Saturday, July 28, 2018

Trackable geocaching tokens

CityBus pass and PathTags token
Bought a couple of all-day CityBus passes, and headed out for geocaching adventure. First stop, “Good Grief Sparky!,” which requires the user to visit a Santa Rosa landmark — where, using information we obtained on-site, we were able to obtain the coordinates we needed to locate a hidden cache.

Saturday, July 14, 2018

Geocaching

Beige-skinned hands holding a blue cylindrical container
Jonathan and I have embarked on an outdoor treasure-hunting adventure! Geocaching involves using GPS to locate a hidden object.

With so many phones now equipped with GPS, participation can be as simple as downloading a free app and creating an account.

Caches come in a range of sizes, and shapes. This one had an appealing “hand-crafted” look, sort of a paper-collage effect.

The caches generally include a paper “log” for finders to write their names, but some of them also carry little “prizes” and even trackable tokens. If you take a prize from the Geocache, it’s nice to leave something too, for the next finder who comes along.

Jonathan and I went around to some local thrift stores and assembled a “stash” of trinkets, less than $1 each. Later, we might also purchase tokens from the Geocaching store.

I especially like combining Geocache with a ride via public transit or a trip on-foot or by bicycling. Yesterday, we caught Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit from downtown Santa Rosa. We disembarked in Cotati, and then used our apps to look for nearby caches.