treasure hunt feel. And once you actually find one it is even better than finding loot in a video game (if you ask me). I even find myself looking up on my iPhone app wherever I am (airport, restaurant, market) to see if there are any caches nearby. It is like a meta/mini game going on ALL the time, everywhere you go, that is sort of a secret.

The other interesting side of it which has parallels to many open-world games is that you are doing something in public in plain sight that most of the other people in the world around you have no idea about. Often, in fact, they look at you like you are either stealing something from someone or like you have lost your keys down a drainage ditch. When I step back to think about how silly my wife and daughter and I must look when we are looking for these things it really does crack me up. There’s even an organic name for the people who don’t know about Geocaches which was stolen from Harry Potter…muggles. They just don’t know about the magic I guess (I don’t know, I’m not a fan of the books).

Of course, the whole thing works on the honor system. Each cache has multiple small objects inside and when you take one you have to leave one of equal or greater value. Usually they are just small toys, but sometimes people leave things that say something about themselves so there are little stories attached. Then the logs themselves have even more to say. The log inside the first cache we ever found (about 3 weeks ago) near our own home had entries from Alaska and Spain in it. People do this on their lunch break or spend an entire vacation going from cache to cache. People planting the caches often tell a story about why they hid it or some history about where it was hidden seeing that when you find it you are standing right there and can explore further if you are in a significant location (like a State Park).

We’ve been doing it for only a short time now and each time we go out we have found, on average, 1 out of 3 despite the clues. Sometimes you are just standing right on top of it and never quite find it. But when you do it is pretty gratifying. Each time we have done it we just grab a bag of trinkets to trade, all get in the car and start driving in any direction. Then we check the iPhone and start heading toward one in the car. Then when we are close we jump out and Lia takes the iPhone and guides us to the actual spot on foot. Then the search begins.

You can also log your experiences on the web site and read about others who have found the cache you found or found the one you didn’t find. This info is accessible via the app as well, which is nice. They can be anywhere too. In a parking lot, out in the sand dunes, up in a tree, on top of a building, under some pine needles. Each one has a difficulty rating and a size rating for more clarity. Some are near parking and some require a hike.

I have been wanting to try it for years. I found out about it maybe as much as ten years ago before there were so many and just never committed to doing it. I’ll admit the iPhone ended up being the clincher for me because it is so easy and well designed and it links directly to the web site so you don’t ever have to go there via a computer.

So if you are into hiking and exploring and want a clear and fun goal to helps drive that achiever side of you, I highly recommend Geocaching. It gets you out the door and yet still feels like you are going through the world looting gold from goblins. Just make sure you leave something for them as well. Goblins hate it when you steal from them.