More Than a Game

Home , Geocaching, Orienteering (scouting), Wayfinding

Geocaching: More than a Game

Adena Schutzberg

hat does the elimination members, ranging in ages from 6 to 12, Two weeks later, 28 scouts and a dozen of selective availability knew quite a lot about satellites—that parents and local geocachers met in the have to do with a pack of they are up in the sky above the earth, town forest. Earlier that morning, seven CubW Scouts? To celebrate the removal of that they are used to distribute telephone caches had been placed within a half-mile the U.S. Government’s “fuzzy factor” in and TV signals, that they take pictures of of the council ring, which served as base the earth, and that they aid in camp. The caches were a bit less rugged Scouts practice the weather forecasting. Some even that those meant to stand the beating of a “give and take” of treasures had a vague notion that they year or more outdoors; these were simple at “I stand alone.” could help locate places on the disposable plastic containers used to store earth. One scout offered that his leftovers. Each one, about half the size of father’s car talked to satellites. a shoebox, contained 15-20 trinkets: old Still, most had never seen a GPS U.S. and foreign coins, beads, pencils, receiver, nor did they under- small candies, and toy cars. stand that by receiving signals from GPS satellites, a handheld Kids and GPS device could identify your posi- The scouts were divided into groups, tion on earth and point you in and each group was given a GPS with the direction of a treasure. the coordinates of the seven caches The introductory discussion stored inside. Their adult helpers carried of how the receiver works and a general vicinity map showing approxi- an indoor demonstration of the mate cache locations as well as a search intersection of three spheres order to prevent traffic jams at the yielding a previously hidden hiding places. The toughest cache geocache under a scout’s to find, the adult helpers report- May of 2000, Dave Ulmer invented a new chair, prepared the scouts for an ed, was the first. Getting the game. He hid a five-gallon bucket with a outdoor geocaching adventure. scouts to hold the GPS in notebook, pencil, camera, and some trin- Assistant Scout Master David front of them and then to kets in his home state of Oregon. Then Lloyd was surprised at how follow the arrow was he posted the coordinates of the cache attentive the scouts were dur- tricky. Furthermore, the on the Internet and challenged others ing the lecture. “We haven’t scouts preferred to stand armed with GPS receivers to find it. And had a pack meeting that qui- still to determine which so, geocaching was born. Caches now et in sometime, not even way to go, which prevent- grace 88 countries and the number in- when we hosted a magician.” ed some of the GPS mod- creases weekly. Perhaps the combination of That’s where Cub Scouts come in. In technology, the outdoors, A scout follows the GPS receiv- early December 2001, in a church base- and hidden treasures provid- er’s arrow toward the cache, ment in a Boston suburb, 60 scouts ed something for everyone’s while using a stick to point the learned the basics of GPS. The pack interest. way for his group.

A scout successfully finds “Down through the chimney” in the town forest out” was followed. Each scout quiring scuba gear and an underwater was given two trinkets before he compass. Still others challenge the mind. set out, and he was allowed to One in northern Massachusetts, called leave with several more at the “Grave Calculations,” lies just outside a end of the day (see Figure 3). cemetery. Retrieving the coordinates of Whereas young geocachers the cache requires a visit to several head- enjoy the hunt for treasure, many stones to gather key dates. These are adult geocachers enjoy the hunt added, subtracted and combined to pro- itself. Experienced geocachers vide the final location coordinates. An- agree that the game has taken other cache provides two pairs of coordi- them to many public lands they’d nates, each defining a line. The cache lies otherwise never visit. Few geo- at the intersection. There are several cachers in Massachusetts had set ways to solve that puzzle. One of the foot in Lynn Woods Reservation, newest caches requires a staff cut to the the second largest municipally- precise height for the day of the visit. The owned park in the United States. sun’s rays and a treasure map help point But a geocache called “Lynn the way to “Raiders of the Lost Geo- Woods” enticed many of them up cache.” to a stone tower and piqued their interest in a nearby cave. A High-tech Treasure Hunts cache in Newport, Rhode Island Geocaching, letterboxing (a intriguing introduced many to one of the sport that combines navigational skills great kite-flying locations in the and rubber stamp identifiers in an out- east. These permanent caches door “treasure hunt”-style quest), and the are among several hundred in other exploration sports are experiencing New England. quite a bit of popularity. Geocaching has Each cache listed at www.geo- certainly benefitted from the variety of in- caching.com is named, and giv- expensive GPS devices now on the mar- en two difficulty ratings: one de- ket. Retailers looking for new ways to en- els from registering which direction they scribes how hard the cache is to find, the courage GPS sales have held in-store were facing. That, in turn, provided other measures the difficulty of terrain. meetings for budding geocachers. Those “wrong” information. The other chal- The terrain information is especially who have GPS receivers are looking for lenge was tree cover. Though most of the helpful for geocaching families with hiding places were along an old fire youngsters and others who prefer level road, there were times when the GPS re- ground. There are A geocacher uses a compass and staff ceivers could not track the three satellites hints and an online to find the coordinates for “Raiders of necessary to provide direction. But once log of those who the Lost Geocache.” a group got the hang of using GPS, there have visited. Many was quite a bit of excitement. cache visitors also sign the cache’s Clues and Trinkets hardcopy logbook Each scout had the chance to hold the and take a snapshot GPS receiver and lead his friends toward with the disposable a cache. He’d call out the distance to the camera included in cache first in miles, then, as the group the cache itself. The got closer, in feet. Each cache included a photos are some- clever name with a “clue” to help the times scanned and new geocachers find the goods. At “hot made available on tin roof” an old metal barrel used to cook the Web as well. the Thanksgiving turkey covered the Adults who like cache. At “stairway to heaven” the scouts puzzles sometimes had to climb some wooden steps secured add to the complexi- along a small trail to find the cache. Once ty of a cache. More a cache was found, the finder would than one cache is ac- open it up, and then get a bit of adult cessible only at low help to assure that the geocaching tradi- tide. Another is actu- tion of “put something in, take something ally underwater, re-

