Geocaching

Yes, treasure hunting is real. And you can join in at any age. With a smartphone and a sense of adventure you can discover a hidden trove — steps away from where you walk or drive everyday — this afternoon by geocaching. All around the world, more than 6 million people are participating in a massive quest to hide and find small treasures.

To begin, visit the official site. There you will find tons of information about locations, how GPS works and you can download the free Geocaching app. The program uses your phone to triangulate your position in relation to the hidden caches. Each cache has a profile, much like a treasure map, with degree of difficulty, terrain rating, a description and a hint. Follow the clues and you will find a container where you can, at the very least, leave your initials on the official scroll. Some have trinkets to take and encourage you to leave one for the next hunter. You can then mark the cache “found” on the app and leave a note for others.

Geocaching is a great way to explore sites that are off the beaten path during your travels. Often, the caches are hidden in historically significant places and as a way of bringing attention to otherwise unnoticed landmarks. While much of the content is crowd-sourced, there are geocaching tours that have been put together by the U.S. National Park Service, The Jim Henson Company and Hochkönig Region in Austria.

There are likely dozens of caches near your home. Get out there.