I wrote an article for my Outdoors page last week on geocaching, a great new "sport" that appeals to people from all walks of life.
We spent all of a Saturday getting this story. We hiked about 6 miles, with some bushwacking. The only other people we encountered were at trailheads--we didn't meet anyone on the trails.
See my extended entry (below) to read the article.
All content appeared in the Thursday, April 15, 2004 issue of Page News and Courier. Rights to photos and text in the article belong to Page News and Courier.
Treasure hunt gone global
GPS, the Internet and the outdoors combine to create a new 'sport'
View image. The Bouldin family examines the loot from a cache.
By John Collins
Staff writer
We left our cars more than an hour earlier. Our destination was only eight-tenths of a mile away. But we still hadn’t reached our goal.
“We’re getting close,” said Steve Bouldin, who was leading our group. “There’s buzzards circling up there.”
Finally, after enduring a rocky trail and hordes of deer flies, we arrived at our destination. It took us an hour and a half, but finally we stood on the rock ledge, soaking in the view of the Massanutten Mountain.
The view was a great reward for our trip, but it wasn’t what brought us to that spot. We were on a modern-day treasure hunt.
Our global positioning satellite receivers (GPS) guided us to that overlook. Under the rock ledge, behind some wood and rocks, was a tin can stuffed with goodies. That was why we were there.
We were taking part in a new game called geocaching (say “cash”), in which participants from around the globe use the Internet and GPS units to hide and seek stores of goodies, called caches.
How it works
Geocachers start at the geocaching Web site (www.geocaching.com) to find things hidden near a specified area. The Web site provides geocachers with the coordinates of geocaches, as well as clues to help find them.
Armed with coordinates – now loaded into the GPS units – as well as topographical maps, the geocachers can head out in search of treasures others have left.
GPS units try to find signal from any four of 24 satellites orbiting the earth. With those signals, the GPS units figure out the location. It can be as accurate as a few feet.
But geocachers don’t really need to know how to compute the complicated math behind the global positioning concept. All they need to know about GPS is how to enter coordinates — called waypoints — into their unit and then how to use the waypoints to key the search.
Because most of the caches are in out of the way, sometimes rugged places, orienteering and map-reading skills are useful, too.
When they locate a cache, geocachers sign a log book. They might take something from the cache, but they should leave something in return.
The fun is the hunt. The treasures aren’t usually expensive or rare — typically trinkets, toys and odds and ends.
Global sport hits home
More than 92,000 caches have been hidden and are being sought around the world.
Almost 1,500 caches can be found within 100 miles of Luray. Turns out the Shenandoah Valley is prime geocaching territory. Geocaching is in our backyard.
While Shenandoah National Park frowns on geocaching, the George Washington National Forest is peppered with caches.
For an introduction to geocaching, the Bouldin family of Rileyville – or Beastmasters, as they are known on geocaching.com – served as guides. The whole family came on the trek, including parents Steve and Ingrid and daughters Courtney and Devon and sons Zachary and Jacob. Also tagging along was Devon’s boyfriend, Jordan Price.
The Bouldins have been geocaching for almost a year. They were introduced to the new activity by a feature that aired on the Travel Channel.
The geocaching sport bills itself as a family activity, encouraging family-friendly caches. On our trek the kids ranged from 12 years old to 20. They carried official geocaching.com merchandise that Courtney gave her father for Christmas.
Steve was the master of the GPS, but Zachary – a Page County High School senior and member of the cross country team – and 12-year-old Jacob made up the advance team.
They ranged ahead of the group, reporting on the trail and expending more energy than the rest combined.
This time, the Bouldin parents actually found the cache under the rock ledge, although usually the younger family members find the cache.
Earlier in the day, the group hiked the Indian Grave Trail to hide — instead of find — a cache with the Bouldins. At Indian Grave, the Bouldins left a disposable camera so they can see who visits the site. They also left a variety of treasures, including a compass zipper pull, a lightstick, a set of earrings, a carabiner key clip, a few toys and some cologne.
At the cache that we found, we took a glitter pen, a miniature water pistol, a cassette tape and a bungee cord. In exchange, we left a dollar bill, a tennis ball, a Matchbox car and a poncho.
New sport
Geocachers can find geocaches in all 50 states, as well as in more than 200 countries. With such an expansive reach, you’d think geocaching has been around for a long time. You’d be wrong.
In fact, the evolving sport has really only existed since May of 2000, when the U.S. government tweaked the global positioning signal, giving it the accuracy needed for treasure hunting.
The signal was changed on May 1, 2000. On May 3 someone placed a container near Portland, Oregon. By May 6, two people had visited the site. Geocaching was born. Since then the geocaching Web site was created and the activity — which bills itself as “the sport where you are the search engine” — mushroomed.
Geocachers have even developed their own lingo, which saturates the Web.
Participants revel in the use of technology, the thrill of the hunt, plus time spent outdoors. While the GPS technology is impressive, it’s not too expensive. Some units cost less than $100.
Some of the hardest caches involve days in the backcountry. Others require rock climbing equipment, and some even require scuba gear.
But geocaching appeals to a large base. While some caches are remote, others are in developed areas. The caches in developed areas are hard because geocachers don’t want to reveal the location or arouse suspicions in today’s terrorism-wary society.
The sport’s rating system even includes a rating that bills itself as “wheelchair accessible.”
Any geocacher can hide a cache, provided they follow guidelines and get approval from the geocaching organization. Geocachers can be creative.
That creativity has created a dynamic sport that’s evolving as new ideas surface. The rewards of geocaching are many. Finding a cache brings satisfaction, and geocachers celebrate milestones like 100 finds. Sometimes the reward is a spectacular vista. There are even stories of $100 dollar bills and plane tickets in caches.
Normally, though, caches carry more mundane treasures such as toy cars, small tools, key chains, coins, flashlights and so on.
For the Bouldins, geocaching is showing them parts of Page County that they didn’t know existed.
“A lot of trails have overlooks and nobody knows about them,” Ingrid said.
“We’ve been hiking since high school,” Ingrid said as we placed the Indian Grave Ridge cache. “And this combines hiking with a purpose — and treasure hunting.”
As we head down from finding the other cache, Steve sums up why we trekked up the rocky trail and endured the flies.
“It’s safe to say that without geocaching, we wouldn’t have been out here on these trails today.”
View image. Jacob Bouldin prepares to hide the Indian Grave Ridge cache.
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POSTSCRIPT:
One week after we placed the Indian Grave Ridge cache, Xtremefun became the first to find the cache.
Posted by JRC at April 19, 2004 04:40 PM | TrackBack