new ways to use them and perhaps an feel like a modern pirate looking for methods of wayfinding, using landmarks incentive to learn more about them. buried treasure.” and the human body as a measuring de- Geocachers cite the “remote con- All of these games feed the need to vice. The Degree Confluence Project at- nections” to others via a cache. They get out into the great outdoors. Many taches a “real” place to those intersec- are able to share a place and hopeful- lone and family seekers find them a tions on the globe, and if nothing else, ly a smile with someone whom they do great excuse to get outside. Other trav- reveals them to be just that, places. not know. One geocacher, whose pen elers or explorers enjoy tracking down name is Sluggo, described himself as “a new sites. (Photos by the author, and geocachers little bit Sherlock Holmes, a little bit These games can play a role in edu- John and Buddy. Special thanks to the Santa Claus, and a lot of Boo Radley,” cating the next generation about map- Scout Masters and scouts of Cub Scout (the latter being a character in To Kill ping and mapping technology. The geo- Pack 702, Reading, Massachusetts.) a Mockingbird). Sluggo goes on to caching website includes online maps of comment, “a cache (whether hiding or each geocache site, as well as tools to ADENA SCHUTZBERG is editor of the GIS finding) has a ‘Time Capsule’ aspect find those nearby. Programming a GPS Monitor, and runs ABS Consulting about it. It is very much like a time raises issues of map projections, and Group, Inc. in Somerville, Massachu- capsule, but only over geospatial sepa- many cachers use online or hardcopy setts. Among her other hobbies, she en- ration rather than time separation.” topographic maps to preview terrain. Let- joys hiding and finding both geocaches Said another devotee, Clanggedin, “I terboxing highlights more traditional and letterboxes.

For more information on geocaching, visit www.geocaching.org. For information other exploration games, check out the following: The Armchair Treasure Hunt Club Founded in 1992, this group in England publishes a regular newsletter with stories that provide clues to buried treasure. The first hunt required a full two years before the treasure, a bronze statue, was unearthed. For more information, visit The Armchair Trea- sure Hunt Club at www.treasureclub.net. Degree Confluence Project February 1996 saw the kickoff of Alex Jarrett’s Degree Confluence Project. The idea was to photograph the locations where major lines of longitude and latitude meet, nearly 12,000 of them, across the globe. With low-priced GPS receivers and the prevalence of digital cameras, the search is easier now than it was at the outset. Each report from a confluence includes a series of photographs and a journey report. The confluence website reports that roughly 10% of the primary confluences have been documented. For more information, visit the Degree Confluence Project at www.confluence.org. Letterboxing Far older than geocaching, but equally fulfilling to the explorer, is letterboxing. The game started in the moors of Dartmoor, in Eng- land 1854. There is still a hide-and-seek aspect, but letterboxing depends on clues, compass bearings, triangulation, and map reading to guide the seeker. Natural and manmade landmarks are used, and good old-fashioned pace counting. Letterboxes contain only two things: a small logbook and a rubber stamp. Letterbox seekers carry a notebook, a personal stamp, a pen or pencil, and a stamp pad. When the box is found, the seeker writes a message in the letterbox’s logbook, stamps the logbook with his or her stamp, and then uses the box’s stamp to stamp his or her own notebook. These stamps are sometimes store-bought, but the tradi- tion leans toward carving one’s own from a block eraser. Letterboxes have a pleasant low-tech appeal and often feature stamps of animals, plants or literature-inspired scenes. Some require serious research such as finding the height of a mountain (which alas may have several values in different reference books) or deter- mining the year in which Edgar Allen Poe passed away. For more information, visit www.letterboxing.org. Orienteering Orienteering is a bit more active than the other hide-and-seek sports. Participants use a map and compass to plan and execute a route to visit several control points noted on the map. The one who visits each one, in order, in the fastest time, wins. A bit like the merging of motion and chess, it’s rarely the fastest who prevail. And, in addition to orienteering on foot, called foot-orienteering, there are versions on skis and mountain bikes, and trail orienteering for those with disabilities. For more information, visit the Inter- national Orienteering Organization at www.orienteering.org.