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By Mary Hay-Davis What if I told you there was a hobby that exercised both your body and your brain? An activity so fun it would pry even the most reluctant teen off the couch and back into the true reality of the great outdoors? A form of exercise that didn’t seem like exercise and that could be tailored to suit any fitness level? Does this sound too good to be true? Well such an activity does exist - the sport of geocaching. If you’ve never heard of geocaching, you’re far from alone. While geocaching may seem to be a well-kept secret, it is an up-and-coming form of recreation enjoyed by people around the globe. Geocaching uses high-tech gadgetry to set you on a quest for treasure. The only equipment you’ll need to start is a computer with Internet access, and a global positioning system (GPS). A GPS is a hand-held device that uses satellites to triangulate and pinpoint your exact location on earth. Most electronic stores offer a wide selection of GPS devices in a range of styles and prices to suit all budgets. Once you have a GPS, you’ll need to log onto the official geocaching website, www.geocaching.com. You can then locate caches in a variety of ways - area code, county, state, or zip code. You can choose a few close to your home, or plan an entire day’s outing to points farther away. Pack some water and your GPS and let your adventure begin! Caches are rated on a scale of one to five. This scale takes into consideration the cache’s location, terrain, and accessibility, which allows almost anyone to participate in the sport of geocaching - from the very young to senior young-at-hearts, from those with physical limitations to the fittest tri-athletes. Some caches are as simple as driving into a parking lot and locating a transformer box. Others are in terrain so remote and steep that a rescue crew would be hard-pressed to gain access. That is the beauty of geocaching - you can tailor the sport to suit any fitness level, age, or ability. Geocachers are a diverse group, and a recent outing with my family proved this point. The youngest cacher was 11, the oldest 60. Cachers come from all backgrounds and ethnicities, and most enthusiasts have a deep appreciation of the outdoors. Most cachers also choose to forgo given names, opting instead to use their login IDs as their caching moniker. Locating the physical site of a set of GPS coordinates is only part of the process in retrieving a cache. Once the site is found, there is still the no-small feat of actually pinpointing the cache. While GPS technology is indeed amazing, it is not 100% foolproof. Most coordinates will get you within a six to nine-foot radius of the site, but from there you still have lots of rummaging around to do in order to locate the cache (there are cachers who actually train their dogs to assist in cache detection!) Geocaching is truly a thinking-man’s sport - not because one has to be a member of MENSA in order to participate, but because it is one of those rare activities that exercises both the body and the brain. Success depends on the use of reasoning and logic, as well as a great amount of determination (which is often why kids make such great cachers.) If using logic to ferret out a cache were not enough, the geocaching community upped the ante with the creation of puzzle caches. With varying degrees of difficulty, puzzle caches require the seeker to solve a puzzle whose answer reveals the coordinates of the cache. These can be challenging, but also quite addicting. Some of the most-coveted caches are the “First-to-Finds.” These caches (referred to as FTF’s in geocaching jargon) usually yield items of greater value, but are also harder to come by. Competition to acquire them is fierce, both because of the upgraded booty and also because the finder can then lay claim to the bragging rights that FTF’s command. Travelbugs are yet another type of cache. Once located, the finder records it and then plants the Travelbug in a new location, often somewhere far away (many cachers save these to take with them on vacation.) Tracking where a Travelbug has journeyed can be fascinating (and a sneaky way to make geography real and relevant for kids.) Geocaching is becoming more popular every day - so much so that it is used by both Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts as an engaging tool to enliven the concepts of orienteering and the love of the outdoors. The Boy Scouts have even created a “Cache to Eagle” program. Sites of a few Eagle Scout projects with public access have had caches placed on them, and the Boy Scouts hope to expand on this program with even more caches in the future. Once you’ve mastered finding caches, you can take this hobby even further by starting to hide caches for others. You can find all the guidelines and requirements at http://www.geocaching.com/about/hiding.aspx. Whether you consider geocaching to be a sport or a hobby, it is a refreshing alternative to mind-numbing video games or couch potato movie viewing. It’s also the perfect remedy for the frequently heard kid lament, “Mom - I’m boooooooored!” So this weekend, why not trade in your remote for a GPS? Log onto www.geocaching.com, and inaugurate a new adventure in your life - one filled with new friends, new journeys, and the joys of life-long learning. In the realm of geocaching, the whole world truly is an oyster, and each cache is a waiting-to-be-discovered pearl. Mary Hay Davis is a professional writer living near San Diego, CA with her husband and two teenage sons, who’ve logged over 1,700 caches to date. You can contact her through her website, www.maryhaydavis.com. Safety First Caching is a great family activity, but as with any outdoor pastime, exercise caution and good judgment to assure a safe and fun excursion for all.
Getting Started People, especially kids, aren’t getting outside as much as they used to. Technology is often cited as a culprit. It seems many are too busy playing video games, or spending time on Myspace to get outside. That’s why many in the parks business, including Three Rivers Park District, are encouraging people to get out and go geocaching. “Geocaching is really a great way to combine nature and technology,” said Alex McKinney, a recreation specialist with Three Rivers Park District who teaches geocaching classes. “Many kids today are too connected to get outdoors. Geocaching is a way for them to stay “connected,” be with friends, and enjoy the outdoors,” McKinney said. In addition to teaching classes on geocaching and how to use GPS technology, Three Rivers Park District allows the placing of caches in its parks. In fact, there are currently 156 caches located within 16 different Three Rivers parks. These include caches with such notable names as “my little cache cabin,” “loud and Cleary,” “Twiggy” and “Froggie Serenade,” just to name a few. Three Rivers is a great place for novice geocachers to get started. Park District rules mandate that caches be hidden close to trails and they cannot be buried. Not only does this protect the natural areas they are hidden in but it also makes the caches relatively accessible and easy to find. To get started on your Three Rivers geocache hunt, first visit geocaching.com where you can get the coordinates for geocaches hidden within the parks. Then just get out there and find ’em between the hours of 5 a.m. to sunset. If you live in the south metro, try finding “I can see Cleary now” in Cleary Lake Regional Park located at N 44 41.938 W 93 23.400. In the west metro, try finding “The Mighty Gale Woods,” in Gale Woods Farm, located at N 44 55.834 W 93 42.340. In the north metro you can try your luck finding “Surfer Moe and Joe” in North Mississippi Regional Park, located at N 45 03.849 W 93 17.109. Happy hunting! -By Three Rivers Park District, www.threeriversparkdistrict.org
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