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Longer days, warm weather, a desire to explore your city and surrounding areas... These all lead towards one very entertaining pastime that also happens to have a light carbon footprint: geocaching.
Geocaching is an activity growing in popularity as an inexpensive, adventurous and entertaining way to find out about your local area or get to know someplace new. Basically, it's a giant treasure hunt that utilizes a handheld GPS, a set of clues, and a goal to find a hidden box of treasures. Interested? Here's how it works:
- Visit Geocaching.com and enter in the zip code in which you want to search. You'll get a list of caches hidden in the area. Many will teach you about the particular spot where the cache is hidden, or will sharpen your mind by having you complete extra quizzes or puzzles to get the needed clues to find the cache.
- Select a cache to find. You can base this on the difficulty of the terrain in getting to the cache, the difficulty of actually finding the cache, the various sizes of the cache, or simply pick a place that seems like it'd make for a scenic walk or will take you to an area of your city you rarely visit.
- Enter the coordinates of the cache in your handheld GPS, note down any clues, maps, and special instructions for the cache, pack a pen or pencil and some item to trade, and head out via walking, biking or other form of green transportation to your destination.
- Be sure you familiarize yourself with how geocaching works. You'll want to know details such as recording your visit, keeping out of sight of non-geocachers when you're opening or replacing the cache, and if you remove an toy or item from the cache, you need to place something of equal value.
- Find your first cache, celebrate, record your visit at the website, and pick another one to hunt down!
Geocaching is very eco-concious, and participants are encouraged to practice "Cache In, Trash Out," to leave as little evidence you've been to a location as possible. The caches are maintained by their owners (anyone is welcome and encouraged to place a cache for others to find), and geocachers are encouraged to report maintenance needs or defunct caches so that they don't become trash. And, when you walk or bike to find a cache, you're keeping your own carbon footprint small while having hours of active fun!
More eco-friendly activities for summer fun
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Try a New Green Activity: Go Bird Watching
Get Out and Go Green With MeetUp.com
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