Shauna McKnight | Arts&Life Co-Editor
Geocaching is the 21st century version of a scavenger hunt and anyone with a GPS can try to find these hidden capsules. In order to play, the person must get coordinates of a geocache and use their GPS to get close enough to find it. Once the cache is discovered, the person must sign the log, which keeps track of everyone who has found that cache, and take the item inside, leaving another in its place. The geochaches come in any size, ranging from the size of a film canister to an empty gallon of milk. The items inside also vary.
The first time I went geocaching was around two weeks ago. The conditions were less than ideal; it was 50 degrees outside with unbearable 35 mph winds. In order to locate caches, I downloaded an app on my iPhone. Once it was installed, I was ready to find some geocaches.
The first place I went was Buena Vista University’s (BVU) campus. My phone supposedly got me within three yards of the capsule, but after searching for 15 minutes, I didn’t find anything. 
I wasn’t ready to give up, however. I chose another geocache in Sunset Park, only a few blocks from campus, and I drove over. I looked all over the park. I looked in the bushes, on the rocky banks of Storm Lake, underneath rocks, near statues, etc. I spent another 40 minutes looking, but still could not find any geocaches. Still not wanting to give up, I kept looking at three more locations, but could not find anything.
That day I gave up on geocaching. I blamed it on the cold weather and allergies, but I was pretty discouraged that my adventure had turned into such a failure. It wasn’t until a week later after the wind died down and the weather heated up that I found anything. I was playing disc golf and decided to do some spontaneous geocaching. I checked the app to see if there were any locations nearby and discovered there was one on the disc golf course.
I followed the GPS over to the location and began searching the area. I wasn’t very hopeful after my last experience, but I decided to look anyway. The park didn’t have very many places to hide things so I found it fairly quickly. It was well hidden and only five yards away from where the app said it would be. It was a small container that contained a logbook, a button, an army pin, and a cigarette. I contributed a dollar into the small collection and returned it to its original spot.
It was an exciting, unplanned adventure. Next summer I absolutely plan on going on more geocache hunts. It was an easy, free activity designed to get people off the couch and exploring their community in a new way. I would recommend this activity to everyone.
Graphics courtesy of Geocashing Intro
