Local mom Jackie Vest is giving us everything we need to know to geocache in Greenville! For more ideas of things to do outside in Greenville see our list.
Unbeknownst to many people, at any given moment there could be hundreds of small treasure chests hidden in public places around you – just waiting for you to find them! This worldwide game is called geocaching, it’s a blast to do with your kids, you can play nearly anywhere, and the best part is it’s free. Searching for these ‘caches’ can take you from your favorite trails, to your most frequented parks, to the places you have passed a hundred times on Main Street, locating hidden objects you never knew were there! Greenville’s downtown area is home to over twenty-five caches, the Swamp Rabbit Trail has a couple dozen, and Paris Mountain is home to an infamous Bucket of Toys.
What exactly is a Cache?
Caches are containers ranging in size from a tiny thimble to a paint bucket and everything in between. There are millions hidden worldwide! They might be a coffee can hidden in a tree hole, a medicine jar under a rock, or a magnetic container (such as a hide-a-key) fastened to everyday objects like handrails, bridges, benches, signs, stuck to landmarks, and the list goes on and on. Each cache has been logged into a system with its exact GPS coordinates, a unique name, a description of its size, and perhaps a clue or two if you’re lucky.
What’s inside?
Caches almost always contain a log book inside which you should sign upon finding. Larger caches may contain small cheap toys (think an army man or random beads), coins, or nature finds like acorns or interesting rocks. Occasionally you may be lucky enough to find a ‘Trackable!’
What is a Trackable?
Any object fastened with a GPS tracker. You may have a task to complete if you decide to take the Trackable. On our first hunt, my kids found a Trackable; it was a toy fixed with a tracker and a note. The note explained that the car was in a race! It had been placed in a geocache in Florida along with two other cars at the same time. The task was to take the car and place it into another geocache as far west as possible. The family which set the cars in motion was tracking them online to see which car would make it across the U.S. to the coast of California first. You could take down the code yourself and watch the car you ‘helped’ as it continued to make its way across the states. HOW COOL WAS THAT!? From that day on, my kids were hooked.
What to bring?
Bring a pen to sign the log. If you are planning on collecting any items from a cache, you must go prepared to leave something behind. The general rule is take one, leave one. So have fun with your kids picking out small items from home before you head out. Research the size of the caches you will be locating ahead of time; if the cache is tiny, there will not be anything to collect. If it is medium/large, you can generally expect to take something and leave something. Unfortunately, not all seekers follow the rules! Prepare your kids in advance by letting them know there may be nothing to take, or the things may be undesirable. We like to leave things if size permits (even if we haven’t taken something) because it makes the finding fun.
How do I get started?
The easiest way to geocache is to use an App. Some may be free, but the paid versions will be worth your while. We like a $5.00 App called Cashly. It will show you all the caches around you, along with details, photos, and logs from people who have recently found it, and it will turn into a compass which guides you to within about 20 yards of the cache. You can pay more for hints, but we haven’t found this necessary. I do not recommend geocaching with small kids without using a good App. Put on the compass, hand it to your tot, and let them guide you to the cache – simple! Then roll up your sleeves and search.
Tips
-Each cache is different in terms of difficulty. Some are nearly in plain sight and some are nearly too difficult to find. Check the ratings before you head out.
-Read the past logs on the Apps before you hunt. You may find that the cache has very recently been “Muggled” i.e. stolen by a non-game playing person. You need to know this!
-You must return the container to the exact same spot you found it.
-Look high, low, under, behind, get creative! The Apps will get you close, but it’s up to you to seek the treasure. They can also be off. Rely more upon the clues (like the name of the cache) than the precise point the phone GPS takes you. Use your detective skills and common sense over, “But it says it’s right HERE?” It is never exactly where the App takes us, instead it’s close.
-Caching in the city is generally MORE difficult than caching in the park or woods. It is much easier to hide an object from “Muggles” in the woods than the city. Things downtown are more of a puzzle, and often small.
-Expect to miss sometimes. Prepare your kids for the chance of not finding it, or the toys being sad, or the log missing, etc. These things do happen! We rarely find every single cache we set out to.
-If the geocaching goes south, there’s always ice cream!
In Greenville, we have found several along Main Street, the Reedy River, and all of them at Paris Mountain.
Happy treasure seeking, arr!!
Jackie Vest is a writer and at-home-mom of two energetic little boys. She enjoys adventuring around the beautiful Upstate, the hilarity of kiddo-raising, outdoor fitness with friends, and her Favorite 5 C’s: cooking, crafting, camping, coffee, and chocolate. You can connect with her via her blog at: JackieVest.com.
Thanks for the article…I’d love to try this with my 5 year old!
This sounds like a lot of fun!! I am definitely interested. My sons love hunting rocks, so I know they will love this too.