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| Ivan Mangum, with Lincoln City's Geocoin. |
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| Cache
the spirit of this
new techno hobby
By Niki Price
Oregon Coast Today
[Published April 11, 2008]
A technology lover, an avid hiker and an obsessive compulsive traveler walk into the woods…
Sounds like the setup for a joke, doesn’t it? But it’s certainly real: all three of these people are finding fun together, thanks to a new hobby that’s sweeping the nation: geocaching. Using their handheld global positioning system navigators, they’re playing a gigantic game of hide and seek with friends, family and many others that they’ll never even meet.
Now, the City of Lincoln City has joined the game. The city’s parks and recreation department has hidden 20 new geocaches and created a “Passport to Geocache Lincoln City” brochure. The first 200 people who visit all the locations (and collect all the code words they find there) and return their completed passports will receive a free Lincoln City medal, called a geocoin. They’ll also be entered in a drawing for cool local prizes, including gift certificates for food, lodging and goods donated by Lincoln City merchants.
As nice as these enticements are, they’re just icing on the cake for cache-crazy people like Cathe Smith of Lincoln City. Smith has been using her Magellan GPS unit to find treasures for the past two years, and she’s brought everyone in her family along for the ride. Her parents, step-daughters, friends and grandchildren have joined her and her husband, Richard, on their geocache adventures. To date, she’s found nearly 500 of these hidden treasures, in Oregon and beyond.
Last week, she was one of the first to fill out her Lincoln City passport.
“We go out nearly every week. It’s that addictive,” she said. “My favorite geocaching bumper sticker says, ‘I use the government’s million dollar satellites to find Tupperware in the woods.’”
Geo whiz!
Geocaching (derived from the French cacher, “to hide,” and pronounced geo-cash-ing) is an updated version of letterboxing. That hobby, which began in England in the 19th century, used waterproof boxes, stamps and ink to lead its followers into scenic spots around the globe. The first official geocache, one that was meant to be found with a handheld GPS, was hidden in the Oregon City in 2000.
This 21st century version begins with a “cache,” which can be a waterproof box, bag, canister or pill bottle — it doesn’t matter, as long as it can withstand the elements and contain a logbook.
The hider registers the coordinates, in latitude and longitude, with hints if necessary, on a web site like geocaching.com. The seeker checks the site, enters the coordinates (also called a waypoint) into his GPS unit and heads off to find it. Once he does, he signs the log book and records what he finds there; within a few days, the seeker logs back into the site and reports on the cache and its condition.
It’s not just about the thrill of the hunt, either. Caches are usually hidden with a stash of small trinkets, including toys, personal objects and whimsical calling cards. In order to take something, you must leave something behind; thus, these hides are often filled with an intriguing collection left by those who came before. Usually, these items are of little consequence, but once in a while, a seeker can get lucky.
“I went out today, and the cache I found had a package of birthday paper plates and a rubber Gumby that had been chewed up by a dog. I hike up to 5 miles to get stuff like that,” Smith said, laughing. “I’ve gotten a ring before, and a Meier and Frank gift card, too. But I don’t do it for the stuff. I do it for the search. It’s a treasure hunt, and along the way I see things that I would never see otherwise.”
That’s the whole idea behind the Lincoln City geocache passport. It’s the brainchild of city recreation specialist Ivan Mangum, who has pursued the hobby himself for the past two years. He’s hidden 44 caches in the north Lincoln County area, and he’s taught “Geocaching 101” classes in both Lincoln City and Newport (he’ll be teaching one this Saturday, April 12, as part of Lincoln City’s Community Days).
He heard that other towns, from Canby, Ore., to Las Vegas, Nev., had geocache promotions that brought in visitors, and thought Lincoln City could give it a try.
He designed the geocoins, then hid the passport caches at parks and landmarks all over town. Mangum hopes they offer a glimpse into what’s beyond the beach, including city landmarks, public buildings and pocket parks that only locals may frequent.
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You’ll need a little cache
To start your hunt, you’ll
need your own GPS unit. These gadgets start at around $150 at sporting
goods, electronics and department stores. Upgrade with comprehensive
maps, and you’ll need to pay more.
You’ll also need to learn the
lingo, which in this fast-moving sport changes all the time. In
addition to directional vocabulary like “waypoint” (the latitude and
longitude), there are abbreviations you’ll find in log books and
online: FTF (First to Find), TNLN (Took Nothing Left Nothing) and TFTC
(Thanks for the Cache!), just to name a few. A “hitchhiker” or “travel
bug” is a treasure that is intended to be moved from cache to cache
(thanks to a code printed on it, the original owner can follow its
progress). Those who don’t geocache are called “muggles,” a word that
means ordinary people, or non-magicians, in the Harry Potter series.
Geocaching
can be as easy or as hard as you wish. Each cache listing is
accompanied by two numbers; for example, 1/3. The first rates how hard
the cache is to find, while the second rates how difficult it is to get
there. Both are on a scale of 1 to 5. A rating of 1/1 would be the
easiest, suitable for toddlers or the physically challenged, while a
2/5 would be a cache that is not difficult to locate, once you get to
the end of a rugged, uphill hike. The new Lincoln City hides are
family-oriented, with ratings under 2. As your skills improve, you can
graduate to finding micro caches, which are as small as a pill bottle,
or multi-caches, which require several finds, each offering successive
clues and coordinates. There are an estimated 650,000 caches hidden in
100 countries around the world.
Although geocaching depends on a
vast online community and a fun-loving commitment to secrecy, it’s far
from isolating, Smith said.
“It’s very social. We go to events to
meet other geocachers, and we meet all kinds of people,” she said. “We
even spot other people in the woods, because it’s easy to tell that
they’re not just hikers. We flash our GPS units at each other.”
“I’ve
taken my parents to do it, my nieces and now my grandchildren. In a few
weeks, my girlfriends and I are going to Vegas. And we’re going to
geocache!”
The “Passport to Geocache Lincoln
City” brochures are available at two locations: the Lincoln City
Community Center, 2150 NE Oar Place, (541-994-2131, Lincolncity.org), and the Lincoln City Visitor and Convention Bureau Information Center, 801 SW Hwy. 101, (800-452-2151, oregoncoast.org). It ends May 18, or when all the 200 special geocoins are gone.
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