Geocaching: Taking technology to the outdoors

Brent T. Wheat

If memory serves me correctly I have touched upon our topic within the last year or two but whenever something is this much fun, I feel obligated to revisit the subject again. With that in mind, today we are going Geocaching.

With the kids suffering from chronic boredom while on fall break, I recently tried to come up with a fun activity that wasn’t necessarily an all-day hike but would still seem relatively adventurous. My caching-crazed daughter came up with the idea.

For those unaware, Geocaching is a hugely popular outdoor game played with the aid of the Global Positioning System and the Internet, both originally developed for the United States military. The game itself is essentially a big treasure hunt that uses billions of dollars worth of government hardware to find cheap trinkets.

In case you are wondering, the term is pronounced “Geo-cashing.” The root comes from the word “geography” while “cache” refers to the act of hiding something outdoors, usually food, water or valuables. In this case, we are locating small containers filled with logbooks, knick-knacks and occasionally more valuable prizes.

To participate, you log onto the free website http://www.Geocaching.com and find a cache hidden nearby where you intend to visit. The page for each individual cache gives latitude and longitude coordinates for the site along with hints and sometimes includes interesting information about the area. You simply input the coordinates into your GPS unit and go find your prize.

I wish it were that simple.

Sometimes caches are hidden in remote forest areas, on cliffs or even underwater but the vast majority is more easily accessible. However, as handheld GPS units are accurate to within approximately 25 feet, the receiver will only get you within a few arm spans of your target. It is then up to your observation skills to find the cache.

Caches can take many forms. Plastic food storage container and metal ammunition boxes are popular while pill bottles and other small containers serve as micro-caches. These are frequently well hidden and difficult to find without a large search party and considerable effort.

Once the cache is found, you note your visit on the logbook inside the container. There are often small prizes inside such as coins, key chains, playing cards or other such junk for trading. Then, after logging and swapping goodies, you re-hide the cache and move along. For the hardcore geocacher, the visit can also be documented on the website when you return home.

In central Indiana many of the caches are hidden in old cemeteries and parks. In fact, I would estimate that at a third of small country cemeteries in the area have a cache hidden somewhere nearby. Otherwise, cache locations are only limited by imagination and legal access.

Our first find of the day was hidden in a cedar tree near an unusual sculpture in one old cemetery. I had driven by this particular graveyard hundreds of times but had never really noticed the unique monuments and the stories that each stone told. Therein lays the beauty of Geocaching.

While on the hunt, you find all sorts of unique, unusual, interesting and historical morsels hidden in the Hoosier landscape. During the first minutes of our hunt, we accidentally discovered a bison farm and an unknown, unpublicized state nature preserve less than 20 miles of home.

Our next cache was hidden alongside the fence of an elk farm. After looking under a non-descript roadside log to find the cache, we enjoyed watching the massive-antlered bulls as they sat placidly in the meadow and ignored my frolicsome group.

The rest of the morning was spent in an abandoned pioneer cemetery, several roadside areas, a wild goose chase and then onto a lunch stop. After our break and en route to the next cache, we visited what I consider to be the most unique waterfall in the state.

My kids didn’t initially see any reason to clamber down the hill from the roadside pullout until they saw the falls. At this semi-hidden location a tiny creek pours over a cliff and over the years, a dramatic overhang of sediment and moss has accumulated until it is quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen in the outdoors.

Though we found several other caches during the afternoon, our waterfall side trip proved the highlight of the day. As I drove toward home and listened to both excited chatter and snoring from the back seat, I felt satisfied with the irony that some of the most technologically advanced military systems in the history of human civilization helped one family in central Indiana enjoy a great day in the outdoors.

If you try Geocaching once, you too will catch the caching fever. Hopefully, we might even meet you sometime at 40.02590 degrees north, 86.97084 degrees west.

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