Geocaching/Letterboxing

Geocaching/Letterboxing

Geocaching and letterboxing are two ways to add another dimension of fun to your cross-country journey on America's two-lane highways.

Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is an adventure game using a Global Positioning System unit to find hidden "treasures."

Individuals and organizations hide caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the Internet. GPS users can then use latitude and longitude coordinates to find the caches.

Once found, a cache may provide the visitor, or geocacher, with a wide variety of rewards, but more often than not the "treasures" amount to trinkets. Proper geocaching etiquette calls for the finder to leave his own "treasure" in the cache for someone else to find.

We have combined our passion for taking drives on back roads with the sense of adventure of geocaching. Many caches are hidden in parks, forests, cemeteries or other out-of-the-way places. For us, half of the fun is getting there; the other half is the hunt for the cache.

At the beginning of 2007, more than 350,000 caches were hidden around the world, according to Geocaching.com, the main Web site where caches are listed and cachers log their finds.

We like to call letterboxing the low-tech version of geocaching.

Letterboxing combines navigational skills and rubber stamp artistry in a "treasure hunt" style quest without the use of high-tech gizmos. This type of treasure hunting originated in England and, like geocaching, has spread around the world.

There are two basic differences between geocaching and letterboxing.

First, letterboxing uses written clues to direct the hunter to the location. Those clues may include map coordinates or compass bearings.

Second, the treasures found in letterboxes usually are rubber stamps created with a theme especially for that hide. For example, if someone hides a letterbox near, say, the Washington Monument, the stamp might be carved in the shape of the monument.

Typically, letterboxers have their own personal stamp, as well. When a letterbox is found, the finder stamps the "logbook" with his own stamp and then makes an impression of the special stamp for that hide to take with him. The special stamp, however, remains in the letterbox for the next hunter to find.

More information on letterboxing and a list of letterboxes hidden in the United States can be found at Letterboxing.org.

So, whether you prefer using your noggin to decipher written clues and the artistic qualities of letterboxing, or the high-tech geekiness of geocaching, we highly recommend either to increase the enjoyment you receive from driving our two-lane highways.