Earlier this month we received an email from a geocacher named Karen. In her email, she described how geocaching has completely turned her and her husband’s lives around with more exercise, lower blood pressure and a slimmer waist line. Then, her husband, Mike, sent an email to elaborate on their story. We love reading stories like this and can’t help but share it with Karen and Mike’s permission and an ear-to-ear smile across our faces.

After retiring, Karen and Mike found themselves with a few bad habits: eating more and being less active than in previous years. That is, until a local outing for retired and active police officers. This is where it all began to change for Mike and Karen. “…Officer Sean Sullivan was present at this one. At the end of our dinner, he showed me a key ring of “path-tags”. They, of course, looked cool and he told me he has collected them “Geocaching”. I didn’t know what he was talking about. He explained the whole process to me that evening, and I was intrigued,” said Mike.

Later, Mike dug out his older GPS device he had used for boating. Admittedly, he hadn’t learned to use it properly, but spent a few days reading the manual and getting the basics down. From there, Mike and Karen created a Geocaching account as NHBucket and set out for their very first geocache. “We ventured out and found my first cache (Rhoades Cemetary Pt 2, Alexandria, NH)….in thigh-high deep snow. I was hooked, right then and there,” Mike wrote.

Since they earned their first smiley, Karen says, “We have gone geocaching in New Hampshire in Andover, Franklin, Tilton, Laconia, Lochmere, and Belmont. We took a vacation last week in Maine and spent every day geocaching.” During that vacation in Maine, the couple found 47 geocaches. And they’ve begun to see the benefits, too. “Mike and I are both benefiting from geocaching because it makes exercising fun. Before we know it, we have walked 6 – 10 miles a day. Mike is also seeing his diabetes come under control with his numbers dropping,” said Karen. Mike added, “In the couple months since, I’ve lost 20 pounds, I eat less, have reduced my [blood pressure] & [blood sugar] levels overall, and just plain feel better about myself.”

Mike and Karen have shared the geocaching love with others, as well. “I’ve taken my wife, my 16-year-old son, and my 8-year-old grandson out geocaching. I’ve also introduced my brother Chris, and his wife, Carla to geocaching…Now, she (Car-Crazy) is hooked with the GC Bug worse than me. AND, she “hooked” her father (Yogi1940),” said Mike.

Thanks Mike and Karen for sharing your story with your fellow geocachers. If you have any inspirational stories about how geocaching has changed yours or someone you know’s life for the better, share it in comments below. Happy geocaching!

[Editor’s Note: Geocachers love to spread the word about the adventure of geocaching. Sonny and Sandy from the PodCachers have spent years sharing the joy of geocaching through their podcast the PodCacher podcast. Here’s a rare look behind the scenes of their podcast.]

By Sonny & Sandy,

Gorillas, a wild-west jail, a Halloween prop and Dave Ulmer – sound like the start of a bad joke? No, just another typical day at the PodCacher studios, putting together an podcast full of geocaching goodness for a listener community that spans the globe.

We are Sonny and Sandy (from sunny San Diego, California) and we have hosted the PodCacher podcast (the weekly audio show all about geocaching) for almost eight years. From the very first show, where we shared about some geocaches we found in Kazakhstan and Amsterdam, to the latest interview with Dave Ulmer, hider of the first geocache, our 400+ shows have circled the world to offer geocaching content to inform, inspire and entertain.

The rich connections with people we have never met, the truly kindred spirits we have stumbled upon, the numerous poignant emails that share how deeply we have touched someone in a time of stress or grief – these are the amazing gifts we have received from this podcast.

The shows often begin with the latest in geocaching and GPS news. This is where gorillas come into the conversation. A fascinating study about a concept called inattentional blindness which has prevented 83% of radiologists from seeing a gorilla photo-shopped into a lung scan, led to a discussion of caches that are hidden in plain sight, and how easy it is to miss a simple cache, when you have a preconceived notion of what it is supposed to look like. Has this ever happened to you?

Many PodCacher shows include a mention of super cool geocaches. You might hear about several unique or unusual geocaches in one show. One of the greatest resources we have is our diverse, experienced and creative (not to mention good-looking) listener community, and it is amazing what they share with us. On Show 409, for example, a Halloween prop from the dollar store was easily turned into a fun hide called, Lend Me a Hand. Another cacher created a miniature adobe brick-style jail for travel bugs including jail cells and “most wanted” posters for the cache Deputies, bring in those travel bugs.

You may have heard that the famous, yet somewhat reclusive, Dave Ulmer was recently interviewed on PodCacher. He unexpectedly showed up at the recent Mega-Event in Yuma, Arizona, at the invitation of Team 360.

Dave hid the very first geocache (called “stash hunt” at the time) back on May 3, 2000, and he spent some time reminiscing with us about that exciting time, and the amazing world-wide phenomenon that his “little” idea set into motion. He shared about staying up all night when selective availability was to be taken off, watching the accuracy on his GPS change from 300 feet to 30 feet, and realizing that “something magic has to happen from this!” That magic has now passed 2 million active caches on Geocaching.com. Listen to show 409 for more of this fascinating interview.

