Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Geocaching

Today, the University of Florida's student newspaper, the Independent Florida Alligator ran a story about a UF student that was involved in Geocaching as a hobby. Geocaching being searching for hidden objects, lists and treasures. Rather than using Pirate methods of looking for booty with crusty maps, modern Geocachers use hand help GPS systems to guide them on their journey. 

Why do these people do this? Not because it is pointless. They do it as an impetus for getting outside to explore new places.  To test their ability to navigate and to find hidden objects. Or as a challenge to see who can race to an object the fastest. 

Before reading this, I had heard of geocaching before, but had never given it a second thought. It certainly is not a flashy hobby, and chicks certainly will not dig it. But most girls have crappy hobbies anyway... scrap booking, cooking, cleaning, giving birth to children, etc. 

Anyway, I decided that Geocaching was an activity that I might want to try out. My brother-in-law owns a handheld GPS, and I am going to borrow it and explore this great earth one latitude at a time. In my research, I discovered http://www.geocaching.com/ which allows users to search for caches in their local area, or anywhere they may be going. I hope to have my inaugural attempt this weekend, and will keep everyone a-Breast of my explorations.