Napanee is hosting Canada’s largest geocaching event this weekend
If you are in the Napanee area this weekend, do not be alarmed if you see a lot of people walking around searching for something you can’t see.
The region is hosting a huge geocaching event, which is kind of like a great big treasure hunt.
Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunt game played by adventure seekers and outdoor enthusiasts. It uses GPS devices or smartphones to find hidden containers called geocaches.
It can be done on land, or on water, and people can find geocaches in trees, on the ground, or along the shoreline. There are different levels and difficulties, so that everyone can do it.
Emmy Hendrickx picked it up during the pandemic and says she loves getting out on her canoe.
"I can see places that I’ve never been," Hendrickx says of the games. "I can try things I have never done before."
This weekend the county of Lennox and Addington is hosting the largest geocaching event in Canada. It’s called The Discover L&A County Mega Geocaching event. More than 1,000 people will visit the county, and search for more than 1,500 caches placed around the region.
Here’s how geocaching works: You upload the Geocaching app, or use a GPS to find the locations of the caches. Then you follow the coordinates and start looking.
They can be out in the open, or well hidden.
When you find them, you open the box, sign your name and date to prove you have been there, and leave it behind for the next person to find.
Eastern Ontario is popular for Geocaching. Areas near Bancroft, Ont., are known as the geocaching capital of Canada.
But Joe Tisdale, who is the founder of the Lennox and Addington Geocachers, says it can be done anywhere, anytime.
"I bet, in your lifetime, you’ve probably walked by a thousand of them and probably not even know it," he says. "They’re hidden in plain sight, in our towns, in our communities, on our trails."
For Rose Anderson-Duvall, who has been an avid geocacher for more than a decade, she says it is just fun.
"I feel like you’re on a secret spy mission any time you go geocaching," she explains.
In its 10th year, this is the first time since the pandemic began that this event is being held, and it has her excited to meet people.
"I’m so excited, I really like meeting other geocachers," she says. "I think it’s a really fun thing to connect with other people on."
The mega geocaching event is on until Sunday, with the big hunt set for Saturday.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh confirms his party will support the Liberals' federal budget
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party will support the federal budget, ending any speculation that the party could pull out of its deal with the minority Liberal government.
Dental care program accepting claims for 1 million seniors
Citizens' Services Minister Terry Beech says 1,200 seniors have already visited a dentist and had their claims processed by the federal government's new dental care plan.