What if all over the world, in all the places you travelled to, there was a secret log that you could add your name too?

I can remember being in Dakhla, Egypt at a tiny roadside bar and the owner had a guest book where travellers would write a few lines or simply their name after reading through hundreds of other entries that was placed before they arrived. Each person's individual moments at that exact location captured and immortalized. - Actually there is about 1.9 million secret logbooks worldwide¹, and you can add your name to each one of them in the world of Geocaching.

A few friends of mine have been really interested in Geo-caching, they picked it up from one of their brothers who actually goes out hunting for them every day. In short, Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.² Geocaches are hidden everywhere, in forests, in urban cities and public parks, with different "difficulties" attributed to them so you know how easy or hard they will be to find. This activity is so popular and anyone can do it from families with small children as well as seniors or people in wheelchairs.

For me it all started last May, I've heard of the term before, but didn't know a lot about this activity, one Saturday afternoon my friends extended an invite to me to go "caching". I've never been a person to turn down a new adventure, and decided to give it a try.

They knew a place North West of Toronto nicknamed "Cache Park" as it was a public park that had 12 Geo-Caches hidden about in it. They thought it was a good choice as there were different types of cache's there, some in a forest section, some in an urban setting, they said it would be a great way to see what it's all about. Once we met up we started the hunt, first thing you do is turn on your smartphone and find out where the closest one is, the GPS will get you to the immediate area, but if it's a Micro(sized)-cache you could be standing on-top of it and have no idea.

To help you find the cache you can read the description on the website (or your phone) to get an idea of what you are looking for. The first cache we found was tied to a miniature turtle with fishing line. It took a little while to hunt it down, and I guess I had beginners luck because even being with two very experienced veterans, I was the one to find it! And I got to be the first person to sign the secret log. Some caches are not mere coordinates but puzzles that need to be solved too. There are many strategies for finding them, and when people discover one they can log it online in, but more importantly they will sign their name in the log book that comes with it.

How to Start Geocaching: if you want to give it a try you can first start out by going to the guide section of Geocaching.com you can sign up for an account and the only thing it will cost you is your email address. There are free versions of the app to put on your smartphone, and when you go out hunting all you'll need is a pen!

¹/²From Geocaching.com

Once you start looking for caches you'll never see the world the same way. You'll walk by old urban caches that you found and think "there is a cache in there!" or you'll see a place that will be perfect to hide one. This is a great hobby for a traveller as Geocaches are worldwide and you can incorporate caching into your travels. My favourite part is the new areas I discover because of caching - even in my own city.

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This little thing called Geocaching