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Thursday, March 13, 2003
Fun in the geek outdoors
Grab some=20
coordinates and fire up the GPS for a game of digital hide and =
seek
Avast, ye scalawags, I've been searching for buried treasure!
Or, more specifically, I recently spent a weekend on Whidbey Island = with a=20 group of adults searching for a hidden box filled with plastic spider = rings, toy=20 cars, pens, stickers, key chains, and fake hundred-dollar bills.
OK, so maybe it's not exactly treasure. And yes, it's a little weird = to spend=20 your weekend using satellites to hunt for hidden Happy Meal toys and = rubber=20 lizards. But to those who practice the addictive sport of geocaching, = the thrill=20 is in the finding, not the treasure itself.
![3D"Jon](3D"http://www.seattlepi.com/dayart/20030313/226geocachingxx_4.jpg"=20) | ||
| Jim Bryant / P-I | ||
| Jon Stanley of Sammamish uses his = GPS unit to=20 find a hidden cache on Whidbey Island. |
Across Washington state -- and in many parts of the world -- a = growing number=20 of geocachers are picking up handheld Global Positioning System = receivers,=20 plugging in coordinates they've found on the Internet, and heading out = on a=20 digitally enabled game of hide-and-seek.
"Geocaching is unique in that it's an outdoor activity with a major = online=20 component," said Jon Stanley, an avid geocacher from Sammamish. Stanley, = who=20 works as a software tester for Microsoft, is known to the geocaching = community=20 by his nickname "Moun10Bike," and has completed more than 800 successful = hunts.=20
Jeremy Irish, one of the sport's early advocates and the founder of =
the=20
Seattle-based Web site
In the span of just two years since the founding of geocaching.com, = Irish's=20 Web site has surged to include more than 40,000 cache sites hidden = throughout=20 the world. More than 1,000 geocaches can be found in Washington.
The sport works like this:
While you're at home in front of your computer (or outdoors with a = handheld),=20 you search the geocaching.com Web site or other online source for caches = hidden=20 in your vicinity.
In locations ranging from urban parks to remote mountain peaks, = Geocachers=20 have stashed their treasures and logged these locations on the Web. A = typical=20 geocache might consist of a sealed plastic box filled with baubles, pens = and=20 doodads -- and then tucked inside a cedar stump. Or it might be a = surplus Army=20 ammo box covered with leaves and hidden in Seattle's Washington Park = Arboretum.=20
Nearly every cache includes a collection of trinkets and tchotchkes. = Some=20 geocachers make a hobby of trading and collecting these treasures. = Children seem=20 to be especially fond of this aspect of geocaching. "We always follow = the mantra=20 of trade up," Stanley said. According to geocaching etiquette, it's best = to=20 leave something nicer than you take.
Each cache also contains a logbook in which one can leave a note to = fellow=20 treasure hunters. Stanley, who spends many a weekend searching for = hidden=20 caches, carries a professionally created stamp emblazoned with his = nickname,=20 personal logo and his home GPS coordinates.
GPS is an integral part of the sport. Consisting of a system of 24 = satellites=20 orbiting the Earth, GPS allows anyone who owns a receiver to pinpoint a = location=20 anywhere on the globe. Before the spring of 2000, the U.S. government=20 intentionally decreased the accuracy of civilian GPS satellite signals = in what=20 was known as "selective availability." Now that selective availability = has been=20 lifted, GPS receivers can lead you to a location with an accuracy of = around 5 to=20 30 feet.
![3D"Seth](3D"http://www.seattlepi.com/dayart/20030313/226geocachingxx_6.jpg"=20) | ||
| Jim Bryant / P-I | ||
| Seth! (yes, it's Seth!) Leary = examines and=20 documents the contents of a cache with a digital=20 camera. |
So, when I embarked on my expedition to Whidbey Island with Jon = Stanley and a=20 group of his geocaching friends, we headed into the woods armed with a = list of=20 latitude and longitude coordinates downloaded from the Web and our GPS=20 units.
Each cache, with whimsical names such as "Alpaca'd Up" and "Colonel = Ebey's=20 Time Capsule," is defined by its unique set of latitude and longitude=20 coordinates. A typical set might read: N 48 degrees 06.739 W 122 degrees = 34.762.
Once someone has hidden the cache and logged those coordinates on the = Internet, it's up to the hardy geocacher to plug those numbers into a = GPS=20 receiver and embark on the hunt.
Accompanying Jon Stanley on this rainy Sunday were geocachers Paul = Butzi, his=20 son Greg, and Seth! Leary, another experienced geocacher from Kirkland = who=20 insists on spelling his first name with an exclamation point. All are = members of=20 the Washington State Geocaching Association. They piled into Leary's = Ford=20 Expedition (with vanity plates reading GEOTEAM) and drove to the = Mukilteo ferry=20 terminal. The photographer and I followed in our cars.
