When scavenger hunts go high-tech
By AMBER CHISHOLM
SPECIAL TO THE STAR-TELEGRAM
On this beautiful Saturday afternoon,
conditions are perfect for a hunt. With the sun out and
temperatures hovering above 70 degrees, groups of about five
people each make their way along dirt trails and through
tall grass, hunting for something no bigger than an aspirin
bottle.
The hunters aren’t just using their eyes
and ears as they wander through River Legacy Parks.
They are carrying Global Positioning
System devices to zero in on the hidden item.
“I found it,” someone declares. The rest
of the group converges around a small cache containing a
curled-up logbook and nothing else.
Geocaching, a worldwide scavenger hunt of
sorts, is the game at hand. Enthusiasts from all over the
globe search for caches hidden by other geocachers. They
look up the coordinates on the game’s official Web site,
www.geocaching.com ,
and then use their GPS units to conduct the search.
The discoverer enters information (usually
the person’s name and the date) into the cache’s logbook.
The cache may also hold items placed by the previous finder,
such as compact discs, books, toys, software and
occasionally money. Finders may take something out of the
cache but must leave something in return.
And the caches can be anywhere. The game
at River Legacy Parks was designed to introduce the game to
newcomers, or “muggles.” “Advanced” geocachers serve as
guides. Several caches were hidden throughout the park for
participants to find.
Carol Counts, a volunteer for the day,
said the unknowing public wanders by caches every day.
“More than likely you’ve passed by them
and didn’t even know it. They’re in parking lots,
guardrails,” she said. “I’ll be driving around like ‘Oh,
there’s one right there!’ ”
Geocachers go to great lengths to hide
their caches. Some hide them on the sides of cliffs or
underwater. The more deceptive, the better.
“Caches are literally everywhere,” said
Susan Head of Fort Worth, who plays the game regularly with
her husband, Nathan.
“I saw one disguised as a sprinkler head
in a place where there shouldn’t have been one,” said
Nathan, smiling.
The game wouldn’t be possible without GPS
and the Internet.
According to the geocaching Web site, the
first cache was hidden and found May 3, 2000, in Portland,
Ore., two days after the removal of the GPS signal
degradation called Select Availability. The first finder was
Mike Teague.
In July 2000, after finding his first
cache in Seattle, Jeremy Irish met with Teague to make the
official Web site. Since then, as GPS availability has
grown, geocaching has exploded. Now thousands of caches are
hidden in more than 220 countries.
Wandering through the park searching for
more caches, Susan Head explained how she and her husband
got into the game 3 1/2 years ago.
“I was introduced to it by my father, and
then Nathan got into it. After that, he pretty much became
obsessed with it,” she said in jest.
Geocachers, most of whom have an almost
unsettling zeal for the game, brave nature and other
perilous situations for the thrill of the hunt. Cold, heat,
rain, snow and even quicksand don’t stand in the way.
“Nathan got stuck in quicksand once,”
Susan Head said. “And he’s been bitten by a snake and was in
the hospital for 48 hours.”
For geocachers, it’s not all about finding
goodies in dangerous environments. Cache In Trash Out, an
annual event that promotes the cleanup of the environment,
allows cachers to clean up trash scattered in parks. North
Texas will have three events on April 22. (More information
is available on the geocaching Web site.)
Merl Pohler of Arlington tried geocaching
for the first time at River Legacy Parks with his two
children, Ryan and Hannah. “I think it’s beneficial because
it teaches kids about technology and lets them experience
new things,” he said. “Plus it gets them outdoors and away
from the TV and video games for a while.”
