Day 375: Geo-Caching

          This was a fun one, one that I can't wait to try again soon. Geo-caching -which was first explained to me by my grandfather when he suggested it for my project years ago- is a lot like real life treasure hunting. Geo-cachers are a subculture of hobbyists that hide and seek trinkets and treasures all over the world. After doing a little bit of research, I found that geo-caching is a way bigger deal than I originally thought. I downloaded the official Geocaching app and looked at the GPS map that showed all the local caches. Turns out, that there are countless treasures hidden all over town, and one in particular was within walking distance of my apartment.
     The gang (Ryan, Stef, and myself) did not need much convincing for this challenge, seriously, who doesn't want to go on a nighttime treasure hunt? I wont go into too much detail, cause I made a short video of our adventure. But I will say that the sun went down quick and the GPS is only accurate to about 30 feet, so we were pretty sure that we'd be wandering around in the dark for quite some time. We were able to stay on a path for most of the trip, following the compass on my phone. But at about 700 feet out, my compass shifted and directed us straight in the middle of a tall grassy field. Snakes, mud, and bugs came to mind as we set off through the brush, but really it was only the mud that gave us any trouble.
     Take a look at the video, it's short, but it'll get you up to speed. We found the treasure, traded our trinkets with the artifact left in the cache (a repurposed vitamin bottle covered in camouflage duct tape) and wrote our names in the log. A simple, free challenge that got us outside and exploring. That's the kinda stuff I'd like to be doing more often!