As soon as the ferry docked on Whidbey at Clinton, we began our = search for=20 worthless treasure.
The GPS units directed our caravan toward the town of Langley. We = parked near=20 the waterfront at Robert L. Smith Park, where the geocachers compared = their=20 gadgets. Leary employed an inexpensive E-Trex, while Stanley and Butzi = each had=20 high-end Garmin GPS V units that retail for around $400. In addition, = Stanley=20 referred occasionally to a pocket PC into which he'd downloaded the = day's=20 caches.
Following the GPS unit's instructions, the group was soon scouring a = stairway=20 leading from the street to the shoreline.
"I've got seven feet right here," Paul Butzi announced at the base of = the=20 stairs. His GPS indicated the cache was very near. Visions of golden = pieces of=20 eight and wooden-legged pirates briefly flashed in my mind.
The group fanned out, picking through junipers and a dense thicket of = ivy.=20
"You could hide it anywhere around here," Butzi moaned.
Stanley found no sign of the cache, but he did pick up some stray = trash.=20 Geocachers, he told me, often make it a practice to "cache in and trash = out."=20
After 10 minutes of fruitless searching, the cache was given up as = lost.=20 "Well, it wouldn't be fun if we found them all," Stanley said. We piled = into our=20 cars in search of the next site.
Geocaching got its start almost immediately after GPS selective = availability=20 ended in May 2000. That month, two GPS aficionados -- Mike Teague of = Vancouver,=20 Wash., and Dave Ulman of Oregon City, Ore. -- independently stashed = several=20 five-gallon buckets and posted their locations to the Web. "One of them=20 contained a tape recorder that didn't work, a can of beans and a log = book,"=20 Stanley said. Not long after, Jeremy Irish found his first cache, met = with=20 Teague, and coined the name geocaching. A new sport for geeks was born. =
"We tell everyone it's not competitive," Leary told me. "But really, = it is."=20 Experienced geocachers meticulously track each other's cache counts. One = legendary retired woman reportedly has found nearly 2,000 caches. Butzi = marveled=20 at how Stanley had found more than 800 in a span of two years. "The man = is a=20 god," he said.
At a second site, this one called "Double Bluff Beach II," we hiked a = blustery shoreline for about half a mile, threading our way through = piled=20 driftwood. The GPS receivers eventually steered us to a patch of thick=20 brambles.
![3D"Geocacher](3D"http://www.seattlepi.com/dayart/20030313/226geocachingxx_8.jpg"=20) | ||
| Jim Bryant / P-I | ||
| Closing in on a cache, geocacher = Greg Butzi=20 hurdles driftwood on Whidbey Island's Double Bluff Beach. There, = under a=20 log hidden behind an old board in a thick patch of brambles, lay = the=20 prize: a surplus ammunition box containing Silly Putty, playing = cards,=20 bouncy balls and a huge plastic nickel, among other goodies. It is = customary to replace any trinkets taken from a cache with items of = better=20 quality. |
Under a log, hidden behind an old board, lay the object of our = search: a=20 surplus ammo box. Among the goodies inside were Silly Putty, playing = cards,=20 bouncy balls and a huge plastic nickel. To this booty Leary added a key = chain=20 he'd carried from a cache in Arizona.
A subgenre of the sport involves something called "travel bugs" -- = metal tags=20 with unique identifying numbers -- that are transported from cache to = cache=20 throughout the world. The tag's progress is then charted on the = Internet.
There are endless variations to the game. Underwater caches require = scuba=20 gear. Microcaches are tiny, pen-size containers -- nearly impossible to = find.=20 Multicaches offer a series of linked clues that lead to the final = treasure.
Leary described to me his masterpiece: a complex geocache he created = called=20 "Mission Impossible." It involved numerous clues, the transporting of = fake money=20 from one cache to another, and hints hidden inside library books. The = final GPS=20 coordinates were given out only after geocachers followed their final = set of=20 instructions: calling Leary at home and uttering the secret passwords, = "I am the=20 king of Spain."
"That was a fun one," Leary said.
Farther down the road lay "Whidbey Island Wilbert Trail." Not far = from a=20 500-year-old cedar, Leary spotted a clear plastic box stashed in the = salal=20 underbrush. Inside, more of the same: Silly Putty, pocketknives, hand = warmers=20 and Post-It notes. Each geocacher dutifully wrote in the logbook and = recognized=20 friends who'd preceded them.
Many of these hidden stashes have land managers and park rangers = scratching=20 their heads and struggling to draft policies on geocaching. Are caches = trash? A=20 security risk? The prospect of hundreds of old ammo cans peppering the = region's=20 parks makes some park managers uneasy.
