Sunday fun for Whitecourt geocachers

The Whitecourt Geocachers held an information session on June 4 at the Forest Interpretive Centre which served as a great way to introduce people to the sport. Beloved by millions around the world, geocaching is a fantastic hobby to get into and doesn’t require a lot of prep work or know-how. If you have a cellphone or GPS unit, running shoes, and a little ambition, then you can get into geocaching.

Holly LaRochelle and Sharlene Munday, both avid cachers, were the session hosts and provided information from their years of experience searching for caches. Holly has been geocaching since 2009 and, along with her two young children, has found over 540 caches. “When my kids were little, I carried them (while caching) in utero and then I carried them in carriers until recently, and now we are usually on bikes.” Sharlene and her husband Brian, along with their children, have located exactly 2,164 caches which have taken them all across the province and beyond.

Considered the greatest treasure hunt on Earth, geocaching is essentially a game where you use million dollar satellites to locate hidden Tupperware containers. How about a fake rock or a fake log? Yup, they use those.  Incredibly small containers that require a squinting eye? Those, too. The longer you play, the harder it gets and the level of fun rises.

“To give you an idea of who geocaches, it’s pretty much everybody,” said Holly. “When we go to events we see individuals, families, students, adults, and retirees. Geocachers are from every walk of life you can imagine and we have this in common which I think is really neat.  Sometimes in recreation you see the same similar age of people but geocaching is unique that way because you’ll see all different people.”

Sharlene brought along her large collection of caches to show attendees the many kinds used. One of the most surprising caches was actually a fake rock. If you didn’t know it was fake, you might walk right past it or pay it no attention and miss your cache. After learning some tricks, the session moved outside where everyone worked together to find caches hidden around the centre.

Anyone who is even remotely interested in learning how to become a geocacher is invited to visit the Facebook page, Whitecourt Geocachers.  Events happen all the time and the local cacher community is always eager to introduce newbies to the sport. To see the caches within the local area, check out www.geocaching.com and search Whitecourt.