Discrete Ideas

About two years ago, I got interested in Geocaching1. I call it “organized littering”. Essentially, people have taken the time to hide caches (usually tupperware containers full of bric-a-brac) all over the world. They then log the lat/long coordinates of their stash, and enter them along with a description on the GeoCaching site2. The rest of us use that site to find caches near where we’ll be, and off we go using our portable GPS units to find these little pockets of fun all over the world.

Our family was vacationing in the Pocono Mountains when we starting ‘caching. I had researched several caches in the area, so one day my father, my wife, my son, and I all headed out into the wilderness. We spent all day traipsing around and seriously enjoyed ourselves getting dirty. The locations we found were a little remote and, since it was summer, the foliage was dense enough to block the view of much. When I decided to write about it, I got to thinking how cool it would be to look for caches in exotic locations. So here they are, some of the coolest locations in the Northern Hemisphere to go looking for litter.

Now, I know you’re just going to run out and fly to all these great places just to go find the closest cache, right? Ok, maybe not, but I hope I peaked your interest in Geocaching, it’s a great way to learn about global coordinate systems and geography. The next time you have a free Saturday afternoon or want a reason to take a hike, give it a try.

The Count

1. Geocaching on Wikipedia
2. GeoCaching site