{"id":16516,"date":"2020-11-03T20:10:12","date_gmt":"2020-11-04T04:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=16516"},"modified":"2020-12-03T21:24:37","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T05:24:37","slug":"geocaching-the-latest-way-to-beat-the-blues-and-boredom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/geocaching-the-latest-way-to-beat-the-blues-and-boredom\/","title":{"rendered":"Geocaching: The latest way to beat the blues and boredom"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Strap on some boots and explore the area with geocaching<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Natalie Dean<\/strong> | Entertainment Editor<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let\u2019s be honest: cramming in last-minute assignments for online classes in the middle of a pandemic is stressful, and people need new ways to destress and get out and about. One way to appreciate the changing seasons and engage the mind and body is through geocaching, which is a fun way to involve and engage communities locally and globally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Geocaching \u2014 aka geostaching \u2014 was originally created in Oregon in 2000 and is a hunt for hidden caches or stashes of items. The location is laid out in coordinates, but recent apps allow for built-in maps. Over time, the items have gotten more difficult to find, making the hunt for the item well worth it.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">One popular app to explore this activity is an app called Geocaching, created by Groundspeak Inc. No matter a person\u2019s experience or knowledge level, the app is user-friendly and has a built-in navigation system that will make the phone vibrate when within 30 feet of the hidden geocache.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the app, instructions and information can be found on the selected location, and a place to rate and leave comments about the user\u2019s experience. There\u2019s some lingo that people use in the general geocaching community, as well as in the logbooks and on the app. They can be useful when first starting off, so here\u2019s some quick shorthands:<\/span><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">BYOP: bring your own pencil\/pen<\/span><\/li>\r\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">FTF: first to find<\/span><\/li>\r\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Muggle: a non-geocacher\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Attributes: a form of communicating what to expect at a cache location<\/span><\/li>\r\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">TFTC: thanks for the cache<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Typically, geocaches are in weatherproof items, and some are hidden in small tins or bottles. Inside, there can be a variety of items; some caches are supposed to be difficult to find and only allow for a small booklet \u2014 known as a logbook \u2014 where people leave their names or nicknames, and the date when they found that stash. If the stash is big enough, people can leave small toys and trinkets. Some of these items have been there for an extended amount of time and may have light water damage or have been well hidden, but overall they are typically pretty easy to find and can range in difficulty for those who want to try harder ones.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There is a basic etiquette and some basic tips to the game \u2014 like making an equal trade, no illegal items in the cache, hide it well and in the same area, be stealthy but not suspicious when rehiding the geocache, wear shoes and clothes that can get dirty and always put safety first. Geocaching is a fun way to get outside, but make sure to stay warm and safe, and find the hidden treasures that are just blocks away.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2020\/12\/lighter-gray-line.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"4220\" height=\"82\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16738\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2020\/12\/lighter-gray-line.png 4220w, https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2020\/12\/lighter-gray-line-300x6.png 300w, https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2020\/12\/lighter-gray-line-1024x20.png 1024w, https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2020\/12\/lighter-gray-line-768x15.png 768w, https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2020\/12\/lighter-gray-line-1536x30.png 1536w, https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2020\/12\/lighter-gray-line-2048x40.png 2048w, https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2020\/12\/lighter-gray-line-1080x21.png 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 4220px) 100vw, 4220px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Contact the author at <a href=\"mailto:ndean17@wou.edu\">ndean17@wou.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Strap on some boots and explore the area with geocaching<\/p>\n<p>Natalie Dean | Entertainment Editor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1094,"featured_media":16509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[161,283,284,279,280],"class_list":["post-16516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-geocashing","tag-hobbies","tag-natalie","tag-natalie-dean"],"modified_by":"The Western Howl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}