Geocaching: "Go Hunt for Buried Treasures."

“Go jump in the lake,” my dad might have told my sister and me, at 14 and 11, if we looked bored on a summer afternoon.

Fortunately, we lived a mile from a lake.

“Go make yourself useful,” he might say if the lake idea fell on deaf ears. This was a step away from a light-hearted activity suggestion and a step closer to a new list of chores.

“Go play in traffic,” he’d say if we were really on his nerves. We knew he was joking; he gave these directives with a glint in his eye, a raise of one brow, and the corner of his mouth upturned. But we also knew it was time to get off our backsides and use our brains and bodies constructively.

My, how times have changed since dad had teenagers.

Now that I have a teenager and two ‘tweens, a directive my children hear when they look bored involves a few minutes on the Internet, a significant amount of exploration, a short distance traveled, some recyclable packages, a pen, paper and a fair amount of time deciphering and creating puns.

“Go hunt for buried treasures,” I might say, and the kids jump at the chance. These days, treasure hunting yields a much higher success rate than when children searched for unknown ancient artifacts in the woods three decades ago.

There are, after all, thousands of buried treasures all across the Tri-Valley.

As part of Geocaching, the treasures (map here) are under bushes, attached to fences, wedged into holes in the ground, hung from the posts inside bus stops, and twisted to the branches of hedges in public parks. Some require climbing; others require treacherous trekking; many are simply fun.

Started in 2000, Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices.

Participants navigate specific sets of GPS coordinates and attempt to find geocaches (camouflaged containers) hidden at a specific locations. Globally, 1.5 million caches are waiting to be found by more than 5 million active geocachers.

Geocaching is, simply put, a clever way to reuse items that would otherwise end up in landfill – while teaching coding skills and building a sort of pen-pal network with other geocachers.

Fortunately, for families like mine who don’t own GPS devices, many Geocaches are hidden in user-friendly locations and include detailed descriptions and clever puns for names.

Most excursions bring us to local parks or public spaces. But other excursions this summer included a several-hours trip to Lake Del Valle in Livermore, where the kids unearthed some punny geocaches. One, called “Do Move a Muscle,” played on the language used in “Don’t move a Mussel” warnings posted at the lake.

My son hid a geocache at a Pleasanton park with his best buddy, using his friend’s family’s portable GPS device. Their geocache, called “Trump Me,” has garnered a fun log of visitors with messages online in what we call “Geocache text-speak.”

The FTF (First to Find) was rewarded with 50 cents.

Later, another cacher logged online, “I walked past here last week without stopping to look, so I knew the lay of the land. That gave me several ideas to explore this morning, so I had to rule them all out before I could find the cache. Nothing like what I was expecting. Good job! TNLNSL. TFTC. I think I understand the hint, but it's a very unusual request.”

This log left my son and his friend feeling pretty clever.

[Geocaching text-speak translation from this log TNLNSL. TFTC: Took Nothing Left Nothing Signed Log. Thanks For The Cache].

Another who found the cache commented online with this: “TFTC. A beautiful day with my son. Thanks for the fun and memories. We took the Yosemite magnet and left a Valley View Walks button. John 3:16.”

Cool. My son was rewarded with scripture for reusing trash to create a camouflaged buried treasure. Very cool.

A few bits of advice (please add more):

• Geocaching is great, low-cost fun for families. Check out the details for rules and tips.
• You don’t need to take anything or leave anything when you find a cache; but doing so adds to the experience (especially when you find a Travel Bug - see pictures).
• Monitor kids’ online IDs as well as their descriptions of caches. Of course, never allow a child to share personal information.
• All geocachers we’ve encountered online or through a cache are good-spirited and well-meaning. But remember that these encounters are with people you probably don’t know. Remind kids that your household’s rules for safety, transparency, communication with others, online safety and excursions outside the home apply to geocaching activities.
• Caching is Catching: Participate! I’ve spent many hours late at night this summer finishing work I’d normally do during business hours because I took time off to hang out with the kids while geocaching. But the late nights working were worth the positive energy gained from exploring with the kids.