A New Hobby

One of the features of the iPhone is that it acts as a GPS receiver.  I've been using this feature since I got mine to geotag photos, search for nearby restaurants or stores, and get driving directions.  But when I got some extra time with my daughter this past weekend, I realized there was another use I could put it to: geocaching.

Geocaching is a modern version of the good, old-fashioned treasure hunt.  You get the coordinates and description of a cache from the website, then set off with a GPS unit to go locate it.  Some caches containe just a log book to sign, others have small treasures to trade.  All of them are well hidden, and a great deal of fun to seek.

Knowing we'd have some time Sunday afternoon, I downloaded the geocaching app to my iPhone and made a list of several nearby caches to hunt.  Then Brianna and I headed down to Lake Hefner west of Stars and Stripes park to find the first one.  We had a couple of false starts as I tried to find a good place to park and start out on the trail, but we eventually took to the shoreline and walked along, checking our position as we went.  Before too long, we had arrived at what had to be the right spot, and I poked into the brush to see what I could find.  Sure enough, there was the cache, and Brianna got really excited when I called her over to see it.  I signed the logbook for both of us, and showed her the kinds of little treasures people trade.  She looked up at me with eyes wide and asked, "Can we find another one?"

Clearly she was hooked.  And so was I.

We did hit another one up by Northpark Mall, and went out to Lake Hefner Park to try for a third, but there were too many people around to conduct a proper search.  We'll run back out for that one another time.  We both had a blast hunting away, and I've made a long list of local caches for us to seek.

Technorati Tags: Family geocaching