Geocaching
The short answer, almost anywhere. Whether you visit the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower or the White House you can Geocache. Vatican City has geocaches. Geocaches are hidden in 191 different countries on all seven continents (even Antarctica). Some distant caches may be a bit difficult to get to though. I really don’t think we will be able to get to the one on the International Space Station (GC1BE91). We did, however, discover the TB on the Mars Perseverance Rover (TB5EFXK).
As I write this article my wife and I are preparing for a geocaching trip across the border. We plan to get a few caches in at least two states. At one time the prime reason for us crossing any borders, aside from it being a vacation, was shopping, but now that is parallel with Geocaching.
While travelling you can stop at one or more of the many events that may be happening in the area you plan to be in. Geocachers are literally one big family and all you have to do is enter the area of the event, sign the log sheet and turn and say hi to the first person there. You will immediately be immersed in conversation, no different than right here at home.
There are some events close to home that are easy to get to such as the annual Gilby Gone Wild event where the community literally more than doubles its population. It is in … Gilby, North Dakota. There are many others that are waiting for you to make plans to travel to all over the world.
You don’t need to wait for an event though to travel. Our trip south this week is merely to obtain regular caches such as the traditionals, mysteries, and maybe a letterbox or two. The bonus is that we will see more of the communities that we are used to traveling to by wandering around finding caches. Usually when we are mixing geocaching with shopping we end up finding shops that are normally out of the area we frequent and of course we come closer to the limit of “stuff” we are allowed to bring back without paying duty.
We must not forget the geocaches closer to home though. For each province there is a list of their ten oldest caches. These are always fun to find. The oldest geocache in Manitoba is in Killarney (GC21C) and of course they go from Newfoundland GCE1C) to BC (GC1DD). There is a challenge cache in Winnipeg which challenges you to get a cache for every month since the sport began. It is the Jasmer challenge (GC7ZQR4) and it is still possible to get a cache for every month. Some travel will be required for this.
Events happen all over Canada from the annual GeoWoodstock events in BC to the Maritime Mega Events in Nova Scotia which is where the oldest geocache in Canada (GCBBA) is. Closer to home there is an annual event at the Zoo, the Journey With A Friend Zoo Event (GCACXCR) coming up this fall as well as CITOs, E-waste event, ice cream events and others in Winnipeg. There are many other places to keep an eye on such as Morden, Brandon and especially Dauphin where one of the many legends of geocaching resides.
Watch our Facebook page as well as the website for events coming this winter regarding technology and general information. They could be training events or general discussion events regarding geocaching. Possible topics so far are using a cell phone without data to find Adventure Labs, how to get accurate coordinates when placing a cache, how to find regular caches without an active cell phone or GPS receiver and many others.
Watch for us on the trail, we’ll be watching for you.
Gary Brown is the President of the Manitoba Geocaching Association (MBGA) and can be reached at [email protected].
