Fall is a great time for a family outing. Consider the growing activity of geocaching for some adventure and excitement. The activity of finding a hidden cache is rapidly catching on with people from all walks of life - families, singles and groups looking for a new adventure.

There are 473,064 caches worldwide ranging in size from micro to large caches, each containing a logbook and pencil to record your name and comments, many with coins or other treasures that are fun to find and replace with your own. The geocaching vocabulary includes terms like muggle, micro, geocoins, spoiler and swag - to name a few. For example, if a cache has been muggled, this means the cache has been stolen by a non-geocacher. (Click here for more definitions.) 

To get started, visit geocaching.com and surf this site to get information on what is involved, answers to frequently asked questions and links to the equipment used in geocaching. The site is used by geocachers around the world to log their caches and to download the coordinates for caches they want to find. Membership is free. Caches can be searched by postal code, coordinates, country, key word, and username or waypoint name. Check out the different types of caches like traditional, multi-cache, letterbox, mystery, puzzle caches and virtual caches to name a few.

According to Chris Edley all you need to start is access to the Internet, a computer to download the coordinates from the website, a GPS (global positioning system) and a PDA (personal data assistant) if you want to download the coordinates of the cache to a paperless system. Chris is a research coordinator by day and a geocacher by night and on the weekends. He and his wife Helen started an online company based in Victoria (landsharkz.ca) dedicated to supplying caches and promoting geocaching worldwide.

He got into geocaching following a conversation over dinner with a friend who then took him on his first cache hunt. Since then he has been geocaching from Victoria to St. John's and points around the world. Chris describes geocaching as a high-tech combination of treasure hunting and orienteering. It is becoming so popular that a new member is being added every 30 seconds. He sees the technology getting more robust as cellphones add GPS and GPS units add more advanced features.

David Papp has been geocaching for a number of years with his family. David owns a local company specializing in network troubleshooting and network security and says geocaching is a great way to enjoy the great outdoors and have some family fun. His passion has taken him to international locations - he even found one of the rare treasures that were hidden upon the release of the movie "Planet of the Apes" known as an "ape cache." David knows how kids get excited about exploring new places and has taken his expertise and passion for geocaching to Scouts Canada. He believes that the technology will improve, producing a GPS radius smaller than three metres, rendering maps faster and including more waypoints.

David has some tips for doing your first cache search:

1. Choose a cache with a low difficulty rating.
2. Choose a regular cache size rather than a micro size.
3. Borrow a GPS rather than invest in one.
4. Get a friend or experience geocacher to go out on your first trip.
5. Look at the hints so you get some insights on how people hide their cache.
6. Follow the steps so you are successful on your first geocache outing.

Another enthusiastic local geocacher is Dave Hughes, who by day is Chair of the NAIT Plumber program. Dave found out about geocaching while researching GPS units. He bought a GPS unit, took his daughter out to find their first cache and since then the family has been hooked. There are many social events where geocachers get together to compare notes and talk about their best caches and outings. He also advises new geocachers to ask someone with experience to join you on your first treasure hunt. Dave's experience has taken him geocaching in many countries and includes finding a cache in the Great Wall of China.

In the meantime, for information on Edmonton area geocaching, visit geocachingedmonton.com where you can join a discussion forum and find out about events.

Good luck and have fun geocaching in the great outdoors!

Start by exploring some of the following sites:
 

Information sites:

• Geocaching - The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site
• Geocaching Edmonton
• Geocaching FAQ
• BC Geocaching Association
• Landsharkz
• Geocacher University - Canada

GPS units:

• Garmin
• Magellan
• Lowrance

Geocaching supplies online:

• GPS Central
• GPS City