Merritt and the Nicola Valley stand in a unique position to take advantage of a new, rapidly-growing leisure activity.

Geocaching is an international treasure-hunting game that integrates the use of the internet and satellite GPS units with being outdoors. Because Merritt is located on a major highway corridor, people travelling through stop for a break and search for caches. Some stay for a few hours, others stay for days or weeks.

Merritt is home to about 40 caches within a 14 kilometer range, only five of which are part of the Gold Country Geotourism series. Gold Country Geotourism has been instrumental in raising offical awareness of the sport, and Merritt city councillor Shelley Sanders, who is responsible for the economic development and tourism segment of the city's strategic plan, says that she will be taking the issue of developing Merritt's own sponsorship of caching to the city council for consideration and says, "We really should get on the bandwagon."

When people stop at the Visitors Centre, they can easily access the Gold Country Geotourism materials- pamphlets and a glossy book that contains all the Gold Country Geotourism caches. Staff are aware of the sport and are eager to help, but don't have any materials for any of the many personally placed and maintained caches.

The sport of geocaching was started in 2001 and is increasing at an amazing rate, with over 3,300 registered geocachers and 14,646 caches in BC alone. There is a cache by the Merritt Visitors Centre that, over the last two years, has had over 195 visits. However, people do not stop only at the Visitors Centre. The cache at Trinity United Church has had over 182 visits since it was placed on June 1, 2009.

Caches are placed to mark locations that are interesting in some way to the person who places the cache; they often mark spectacular views, historically interesting locations or sometimes just good spots on lovely walks. There are, for example, four that have been placed along the river walk in Merritt by an avid local geocacher. Each spot has its own importance to the cacher, but for the seekers, they are excuses to take the family or the dog for a walk.

People of all ages and of widely varying interests get involved in geocaching. Family teams use caching as a way to get outside and be active together. Retirees often use geocaching to keep themselves active and healthy. Hikers use caches as a focus for planning their hikes and people who take driving trips often use caches to break the monotony of the road.
Some people get a charge out of finding the treasures, others just love the challenge of finding the cache. Truly competitive people work at finding the most caches. The top cacher in BC has over ten thousand caches to his name, and has found caches in BC, Alberta and the western USA.

Some tourism administrations have taken on the idea in a big way; the Gold Country Geotourism Program has placed over 80 caches throughout the Gold Country Region in south-central BC, at least 7 of which are in the Nicola Valley. BC Parks allows and encourages caching in the Bluesky program by permitting cachers to set caches in BC parks.