We love to record from “out in the field”, at geocaching events or just along the trails, capturing that authentic audio that makes it feel like you’re right there with us, but most often we can be found recording in our “home studio”. This is actually a small corner of a home office, partitioned off with a bookcase and sound-dampening blankets hung on rope. To make it even cozier, Sonny built a wooden ceiling that sports more acoustic sound-proofing. We have a printed show outline to guide us, as well as any email, feedback or news items that we need to read, but our favorite times are the spontaneous moments of hilarity that often erupt out of nowhere. We’ve certainly gotten better at recording after all these years, but we still manage to create some great bloopers that often find their way into the end of the show.

We invite you to come and join the international geocaching community at podcacher.com!

Geocaching is more than an adventure that takes you to new locations. It’s a growing record of specific locations. Currently geocachers can navigate to more than 2 million active geocaches around the globe. Every time you find a geocache it’s like making an entry into the diary of a specific location. You record the weather, the view, who joined the adventure, even what animals you encounter (hopefully safe, fluffy, friendly animals). Here’s a look at a recent Geocaching Forums post that asked a simple question… “Does anyone know of any other caches that have been in the same spot, same container over 10 years?”

Some geocaches like”da dog ‘yaks‘ were hidden in 2001. Geocachers have captured images of floating the Juniper Creek in Ocala National Forest for 12 years. They’ve even cataloged wildlife, flowers, and the water level. The geocache owner says the veteran geocache, “… is coming up on 12 years, survived the hurricane flooding, because the tree it was tucked up against fell on it.” Although the container on that geocache was changed after the flood, the original log book remains.

There are thousands of active geocaches that are more than ten years old, but there numbers are fading and their geocache containers are (often for good reason) replaced. Hiding and maintaining a geocache is a labor or love that has its rewards.

One geocacher posting in the forum said it perfectly, “WOW, [geocache owners] thank you for doing everything you do for the sport of geocaching, and keeping these older caches active.”

For more details check out the Geocaching Forums. What’s the oldest geocache you’ve ever logged? Did it have its original container?

The post on the Geocaching Facebook page started with “My 28 yr old son (who has Down Syndrome) is my best geo-buddy!” The post from Peggy Caton, PeGC56, instantly struck the heart of geocaching buddies sharing an adventure. They search for ‘hidden-treasure’ only find the real treasure right next to them the whole way.

Peggy answers a few questions about geocaching, and about her best bud and son Brian who goes by the geocaching name CoolGuy84.

I discovered it when a couple of my Facebook friends posted about going geocaching last summer. I Googled it instead of asking! I originally didn’t even think to include Brian (CoolGuy84’s real name—and BTW he made up his own geo-name), my younger son and his gf had heard of it before and had been wanting to try it, so the 3 of us set out one evening and only found 2 of the 5 we looked for, but were hooked none the less.

What attracted you to geocaching as a mother and son activity?

We live in a small Missouri town (suburb of KC) and were surprised to find so many geocaches in Raytown—Brian eventually joined us for a few adventures as the others of us got the hang of caching. My other son and his girlfriend lost the fever somewhat between work and life, but Brian was hooked. Its kind of a long story, but in the previous year and a half my family had quite a few losses. We had evolved into sad depressed lumps. Once we discovered geocaching suddenly we were out almost everyday. We went hiking on the trails; we ran up and down hills; climbed rocks and got fresh air and sunshine! I know it sounds sappy but it was kind of a miracle in our lives.

What’s your advice about geocaching to others with family members who have Down Syndrome?

The only advice I have is to not hesitate to include them! Depending on their age there are a variety of ways they can participate. Younger kids can just enjoy the family time and the exercise and fresh air (and eventually become experts). Kids with Down Syndrome tend to be very sedate in nature and would be happy sitting; but then tend to be overweight also. There’s all kinds of therapeutic benefits too—it’s a gross motor activity, fine motor activity (getting to the containers; opening containers; digging through the swag and picking out what you want), it’s a cognitive activity—putting the pieces of the puzzle together to locate the cache. And it also has all the same benefits for them as with typical kids—learning about nature (we saw 2 deer in the woods closeup last weekend and Brian was in awe); traveling, learning geography, history (we’ve done several mystery caches that have taught both of us some interesting history facts). With older kids/adults like Brian it gives them quite a sense of accomplishment, pride and self-confidence.  He is SO excited about all of them whether they are quick Park and Grab geocaches (P&Gs) (which he does love and doesn’t usually need my help at all) or if we’re hiking through the woods. Most of all its just plain fun for everyone and can help build a close family bond and hobby.

You describe “CoolGuy84” as a freak for geocaching. What excites him so much about the activity? 

He just gets excited when he figures out where the caches are; he actually does better than me at actually finding the containers. I can read the maps/GPS like a champ and I can drive us there, but I find that he doesn’t have preconceived ideas about what a container should look like or where it should be hidden so he just looks everywhere! Even if I say “ehhh no its probably not there, I don’t know how they could hide one there” then BAM he has it found. He’s always so proud of himself and takes ALL the credit for finding it. Here is our caching chant: ME: “I drive the car, I read the map, you find the cache!! What do we call that?” BRIAN: “ TEAMWORK!!!”

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A special thanks to Peggy for sharing the story from all of us at Geocaching HQ. Leave a comment for Peggy and Brian below.