Gung-Ho on Geocaching

Those of you who know me well know that I'm a geocacher. The rest of you probably have no idea what a geocacher is.
Geocaching is a game played with the global positioning system, a set of 24 satellites that communicate with receivers called GPSrs that can be accurate to within a fraction of an inch. GPSrs are used by sailors, surveyors, drivers, soldiers, fishermen and geocachers.
The signal from these satellites was originally encrypted so that the positioning system could only be used by the American military, but President Bill Clinton had the encryption removed, making the technology free and available to all on May 1, 2000.
Two days later, the sport of geocaching was born. Leave it to a West Coast geek to figure about a truly worthwhile use for a multibillion dollar military project.
The first documented placement of a GPS-located cache took place on May 3, 2000 by Dave Ulmer of Beavercreek, OR. The location was posted on the Usenet newsgroup sci.geo.satellite-nav
The activity was originally referred to as GPS stash hunt or gpsstashing. This was changed after a discussion in the gpsstash discussion group at eGroups (now Yahoo!).
On May 30, 2000, Matt Stum suggested that "stash" could have negative connotations, and suggested instead "geocaching."
By May 6, 2000, it had been found twice and logged once, by Mike Teague of Vancouver, WA. According to Ulmer's message, the original stash was a black plastic bucket buried most of the way in the ground and contained software, videos, books, food, money, and a slingshot.
The first geocache is no longer active, but is commemorated with a plaque at its site, which also contained a can of soup. The soup still tours the country visiting geocaching events where it is revered as a sacred object by modern cachers.
Geocachers rarely meet while searching because of the secretive nature of the game. However, cachers or caching groups frequently sponsor events, usually a picnic or a camp out, where cachers gather to discuss caching. The biggest of these is an annual shindig held at a different location each year known as GeoWoodstock. Typically several thousand cachers gather for GeoWoodstock.
The Pleasure of a High-Tech Treasure Hunt
Geocaching is basically a high-tech treasure hunt, where the only real treasure is the hunt itself. One cacher hides a container and posts its geographic coordinates on the Internet at www.geocaching.com. Then other cachers scramble to be the first to find the new geocache.
Once a cacher finds a cache, he or she removes the logbook, signs it and then posts his or her find on the cache's website so everyone will know the cache has been found. After signing the log, the finder rehides the cache exactly as it was originally found so other cachers can search for it.
Some caches require that the cacher to position himself so that he can be photographed by a live action camera and have a friend post the picture online. In some cases, one must solve a puzzle to claim a find, or climb a tree, or crawl into a cave or hike 12 miles.
Other caches barely require that the cacher leave the car and many are wheelchair accessible. The attributes posted with a cache tell how well it is hidden and how difficult the terrain is to cross.
Cache containers come in sizes ranging from a rented storage shed to a "nano," smaller than the tip of my little finger. The container of choice for many is an ammo can, a tightly sealed metal box designed to store ammunition. An ammo can is relatively cheap and is large enough to hold a variety of items. It is also durable and waterproof.
Occasionally, a hider leaves a first-to-find prize in a cache but usually they contain only trinkets. As a rule of thumb, cachers are asked to leave something of equal value to whatever they take as a souvenir. Most cachers limit the cost of trade goods to a dollar or less. Caches should not contain anything that should not be found by a two-year-old child, alone, so firecrackers, knives, alcohol and the like are out.
A Quarter Million Active Caches in the World
Geocachers come in many shapes and sizes too. The average cacher is over 50 and many are retired, but the sport is also popular among teachers, students, law enforcement officers and airline personnel. Many cachers are avid outdoorsmen and the Cache In Trash Out movement encourages players to clean up areas where they are caching.
I have two friends, Tweety and the Coach, who sold their house and bought an RV after retiring so they could cache constantly. They travel around the country spending a month here and a month there and exhausting the area caches. They found their 1,000th cache during a stay in Franklin County.
Currently Team Alamo are the top rated geocachers in the world with over 28,000 finds. With 805 finds, I am ranked at around 3,000.
Some caches remain active for years. The oldest of the 16,000 caches currently active in Florida was published on Christmas Day 2000.
Currently there are almost a quarter million active caches in the world and over 250,000 geocachers.
Ideally, a cache should be hidden a place the hider enjoys and wants to share with others.
Many caches are located in strange and exotic places. For instance, currently, there are 25 active caches in Antarctica, 10 of which have never been found.
Some caches are hidden in very public places and a cacher must use stealth to retrieve the container, without being seen. Cachers often pretend that their GPSr is a camera or a cell phone to fool bystanders, known as "muggles" to the caching initiates. I was once crawling around under tables searching for a cache hidden in the courtyard dining area of a Sonic restaurant in South Georgia, when I realized the manager was standing over me.
"All I want to know is who are you people?" she said. "And why are you always crawling around my restaurant staring at your cell phones?"
At least one person has died while caching. A 63-year-old man walked off a cliff in San Antonio, Texas. Undoubtedly, he was looking at his GPSr and not looking where he was going.
Geocachers like the adventure of the sport, the challenge of solving puzzles or ferreting out a cache and excitement visiting places where caches are hidden.
While caching, I have seen Florida panther tracks, been attacked by a scrub jay, found man-sized petroglyphs carved on slabs of stone, encountered an alligator and walked across a log above a raging flooded stream.
I have visited haunted houses, ghost towns, cemeteries, deserted factories and shrines. I have found caches hidden on mountaintops, roof-tops, and Indian mounds. I have retrieved containers submerged in fountains and camouflaged as gulf balls, piles of poo, snakes, turkey feeders, birdhouses, sprinklers and bunches of grapes.
I have climbed mountains, crossed rivers and railroad tracks and waded through waist deep mud.
Why? For the fun!
Caching Helps Clean Up Panama City Neighborhood
Caching may have some unexpected benefits too.
There is currently a geocache in Panama City, known as "Bay County's Smallest Beach Access," that has become famous because it is so difficult to find. People have come from as far away as Biloxi just to search for this little monster.
Of the over 50 people who admit to having searched for this cache, only 17 have found it. Many cachers don't even report caches they don't find, so I suspect that closer to 100 have searched and many of the searchers have made multiple visits. I've spent at least eight hours at this notorious geozone myself.
On a recent, unsuccessful visit to the site, I met a woman whose home is adjacent to the small park containing the cache. She saw me crawling around on my hands and knees and we started talking about the cache.
"Where is it?" she asked.
"If I knew, I wouldn't be here," I said, dusting off my pants.
She told me that literally hundreds of people have visited the tiny park, since the cache was published in December 2007.
"I want to know who to thank," she told me.
"Thank for what?" I asked.
‘Well this is a nice neighborhood," she said. "But there is a cheap motel two blocks away on 98 and we had been having problems with prostitutes working along the street here. Since all of you people started looking for this thing at all hours of the day and night, the hookers have gone away. I guess you chased them off."
There are currently over 100 caches hidden in Franklin County. If you are interested in learning to cache, call me at 653-1819 or email me at antbetty@Lycos.com.
On Sunday, July 12 there will be a geocaching event, Ochlocknee River Summer Cache Bash held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Ochlocknee River State Park. For further information go to http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=d037bff8-6c16-419b-aa4e-487246633a86