We recently attended our first geocaching GeoTour experience, an entirely new geocaching feature for us. Steve and I have been geocachers since 2005, and this fantastic sport is responsible for a great many of our very favorite discoveries throughout the world.
What is geocaching anyway?
Geocaching is a treasure-hunting game that originated in the United States in 2000 and is now worldwide. Geocaching is a game of exploration, puzzles, and outdoor adventure. It’s a treasure hunt, a physical scavenger hunt, and a way to explore the real world.
There are different geocaches and caches; however, the most common geocaches are GPS-enabled containers hidden at random locations. The geocaches almost always provide historical or cultural information that we would otherwise never know about in that particular location.
When the player finds a cache, the player (geocacher) logs their name and the date they found it on the website. Geocachers usually look for something specific and are rewarded with a small prize for their efforts.
See my earlier post, Geocaching, the world’s most giant treasure-hunting game.
What is a GeoTour?
A GeoTour is a custom collection of geocaches designated as a GeoTour and designed to introduce geocachers to new locations and enhance tourism. Each geocache provides interesting facts about the tour’s area. The caches are sometimes historical or cultural significance to their site.
A GeoTour is especially attractive because it combines geocaching and destination travel. Usually, participants receive an award at the end of the tour after finding a specific number of the GeoTour caches. These rewards are typically a geocoin or similar item.
Visitors bureaus, chambers of commerce, even state parks recognize GeoTours as an excellent way to promote tourism and works with geocaching.com to sponsor and promote them.
Why would you want to participate in a GeoTour?
• GeoTours are fun for the entire family
• It is a great way to learn the stories and history of a community
• A GeoTour can take all day to complete or a few hours, depending on how long it takes you to find all the geocaches you choose to find
• You often receive GeoTour points when you have a meal at designated restaurants, hotels, or retail businesses participating in the GeoTour.
How can you participate in a GeoTour?
You can choose a GeoTour to participate in at the geocaching.com app or website. The website has a listing of featured GeoTours and an expandable map of all GeoTours where you can pinpoint one in whichever part of the world interests you.
Each GeoTour will have a “Passport” to either download or pick up at the launch event that states the complete rules. A list of all the geocaches included in the tour is also available. The tricky part will be making a GeoTour selection from the many to choose from.
GeoTour Event
We attended our first ever GeoTour event recently, and it was a terrific experience. Fifty to sixty geocachers met at The French Soirée event center in Terrell, Texas, to launch its Discover Terrell Texas GeoTour.
The Terrell GeoTour Launch/Community Celebration Event was hosted by the drives and teamoxford cache teams. It also honored my recently deceased brother, Keith (klce), a geocacher extraordinaire.
At least fifty geocachers met in an event center in downtown Terrell. We enjoyed breakfast, a get-acquainted bingo game, door prizes, great conversation, and a welcome from Terrell city officials, including the Mayor. Most of the attendees were long-time friends and geocachers.
Each participant received Passport forms to record the finds and record any points earned according to Terrell’s GeoTour rules. The caches became publicized on the geocaching.com website during the event, and we were then free to head out in town and hunt them down.
Most participants found at least 10 of the 15 caches and collected the 15 or more points required to earn a special geocoin that day. Points could be earned by spending $25 in retail shops, restaurants, or an overnight hotel stay in Terrell.
Many found all 15 of the caches included in this GeoTour which earned a virtual reward.
Conclusion: GeoTour geocaching events are the perfect way to learn about the history and the story of towns you visit on your road trip while spending the day outdoors, discovering places you may have never known existed before. Traveling by RV is a great way to participate in these GeoTours.
These GeoTours have added a new fun attraction for us and we plan to make more than one of these GeoTours the focus of our RV travels now. It is the perfect way to see a new destination. Our e-bikes will certainly come in handy for GeoTours, I believe.
We also have our eye on the GeoTour in Ponta delgada, Azores, Portugal. The Azores is one of our very favorite places. A vacation planned around the GeoTour there sounds like the best trip to me!
Geocache supplies
Whether participating in a GeoTour or simply enjoying a day of geocaching, a few necessary and straightforward supplies are required. You must really have only items 1 and 2, but the others are good suggestions to carry with you also.
- Pencil/pen and notepad or paper. Sometimes you need to take down some notes or may need to supplement an already filled logbook in a cache.
- A GPS. We have used a handheld GPS in years past, but we have found that our phones work just fine. We rely strictly on our phones and the geocaching.com app.
- It is helpful to have a compass, but the compass in the geocaching.com app or a compass app on our phone works perfectly fine.
- A camera is a good thing to have to document your finds and all the beautiful scenery you will see. Again, a smart cell phone is all you need.
- It is also a good idea to have a phone charger handy. It’s no fun if your phone dies just before you find the cache!
- Some small trinket items to trade for trinkets you find in the caches. If you take a SWAG item (something we all get) out of a cache, you are expected to replace it with a trinket of your own.
- Extra Ziploc bags for logs in cache containers that might be damp.
- Depending on when and where you are caching, you may need sunscreen or bug spray.
The more time you spend geocaching, you will discover specialty tools and items you want to have available, just in case you need them. Grabber tools, string, and rope are just a few “special” tools you might find a need for eventually.
If you enjoy the outdoors, traveling, history, puzzles, treasures, discovering new places, and relaxed fun, I recommend giving this geocaching thing a try, especially the GeoTours. It is fun and great adventuring.
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