Happy Geocaching!

And also learn about Letterboxing

Tohono Chul Park enters the GPS age with the addition of our first geocache.

What is Geocaching?  It’s an adventure game for GPS users (GPS stands for global positioning system which allows a user to locate any spot on the earth given latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates). The word comes from geo for geography and caching for the process of hiding a cache. Taking part in a cache hunt takes advantage of the features and capabilities of a GPS unit, while involving participants in a search for hidden “treasure.” There are almost 270,000 caches hidden in 221 countries; locations are posted on the internet for GPS users.

You may think that once you have the coordinates, you already know where the geocache is hidden, but it’s not as easy as it seems. It’s one thing to see where a cache is hidden; it’s a different story to actually get there, and once there, to find the cache which is usually well concealed from the casual observer.

There are many different kinds of caches, some with exchange items, some with log books large enough to write notes, and some, like the one at Tohono Chul Park , is so small there is only room in the log for a name and date (entries from visitors are shared on the Geocaching website).

For those in the know, our waypoint is GCVWA4. If you are new to the sport, visit the website at www.geocaching.com, and find out how to get started! Happy Geocaching!

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