"We don't have a specific policy on the sport," said Thuy Luu-Beams, = a=20 spokeswoman for Washington State Parks. Before hiding a cache in a state = park,=20 Luu-Beams said, geocachers need to obtain permission from that park's = manager.=20 "Some may allow it, and some may not," she said. "We want to meet the = needs of=20 this new recreational activity, but we're also intent on safeguarding = the local=20 environment." The agency is working on a statewide policy that should be = released in a draft this summer.
![3D"Colonel](3D"http://www.seattlepi.com/dayart/20030313/226geocachingxx_9.jpg"=20) | ||
| Jim Bryant / P-I | ||
| Geocachers look over the contents of = "Colonel=20 Ebey's Time Capsule," a cache hidden near Ebey's Landing National = Historic=20 Reserve on Whidbey Island. |
Other agencies are less tolerant. The National Park Service, for = instance,=20 forbids all geocaching.
"It's important for the community to self-police itself," insisted = geocacher=20 Butzi. Leary told me that it's proper geocaching etiquette to ask = permission=20 before hiding a cache. But he admits this rarely happens. "It's human = nature to=20 ask for forgiveness rather than permission," Leary said.
Common sense dictates some hiding spots, and some spots that aren't = favored.=20 For example, bridges, dams and sites near railroad tracks are frowned = upon.=20 These sorts of geocaches are quickly removed from the geocaching.com Web = site.=20 "A geocache should be considered temporary," Jeremy Irish said. "The Web = site=20 allows you deal with a problem cache pretty quickly."
The next stop on our Whidbey Island treasure hunt was "Alpaca'd Up," = a cache=20 hidden near the Greenbank Farms alpaca ranch. No alpacas were in = evidence, but=20 above the grassland prairie, three herons winged their way westward. = After a few=20 minutes of searching, the cache was found at the field's edge, in a = grove of=20 young Douglas firs.
"I usually get one of two reactions when I tell people about = geocaching,"=20 Butzi said. "Either they think it's really cool, or they want to know = what you=20 get out of it. I have to tell them it's only the thrill of the = hunt."
![3D"Global](3D"http://www.seattlepi.com/dayart/20030313/226geocachingxx_3.jpg"=20) | ||
| Jim Bryant / P-I | ||
| A Global Positioning System receiver = is=20 required equipment for geocaching. Latitude and longitude = coordinates for=20 hidden caches of "treasures" are taken from a Web site and entered = into=20 the unit. Then the hunt is on. |
At the next site, it was my turn to lead. Our goal was "Colonel = Ebey's Time=20 Capsule," a cache hidden near Ebey's Landing National Historic Reserve, = which is=20 jointly managed by Washington State Parks, The Nature Conservancy, and = the=20 National Park Service (the cache is on Nature Conservancy land). With = GPS in=20 hand, I led our band of treasure seekers up the bluffs above Admiralty=20 Inlet.
Following a trail, we tramped past farmland that had once belonged to = the=20 Robert Y. Pratt family for nearly a century. When Pratt died in 1999, he = left=20 some 147 acres of these windswept bluffs to the conservancy. The reserve = now=20 safeguards a unique grassland ecosystem, including rare populations of = golden=20 paintbrush and brittle cactus, the only cactus native to Western = Washington.
After we took a spur trail to the east, my GPS receiver showed us = closing in:=20 300 feet, 200 feet, 100 feet. At about 15 feet, it was time to start = searching.=20 It's not as easy as it sounds, hunting for a fluorescent yellow tennis = ball=20 canister hidden in a trailside prairie.
I won't give away the location, but I did eventually find the cache = -- with a=20 little help from my companions. I signed the logbook and feasted on the = view out=20 toward the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The final payoff for me: a plastic = lizard.=20 Not exactly diamonds or gold doubloons, but satisfying nonetheless.
Later, Jon Stanley told me that most geocachers eventually stop = collecting=20 trinkets and are simply content to tally the number of caches they've = found.=20 "It's really about the deep instinct to hunt, to go out and conquer," he = said.
"And I love playing with the gadgets."
IF YOU GO
Langley Bat Reunion Cache (probably lost) -- N 48 degrees 02.464 W = 122=20 degrees 24.469
Double Bluff Beach II -- N 47 degrees 58.594 W 122 degrees 31.070
Whidbey Island Wilbert Trail -- N 48 degrees 03.698 W 122 degrees = 35.617
Alpaca'd Up -- N 48 degrees 06.739 W 122 degrees 34.762
Colonel Ebey's Time Capsule -- N 48 degrees 11.857 and 8 hours, 10 = minutes,=20 51.50388 seconds from the Prime Meridian. (This geocache is what's = called a=20 "local noon" cache -- that is, the latitude is given in units of time = rather=20 than distance from the Prime Meridian. You'll need to convert the time = into=20 degrees and enter them into your GPS unit.)
Andrew Engelson is a Seattle-based free-lance writer = and=20 managing editor of Washington Trails magazine. He can be reached at=20 andrewengelson@earthlink.net.
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