Florida Geocaching: Your Guide to Geocaching in Florida
Geocaching Brings Grandparents and Grandkids Together to Solve Mysteries
Florida geocaching can be a thrilling and informative way to see this state full of coasts, orange groves, the everglades, and an ever increasing number of our grandparents. So don’t let your little whippersnappers run wild down there, with their fancy gadgets, because they knew how to use a map and compass back in their day. Actually, contrary to popular belief, Florida is a young state demographically. It just happens to also be replete with venerated retirees taking advantage of the warm, sunny weather all year long. We will all be joining them figuratively at some point, so lest you want some bad karma later, show some respect now. A lot of those good, elderly folks like the mystery-solving skills (just like my Nana never missed a Barnaby Jones episode) that are inherent in geocaching. So this activity can help bridge the gap between them and their grandkids when they do it together.
For more on the riddle-solving abilities one needs to successfully locate a geocache stash, it would really help to first read about how they’re made. Reading will Making a Geocache Puzzle More Difficult to Find will clue you in to what that’s all about. Essentially, there are two factors that make a geocache site more challenging. The first is physical, meaning distance and terrain. The second entails the mental aspect of figuring something out in order to convert it to a set of coordinates that leads you ultimately to the container that has what you’re looking for.
The Best Resources to Plan your Florida Geocaching Adventures
The wide variety of sites found all across the state, along with the strong, active geocaching community in Florida, all make for a terrific experience for enthusiasts and their GPS devices that guide them. Begin by finding out what’s available in Florida at the world’s foremost geocaching authority, Geocaching.com. That link I just sent to you has a few ways to help you see what caches are listed, hard or easy, anywhere in the state.
The first is to just search by the city or town from the drop down menu on that page if you know where you’re going, and they list the place. Second, click on ‘other search options’ and up pops a box where you can just type in the easy to find coordinates of where you’ll be (or want to go) and all available caches pop up. Otherwise just use their Google Maps features which easily lets you zoom in or out on areas. For any of those methods, once you see one that interests you, click on it to get all the specifics.
Florida also has a few of its own organizations and websites dedicated to providing the optimal experience for enthusiasts, as well as promoting safe and conscientious behavior on any public or private lands. Floridageocaching.com and Floridacaching.com are two good places to check in and see what the locals are up to. Since you’re supposed to replace everything you find in a cache with your own prizes, coins or trinkets, this activity really is all about kindness to strangers. No matter where you roam, treat the people and place the way you want to be treated in your own neck of the woods.
Geocaching is legal in Florida State Forests and for more information on that visit their Division of Forestry. Don’t forget all the outstanding kayaking experiences you can have in the inland water ways while searching for a cache or two as well. If you choose to leave the road behind for any of the options that involve trails or kayaking, you’ll want to read and learn How to Pack the Perfect Geocaching Backpack. That article provides you with some sage advice on keeping your expeditions safe and comfortable. Alright, so now you have all the resources at your finger tips to plan a trip depending upon who is going, and how challenging you want it to be.
