Ohio Valley Outdoors Magazine

GPS Treasure Hunting

By Stacey Kuttler

GPS has opened up the outdoors for those who seek adventure. A relatively new sport, Geocaching, gives GPS owners another entertaining way to use the receivers. Geocaching (pronounced Geo-cashing - like cashing a check), is a game that people all around the world are playing. Basically, it works like a scavenger or treasure hunt. All you need is a GPS unit, and access to a website where caches are listed, like www.geocaching.com.

Here’s how it works: A ‘treasure’ (of any value), large or small, is placed into a waterproof container, along with a logbook that the finder can sign. The container is then placed into a hiding spot; inside or outside, underground or aboveground. At the location, where the cache is to be placed, the hider takes note of the coordinates on their GPS device. They take those coordinates and input them onto a website that tracks caches. Players can then gain the coordinates to input a “waypoint” into their own GPS units. A waypoint is a set of latitude and longitude numbers that a GPS attempts to navigate to from a current position.

Some caches are easy to find and others might be difficult. There are caches on mountaintops and even underwater. The main rule in Geocaching is that if you take something out of a cache, leave something of similar or greater value in its’ place. Players are also asked to sign the logbook in the cache so the cache’s owner can keep track of the people that found it, their experience and what they left behind.

The possibilities are practically limitless in the sport of Geocaching; from the treasure in the cache, to the different places to hide it. There are even different variations to shake up the basics of the game. It is considered an adventure that is fun for all ages and skills, done individually and in groups. For more information on Geocaching visit the website listed above or see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching.