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All over the world there are hidden treasures waiting to be found in the forests, cities, countryside and oceans deep. This new, fast growing hobby is gaining popularity all over the world. And unlike hobbies of the past it's very possible to share the fun with people on the other side of the globe.
Geocaching - Fun For the Whole Family
By Deena Rendleman
Author J.R.R. Tolkien uses the phrase in The Fellowship of the Ring in 1954: "All that is gold does not glitter; not all those that wander are lost". He could have been talking about treasure hunters of the nineteenth century or pirates who rode the open seas. And he could just as easily been referring to the modern day, high tech geocachers of today. All over the world there are hidden treasures waiting to be found in the forests, cities, countryside and oceans deep. This new, fast growing hobby is gaining popularity all over the world. And unlike hobbies of the past it's very possible to share the fun with people on the other side of the globe.
The most popular venue for the new activity called Geocaching is the World Wide Web. The internet has taken the old fashioned treasure hunt and gone digital. Modern day treasure hunters still use a map to locate the hidden objects. They just use a handheld electronic Global Positioning System, labeled GPS, as their map. Using a Geocaching web site, the treasure hunter can get coordinates where the cache is located. And using the GPS, it's very possible to walk directly to where the cache is hidden.
Opening the cache is very much like a surprise gift. The container may hold a wide variety of treasures. My family has left ink pens and bracelets. We've taken magnets and key chains. We carry a tackle box to keep our stash of trinkets so that we always have something on hand to trade when we visit a cache. Taking a trinket requires leaving a trinket by the rules of Geocaching, making sure the next hunter will have a surprise waiting also. Respecting local laws is very important as you cache, notes "An Introduction to Geocaching". Items such as explosives or drugs and alcohol should never be placed in a cache. Food is inappropriate as a cache item because animals don't follow the general rules of Geocaching and could sniff out a tasty treat before it could be found. Also, it's great to remember that people of all ages are cachers so adult themed items are inappropriate as well .
Usually there is a log book and pencil inside the cache to leave your name and date of the visit. It's fun to read what others have written in the log book. We've even found a cache just hours after it had been found by other cachers. But the fun doesn't stop there. Going back to that same website and logging a found cache is almost as rewarding as the hunt itself. It's fun to see what other people have said about finding the same cache and obstacles they faced during the hunt. You can record what you left and what you took from the cache letting others know what might be awaiting them if they are the next treasure hunter. It's all very simple and is very much like hide and seek games we all played as children in our backyards. It's just using high tech toys and our backyard became the entire world.
All of this fun would not be possible without the United States Government removing selective availability of Global Positioning Systems. On May 2, 2000, twenty four satellites around the globe became instantly accessible to the general public. The very next day a very excited computer consultant in Oregon decided to test the capability of the newly unregulated technology. He hid a container in the woods along with a log book and pencil and a few prize items. The only rule after finding the hidden box was Take Some Stuff, Leave Some Stuff. He posted the waypoint in an online community and before three days were out, the stash had been found. The finders posted their experiences online and thus became the very first Stash Hunt. The enthusiasm spread very quickly and within a few months there were dozens of stashers and even more hunters.
The term Geocaching was first used just weeks after the first Stash Hunt. The prefix geo, for Earth, and cache, for computer memory storage were teamed up to form the title Geocaching according to the owners of the popular website, Geocaching.com. The pioneers in this newly titled hobby were confined to experienced GPS users. GPS units were already widely used by outdoor enthusiasts who loved hiking and backpacking. So those interested parties who were drawn to the hobby by the love of the hunt had some learning to do before they could schedule their first trip. Even though the GPS technology has become more user friendly than its predecessors, I've had experience with a learning curve as I've dove into the world of digital mapping. Becoming efficient with my GPS unit has been overwhelming at times because my passionate interest is the hunt. But I am here to tell you that it is worth the time and energy it takes to brush up on GPS usage. The thrill of finding a cache is like a pirate finding a chest of gold. And it's something the entire family can do together. In fact, my children picked up on GPS usage much quicker than I did because their fear of digital toys is nonexistent.
