Prior to doing research on the Internet for this column, what I knew about geocaching could easily have fit into one of those little plastic canisters that rolls of 35mm film used to come in. Having said that, I do know that any activity that gets people into the fresh air, can’t be all that bad.
So began my search to get to the bottom of this whole geocaching phenomena.
According to Wikipedia, geocaching is an outdoor sporting activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and/or other navigational tools to hide and seek containers, called geocaches or “caches,” anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook where the geocacher enters the date they found it and signs it with their established code name. Geocaches are currently placed in more than 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica. After 10 years of geocaching, activity, there are over 1,532,000 active geocaches have been published on various websites around the world. There are over five million self-described geocachers worldwide.
Few people could have ever envisioned the popularity of geocaching.
Apparently when geo-caching first started, it was originally referred to as GPS stashing. However, since the word “stash” carried with it certain connotations, a better term was needed to convey the idea of what participants were doing.
The early practice of mountain men “caching” goods in hiding spots for later use, gave rise to the term “geo-caching.” Much has changed since those early days.
So why is geocaching such a world-wide phenomena?
If you were to ask 100 geocachers why they do it, you’ll probably get 100 different answers. For some, hiding a geocache is a project involving environmental research, the plotting of dozens of GPS waypoints or co-ordinates and the careful selection of just the right container, not to mention the items to be placed inside. The same effort often goes into seeking a cache.
Geocaching is, to say the least, a whole plethora of variables, from who, why and how to when and where.
Geocache sites, themselves, may include remote locations which require fairly long hikes, recreational sites such as parks, cemeteries and public access areas with well-marked trails which are usually more familiar and easily accessible to most people.
There are special challenges to placing, finding and maintaining a cache in each and all of these different types of sites. One need only be as involved as one wishes.
Access to a computer (in order to obtain cache site co-ordinates), a GPS unit, an understanding of how to use it, and, a basic understanding of how to read a map are pretty much all that is need to get started in geocaching. Neophyte geocachers would be well advised to go out with more experienced geocachers in order to learn the ropes, so to speak. There is also safety in numbers
From everything I have read so far about geocaching and why people get involved, it would seem that it’s not so much about actually finding a cache (which in theory is the whole point of the exercise), but rather, more about the process of getting there. I’d say that applies to most things in life.
So if one day you see me along a riverbank somewhere, crouching down looking underneath a log or under a rock, there’s a chance that I’ve taken up geocaching.
There’s an equal chance that I’m simply looking to see what insects are around so that I can “match the hatch” and cast an appropriate fly to fish in the water.