Have you ever dragged your family or friends to that amazing fossil exhibition or geological field trip only to be met with yawns, excuses to leave early or general dissatisfaction? Whatever people’s age or their level of expertise, geology should be fun- and it is! In order to encourage more people to explore the field of geology, PESGB is looking to expand its membership offer by organising and laying a series of educational geology-themed geocaches as an engaging and eclectic introduction to the field.

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the so-called geocache (container) hidden at that location. The cache can be a single container that needs to be found or a trail with several stations along the way, usually guided by clues or tasks.  By having to answer questions and exploring the outdoors, geocaching offers a great way to explore geological gems in a fun and engaging way, be it for geology enthusiasts, as an enjoyable and educational family day trip or as a school excursion. Furthermore, as a subgroup of geocaching, the Geological Society of America has created so-called Earth Caches, purely educational geological geocaches. These need to be passed by a board of geologists to assess educational value and significance. Due to their educational content and affiliation to the Geological Society, these Earth Caches are an especially interesting format for PESGB.

As a Society which is primarily a networking society with the aim of fostering education and enthusiasm in the field of geology, PESGB would like to establish an interest group to organise and set up some geocaches and Earth Caches in several important geological locations. As permanent geological tours, geocaches would be a great addition to PESGB’s membership offer, whilst also raising awareness for the society to the general public. They will furthermore be promoted as part of a geocaching week during the GEOLiteracy month in the coming year and will form part of PESGB’s repertoire of fieldtrips.

If you would be interested in getting involved by organising a geocache, assisting in creating a cache, or if you have any other comments and ideas, please get in touch at events@pesgb.org.uk to discuss formats, locations and geocaching guidelines.

We look forward to hearing from you!