MATTAPOISETT — Kids and their families trudged through the muck of the Bogs on Saturday, Feb. 11, clambering over mossy rocks and outstretched branches as they took part in a global treasure hunt. 

Geocaching, the search for objects hidden in various locations throughout the world, has gone from hobby to phenomenon. 

“This is a very serious thing,” said Laura Lamar of the Buzzards Bay Coalition, who led the expedition.

Hikers hide geocaches in random locations, then upload their coordinates to the Geocaching app so others can track them down. 

Some “microcaches” are the size of a pill, while others contain riddles which point the way to other geocaches.

“That sounds awesome!” Said first-time geocacher Rose Mandrik. 

“I was thinking the opposite,” said Rob Lucci. “I was thinking, how do we avoid those?” 

Rob’s son, 7-year-old Philip Lucci, was beaming as he found the first geocache. 

Like all geocaches, it contained a pen and paper for the finders to write their names.

It also contained a wind-up toy and some pennies. 

“Oh, that’s why they call it a geocache,” Philip said, “because they have cash in them.”

Lamar explained that geocachers can take a prize from a geocache and leave something else in its place.

“I have 20 bucks!” Said Peyton Parks, 10.

“Do you really want to trade $20 for this?” Lamar asked. 

Philip, 9-year-old Acadia Alves and 5-year-old Owen excitedly ran through the woods in search of the next geocache, far outpacing their parents and the rest of the group. 

The adventurous trio found a much larger camouflaged geocache, which contained a toy truck, various pens and a calling card with dogs on it. Philip thought it was a coupon for free dogs. 

Another geocache had a squishy fidget toy inside. 

“I want the squishy!” Said Owen’s older sister Nora, 7.

The journey was not without its hardships. 

After an hour and a half of searching, Philip shouted: “How can there still be more? They have to be finished!” 

Digging under a large tree stump, Acadia found empty cans and bottles, but no geocache.

“I feel like my feet are going to pop,” she said. 

Nevertheless, she enjoyed the experience.

“It’s really exciting,” she said. “Looking for the clues. it’s really fun to look everywhere and try to find that one thing that we’re looking for, and move on to the next thing. It’s so cool to be out in the woods and exploring nature.”