Geocaching 101

On a golden autumn day, in the crisp cool morning air, an intrepid team of treasure hunters makes their way down a narrow trail in search of hidden riches. Hidden treasure? Yes, but for this team it's all about the hunt, being together in the fresh air, and the thrill that comes from discovery.

This team is really a family, mom and dad, a couple school age kids, and even grandma. The kids dash ahead and back; grandma steps carefully through the crispy fall leaves, and mom and dad hold hands while they stroll along.

The object of their quest is a Geocache, (pronounced geo-cash,) a mysterious container of treasures. "We're close," Dad announces while consulting a small electronic gadget in his hand. Mom, reading from some papers, adds, "There's something here about a tree stump." Both of the children run off in different directions, looking into and around every stump they find. "I've found it!" shouts Grandma suddenly, and everyone crowds around her, straining to see what's inside the now open container. This is the magic of Geocaching, the modern electronic treasure hunt.

Played individually or in a team, geocaching has become an obsession for many of the tens of thousands of players worldwide. The electronic part refers to the handheld GPS receiver (GPSr). A typical recreational GPSr simultaneously acquires the signals broadcast by up to twelve of the 24 orbiting satellites, and uses this data to triangulate a position fix anywhere on the earth.

For security reasons, the U.S. government introduced an intentional error in the satellite signals to degrade accuracy for all except military users. This error is called "selective availability" and allowed recreational users an accuracy of no better than 30 feet.

On May 1st 2000, United States discontinued the use of selective availability. This improved accuracy to less than 15 feet and was met with great enthusiasm by truckers, pilots, and ship captains. However, few realized the tremendous potential for recreational GPS users, and fewer the possibility of creating a game with them.

Two days after selective availability was removed, someone posted the latitude and longitude coordinates for a small container hidden in Oregon to the sci.geo.satellite-nav Internet newsgroup. Three days after that, two people had found the first geocache.

From these simple beginnings was created a worldwide game that has become as big as the technology that spawned it. Today there are geocaches secreted in at least 196 countries. The explosive growth of this hobby may be due to the fact that it can be played by almost anyone and is enjoyed by people of all ages, nationalities, backgrounds, and physical abilities.

Geocaching is a game where someone hides a container, the cache, and posts the coordinates and a brief description on the Internet website. Another player or players uses this information and a little savvy to find it. The hand-held GPS receiver is the heart of the game; it is really the only equipment necessary to get started. Geocachers are rightfully proud of their "Cache In, Trash Out" motto, which refers to their practice of picking up trash on the way into and out of the search area.

How many caches are there in the local area for a person to find? Well, in Washington alone there are currently over 1200 Geocaches, some of which we walk by on a daily basis. Practically every park or family recreation area has one or more, and a few of the people we'll pass in these parks are Geocachers seeking their prize. Therein lies the fascination of the game: the hike, the stealth, and the discovery of something hidden.

Perhaps the best way to explain the game is to walk through the process of finding a geocache.

First, a potential geocacher will need to access www.geocaching.com homepage. This site is the brain of the sport and players use and post to it without charge. This brain keeps track of all pertinent information, like how many caches each player has found, how many they've hidden, as well as all the necessary information for the over 84,144 geocaches around the world (data from Groundspeak files Feb., 2004).

The home page at the Geocaching site has a search box for a postal zip code. Enter it, and the site will display all the caches hidden around that area, starting with the closest. Select one of these and click on "details" and the site will display the cache page. The latitude and longitude coordinates are at the top of the page with all the essential details below.

There are also two sets of stars; these rate the overall difficulty of the cache and the terrain. A single star terrain rating indicates that the cache location is easily accessed; five stars means some specialized equipment, like SCUBA or climbing gear, will be required. The cache owner interpolates between these extremes to rate their cache in half star increments.

There is also an encrypted clue with a decryption table nearby for use in the field as a last resort. Farther down the page are the submitted notes of hunters who have, or have not, found the cache. Just load the latitude and longitude coordinates into the GPSr and get on the road.

Many Geocache hiders provide a description of the starting point, such as where to park, the trailhead, or nearby landmarks. Once on the trail or in the park, it's simply a matter of following the guidance from the GPSr, which displays information like how far away the cache is, speed, the bearing to the cache, and even the estimated time of arrival.

When the hunter gets close to the hiding location, say ten to twenty feet or so, they'll reexamine the description looking for clues to how and where the cache was placed. Once found, the player logs their name and date in the logbook, trades an item brought along for one in the cache, and re-hides it in the same place. Cache treasures are often small toys or trinkets of personal value, but expensive items and even cash are sometimes there for the finding.

The final step is to open the web page again and claim the successful recovery and maybe post some short notes about the adventure. It sounds deceptively easy and occasionally a weary hunter must go home and log a "not found", an admission of defeat. Few allow this to stand though, and will return another day. While there is no scoring in this game, many geocachers regard their find count with pride, some having hundreds of successful recoveries of the elusive containers.

The cache container can be anything from a retired pickle jar, Tupperware bowl, or even a surplus ammo can. Hidden in an old stump or in the leaves at the base of a large tree off the side of the trail, they can be considerably difficult to find.

There are slight variations to keep things interesting as well. A micro-cache is just what it sounds like, tiny containers only large enough to hold a log book and a stubby pencil. Sometimes held in place by a magnet, they can be hidden almost anywhere and are unlikely to be discovered by non-players.

Multi-caches work more like the old game of letterboxing; one cache leads to another, which leads to another. You have to find all the "legs" to claim success.

All of these Geocaches are tremendous fun to uncover as they are often placed in a location that has a unique or interesting feature, such as a scenic view or historical significance. It's said, if you hide it, they will come.

Many players actually get as much enjoyment from hiding as from finding. How does one hide a Geocache? The rules are simple and designed to protect both the players and the game: No geocaches on private property without permission of the landowner, similarly, military installations and railroads are also off limits. Players cannot dig or otherwise bury a cache, and commercial caches will not be approved by the website for posting.

Like real estate, it's all about location, location, location. The best is a place that's special in some way, like a favorite park or leisure area. Then decide on a cache container, preferably something watertight. Some Geocaches are even painted in camouflage colors to match the surroundings.

Once the container is ready, add a notebook and pencil, some treasures, and a short note describing the cache in case a non-player (muggle) discovers it. Now take the Geocache to the location selected and hide it well. Next, using the GPSr, get an accurate set of coordinates to submit to the website. Include enough details so that a potential finder can understand it, but not so many that it becomes too easy. Very soon, the website will generate an email to the hider notifying them that someone has logged an entry for the cache.

It has taken only a little more two years for geocaching to go from a single Internet newsgroup post to a full blown global phenomenon. Because an entry level GPSr can cost as little as $100, and half as much for a used one, the end to this growth is nowhere in sight. Some say the allure of Geocaching is the booty, but for most, the fresh air, family time, adventures, and discovery is the real treasure.