If you’re looking for a coastal activity that’ll get the whole family involved then why not try your hand at Geocaching this summer? 

Did you know that there are tiny secrets hiding all along Snowdonia – on beaches, under rocks, in caves, coves and caverns, in trees, under piers, along pontoons, in beach-huts and under bridges? You may never have seen them, or even heard of them before, but once you get your head around the art of this very modern form of treasure hunting, you might just become hooked!

So, just what is geocaching? It’s basically an outdoor sport that is based on an internet community who hide treasures (known as caches) and then share clues about finding them in the form of co-ordinates. All a geocacher needs to do is choose a cache, navigate there, find it and then log it. Caches can vary wildly, but they usually take on the form of a small box, sometimes filled with plastic toys or natural treasures like shells or pebbles. But at the very least it will contain a small notebook for you to log your name and the date you found the cache.

The fun of geocaching is not so much in the actual treasure, but in finding it in the first place. It’s a great way to get the whole family involved as you search high and low for your cache, follow clues and use your initiative to find the treasure. And once you’ve got the hang of it, you can progress to “multi-caches”, where the first cache found reveals the clue to the next one, or puzzle caches, where you must solve a puzzle to give you the co-ordinates or clues for the cache.

Thanks to advances in GPS (Global Satellite Positioning System), geocaching has become an incredibly popular sport. The first cache was hidden in the USA almost 15 years ago and today, there are thought to be caches in over 200 countries (as far flung as Antarctica) and there are over 5 million geocachers who regularly take part.

 But, just how do you get started with this fun, family friendly sport? Here’s our quick start guide…..

• Firstly, you’ll need a handheld GPS device. It doesn’t have to be expensive or sophisticated, many mobile phones now have GPS capabilities (search GPS in the App Store). It just needs to be able to read and display co-ordinates.
• Secondly, you’ll need details of geocaches to find. geocaching.com is the largest site for geocaching, so sign up for an account (the basic membership is free and perfectly adequate to begin with) and press search. Type in a postcode, town or area and it’ll list all the geocaches nearby.
• Choose one of them and note down the co-ordinates to tap into your GPS device/app.
• Navigate out to your chosen co-ordinates and start hunting! Co-ordinates given for a cache cover a small area.
• Some caches are easier to find than others, in fact you can search only for “Beginner” caches on geocaching.com so select this option for an easy start.
• Don’t be disheartened if the first few prove tricky to find – you’ll soon get used to the language of geocaching
• It’s a good idea to have a practice run close to home so you can get a feel for it somewhere you know well.
• Take a pen with you to sign the log book, and don’t forget to log your find (or fail) online when you get back.
• If you’re struggling to find a cache (even with the clues), step back and try to look at the area objectively. Where are good places to hide a cache? Where would you hide it?

Remember, that most caches are hidden out of view of non-geocachers (or “muggles” as they are known in geocaching terms). Many are in the countryside, but equally there are loads in urban areas and even some in city centres; you’ll be surprised at where they’re hidden and you never realised!

A lot of the fun of geocaching lies in finding the treasure without giving the game away to “muggles”, so when you do discover the cache remember to be discreet about how and when you pull it out so as not to distract attention. It’s a secret geocaching mission!