With just your phone and a sense of adventure, you can set out to find hidden treasures throughout Marion County and beyond.
Geocaching became popular in the United States in 2000 after the government descrambled GPS signals, making them far more accurate.
“A man named Dave Ulmer in Oregon wanted to test that accuracy. He hid a container, marked the coordinates and put the information online, challenging anyone to find it. Three days later, someone did! That’s the start of geocaching,” says Chris Ronan, senior public relations manager with Geocaching HQ.
Today there are just over 1 million active geocaches hidden in America, and 40,000 of those are in Florida. In 2019 Florida logged more than half a million “found it” posts. An Internet search will provide the coordinates to current geocaches (2,044 to be exact!) hidden right here in and around Ocala. The Ocala National Forest and parks are also very popular hiding places.
Learn more about geocaching in Marion County in 352 Preview magazine at https://issuu.com/352preview/docs/352_0121/22.
Check out more local entertainment like this at 352preview.com.
