|
Just when you thought you couldn´t fit another high tech gismo into your
already techno-loaded world, enter the newest internet game of Geocaching.
And all it takes is a hand-held global positioning system (GPS). It could
set your budget back anywhere from $130US to $500US, depending on how seriously
you intend to play the game. For aficionados, it´s a small price to pay
for the thrill of the search and the euphoria of discovery. Here´s how the
game is played. Pick a place to hide a “cache.” It could be as accessible
as your aunt´s petunia garden or as difficult as under a rock half way up
Mount Kilimanjaro. Mark in a notebook the co-ordinates of the cache as shown
on your hand-held GPS. Place your cache treasures in a weather-proof container
(Tupperware is great for this), along with a logbook and pencil. Caches
can be comprised of dollar store knickknacks, international coins, toy cars
– anything that isn´t biodegradable. Cover the cache to protect it from
the elements and wandering wolves. When you return home, log onto www.geocaching.com
and post the GPS co-ordinates rating the difficulty of the location from
one star (a cinch) to five stars (requiring serious hiking gear). Then sit
back and wait. Phase Two is where the treasure hunters come in. If it´s
a lovely Sunday morning and you´re looking for something different to do,
you can log onto the same website and look for caches in your neighborhood.
Or, if you´re lucky and headed on vacation to say, Tasmania (or Mazatlán),
and you´re up for a little adventure, look for caches in those areas, mark
down the GPS co-ordinates and once there, you´re off on a treasure hunt.
Phase Three kicks in only if you´re lucky enough to find a cache. Successful
hunters have the option of either taking the cache and replacing it with
something of their own, or leaving it for the next explorer. Once discovered,
the hunters must enter the date, time and their names in the logbook attached
to the treasure and note the same information for themselves. And fair being
fair, they then have to post their find on the same geocache website and
head for the pub for a congratulatory drink (optional!). Anita and Jim Abrams
from Edmonton, Canada, began geocaching in 2005 when |
|
Anita´s sister
took them on their first treasure hunt in the snow. Since then, they have
found 77 caches world wide, including in Australia, the States, Canada and
just recently, Mazatlán. “When we tell other people what we do, they think
we´re loony,” laughed Anita. “But it gets in your blood. It´s great exercise
because you end up walking a few kilometers. We even found places in our
own city we never knew existed.” Jim estimates there are over 150 million
caches in the world. “Some people have found over 4,000. In Mexico they
are many in the Baja, and in Mazatlán there are four. We´ve found two, one
on Stone Island and one on Playa Bruja, almost found another on El Faro
but we think the hurricane may have destroyed it, and we´re still looking
for the fourth. The one on Stone Island was cached by a cruise ship passenger,
and was alot of fun.” But he won´t give away the exact location. “Well,
that´s because you have to be on the lookout for the muggles,” explained
Anita. “Those are people who don´t geocache and might see you at the treasure
site and come back later to unearth it. There´s a whole new world of terminologies
surrounding this game.” And a whole new world of commercial ventures associated
with it. Geocache stores are popping up all over the States, with a few
in Canada, where hunters can by authentic geo-tags, deluxe GPS devices and
all the accoutrements associated with the game. “It´s really not expensive,”
said Jim. “It´s free to join. You can become a premier member, which does
cost something but then the caches are more valuable. There´s also theme
caches, like Pez dispensers or pens. Once we took our 4-year-old grandson
on a hunt and the cache was a hot wheel toy. Boy, was he excited!” You don´t
have to be Indiana Jones to enjoy the thrill of searching for treasure.
The GPS makes it simple, even if the terrain is difficult, and the joy of
locating a simple cache is its own reward. The best treasure hunt the Abrams
remember happened in the Queen Charlotte Islands off the coast of northern
British Columbia, and it was the one that got them hooked. “We found the
cache, and it was Gondo, a little plastic doll on a horse, except the horse
was missing. It originated in Mesa, Arizona and it had been missing for
two years. And we were the ones to finally find it,” he added with pride.
|
 |
|