The question most asked by others is "How could my family possibly do this?. It sounds very difficult." My answer is very brief and taken from a popular athletic shoe ad, "Just Do It". There is a list of equipment that is needed and some knowledge to be learned. But after the first successful hunt you will wonder what took you so long to try it. A six year old girl was featured in a Canadian newspaper leading her family in a cache hunt. "Jane Milligan of Regina, Canada is a veteran of the high-tech hobby called Geocaching". My seven year olds love the thrill of the hunt. It's very hard to contain your excitement when you are getting close to a cache. I am just a kid myself when the map shows we are just meters away from our prize.
Our hunts have taken us into wooded areas where we sometime had to make our own path. And we've been in fields where we could walk in a very straight line to reach our destination. At other times we've been lead away from the cache as our GPS lost satellite reception due to trees covering a direct sight line with the sky. Each hunt gives a different set of issues and forces us to use a variety of problem solving skills. We ask ourselves: should we cross the creek or go out of the woods and start somewhere else and should we stay on the path or make our own? Working as a team is a great lesson to be learned with a family as they Geocache together.
There are different types of caches to be considered when choosing a hunt. A virtual cache is a cache that you treat like any other except for the fact that it will not be a container of trinkets. It will be some kind of marker or landmark that information can be taken off of such as a headstone. With a virtual cache, there is usually a question to answer asked on the home page of the cache. When you log in to record a successful find, you can answer the question listed by the cache owner. Some owners offer a certificate of achievement on their cache home page to award you for a job well done.
There are a lot of other skills that need to be sharpened as you venture into a cache hunt. There are rules to follow and common sense advice to heed. Some of the things you need to keep in mind as you plan your hunt is location, weather, and time restraints. If you know your general location then you have a good idea of what to wear. Sunscreen and bug spray are two very good things to always have on hand. If there has been recent rains you might expect to run into soft grounds and even mud and water. Be sure to wear appropriate footwear for the terrain. And knowing your time restraints is a very common sense issue that you should be aware of. You would not want to start hunting a cache at sundown.
There needs to be time for you to determine your route and complete it before dark. You should always be generous with your time so that errors can be calculated into the time it takes to successfully locate a cache. Carrying a flashlight is a very handy rule to follow because some wooded areas are dim even on the brightest day of sunshine.
Of course getting to the cache is where the excitement begins. But before you can start, there are things that need to be in place for a successful hunt. My family uses the popular website Geocaching.com as our locater. You need to set up a free account and log in to the site. Once there you can use the site search generator to find caches that are hidden near your zip code. Each hidden cache has a home page and can be viewed separately. The person responsible for hiding the cache will have listed latitude and longitude coordinates along with a waypoint. Sometimes the owner of the cache will give clues to where it is hidden. And even more fun comes if the clue has been decrypted. A special alphabet is provided to solve the clue before you begin the hunt. Once you have a list of those caches within driving distance you can choose the ones you are interested. I'm sure there are many ways to retrieve the information from the website but my family prefers to download the coordinates directly into our GPS from our home computer using a common USB cable connection. We then print off the home page of each cache downloaded and we're ready to go!
According to Joel McNamara there are some rules to follow that run parallel to most park rules for hikers. Common things to remember are to not disturb the surrounding wildlife and foliage in your quest to find the cache. Be respectful of the environment and other people in the area. A great motto of cachers all over the world is CITO: Cache In, Trash Out. Simply put, this means you only go into nature looking for the cache but bring out any trash you might find left by other people. Another phrase to follow is "Take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints". By using this process you will find that you come away from the hunt with more than photos. You will have family memories to treasure for a lifetime. Remember, "All that is gold does not glitter; not all those that wander are lost".