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A Thanksgiving Discovery in the Woods: Finding Our First Geocache
A quiet Thanksgiving walk turned into a surprise adventure when we uncovered a hidden geocache that has been sitting in the woods since 2011. A new family memory, a handwritten note, and a fresh reason to explore the outdoors.
A Portal in the Leaves
We went on our usual post-Thanksgiving walk in the woods. The kind of slow, grateful wander you take after a big meal, letting the cool air reset your body and clear your mind. We have walked this trail so many times over the years that it feels like an old friend. Same trees, same fallen logs, same rocky ridge. Familiar in every way.
But this time, something caught our eye.
Half-buried under a layer of oak leaves was a small army-green metal box. Weathered, heavy, slightly out of place. In the soft browns and oranges of late fall it did not blend in at all. It stood out just enough to make us curious.
We brushed back the leaves and read the words stamped on the side:
OFFICIAL GEOCACHE. DO NOT DISTURB.
And just like that, our quiet family walk opened into a little portal to a world we never knew existed.
A Hidden Story Still Being Written
We opened it gently and inside was a damp, beat-up notebook filled with handwritten messages from strangers who had found the same secret treasure. Names, dates, small notes. Some kids, some adults, some people who seemed to have searched for this thing on purpose.
We flipped to the very first entry.
2011.
This box has been sitting in these woods for fourteen years. Through seasons, storms, fallen trees, and all the people who walked right past it without noticing.
My daughter turned to the last empty page and wrote a note and added the date:
Thanksgiving 2025.
A new family memory sealed inside the box. A tiny echo of us now lives in those woods alongside the people who came before and the ones who will come after.
The History of Geocaching
Geocaching began in May of 2000, right after the government loosened GPS restrictions that had kept civilian accuracy limited. One day your GPS could only get you within about 300 feet of your target. The next day it was suddenly accurate to within about 30 feet.
A man named Dave Ulmer wanted to test the new technology. He hid a bucket of trinkets in the Oregon woods, posted the coordinates online, and challenged people to find it.
They did.
They loved it.
And they hid their own.
From that single experiment came a global treasure hunt that now includes millions of hidden caches scattered across the world. Most people walk right by them every day without ever knowing.
Until they finally see one.
A New Reason to Explore
The kids are hooked. I am hooked. Now we have a new mission: explore the woods we thought we already knew. Follow our curiosity. Pay closer attention. Look under logs, behind stones, inside hollow stumps.
And here is the wild part. There is an app that shows the approximate locations of all these treasures. A real map of hidden spots. So now we actually have a reason to go looking. We opened it at home and found that in the woods behind the ballfields, the same place where my son plays baseball and umpires, there is another geocache waiting for us.
It feels like discovering a second layer to the world we already live in. A layer filled with tiny surprises and secret stories. A layer we would never have noticed if we had not slowed down after Thanksgiving dinner and gone for a walk.
Our family now has a new excuse to get outside. A new adventure to share. And somewhere in the woods, beneath a blanket of leaves, a small metal box holds the memory of Thanksgiving 2025.
We will be back. And next time, we will be looking more closely.
“Know what’s enough. Build what matters.”
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