Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Carrie Hudson

Columnist

Many grow up reading about the adventures of treasure hunting, only ever dreaming of experiencing one for themselves. However, with the help of Geocaching, treasure hunting no longer exists only in fairy tales. Geocaching is a global game of object hide-and-seek, and since its formation in 2000, the hobby has rapidly grown in popularity.

The game’s purpose is to find objects hidden objects that are referred to as caches and it is similar to a game called Letterboxing that has roots in the 1850s.

Seekers use a global positioning system (GPS) on the Geocaching app to find the caches.

Caches typically consist of a few parts: a waterproof container, a piece of paper for seekers to document their find, and a trinket that serves as the “treasure”.

The trinkets are generally inexpensive; common ones are buttons, stickers or foreign currency.

With the app, registered users can create and hide their cache and log their findings. They can range from camouflaged water bottles to pencil boxes or empty medicine bottles.

Today, Geocaching is present in nearly every city and country worldwide, including Kentucky.

They are frequent caches hidden near my home in Jessamine County, including the corners of downtown Nicholasville buildings and Centennial Park in Wilmore.

However, many are hidden in more remote locations, encouraging participants to explore places within their town where they would only sometimes venture.

In Jessamine County, specifically, there are plenty of caches. There are hundreds scattered throughout the count and the GPS feature on the app uses the coordinates of the cache to pinpoint its exact location for seekers to find it.

To join in the fun, all you have to do is download the app. It is available on the Apple and Google stores for free.

Happy hunting!

Carrie Hudson is a Morehead State student studying media production and journalism. She is also currently an intern reporter for the Sun’s sister paper, The Jessamine Journal.