Geocaching

The Global Treasure Hunt

Geocaching is a treasure hunt that anyone can participate in almost anywhere in the world. All you need is an inquisitive nature, a love of the outdoors, and a global positioning system receiver. Oh, and a computer and internet access, but you obviously already have that.

First off, it's not about the "treasure." Geocaches are small-ish containers packed with trinkets – small toys, business cards, and other location appropriate items (e.g., bug-repellant wipes in buggy locations). Each cache contains a log book and an information sheet that explains what it is, should a non-geocacher find it. Caches also contain special traveling items: travel bugs and geocoins are the most common. More about those later.

There are rules for hiding and seeking caches – they are only on public land, they are never burried, and so on. The sport is governed by the folks at www.geocaching.com. It's entirely free, although you can become a "premium member" and have access to some neat tools for hunting caches.

Travel Bugs

Travel bugs are special trinkets with serial numbers assigned that are tracked on the Geocaching web site (or other sites). Anyone can launch a travel bug in almost any geocache (some caches are too small for more than a log book). Most travel bugs are identified by "dog tags" with serial numbers that can be purchased from Ground Speak, the Geocaching retail site.

I have launched quite a few travel bugs in the four years I've been geocaching. For some, the journey was cut short almost before it started, others have had some unusual adventures, and one is quite literally a world traveler. Although they are innatimate objects, it's easy to become attached to a travel but, particularly a successful one. Here is a summary of my bugs and their adventures.

My Caches

Anyone can place a geocache, which makes it sound deceptively easy. My first cache was of a type that is no longer allowed – a virtual cache. It is a location in a small coastal town in Spain. To record their visit, finders must email me and tell me what they see on a nearby hilltop. These caches are no longer allowed because it's too easy to create them in insignificant locations. A new type – Earth Caches – have replaced them. But my "Spanish Horses" cache is still active and regularly logged.

My first real cache was a "micro" in a park in Pelham Bay in the Bronx. It was found by two or three people (that is, geocachers who logged it) before it went missing. I decided that the park was just too busy for a cache. It was a couple years before I tried again, this time with a pair of micro caches in St. Michael's, Maryland. I placed these two caches so that fellow sailors could locate them during a sailing trip from Annapolis to St. Michaels. Since they have been posted on the Geocaching website, they have been found many times by regular cachers. Fortunately, a local cacher in St. Michaels has agreed to keep an eye on them, because caches do sometimes go missing.

Currently I'm working on a series of caches near home, placed close to US Geological Survey Benchmarks. The USGS placed benchmarks all over the country – you probably pass by some every day. There is a database of them on the Geocaching web site, located by latitude and longitude so you can use a GPS to find them. Benchmarks are of historical interest, and it's fun to imagine them as a set of secret signs in the landscape (okay, too much "Treasurer Hunter" for me). When I discovered that most of the USGS benchmarks in my area had not been logged (that is, since the 1960s when the USGS last checked on them), I set out to be the "first" to find them. My Benchmark Series of Geocaches highlights the existence of these interesting markings.

Click here to see pictures and notes on my caches and some of the caches I've found.

Friends

I try to hunt for Geocaches wherever I travel both in the US and abroad. And often I'm not traveling alone. So my friends Antonia, Dana, and Lauren and family members Renee, Linda, Bruce, and Meghann have all tagged along on hunts. Of them all, only Meghann has actually gotten herself a GPS and started hunting on her own. So be forewarned, if I come to visit, I may try to enlist you on a local hunt.