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| What the heck is geocaching? |
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| Tuesday, 12 September 2006 | ||||||
 Caches are often hidden beneath brush and dirt. -Bruce Mann/Argonaut Geocaching means using a handheld GPS device to find hidden caches, the locations of which are listed online at www.geocaching.com and other Web sites. Caches are the most interesting part of the sport. Most are hidden treasure chests, full of goodies left behind by other geocachers. Cachers bring their own trinkets to trade to make sure the cache always has some treasure for someone. Caches also have logbooks where cachers sign their names, the date they found the cache and a thanks to the person who placed the cache. Some geocaches are only logbooks. In my experience, these very small caches are the hardest to find. Since geocaching revolves around the handheld GPS device, the first step is getting your hands on one. Some local stores carry a few models or you can look online. Basic models start out at about $100. Locally, GPS units can be rented from the Washington State University Outdoor Recreation Center. The last option is to find a friend with a GPS unit and borrow it for a few days, which is what I did. After selecting a cache at geocaching.com, users input the coordinates into the GPS device and start their adventure. I had my first geocaching experience this weekend. I found out my friend Tyler Canning had actually done some of his own earlier in the year, and Saturday morning we set out to find my first cache. We began by getting in my car and getting within a tenth of a mile from the cache. We parked at an apartment complex and made our way closer to the cache. We tracked down the cache to within 30 feet in a small park right off of South Main Street. After 15 minutes of crawling on our hands and knees, looking under every bush and shrub, we finally found the hidden cache. It was slightly buried under pine needles underneath a large pine tree, in a place I had looked at least twice before. The cache was a medium-sized box covered in camouflage tape. Inside was an odd assortment of trinkets including a tape, a shiny black rock, some bungee rope and a Vandal button. After deciding to take the shiny black rock, I deposited my own trinket and signed the logbook. The next geocache was an even more difficult find. It was in another park on the other side of Moscow, and was attached magnetically to a metal bar. Inside was only a pencil and logbook, and although the difficulty of finding it was fun, it was much more fun to take away a bit of treasure. The last geocache we visited was our only failure. This last cache was four miles outside of Moscow and about a half-mile hike up a trail. On geocaching.com people had said it was difficult to find, and after a half-hour of wading through thorny shrubs and trees laden with spiderwebs I decided they were right. It was a wonderful hike, and we decided that here was where we’d place the very first Argocache. Many geocaches have special rules, mostly to mix things up and keep the sport growing. The Argocache has the logbook and trinket trade of the usual geocache, but with an added twist. Inside you’ll find a few articles from this newspaper. Visitors to our cache can bring a trinket to trade, and also their favorite Argonaut article to deposit into the cache. I started out the cache with a few of my own personal treasures and two articles by my favorite Argonaut reporter. To find the geocache, go to geocaching.com and search for the Argocache I. Geocaching turned out to be more fun than I’d expected it to be, and I plan on going out again next weekend. If you’d like to go on an adventure with me, and maybe hide the Argocache II, email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Add as favorites (25) | Views: 571
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