Who would of thought you’d be needing a treasure map for your Hawaii vacation?
The map’s a little more high-tech than those Crayola-happy ones you might have created as a kid, though. Synced with GPS coordinates and played on a mobile device, the map will lead you on a hunt for surprise treasures hidden throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Treasures that’ll be in the most unlikely places, too.
Whether at the top of a mountain or under a sprinkler spigot, this is simply the nature of “geocaching.” It’s a worldwide craze that started in 2000 and has since attracted more than five-million Geogerms. All that’s needed for this hide-and-seek-type game is any device with GPS capabilities and an adventure-seeking attitude!
The cache treasure chests can be as small as a ring box or as big as a barrel. You never know what lies within those caches. Usually, it’s something small, like toys or coins, and a logbook. The rules go like this: Find the cache, log down your name and date in the book and replace whatever you take with something else.
My first find was on the Kuliouou hiking trail. The cache was a little metal box with all sorts of trinkets. I think I snatched a piece of costume jewelry in exchange for the granola bar I had in my pack. There are more than 1,000 geocaches in the state, which is nothing compared to the almost 100,000 active caches found throughout the world. But hey, 1,000 is a really good start!
Ask any geogerm, and they’ll tell you it’s never really the trinkets and treasures that draws them into the game; it’s the journey to the cache that’s often the most rewarding part. It gets you outdoors and in parts of the world you’d probably never experience if it weren’t for this new-age treasure hunt. Happy Geocaching!
GEOCACHING • Interactive treasure hunt that’s popular worldwide • To get started, register for free at www.geocaching.com and download the app.
Photo Credit: Ariel Navares
