Geocaching for Health and Wellness
Oh the joys I could write about geocaching! Not sure I should let the secret out and let the Muggles in on what we do, but I'm going to do it anyway!
If you follow me on Instagram then you know I've already exposed to the world that I love to geocache. But I guess the question is what is geocaching? For those of you who don't know that's what this is for, so read on!
Geocaching is like a worldwide treasure hunt that is both urban and in the middle of the woods. It involves using GPS coordinates to find hidden camouflaged pill bottles, fake rocks, interesting field puzzles, or just really cool locations. You get to experience sometimes just walking through the woods to find it. Sometimes it's tucked up in a street lamp and you have to look like you're not making a drug deal. Sometimes it involves solving a puzzle before you can actually find the true coordinates. Sometimes it involves finding one box to get a number to solve a puzzle, to find another box, to get a number to solve a puzzle, and so on and so forth until you find the final one.
Can you spot both geocaches?
Geocaching has different difficulties some of them are really easy and you could get on your drive home from work. Others either require you to scale some pretty cool terrain or to solve some tough puzzles. Either way geocaching is truly for pretty much any one of all ages.
And the accessibility with geocaching in terms of being able to join into it and being part of an amazing community makes this an even better activity. Most geocaches will state if they are accessible by car or wheelchair. Most will state the difficulty of the hike required if one is needed! And if it is up high, most will tell you too bring a friend! The text clues for caches can also be translated into different languages!
I feel like I need to highlight the community! While I definitely haven't dipped my toes into all of the events and things going on, it's a great way to get outside and meet new people. Throughout the year there are events ranging from sit down diner chats to the geocaching film festival or the CITO (Cache in, Trash Out) events that are about cleaning up the environment at the same time.
Plus there's something that brings you together as a community when you are searching all over the place and trying not to look creepy. You need to be discreet when you are trying to find something in a populated area 'cause it can look kind of creepy what you're doing. So it's always fun when you're trying to find one and someone else comes along and then they can help you find it together!
The outdoor aspect of it though is why I decided to write this post here, because I'd be remiss if I didn't link blog posts to the health and wellness. So I love to go outside and there's a lot of other people who do, but some people can find it boring. Not everyone is as intrigued or fascinated by looking at trees and berries and birds and fun scenic views. So whether you are or you aren't intrigued by nature, adding geocaching as an element of a treasure hunt is a great way to get outside, get the steps in, be one with nature but get your exercise - which I think is really neat! I have recommended this to patients when I can see they want to go outside and but you don't really have fun walking. Like cool, here is geocaching! Download the app go find a cache see how you like it!
So if you've never been geocaching before and you have no idea what you're doing don't worry about it here is what you need to do:
Download the geocaching app or another related app geocaching app OR check it out online, create an account and get yourself a GPS
Grab a pen (because you will need to sign the log book), some shoes and head out to find the geocache nearest to you!
If you enjoyed it consider joining a local event or paying for premium access
Get your friends and family involved and happy caching!
I hope that this makes geocaching as clear as mud to you but that you can appreciate the health and wellness aspect of this hobby! Here is the geocaching website to help explain things more and maybe get you interested!
https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2018/03/what-is-geocaching/
I hope to see you out there caching!
