On Sunday we finally tried out Geocaching! We started our Geocaching adventures at Long Pond, but finding the Geocaches turned out to be much harder than we expected…
Where's the Geocache?
Geocaching is an ongoing outdoor treasure hunt using a GPS or mobile phone. Geocaches are containers that are located all over the world containing a logbook and sometimes a few trinkets to exchange. Using the GPS coordinates of a Geocache, you navigate to the spot where it’s located and look for the container; the website provides information on the size of the Geocache, the terrain, and how difficult it is to find. Geocaching started in May 2000 and has become a global phenomenon, with different types of caches hidden all over the world.
Geocaching is something that has been on our radar to try for a while, so we figured we’d squeeze it in before the weather got colder. We had no idea what we were getting into, as is often the case with Something Saturdays, so when we looked up the Geocaches located in St. John’s, we were surprised to say the least.
Geocaching is something that has been on our radar to try for a while, so we figured we’d squeeze it in before the weather got colder. We had no idea what we were getting into, as is often the case with Something Saturdays, so when we looked up the Geocaches located in St. John’s, we were surprised to say the least.
Look at all of the Geocaches!
We started in the Long Pond area because it’s accessible and we figured that it wouldn’t be too hard to find Geocaches just off a trail. Well, we were wrong. Our first problem was that we didn’t know exactly what we were looking for. The promotional Geocaching video (here) led us to believe that the containers would be in easy-to-find in wooden crates… or something like that.
The location of our first Geocache was in an area that was covered by 6 inches of fallen leaves. While it was very picturesque, it threw off our searching. After looking for the Geocache for 10-15 minutes, we decided to give up and try the next one, assuming that we’d come back later to give it a second go.
The location of our first Geocache was in an area that was covered by 6 inches of fallen leaves. While it was very picturesque, it threw off our searching. After looking for the Geocache for 10-15 minutes, we decided to give up and try the next one, assuming that we’d come back later to give it a second go.
From the app, it looked like the next Geocache was in the middle of the woods. So as soon as we came close to it on the trail, we started off-roading and walking through the woods. We didn’t realize how suboptimal the idea actually was until we were bushwhacking – climbing over fallen trees, through boggy terrain, and dodging branches left right and centre. Maebe couldn’t walk through the patches of young evergreen trees that were growing on top of one another so we had to carry her through those; she was having the time of her life exploring the woods.
After half an hour of wandering, ducking, and dodging, Luke finally led the way to an easily accessible field that was right next to the “location” of the Geocache! Our bushwhacking was all for naught. And that was just the beginning. It took us another 20 minutes or so to find the Geocache and we had basically given up on this one as well (even after looking at the hints and comments by people who had found it) until Luke looked up and there it was: a small wooden object in a tree. Our first Geocache!
We opened it up, signed the logbook and were on our way, after stopping for a quick snack break. The third Geocache we went for was also tough to find. Luckily we didn’t have to bushwhack to find this one though. This Geocache was contained in a pill bottle wrapped in nature-coloured tape for camouflage. Elizabeth spotted it, but it felt like the odds were stacked against us – who knew Geocaching was so hard?!
We opened it up, signed the logbook and were on our way, after stopping for a quick snack break. The third Geocache we went for was also tough to find. Luckily we didn’t have to bushwhack to find this one though. This Geocache was contained in a pill bottle wrapped in nature-coloured tape for camouflage. Elizabeth spotted it, but it felt like the odds were stacked against us – who knew Geocaching was so hard?!
On our way back to the car, we stopped off at the first Geocache we attempted and we managed to find it this time around. Feeling better about our Geocaching abilities, we pushed our luck and decided to go for a Mystery Geocache on Memorial University's campus. Mystery caches require you to solve a puzzle to determine the coordinates and then find the Geocache. We solved the mystery and went to go find the cache, but couldn’t find it. The sun started to set, and after 10 minutes of looking, we ended our Geocaching adventure there.
Despite our troubles, we had a lot of fun bushwhacking. We were a bit frustrated by the Geocaching process at times (and the damn buggers who hid the caches there in the first place), but we gave it a shot. Who knows, we may catch the Geocaching bug and go out for Round 2 sometime. We came out unscathed, minus a few scratches, but we did it!
We didn’t take a lot of pictures while we were out – we were more focused on safely climbing over fallen trees carrying a dog and staring at the woods until a Geocache came into focus, but here are a few that we did take:
Despite our troubles, we had a lot of fun bushwhacking. We were a bit frustrated by the Geocaching process at times (and the damn buggers who hid the caches there in the first place), but we gave it a shot. Who knows, we may catch the Geocaching bug and go out for Round 2 sometime. We came out unscathed, minus a few scratches, but we did it!
We didn’t take a lot of pictures while we were out – we were more focused on safely climbing over fallen trees carrying a dog and staring at the woods until a Geocache came into focus, but here are a few that we did take:
