On a frigid January 24 evening, 45 scouts, 4 webelos and a bunch of adults went on a geocaching adventure. Geocaching is a game for treasure hunters who like to hike. There are hundreds of thousands of geocaches around the world that are maintained by individuals or groups of various kinds. The idea is to find the geocache with a GPS after having been given only latitude and longitude coordinates. Often there are obscure clues that give hints as to where to find a cache — it can be quite a challenge. However, in order to allow us to find several geocaches quickly, the ones we sought were set up for our troop by Mr. Cushman and other scout volunteers, and are not listed on the official geocaching website. When everybody arrived at the church, Mr. Cushman, a geocaching expert might I add, gave us a crash course on how to work a handheld GPS and gave us our coordinates. Then…. We were off. The geocaches were hidden at the library, the scout field, Sagamore Park and in front of Saint Joseph School. Scouts were able to exchange trinkets that they brought for things in the geocache container. After the hunt/hike we returned to the church and had hot cocoa and cookies that were prepared by Troop 5’s favorite Mom’s (Thanks Mom!). There is actually a geocaching merit badge and some scouts expressed interest in earning it. A fun night was had by all and we’re certain to put this on our list of Troop 5’s regular scout activities.

Tim Weir