Geocaching: the Contemporary Treasure Hunt

Just like if you bring a metal detector to the beach. It's the act of patrolling the sands, with the wind fluttering against your jacket, and the salty ocean spray. The dopamine kick of a high pitched beep, the sound of valuable metal, and then sifting out the sand with a scoop. These are tangible hobbies. Physical games. And if you get a curio or souvenir out of it, all the better.

Imagine searching for lost treasure in between the walls of St. Catherine's Passage, Tallinn. Or around the Kaali meteorite craters on Saaremaa. You could search high and low near the spooky, abandoned Rummu quarry, or on the trails through Suitsna bog in southeast Estonia.

These places are all host to one of the latest iterations of scavenger hunting, called “Geocaching”, which has a burgeoning community in Estonia, Canada, and elsewhere. These “geocachers” go out of their way to add a challenge to a trip in the outdoors. Considering the activity's connection to both the outdoors and tech, in the form of GPS navigation, it's a perfect fit for the Estonian way of life!

In essence, a search starts with a geocacher hiding a sealed container somewhere. They will put a log book or paper for geocachers to write down their name and the date of discovery when they successfully find the geocache. Sometimes geocachers will leave “swag”, which are tradeable items, like an action figure or other trinkets, that you can replace with your own contribution. Though, national parks and conservation areas can disallow leaving items inside the cache, leaving a cache off-trail, or leaving one that stands out too much, as it can attract wildlife. “Waymarking” is another type of geocaching, where the geocacher makes note of a place of interest.