Geocaching. It’s like a higher-tech version of Hide and Seek. It gets you outdoors; it gets you mobile; and for kids they still get to play with their technology while doing something you could ACTUALLY do with a compass and map! So, when I approached Ray about going Geocaching he was thrilled.

We set out for a Geocache only 2 miles from our home. I had previously been here and could not locate the cache, but I had hopes that with my side kick, we would secure a smiley (Geocaching term for when you find the cache).

This past Saturday we drove to roughly 10 different caches, with most being a smiley face. When Ray’s app finally finished downloading (his internet was metered because he exhausted all of his internet due to our home router acting up), we caught him up to speed on his finds and I taught him the appropriate way to thank someone for hiding a cache. We made the hour long trip west towards Raleigh so that we could drop off his first Trackable he found (Helium the Alien) and caught a movie, and then set off for a couple more caches on our way home.

What blew my mind – when we got home, somehow he convinced his mother to take him BACK out geocaching some more!

On Sunday, after church and after my run, Ray wanted to go out yet again. We found a couple of “Park and Grab” geocaches as my legs were toast from exercising. It was very warm out, so we kept it short.

At this point, Ray wants to get the premium membership to Geocaching’s app, but he’s got to prove to me on more than one weekend that this is something he wants to keep doing. Our next project will be to create a Go-Bag for him, full of writing utensils, replacement logs, replacement cache containers, and tools to aid in the hunt. Oh, and we want to add a Trackable to the back of the “CampWithDad-mobile”

If you haven’t tried Geocaching, get out there and give it a shot! The app is free and it is very easy to use. Setup is as simple as an email address, username, and password followed by an email address validation. Premium membership offers increased filtering on Cache’s, as well as a few other perks.

So, with all that said, if you do Geocache or you join, please send us a friend request! We’d love to connect. You can find us on Geocaching’s site as “CampWithDad” and “CampWithRay”.

Have you Geocached? Leave us a comment!