Ever been fascinated with the idea of finding a hidden treasure? Some secret that few people know about and that only the privileged gave access to? Welcome to the wonderful world of geocaching, the hobby that involves hunting out secrets hidden by other geocachers and finding out what’s hidden in them for yourself. Geocaching Day celebrates this hobby and those who participate in it.
History of Geocaching Day
Geocaching has been around as long as our GPS satellites have, but it has its roots in an older practice known as ‘letterboxing’. Letterboxing was a hobby that focused on creating small weatherproof boxes with clues within to new locations. Each letterbox contains a notebook and a (typically custom carved) rubber stamp that letterboxers would use to stamp their notebook indicating that they found it. With the invention of GPS satellites, a whole new generation would discover this hobby in a whole new iteration.
The first geocache was placed on May 3, 2000, by Dave Ulmer, a resident of Beavercreek, Oregon. He then posted the coordinates and invited others to go locate it. From that time forward it has become an explosive hobby that people everywhere participate in with new people joining every year. Anyone can place a geocache and share it on sites like Geocaching.com so that other intrepid adventurers can find it.
You never know what you’re going to find in a geocache, often they contain notebooks for leaving personal messages for the next to locate it, or little treasures with a ‘take one, leave one’ philosophy to it. What will you find when you seek out your first geocache? Geocaching Day encourages you to go find out!
How to celebrate Geocaching Day
It’s best celebrated by registering at Geocaching.com and beginning your journey of geocaching! You can start by locating geocaches near you, and then begin expanding your range and looking for ones further and further away. It’s an incredible adventure and the newest iteration of treasure hunting.
Who knows, maybe one day you’ll make your own geocache and others will seek it out and tell tales of the secrets that it contains. Geocaching Day is an exciting opportunity to find a whole new way to explore your world, now get out there!
