In a nutshell
Grown ups (and kids, if you insist!) playing treasure hunt with a geeky bit of kit!

Tell me more!
This is a fun way to live out your treasure hunter fantasies as an adult as well as involve the whole family in a great day out! A geocacher (or cacher) will visit a particular (often scenic) area and hide a small, waterproof box containing a few items, pen and log book. The cacher then posts the co-ordinates of the location on a specialist website which another cacher will download into his GPS and then the search begins!  

The stuff you need
To take part you need to invest in a GPS receiver (available from many outdoors retail specialists), access to the internet to download the co-ordinates and a form of transport to get you to the site. Once a cacher has found the box, they may take out one of the items as a keepsake and replace it with a small momento of their own for the next person.The boxes do not contain items of high value so you can add something that is personal to you but is inexpensive. As the trails can last for a long time, you may want to get a picnic together so you can stop on your travels for refreshment and take a moment to enjoy any new scenery around you. 

Cool things you can do
Geocaching is now worldwide so you can either fill a spare Saturday afternoon with a hunt or spend your holidays sourcing each treasure location and then travelling on to the next location. The hunts are designed to vary in complexity which makes taking part incredibly varied: some hunts fill a day walking in gorgeous countryside surroundings, others can lead you to a town centre, some can be approached by car while others involve crossing more challenging terrain. The treasure box (known as a cache) can vary in size so although you may locate the area quickly, it is not unusual to spend a long time actually trying to locate the cache!

Images courtesy of gagb.co.uk

Still not sure what a geocache looks like? Take a look at these examples to inspire you to find or plant your own!