Camp Countdown: Geocaching Adventure

A geocaching adventure is like a modern day treasure hunt, and you can do it with the whole family.

Up the scavenger hunt ante: Go on a geocaching adventure—a modern-day, real-world, outdoor treasure hunt using GPS-enabled devices. Geocachers (treasure hiders) around the world have hidden more than 1 million caches (containers of various sizes, often filled with prizes and treats) and uploaded the cache’s longitude and latitude coordinates to the web. To get the GPS coordinates for a geocache in your area, or in the area you’ll be camping or hiking, visit geocaching.com, then put the coordinates in a geocaching app downloaded to your phone (various available on iTunes; free-$9.99), and find the hidden treasure.

Geocaching.com also has helpful tools for creating events for scout groups and for youth and young adults.

If you don’t want to participate on the official geocaching website, you can easily set up a geocache in your backyard or neighborhood and invite all the neighborhood kids to take part. Happy treasure hunting!

Rules of the Game

1. If you take something from the geocache, leave something of equal or greater value.

2. Write about your find in the cache logbook.

3. Log your experience at geocaching.com.

For more information and FAQ, visit geocaching.com/guide.