Geocaching is BACK! TikTokers are roaming the countryside hunting for hidden treasure… two decades after GPS-tracking became global craze
- Geocaching is a ‘treasure hunt for the digital generation’, says the National Trust
Before smartphones were really ‘smart’, youngsters were traipsing around the countryside on the hunt for hidden treasure – with GPS device as their guide.
Geocaching became a worldwide phenomenon in the early noughties after the first ‘cache’ was hidden in woods in Oregon, US, by a computer consultant who left clues to his secret trove on the internet.
Dave Ulmer also left simple instructions for its finders to ‘take some stuff, leave some stuff’, unknowingly giving birth to a craze that would see millions of geocachers hide and seek treasure.
Roll on 20 years and the geocaching trend is back, with TikTokers taking up the challenge and recording their endeavours on the video-sharing site.
Guided by a GPS-enabled device, geocachers use coordinates, or ‘waypoints’, for the treasure hunt – which can be downloaded from an app or website.
Seasoned geocachers have set up TikTok accounts solely dedicated to documenting their finds, while others have shared their experience of trying out the hobby.
Logan Scurfield (pictured geocaching in Cyprus) told MailOnline that he took up the hobby after stumbling across a trinket while out with his friends in 2017
In one video, a young couple ask viewers to ‘come geocaching with us’, as they document a ‘cache date’
The National Trust describes geocaching as a ‘treasure hunt for the digital generation’.
A geocache is a waterproof treasure box hidden outdoors and the aim of the game is to find them. An app was developed so geocachers could pinpoint locations.
Logan Scurfield, a 16-year-old geocacher from the Scottish Borders, told MailOnline that he took up the hobby after stumbling across a trinket while out with his friends in 2017.
Intrigued by a note found inside which read ‘this is a geocache, part of an online adventure game’, he looked up the craze online and has ‘been hooked ever since’.
Of his favourite find, Logan said: ‘You can get different types of geocaches and this one was a mystery one. There was a library and inside the library you had to find a certain book containing a piece of paper that you write your name on after you’ve found it.
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‘I just loved that one because it was so creative. This one was placed by a guy in the town I live in and I think it was called “All about books”.’
Logan managed to find around 10 geocaches during a recent family holiday to Cyprus, which included coordinates to viewpoints ‘on top of cliffs’ and in ‘ancient stadiums from hundreds and hundreds of years ago’.
Asked about why geocaching is becoming popular with younger people, Logan said: ‘I think it’s just getting outside more.
‘A lot of young people just want to sit in all the time and play video games but geocaching gets them out and looking for geocaches in places they have never been before.’
Official geocache labels can be bought online and are often used placed on caches.
Ruth LeMessurier, from Devon, started geocaching after seeing someone she followed on Instagram posting about it.
‘It looked like fun so thought I’d give it a go,’ she told MailOnline.
Since taking up the hobby, Ruth has found 160 geocaches – which have ranged form ‘tiny little micros’ to items hidden in large containers, including in a kettle up a tree.
Logan (pictured), a 16-year-old geocacher from the Scottish Borders, looked up the craze online and has ‘been hooked ever since’
Ruth LeMessurier, from Devon, started geocaching after seeing someone she followed on Instagram posting about it
This couple filmed themselves driving to a remote location and recording all the caches they find along the way
They find a small plastic box full of trinkets, including a bouncy ball, sticky tape and a mini ninja turtles figurine
A London geocacher called Sofia documents her luck finding trinkets in the city centre, with one video showing her finds in Soho (pictured)
In a different video, Sofia headed to Chancery Lane in London, where she filmed trying to find the cache
When Sofia eventually uncovered it, cleverly hidden inside a rock, she unrolls a long paper covered in names of other geocachers
The first geocache was hidden in Oregon, USA, in May 2000, and there are now three million placed around the world.
From remote villages and islands, to sunny beaches and city shopping centres, caches can be found anywhere. There are caches currently in 191 countries, across all seven continents.
And now the hobby has made its way to TikTok.
In one video, a young couple asked viewers to ‘come geocaching with us’, as they documented a ‘cache date’.
The couple were seen driving to a remote location, recording all the caches they find along the way – which they managed to uncover with the help of the app.
They found a small plastic box full of trinkets, including a bouncy ball, sticky tape and a mini ninja turtles figurine.
A London geocacher called Sofia documented her luck finding trinkets in the city centre, with one video showing her finds in Soho.
She said: ‘I headed to Soho Square and the clue was “It’s magnetic, outside the park and near a broken parts of the railing”. So I’m scaling this whole iron railing looking for broken bits.
‘There was a group of people and they kept staring at me. They were probably thinking “Why is this girl feeling up this fence like that”, but they don’t know what I’m doing. I’m on a mission.’
And in another clip, someone explains a ‘familiar camouflage tactic’ (pictured) for successfully hiding caches
In another video a TikTok user details her favourite finds from a recent geocaching trip to Devon
Caches found in Devon included a hanging hollow wooden box that could be pulled up and down by a string, and many nuts and bolts with hidden notes inside
Official geocache labels (pictured) can be bought online and are often used placed on caches
Sofia found the small geocache but there was no paper left so she ripped some that was in her handbag so she could document her find.
In a different video, Sofia headed to Chancery Lane in London, where she filmed trying to find the cache.
When she eventually uncovered it, cleverly hidden inside a rock, she unrolled a long piece of paper filled with names of other geocachers who had previously come across it.
In another video a TikTok user detailed her favourite finds from a recent geocaching trip to Devon.
The caches found included a hanging hollow wooden box that could be pulled up and down by a string, and many nuts and bolts with hidden notes inside.
And in another clip, someone explained a ‘familiar camouflage tactic’ for successfully hiding caches.
A pile of rocks were dismantled by the geocacher and a box found behind them. As is expected with the hunt, the adventurer put the box back and re-hid it using the rock pile, for the next person to find.
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