Finding Our First Geocaches »
After we purchased our first GPS, we quickly set out to try to find our first cache. It turns out that the Geocaching web site has quite a few listed in the Charlotte area. It's not a terrible surprise, really, but it's always nice to find something happening here. It's not like Charlotte is a small town, exactly, but we always seem to be just on the outside of things.
I'm sure that there are some places that have thousands of Geocaches in their area, and that's okay, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that there are 850 of them within 50 miles of our zip code (which is within the Charlotte city limits). This is something that could go either way. Someplace like New York City, which has millions of people, may not have many caches, because it may not have as much wilderness - though there are certainly interesting places to hid things all over the city. And a remote place with lots of wilderness may not have the people. So maybe Charlotte is just in the sweet spot.
Whatever the case, we decided that we were ready, and we loaded up with three caches that aren't too far from our house and set about trying to find them.
The first cache was called William and Sydney's World. Located in Idlewild Road Park near the ball fields, this made for a perfect first cache. The trail towards the cache was an easy stroll, and the cache itself wasn't too far off the beaten path either. Perhaps best of all, being a bit later in the day, we didn't have to worry too much about avoiding other people in the park (Geocachers call them "Muggles"). A nice, easy find.
Our second cache was also in Idlewild Road Park, and was called Tribute to our Heroes. This one was only slightly more difficult, and in fact was very near to the first cache. These two were an excellent pair, and made for a great start to this new family sport.
The third cache was another in Idlewild Road Park, called simply Idewild 2 (it is presumably supposed to be "Idlewild 2"), but we rapidly ran out of time when it got dark. We will have to make another trip.
Still, we enjoyed it, and will make sure to find some more when we have the chance! Have you been Geocaching? If not, I'd recommend it - it's fun the whole family can enjoy. We hope to place our own cache soon.
