Sunday, November 1, 2009

89) Leave a Geocache (check!)



I'm on a roll this week with my 101 in 1001 list!  Earlier this week I scattered Bluebonnet seeds at my farm, and  today I left a Geocache for others to find.  For those who haven't read my other blog on geocaching, I'll briefly explain the adventure "sport."  Geocaching is a treasure hunting game where people place caches in a location then post the GPS coordinates online so others can locate it too.  I came across this idea while making my 101 in 1001 list, and knew right away it was something my boys would love to do as a family activity.  I was extremely surprised to find so many caches hidden so close to home.  We've gone on many nature walks around our town and really have had a great time with this "sport."  I've wanted to leave one of my own, so my husband bought me an ammo can so we could hide our cache.

A lot of the caches have themes for the contents inside.  For example, we have found a cache named "What are Little Boys Made of?" which was filled with toys for boys.  Another cache is for the state quarters.  People can drop and exchange different quarters to complete their collection.  There are many others, but you get the idea.  My husband came up with the idea to make a food related cache.  As you can imagine, placing food inside the cache would be a very bad idea since it will be in the woods, so instead we decided to leave some of our favorite recipes inside for others to take and exchange.  We placed 5 recipes, a log book for people to sign, some blank note cards for people to write their recipes down, and two pens inside the ammo can.  We debated where to leave the cache, but finally decided on Telge Park which is right next to our house.


The trails through Telge Park


The recipes we put inside

Telge Park is next to Cypress Creek which runs through our town, and we love to walk along its banks through the nature trails there.  My husband goes fishing about once a week on the creek and knows the land like the back of his hand.  We parked at Telge Park and started walking through the trails to find a good hiding spot.  After a good hike, we found a really tall Pine tree just off the trail to hide the ammo can behind.  We covered it up with sticks and leaves, and then started pinpointing the GPS coordinates so I could post them to the Geocaching website.  We got the coordinates, I snapped a few photos, and off we went.


The tall Pine tree


Hidden under leaves and sticks


Saved co-ordinates in our GPS

I just got done posting the cache online, and am awaiting approval from the webmaster for the post to clear.  I named the cache "The Dinner Bell" since it is food related.  I can't wait to see how many people find it!  This is such a fun adventure seeking game.  I get a kick out of it every time we find one.  I highly recommend parents with boys take their kids out for this (Girls too, but the boys would really like it!).  It's a great family activity that is free, and you get to explore your local surroundings.  What are you waiting for? Go try it!

2 comments:

  1. Hello,

    What a great idea! I will have to try that with my kids. The park is very beautiful.

    I found your blog on Blotanical - Welcome! I too, am a Horticulturist. I received my degree at Arizona State University.

    ReplyDelete

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