This blog is about the intersect between my two big passions: Geocaching and R programming.

Geocaching is an international treasure hunt, where you seek containers hidden by other cachers, using your phone or a GPS receiver.

R is a programming language which is commonly used in statistics-heavy academic and professional organisations.

But how do these intersect? Geocaching is about getting out into nature, walking up hills, climbing trees. I don’t know whether you’re been outdoors lately, but rain is a real thing. You need a computer to run R, and a wet computer is not a happy computer.

The reason for R being involved in the world of geocaching is because of a type of geocache called the “mystery” (alias “unknown”). This is a type of cache where you have to solve some kind of puzzle before you get given the coordinates. And these puzzles can vary from being incredibly straightforward to extremely difficult. The more complex ones can sometimes be tackled using a programmatic approach.

Since mysteries are my favourite kind of cache, there is a natural overlap for me. And that’s what this blog will cover: my use of R in journeying through the world of geocaches.