Geocaching is an outdoor scavenger hunt activity where participants navigate to specific coordinates all across the world to uncover hidden containers, or “geocaches”.

This activity is free to participate in, requires no special skills and, most importantly, is still doable during quarantine.

Geocaches can be hidden almost anywhere with the exception of cemeteries, historical sites and places that could potentially harm participants or the environment.

They are most commonly located in parks, state wildlife areas, along trails, outside public buildings, at landmarks and at other significant locations. They can take the form of almost any container, from the smallest film canister to a large paint bucket.

The contents of geocaches can vary, although almost every geocache is required to have a logbook for finders to write their code names and record their find. Larger geocaches can contain anything including small trinkets, magnets, coins, buttons, books, disposable cameras, small games and trackable items.

Trackable items, or “trackables”, are small trinkets with a code that can be entered online in order to log them. Trackables often have goals, often to reach a certain destination, travel to a new country or reach a certain number of destinations in a specific time frame.

There are several geocaches around Platteville, most of which are located in parks or along different biking and walking trails. There are even a couple located on the UW-Platteville campus.

Anyone interested in geocaching can visit geocaching.com to create a free account and begin playing.