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Page 7 of 8 Step 6: The Find If you found the cache, congratulations! It's time to open it up complete your geocaching experience! Another side note: If you're caching with others (especially children) it's very important that you help them share the whole search and discovery process. If you can, contain your excitement about your find and move slowly away from the cache—trying not to draw any attention to yourself. Allow the others with you to find it. You might want to eventually let them know you've found it and play a game of "hotter/colder" with them until they get to the cache. First things first. Before you take the cache out of its hiding spot take a good look at how it's hidden. It is essential that you hide the cache back in the way the owner intended for it to be hidden. Pay attention to the position the box is laying in and any particular camouflage that might be around it.  Take care to open the container without spilling the cache contents. Caches are normally hidden in watertight containers like Tupperware or Rubbermaid. One of the best and most watertight containers are surplus army ammo boxes. These can be a little confusing to open the first time, though. If you're right handed, grasp the lower wire handle in your left hand and hook the fingers of your right hand around the bottom of the wide metal latch and give it a firm jerk up. The can should pop open with some resistance.
One of the beautiful things about a geocache is that it tells the story of all the previous finders. Within the logbook and the trade items you'll find glimpses of their personalities, their likes and dislikes, the story of how their day was going or how the hunt went for them. You may never meet these people face-to-face, but through the cache you share an experience with them. You might want to take something from the cache as a memento of your find. The normal practice among cachers is to "trade even or  Trade Up." That means you'll take something that's of similar value as what you leave or you leave the cache a little richer than you found it. Caches can be full of a variety of items: CD's, children's toys, batteries and Dollar Store trinkets just to name a few. If you're planning on doing a lot of trading you might want to pack a bag with a variety of items to swap out.  Inside every cache you'll find a logbook. This is where you record your visit. Logbooks can be a lot of fun to read through so you might spend some time getting to know the other cachers in your area by reading their stories in the book. Find the first blank page and record your visit.
You'll want to record the date you were there (some cachers like to record the time too) and sign the log with your username. Other than that you might include some details about your experience with the find, you might tell about your hike or any animals you encountered. If you have kids with you tell the story of their hunt. You might also record any difficulties you encountered, like non-geocacher (also known as muggles) near the area. After you've made your trades and signed the log you're pretty much done with the cache. You now need to rehide the cache the way you found it. Be sure to seal any baggies that were inside and seal the container lid down tight. The extra care you take to close the cache up and rehide it insures that the next finder has as enjoyable an experience as you. It's time to get back to out of the woods now. Hopefully you remember the way back to the trail. If not, hopefully you recorded your parking coordinates on the GPS and can use them to find the way back out.
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