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Geocaching: A New Sport “Caching” On
by Kathleen Ganster
When Teri Flatley was taking her son, Steve, to look at colleges, she took the opportunity to score more caches to her name. Flatley of Allison Park is a participant in a new and rapidly growing sport, geocaching. She said, “We discovered geocaching last summer and have been avid cachers ever since. It's a hobby that's simple and relatively inexpensive to begin and one that has introduced us to local parks and green spaces that we would have never visited otherwise.” Flatley geocaches with her husband, Larry, their teenage son, Steve, and his friends, and other friends. “It’s an activity that you can do anywhere you go, nationally or internationally. We have found caches in major cities, on a beach vacation, during our son's soccer tournaments and while visiting colleges.” she said.
Geocaching combines technology by use of computers and Global Position System Units (GPS) with hiking to find caches. A cache is a container filled with goodies – things like key chains, pins, toys and coins. There are also log books in each cache for cachers to record their finds. Most caches are hidden in public parks and forests for cachers to find. At this date, there are caches in all 50 states and over 215 countries. In the Greater Pittsburgh area, there are thousands of geocaches: North Park has over a dozen, Frick Park six and Hartwood Acres seven just to name a few.
According to the “official” geocaching website (www.geocaching.com), geocaching began in 2000. At that time, the government removed “Select Availability,” on satellites -- the restrictions that prevented civilians from utilizing GPS’s. While many folks have GPS units in their cars, geocachers use hand held GPS units usually the size of a cell phone or deck of cards.
After the restrictions were lifted, David Ulmer thought it would be cool to hide a cache in Oregon. Within a day, another guy by the name of Mike Teague found it! Thus geocaching was born. Teague created a basic website that later developed into www.geocaching.com thanks to help from a fellow cacher, Jeremy Irish.
The concept behind a GPS may sound a little tricky. To track your position, it communicates with at least four of 12 satellites that circle the globe. Not only can the GPS tell you where you are, but, by entering the latitude and longitude coordinates of a particular spot – in this case a cache -- it can lead you to a destination by simply following a directional arrow.
Prior to caching, a geocacher logs onto the official website and sees where caches are placed. By putting the coordinates of the caches into their GPS units, the cachers then tracks the caches once they arrive at their destinations. Flatley said, "All it takes it a little pre-planning by printing out nearby caches from the geocaching website.”
In addition to knick knacks, some folks put travel bugs in caches. Not an actual creepy, crawly bug, the travel bug is a dog tag engraved with an illustration of a bug and an identification number. The number is logged onto the official geocaching website and the bug is tracked as it moves from cache to cache – around the state, around the country and sometimes even around the world. Some of the travel bugs such as those that Flatley have started have “goals” such as visiting soccer fields or military bases.
Cachers also have their own caching names. Some choose their names by sports they are involved in, nick names or hobbies. John Hinderliter of Oakmont is another boomer who caches. “My caching name is Diamond Jim,” he said. Hinderliter has been caching for almost five years. “I read a little blurb about it and researched it on line.” He said.
Hinderliter teaches courses in geocaching. “ I have led geocaching hikes for Venture Outdoors. I always encourage folks to bring their kids as the kids love a good treasure hunt and are usually better at figuring out the GPS units than their parents.” He said. As Hinderliter mentions, that is another great aspect of geocaching – it appeals to all ages and all levels of abilities. There are easy as well as caches that require kayaking, repelling and even scuba diving to find.
The caches themselves are hidden by other cachers who want to increase the opportunity of fun for cachers. Like caching names, some have themes or describe where they are located. For example, “629 Acres of Fun” is located in Hartwood Acres, “Map it Out” which contains maps, and “Hampton/Carson” cache which is on the Rachael Carson Trail in Hampton Township.
In addition to the traditional caches, there are micro caches (usually film containers that contain only a log in sheet), multi-caches (a combination of various types of caches), virtual caches (require you to go to a certain place such as a local landmark and email the answer to a certain question before you receive the find), and locationless caches. Even when you are in a city, urban area, you can find micro caches, locationless caches and virtual caches.
Besides the fun, caching is actually a sport. Flatley said, “I think the best part of geocaching, though, is that it is an ‘active’ hobby. While searching for treasures, you end up walking on trails, up hills and through the woods without looking at your watch to check the time left to go as I often do at the track, trying to get my fitness time in.”
Hinderliter said, “I frequently use geocaching as a coaching tool. Lots of days I might not feel particularly motivated to head out on the bike or for a trail run, but if I look up a geocache the appropriate distance away it gives me a goal to get to and makes getting out the door a whole lot easier as well as more fun.”
Geocaching is fairly easy and inexpensive. All you need to get started is a GPS -- prices start at around $100 – and access to a computer. For more information, visit the official geocaching website at www.geocaching.com or read “Geocaching” by Erik Sherman (Apress, $19.99) and “Geocaching for Idiots” by the editors and staff of Geocaching.com and Jack W. Peters (Alpha, $16.95). There is also a DVD on geocaching, “The Complete Guide to Geocaching” available at www.geocachingvideo.com.
Kathleen Ganster (a.k.a. Lady Bug Lady) geocaches with friends and family all over the country and even outside of the U.S.! She may be reached at ganster@connecttime.net.
