NO Adventure

Alright. Are you ready to nerd out with me for a spell? There exists a world-wide treasure hunting game. It takes place in more than 180 countries and there is treasure within walking distance of you right now.

Have you ever heard of geocaching? Here’s what it boils down to: People(all over the world – and right here in New Orleans) hide small containers. Next, they post the GPS coordinates(latitude and longitude) of said containers online on this website: Geocaching.com

YOU type in your zipcode on the site and see what comes up. Chances are there are dozens of tiny treasure boxes waiting within miles of you.

The standard procedure is that you “take something and leave something” but it’s ok if you just take “the experience” and just leave your signature(most geocaches have logs to sign). The geocaches usually have a few trinkets inside and trading little items can make it more fun. I once found a five dollar bill(riches!). After successful geocaching, then next time you go online, log all your finds so the owners of the caches can see whose finding what and monitor their treasure stashes from the internets.

The cool thing about this game is that it takes you to places you’ve never been before – even in your own city. You can get as far into this pastime as you want; look for other people’s caches or even hide your own and post it online. It’s even free, well, except for the handheld GPS device that you’ll need. Unless you have an iPhone 3G – then all you need to do is buy the $10 app and you’ll be hunting in no time.

The cool thing about the iPhone app is that you can spontaneously geocache from anywhere – you don’t have to look up caches on your home computer and then punch them into your handheld GPS. The iPhone is the GPS and the computer. Now you can find some treasure behind a Kmart while you’re polishing off that bottle of Jack you found under the dumpster.

I just checked. There are almost 400 geocaches within 15 miles of the uptown 70118 zip code. Holy shit!

Also: if you are looking for a challenge, I have hidden my own geocache in Mid-City. Hint: it is only accessible by boat and it isn’t far from this place(which is very rarely snowy).