Explanation of geocaching.
Searching for hidden containers with a piece of paper inside that you write your choosen geo-name on.
You log it on-line and the one who hid the container recieves an e-mail that it was found.
You place the container back excatly where you found it for the next person to find.
You search for these container (caches) with a gps (we use smartphones). The information for caches around the world are found on-line at geocaching.com. This has been going on for 11 years. You would be surprised how close you are right now to a geocache that is hidden. They are ALL over the world.
In the woods
In the city
On the beach
In the ocean (scuba)
In the mountains and deserts
On fence posts
On signs
Even in EVERY Walmart parking lot.
They are everywhere!!!!
Scavenger hunting with a gps.
You can place a dog tag with a coded number on it that belongs to you and attach whatever you like to it, these are called travel bugs. You place it in a cache and the next person to find the container can take it and put it into another cache. That is how the TB (travel bug) moves all over the world. Whenever anyone moves it they log it on-line and the owner of the TB gets an e-mail where it is. That is how we know the story of our travel bug, Tag for Dad.
The following story was wrote by Marvin L. Sowers
(my brother)
and published in FTF, a geocaching magazine.
(my brother)
and published in FTF, a geocaching magazine.
February 2013
see it?
We are
the story
listed at
the top!
TAG
FOR
DAD
We started geocaching in August of 2010 and it wasn't long before the caching bug spread through four generations of our family. Although we all love geocaching,we all keep talking about how another member of our family would have really loved this sport-Dad. Dad was an outdoor enthusiast and he loved puzzles and gadgets, a perfect combination for geocaching. Sadly, he passed in 2008, before any of us had started geocaching.
My sister, 5-bears, (Sheryl) wanted to included Dad in geocaching, somehow, someway. She ended up creating a Travel Bug in his honor and named it Tag for Dad. 5-bears wanted me to be the first to find this special bug so she created a special cache just for me and sent me the coordinates specifying that I had to find it at night.
Turns out the cache was hidden in a cemetery-in fact, the cemetery where Dad is resting. This was difintely a spooky place for a cache, but I made the find, in a flower urn on Dad's stone. Creepy, but Dad would have loved it!
I asked 5-bears if she wanted me to keep the Bug or release it into the wild. She answered "Let's see where Dad goes". Soon after I took Tag for Dad to St. Louis and dropped him in a cache to get him started on his journey. It wasn't long before "Dad" visited several places in southern IL, quite possibly his favorite place in the world. That is where he spent many weekends fishing, 4-wheeling and exploring the Shawnee National Forest. Everyone in the family thought it was so cool the Travel Bug landed here!
"Dad" continued his journeys, visiting Kentucky and Massachusetts, but it wasn't long before he made his way to Florida, another of Dad's favorite places. Florida is where Dad loved to take us for family vacations, looking for alligators, shelling and enjoying incredible sunsets. Wow, what a coincidence that "Dad" visited two of his favorite places in just a short time.
Now "Dad" traveled north, making his way to Minnesota and finally to Chicago, Illinois. Dad lived here for several years and loved Chicago. He especially loved the Sears Tower (now named the Willis Tower) and wonder of wonders-the cache was near there!
This was too much for 5-bears! She had always hoped "Dad" would find his way back home and now it was time! She enlisted the help of our geo-uncle, wes37, (Wayne) and together they drove to Chicago and found "Dad" in the cache. "Dad" was back in the family again!
5-bears and wes37 celebrated the reunion by visiting the top of Willis Towers, where 5-bears took "Dad" out onto one of the enclosed glass boxes hanging off the side of the building. This was a quite a feat for 5-bears as she has a fear of heights, but she wanted to do it in Dad's honor. Dad would have been so proud!
Our family is still amazed at where "Dad" visited. What a coincidence that in just a year and a half that this travel bug was taken to 3 of Dad's favorite places in the world, even though none of them were mentioned in the travel bugs goal!
Or maybe,
just maybe....
Dad got to go geocaching after all!
P.S. Tag for Dad has now been moved to 5-bears collection, so no more traveling for "Dad". But who knows, maybe he'll be put out into the wild again to revisit a few more of his favorite places!
Tag for Dad traveled 1 1/2 years.
Was placed in 41 caches by other geocachers.
Went over 5000 miles.
And visited 10 states.
5-bears (grandma of the 5-bears Sheryl)
holding Tag for Dad in Willis Towers sky box.
Tag for Dad now is at Sheryl's home in place of honor.
What an adventure to watch on-line as "Dad" traveled.
Information on Geocaching:
We like the geocaching app on our iphones
Geocaching by groundspeak Inc.
There is an intro app and if you find it is a game you are really interested in then the $10 app is well worth it. There are more free geocaching apps that you could try too.
Our family has had lots of great outdoor experiences because of geocaching.
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