Geocaching offers adventure in tech-savvy treasure hunt
By: Joseph Russell
Issue date: 7/24/08 Section: News
We loaded up the car and headed to the first cache of the day, located in a subdivision off Walnut Grove Road on the edge of Cordova. As we rode, I looked over the printout of the cache's profile, which gave background information and a few hints to find the thing.
We parked the car on the edge of the subdivision and got our supplies - GPS devices, bottles of water and walking sticks.
I almost questioned my sanity for doing this as we walked through paths created by previous travelers or sometimes even making our own, using only the compass on the GPS to guide us. We had to climb over fallen trees, kick bushes out of the way and cross a ditch.
When we finally reached our destination, I looked around. So where was the treasure? Since everyday GPS devices aren't pinpoint accurate, you have to search the surrounding area for where the cache might be hidden. Most of them can put geocachers within 20 feet of the object they're trying to find.
I was already covered in a mixture of dirt and my own sweat, and the two ticks I pulled off my legs didn't make me feel any more comfortable. I just wanted to find this thing and get back to the car.
After about 10 minutes of poking our walking sticks under a rotten log, searching on the ground for anything out of place and walking in circles, Greshm finally spotted the cache. I saw him leaning on his walking stick, which in the geocaching world means he found the treasure first. We all came closer and saw an ammo box tucked in the fork of a tree where it splits into limbs.
I was relieved to finally find the thing because I was having some doubts that it would ever happen. Wyrick told us he had been to this cache before, but could never find it. He has been a member of the geocaching world since December of 2005 and has more than 1,700 finds to his name. If he couldn't find it, there was no way a guy like me, who was on his first try and couldn't even get his GPS to work correctly, would find it.
We parked the car on the edge of the subdivision and got our supplies - GPS devices, bottles of water and walking sticks.
I almost questioned my sanity for doing this as we walked through paths created by previous travelers or sometimes even making our own, using only the compass on the GPS to guide us. We had to climb over fallen trees, kick bushes out of the way and cross a ditch.
When we finally reached our destination, I looked around. So where was the treasure? Since everyday GPS devices aren't pinpoint accurate, you have to search the surrounding area for where the cache might be hidden. Most of them can put geocachers within 20 feet of the object they're trying to find.
I was already covered in a mixture of dirt and my own sweat, and the two ticks I pulled off my legs didn't make me feel any more comfortable. I just wanted to find this thing and get back to the car.
After about 10 minutes of poking our walking sticks under a rotten log, searching on the ground for anything out of place and walking in circles, Greshm finally spotted the cache. I saw him leaning on his walking stick, which in the geocaching world means he found the treasure first. We all came closer and saw an ammo box tucked in the fork of a tree where it splits into limbs.
I was relieved to finally find the thing because I was having some doubts that it would ever happen. Wyrick told us he had been to this cache before, but could never find it. He has been a member of the geocaching world since December of 2005 and has more than 1,700 finds to his name. If he couldn't find it, there was no way a guy like me, who was on his first try and couldn't even get his GPS to work correctly, would find it.