- My name is Tom, this is The Enthusiasm Project,
and today, I'm gonna show you how to use
technology to go on a real world scavenger hunt.
So by the end of this video,
you'll be ready to go out into the world
and hunt for your very own geocaches
using your phone.
Geocaching is basically a massive global scavenger hunt
where you use GPS coordinates to find caches
that people have hidden everywhere.
Sometimes you have clues or specific locations
or there's puzzles and riddles you have to find to get them,
sometimes it's just sort of very simple
out in a kind of an obvious location.
Anywhere around the world, there are geocaches
hidden everywhere.
And you can find them using the geocache app.
So I'll link to the app down below and
the website so that you can find everything you need
to get started, but it's a really great,
totally free hobby.
And so the first step, all you need to do is
load up the geocache app on your phone.
Look nearby or in a location where you're going,
and see where you can find.
Personally, I like to look for caches
that have a lot of favorites,
you can tell by the little heart icon.
Because that probably means that they're
really fun, and interesting.
It's also a great idea when you find one
that you're interested in
to look at the activity and see
when the last time was that the cache was found.
Because if it hasn't been found in a really long time,
that might mean it's not there anymore.
So when you're looking for geocaches,
what you're looking for is really
any kind of small container,
sometimes they're really really tiny.
Sometimes people reuse old containers like
Altoids tins or anything like that.
The phone takes you to the general location,
people tag their coordinates,
they use GPS to find where it is.
But once you get there,
the caches aren't just like, lying on the ground.
They're usually hidden somewhere
or they're kind of near that location
and then you have to actually use your brain
and solve the problem which is really fun
because that means you get to engage in the environment,
you have to read a whole bunch of
signs, look around, kind of put pieces together
to figure out where something might be.
And of course, it's also a really good idea
to make sure nobody else is seeing you
take and leave the cache because
then they might get curious,
and if they're not part of geocaching
they can take it and ruin it for the rest of the community.
Another good point to mention is
when you're geocaching,
you're pretty much never gonna be asked to
do anything illegal or trespass,
they're all in public open places
sometimes just difficult to find,
but you shouldn't have to break into anything,
ruin anything, trespass anywhere,
break any rule.
So if you feel like you might need to
do those things to find a cache,
don't, because that's not at all what geocaching is about.
So now it's time to get out of here
and go into the world and do some real life
treasure hunting.
(adventurous surf music)
- Oh, wow, I'm in it?
60 feet.
It's that way.
- [Tom] 60 feet, mine said it was this way.
- 46 feet.
- We're at a point now where I think I have
found the cache.
I don't think Heather has.
- 25, 22,
20.
- There's no description or hints on this one
so it's called well water.
I was thinking well water
and then there's water,
but there's nothing.
Just a dead spider in there.
- [Heather] Can't open it.
This might not even be it though.
- No, but that's super suspicious.
Yeah, let's go find one that
we can actually open.
- My friend who lives in Boston told me about it.
She was like, it's such a strange concept
but just go and try to find one.
You'll understand what it is.
And so as soon as I signed up I went to go find one
right outside my parents' house
and it was like, this is so much fun!
- And no matter how well you think you know a spot,
if you find a geocache in that spot
it usually introduces you to something new
and a little bit different.
- It's very important that when you go geocaching,
you bring a pen,
because you gotta sign the log.
- We're not gonna show exactly where it is
'cause we don't wanna kill it for anyone
who's trying to find these things,
but they all look a little different.
This one is labeled as what,
small or extra small?
- Extra small I think,
but this is huge. - This is an
extra small, that's pretty dang big
for an extra small.
- This is the camo.
This is the actual cache.
Pop it open, and
inside we got the log.
And this is what you have to sign
to show everyone that you found it.
I feel like's a cool adventure.
You know, you never know what you're gonna expect,
and I love when the geocaches are
clever, cleverly hidden,
sometimes it's staring at you right in the face.
I mean, I can't really explain it
without giving it away.
But, it's always a surprise, it's fun.
(adventurous surf music)
Damn.
A lot of stuff in here.
- Another thing, too,
as you're geocaching and pulling stuff out of places,
bring hand sanitizer with you.
- [Heather] Oh my gosh you copied me,
I was so gonna do my four essentials.
- Unfortunately, not every story has a happy ending,
and so sometimes you can't find your caches.
We found one that has all these favorites,
and we couldn't find it,
we looked everywhere that kinda made sense.
And if you can't find the cache
or you think it's missing or you just can't find it,
you have to go on the app
and you log it as a DNF which is a Did Not Find.
And you get a really sad, depressing sad face
on your score.
But it also lets the people who planted it know
that you couldn't find it,
and then maybe they can go check it
or someone else can confirm
whether or not it's still there.
It's a real bummer though.
It's a real bummer.
(adventurous surf music)
On the way back to the car to leave in shame,
one of the firefighters who put this cache here
gave us a hint.
Didn't tell us what it was exactly,
where it was, but gave us kind of a hint.
So without giving too many details away,
this is what we found.
Here's everything that was in there.
It was definitely a lot different than
we thought it was gonna be but actually
a lot better.
So I hope that's a pretty good introduction
into what geocaching might look like
and to what the hobby is.
The ultimate idea behind geocaching
is that you get to explore an environment.
It's not just about going somewhere
and finding a little container.
It's about finding yourself in a location
and being able to kind of look around
and understand and appreciate and notice little things
about your environment and that others have noticed.
So check out the geocaching website and app
in the description below
and if you haven't seen Heather's channel,
be sure to check that out
so you can see her version of geocaching,
she's been doing it a lot longer than I have,
she's been all over the world geocaching,
she knows the ropes a lot better than I do,
I'm relatively new to the hobby.
But it's a whole lot of fun, so
ask me any questions you have in the comments below.
Let me know what you think,
if you haven't subscribed to this channel already,
make sure you do so so you get new videos and live streams
every single week,
and I will 'cache' you guys, next time!
I was originally gonna title this video,
Cache Me Outside,
but I decided not to.
How 'bout that.