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Geocaching -- Dash to the cache, find the stash(Post-Bulletin (Rochester, MN) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jun. 23--The trail in Rochester's Indian Heights Park is walked daily by hikers, but few have probably stopped to inspect the pile of bark and sticks along a trail tucked back into the northeast park. But on this day, this spot -- about a 10-minute hike from the parking lot -- was getting a thorough looking over by four eager kids. "We found it, we found it," shouted Matt Steinmetz, 4, to his older brothers and sister who had circled the cache (pronounced "cash"), a duct-taped Tupperware container holding a trove of trinkets, a pad of paper and a pencil. Matt's family -- Jack, 11, Nick, 9, Olivia, 6, and parents Monica and Pete -- are geocaching dynamos, having recorded more than 75 finds in the short period since they've started the hobby, which involves using a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, to hunt and find or hide a cache. It's a high-tech treasure hunt that is catching the interest of more and more families as a way to combine physical activity, learning and fun. Family fun The Steinmetz family incorporated geocaching into its spring break family vacation to Kentucky, using their periodic road stops to hunt up caches and record their finds. "We ended up seeing parks and places along the way that there's no way we would ever have stopped for on a regular trip," said Monica, a teacher at St. Francis Elementary. Pete, an IBM engineer, would scout out the next day's route and visit the Web site destination for geocachers, www.geocaching.com, to plug in the ZIP code of a spot along their day's route. The Web site produces a list of registered geocaches. GPS A GPS receiver is an electronic device that helps the user determine an approximate location, within 10 feet, sometimes more, sometimes less. The coordinates are usually given in longitude and latitude. The user enters the coordinates of a location, and the receiver uses satellites to guide the person to the site. The GPS receivers vary in sophistication and features, but they can have maps, electronic compasses and voice guidance. GPS receivers utilize the signals of three satellites to "triangulate" a position on earth. Getting started "I was looking through the different waypoint icons available on my first GPS and saw one called 'geocache'," said Mike Holman, a Senior Analyst Programmer at Mayo Clinic. "I Googled it and immediately found the geocaching.com site. We started visiting caches from then on." The Holmans -- Drew, 7, Anna 10, Emily 13, and parents Lora and Mike -- have embarked on a number of treks to find caches around Rochester. "It makes family hiking an adventure," said Mike. "You can select geocaches where the hike is the appropriate length and difficulty for your family. The geocaches are all over the area so you can combine the hike with a visit to the Quarry Hill Nature Center, for example. It is also an activity the family dog can enjoy." Some geocachers have gotten a bad name for tromping over the countryside and destroying areas, but that's not the philosophy of most. In fact, Pete Steinmetz notes that most people follow the "Cache In, Trash Out" philosophy of encouraging people to pick up trash on the treks back out. Geocaching Lingo FTF: First To Find. Usually found in forums or written in the online or physical log books. geomuggle: A non-geocacher. Based on "Muggle" from the Harry Potter series, which is a nonmagical person. Usually this term is used after a non-geocacher looks puzzled at a geocacher making circles with their GPS receiver or when a non-geocacher accidentally finds a cache. hitchhiker: A hitchhiker is an item that is placed in a cache and has instructions to travel to other caches. Sometimes they have logbooks attached so you can log their travels. microcache: Usually a piece of paper and a writing utensil for geocachers to log their discovery time and date. spoiler: A spoiler is information that can give details away and ruin the experience of something. For example, telling someone the end of a movie before they see it. In geocaching, a spoiler gives away details of a cache location, ruining the experience of the hunt. TFTC: Thanks for the cache! TFTH: Thanks for the hunt! TNLN: Took Nothing. Left Nothing. Usually found in cache logbooks for folks that enjoy the thrill of the hunt more than the material contents of the cache. TNLNSL / TNSL: Took Nothing. Left Nothing. Signed Logbook / Took Nothing. Signed Logbook Travel Bug: A Travel Bug is a hitchhiker. It looks like a dog tag and has an identification number. Geocachers find it and log the number in and then place it in another cache for others to find and log its whereabouts. Virtual cache: Hunters are usually asked to visit a site and send answers to questions from the person who created the cache. There is one in Rochester at Soldiers Field Memorial that asks geocachers to find a plaque and explain who placed the plaque, what year was it placed and who it honors. Sources: www.geocaching.com, Pete Steinmetz |