Cast Iron Guy
  • Latest Posts
  • Greatest Posts
  • Daily
  • About Me
  • Pics, Etc.
by bardo 🍁
2021-01-08
tech & kit

Looking for Treasure with Help from a Satellite

Looking for Treasure with Help from a Satellite
2021-01-08
tech & kit

Does anyone geocache anymore?

More than a decade ago I bought myself a little handheld GPS unit. The Garmin took a pair of AA batteries, warmed up for at least five minutes, and hung on a little lanyard. I would connect it to the computer after downloading a small selection of local cache coordinates, send them into the little device, and then trek out into the local river valley to hunt down the hidden containers.

The game required that I bring along some trinkets to trade, and a pencil to record my username. If after pinning down the location tracked to by my GPS I was able to find the box or capsule or plastic container hidden under a rock or between some cleverly placed natural camouflage, it was important to record that I had found it.

Eventually I ditched the GPS for a geocaching app on my phone. Convenient, yes, though it took some of the fun out of preparing to go out on a treasure-hunting adventure when I could just spontaneously load up the app and see if something happened to be nearby.

Then ultimately I got serious about distance running, traded my lanyard GPS for a wrist-watch version and couldn’t be bothered slow down to hunt for caches anymore.

Yet today I found myself thinking about this global hide-and-seek game.

Are people still fascinated by hiding mysterious containers in their local wilderness for others to find?

Do people feel safe during a pandemic opening boxes and canisters left in the woods by strangers?

Is there still a place for simple treasure hunting in an era of Pokémon-type GPS games that reward you a hundred times a day, rather than just once or twice?

I’m sure I’ve got my old Garmin in a drawer somewhere. And probably even some AA batteries. Maybe I should play again.

geocaching GPS gadgets hide-and-seek things I used to really be into treasure hunting

Previous articleBook: Campfire CuisineNext article Saturday Chocolate Chip Pancakes

about

It’s about more than just food.

It’s about a mindset and a perspective on living a full, active and interesting life.

The Cast Iron Guy blog heated up in January 2021 as a journal of uncomplicated things, life lived, and a mindset that reflects the philosophical practicality of well-seasoned cast iron frying pan: enduring, simple, down-to-earth & extremely useful.

I write regularly from here in the Canadian Prairies about things that interest me, including the artistic inspiration I get outdoors, travel, gear, growing and cooking food, fire craft, suburban and nature trails, running, and (of course) the clever and curious ways I find to use my many pieces of cast iron cookware.

On This Day

  • Suburban Ski Day
    2023-01-08
  • Looking for Treasure with Help from a Satellite
    2021-01-08

tagged

backpacking backyard adventures baking blogging bread campfire cast iron love cast iron seasoning cooking cooking with fire cooking with gas december-ish doing it daily garden lists of things local wilderness meta monday mountains pandemic fallout photographer poem questions and answers race report recipe reseasoning river valley running solo running spring running together running trail running training running winter sourdough bread guy spring thaw suburban firecraft sunday runday the socials travel photo travel tuesday urban sketching video what a picture is worth why i blog winter weather wordy wednesday