Geocaching is Great Family Fun! Are you a Muggle?

It doesn't have to be the most expensive one, but there are some features to look for that make your geocaching adventures easier and more fun. Some cell phones have gps in them and that will work fine, or you can buy a cheap one for around $100.

There are many different kinds of GPS devices. Some are installed in the dashboard of your car and these can get you to the general area of a cache. In order to have the device take you close to the exact location of an offroad cache, you will need to use a hand held or portable GPS device with a battery that can hold a charge for a few hours. We use a Garmin Nuvi 650. We chose that one for it's ease of use and opted for this one rather than the more expensive 660 because we didn't need to use this unit as a cell phone. It has extra memory in it to use for playing audio books in the car, which we like on long trips.

Basically all you need is a tracker that can lead you to a set of map coordinates. Caches are identified by their latitude and longitude.

Suppose you plan a family vacation at the beach. If you have more than a day, you might want to explore the area to see some sites. This can be so much fun and educational for the children. In our experience every trip was much richer when we had children with us... it's a chance to see the world fresh again in their eyes. Children love learning how to read maps and finding hidden objects. They might even be better at working the gps than Mom and Dad.

You can visit geocaching.com and log into your account to find all the registered hidden caches in any area you will be visiting, or all along the road to get to any destination.

This high tech adventure activity has caught on worldwide; so chances are very good that some caches will be hidden near where ever you will be traveling.

Those who hide caches take pride in helping you also see some of the nicest public places in their area. You will be taken to parks and scenic overlooks...out of the way local places you might never have otherwise visited. Many of the cache descriptions at geocaching.com include a historic overview of the area where the cache is hidden. Here in Maryland, one cache keeper has placed a cache for every county seat in our state with a history of the place; so it's a history lesson and a challenge to find all thee caches in the series. Some themed caches add an element intrigue to the adventure.

Geocaching is meant to be a clean "G" rated experience. The majority of cache keepers are very careful to only place "safe" material in their cache. The problem comes when irresponsible malicious people visit the cache and mess it up.

For this reason, we recommend that families have a designated cache opener who is equipped with protective gloves to handle the box. It's a good idea to carry some cleanup supplies in any case. Some caches are hidden in gloppy wet rotted wood and after a rain the outside of the box can be pretty messy.

Most geocachers are responsible visitors to where ever they seek treasure. One of the greatest treasures is the beautiful outdoors and nothing ruins a pretty place faster than carelessly discarded trash. This is why a movement has been initiated nicknamed CITO, to help geocaching have a reputation to have minimal impact on the environment by leaving places better than they are found.

This is another reason to have some exam gloves and a couple of trash bags in your geocaching kit bag.

As a retired letter carrier wearing exam gloves every day for work, I prefer size medium nitrile gloves. Most men will probably want size large or extra large. Children and small framed women will wear the small gloves. Don't be afraid to get a 100 glove (50 pair) box as you will find many other uses for them.

Sunday we found our first nano container. That was like looking for a vitamin pill! I'm not really sure if it's a "nano" or a "micro" What's shown in the picture is the opened container and log.

The one we found was a magnetized capsule stuck in between two signs marking the memorial site we were enjoying. The capsule halves screwed apart to reveal the log, which required dexterity to remove and tiny writing to enter our find. We really hope they don't come any smaller than that one.

So far we have encountered a plastic snap lock container, a magnetic key hide box and this tiny nano capsule. It seems there are all kinds of different geocache containers (really limited only by imagination). I'm looking forward to finding my first 30 cal. ammo can. That is supposed to be the best kind of container recommended by other cachers and it will hold a lot more swag.

Today I was learning about locationless caches. Those finds are logged with a photo of your GPS device posted on a web site.