Northeast Tennesse Geocaching, podcast and blog

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Enjoy finding your way through Northeast Tennessee with the newest treasure hunt craze – Geocaching!!!

View our locations below but don’t stop there. Check out our podcast downloads to coordinate with your geocache locations. And, remember to return to our traveler's journal after your search to tell us, and others, about your adventure.

Geocache Locations

When you find the cache, please make sure to put the container back in the same location so that the next cacher will have the same fun experiences that you had while hunting. In addition to the goodies, each cache contains a log book that you can record your thoughts and scribble a note for future cache visitors.

Abingdon

Creeper Trail – N 36° 42.478 W 081° 58.232

Start your journey at the Creeper Trail head in Abingdon, VA. Approximately 100 yards from the beginning of your hike you will find a nice surprise along the trailside. Cache is available 24/7.

Bristol

Bristol Motor Speedway – N 36° 30.949 W 082° 15.601

This should be an easy find but sometime things in plain site are not so easy to see. Find your way to the Bruton Smith Building and happy hunting through the parking area. Cache available 8am – 5pm Monday-Saturday: Sunday Noon-5pm. Access may be limited for this cache during weeks of major speedway or dragway events due to high volume of visitors.

Sullivan County

Observation Knob Park – N 36° 34.802 W 082° 02.675

Enjoy the waterfront of Observation Knob. Enter through the main gate and find your treasure hidden in one of Mother Nature’s tall creations. Cache available March-October 8am - 11pm.

Kingsport

Bays Mountain – N 36° 30.536 W 082° 36.649

Between the nature center and dam you will find a nice walking trail. The cache is blended in with the pristine nature of the park. Keep an eye out for wandering deer. Regular Park hours: (March-May) & (September-October) M-F 8:30am – 5pm; Sat 8:30am – 8pm; Sun 1pm - 8pm. Summer Hours: (June-August) M-Sat 8:30am – 8pm; Sun 1pm – 8pm. Winter Hours (November-February) M-Sat 8:30am – 5pm; Sun 1pm - 5pm.

Jonesborough

N 36° 17.645 W 082° 28.465

While in Jonesborough visit the historic Christopher Taylor House (Circa 1778). Search the perimeter, as the cache will not be found inside. Cache available 8am – 9pm.

Elizabethton

N 36° 20.978 W 082° 12.455

The information center is key to this find. Even when the chamber is quiet and uninhabited you will still find an information area that can show you what Elizabethton has to offer. Cache available 8am – 6pm.

Johnson City

Winged Deer Park – N 36° 23.612 W 082° 21.455

Take a walk on the boardwalk and shade yourself while casting a fishing line at the gazebo. Here you will find the treasure blended in with what keeps you shaded. Cache available 24/7.

Greeneville

General Morgan Inn – N 36° 09.843 W 082° 49.850

Get a bird’s eye view of the historic downtown area from the hotel Terrace and you will find this cache “hidden” in plain site. Cache available 7am – 11pm.

Erwin

Linear Trail – N 36° 8.13 W 82° 25.50

Start you journey on the Linear Trail and you will find a hidden treasure around one of the beautiful bridges. Cache available 24/7.

Rogersville

In 1777, the grandparents of Davy Crockett were massacred by hostile Indians in their cabin along Crockett’s Creek, which flows through the town. Find Crockett Park and the burial place dated back to 1804 to locate the cache. Cache available 24/7.

Frequently Asked Questions about Geocaching

So what is this 'geocaching' thing anyway?

Simply put, geocaching is treasure hunting for the 21st century. Armed with a GPS receiver, a set of coordinates that tell you the location of a cache, and a healthy sense of adventure, players go out and look for caches of goodies hidden by other geocachers. If one of the goodies in the cache strikes your fancy, you can take it--provided you leave another goodie in its place.

In addition to the goodies, caches nearly always contain a log book of some sort so that you can record your thoughts and scribble a note for future cache visitors.

Sounds fun. So what's a GPS receiver?

GPS stands for "Global Positioning System," a series of two dozen satellites in low Earth orbit that continuously broadcast their position. GPS receivers are able to triangulate on these signals and determine your location on the Earth's surface. Once you select a cache and enter its coordinates into the GPS receiver, the receiver can tell you how far away the cache is and in what direction it lies.

That sounds easy. What's the catch?

The catch is, that getting there is half the fun. Knowing that a cache is, for example, 11.2 miles northwest of you doesn't do you much good if there's an impassible mountain range, a lake, or something else in your way. You need to find your way around. Of course, if you brought a kayak with you, a lake might not be a barrier.

When hunting for my second cache, I was able to drive to within a quarter mile of the cache's location, but the only way to it led through some private property. (Crossing private property without the owner's permission is a big geocaching no-no!) So I had to drive around and find another way to get to the cache. After some searching, I found a local park I hadn't known about before. I soon found the right trailhead and a path that led to within 20 feet of the cache.

So what does one find in a typical cache?

You could find almost anything in a cache, depending on its size. Small toys, books, LEGO bricks or mini-figs, stuffed animals, music CDs, CD-ROMS, tapes, non-perishable food items, and the log of course.

Some caches contain a disposable camera. The camera isn't a goodie to be taken though; just take a picture of yourself and tell the cache owner if you snap the last photo. The cache owner can then recover the camera, develop the film, and put your smiling mug on their web page along with all the other visitors to the cache.

The smallest caches, known are microcaches, typically just have a stub of pencil and a few slips of paper to serve as a log--it's rare for these caches to have any goodies.

How much does geocaching cost?

Geocaching itself is completely free. Well, you will need a GPS receiver and those start out at about US$100 (and can go quite a bit higher), but besides that it's free. When you go out on a hunt though you should always bring a little extra money with you in case you need to pay a parking fee, buy some gas, get pizza on the way back...you get the idea.

What should I NOT put in a cache?

Whole families go geocaching together so items should be safe and legal for all. No alcohol, drugs, explosives, Menudo tapes, etc. Use common sense!

Who goes geocaching?

Anybody and everybody who enjoys the outdoors and looking for treasure goes geocaching! I've met families with their kids, people looking for something to do while walking their dog, and solo geocachers of a variety of ages.

Most cache listings do have some sort of difficulty rating associated with them so if you're bringing small children or your grandmother with you, you might want to pick an easier cache that's no more than a quarter mile walk in the park. On the other hand, if your grandmother is a divemaster that has logged over thousand dives, you and she should grab your SCUBA gear and try your luck finding that cache I heard about on the bottom of the Red Sea!

What precautions should I take?

Take the same precautions you'd use if you were going on a hike. Tell someone where you're going and when you expect to return. Bring maps, water, sunscreen, and maybe a cell phone if you have one. Watch out for poison oak, ticks, snakes and cougars. Above all else, bring your common sense with you!