Eco-Friendly Geocache Containers

Last week I shared my family's newfound love of geocaching. Geocaching is a modern day treasure hunt that GPS coordinates to find specific locations based on their latitude and longitude.

Someone told me that this is not a well-known hobby. Perhaps they missed the part of the Geocaching website that says in the past 30 days, people logged more than 7.5 million finds. Go geocachers! But, I digress. This week I really want to discuss containers.

In the week since we have seen some pretty unique containers, from tiny little magnets to a glass pumpkin. However the best containers that we have seen are ones that are clearly made from recycled materials - like a plastic container that once held powder for instant lemonade or some other fruit juice.

Another clever one we saw was the very top of a plastic soda bottle. Unscrewing the plastic cap revealed the geocache log, nice and dry within its watertight, plastic home. Unlike the cheap plastic food storage containers we saw at past cache sites, this tricky little container held up better.

Earth-Friendly Container Tips

When creating an eco-friendly geocache container, here are some things to keep in mind:

• DURABLE - This container, even if you leave it in a protected spot (such as a decoy, like a birdhouse or beneath those metal squares on light poles) could face exposure to the elements. It has to stand up to extreme temperatures, wind, and moisture. Also, avoid glass because you don't want to find out that anyone sustained an injury from your container.
  
• UNBREAKABLE - Your container should not only be durable, but it should also be unbreakable. Obviously some plastic bottles and jars can break down over time. Unbreakable really refers to glass, which could be sharp and cut people. It also means flimsy metal, which rusts faster and could cause nasty scrapes.
  
• WATERPROOF - The primary item inside the container is the paper log. This is what people sign when they find your cache so you can know who was there on which day. If there is any question that your container might not be waterproof, then put the log in a small plastic bag that zips shut.

How to Make a Plastic Jar Geocache Container

While some people might point you to "Lock & Lock" or "Ammo Box" style items to purchase for use as geocache containers, our goal here is to recycle something that we already have at home. One common item is a plastic jar. Here are some basic instructions for turning a plastic jar into a geocache container.

1. Take an empty plastic jar (peanut butter ones work great for this) and clean it out really well with warm, soapy water.
   
2. Once it is thoroughly dry, cover the outside of the jar with camouflage-patterned duct tape. You can also put some tape on the lid, especially if it is a bright color like red or yellow.
   
3. Finally affix the geocache label on the top of the lid or side of the jar, wherever it is most easily recognizable.

And that's it! Now you are ready to review the guidelines for placing a new geocache and register your geocache container.

In the meantime, check out these other awesome containers. Can you think of some creative ways to make them with earth-friendly and other recyclable materials? Until next week, happy geocaching!

These bolts are magnetic and really tricky to find if you are in an urban location with a lot of signs and other structures around.

Light poles have become my favorites. See the empty medicine bottle? Remove the label to protect sensitive information and tada - instant geocache container with a child-proof lid.

While it might look like a sprinkler, unscrew the cap and what you really have is a tricky little geocache log waiting to be signed by geocachers clever enough to find it.

Fence cap containers are easy to hide from the prying eyes of pesky muggles, and difficult to find if you have never seen one before.

See this surveyor's stake? Yeah, it's really a geocache container! A hole drilled in the bottom  hides the plastic tube that holds the minuscule log.

Here's another example of bottlecap cache containers. They are hardly big enough for anything larger than the tiny log, but in the spirit of geocaching that is really all you need.

You will never look at dog doo the same again after finding this cleverly disguised geocache log. (Yes, it's fake. And yes, I totally want to make one now!)

Around here pine cones are everywhere. I would never, ever have expected to find a container inside a pine cone.

Here's another tricky one. If your GPS leads you to an area that has these, don't automatically assume that this is the hiding spot -- but don't automatically assume that it is not the spot, either.

Remember the magnetic bolts in an earlier photo? Grr, these are so frustrating -- and yet at the same time, so rewarding.

Would you ever think of looking inside a log if you hadn't seen this container? I wouldn't have!

Again, this one is so very tricky. But I really want to try it now. And am now thinking that one of the ones in Pennsylvania that eluded me may have been similar to this. Argh!

I would never pick up old chewing gum to see if there was a log tucked beneath it (until I saw these tricky little containers).

Using real sticks as camouflage. Clever!

You aren't allowed to bury your containers. But you can recess them so that the top of the container is in plain view. This is one of those that, when you find it, you'll find yourself slapping your forehead over.

When closed, you can hardly tell this is different than any other tennis ball.

This is something else that, if I didn't know about geocaching, I would not have suspected as being a container. Now I suspect everything, everywhere, all the time.

Real leaves make great camouflage for this container. It looks like someone spray painted a plastic baby wipe container. Way to recycle!

If it looks like a birdhouse, and acts like a birdhouse, then there might just be a geocache container inside!

These are the magnetic nano containers. My youngest son is a whiz at finding these on those white roadside historic signs. I'm glad because I have trouble spotting them every single time.