A Specical Section of:
Geo Caching In
Author: By Ashleigh Livingston | 
The sport, known as geocaching, began in the U.S. in 2000 and has since spread throughout the world, making addicts out of its participants.
People all over the planet hide weatherproof containers of various sizes in publically accessible locations. They then record the GPS coordinates of their hide and post those coordinates on a geocaching website, the most popular being www.geocaching.com.
Members of the site can then login, search for missions in their desired zip code (there are currently 12,928 geocaches within 100 miles of 12901 and 1,106,697 geocaches around the world, according to www. geocaching.com), plug the coordinates of their chosen mission into their own GPS system and navigate their way to the hidden container, or cache.
Because caches are typically hidden outdoors, finding them may require hiking, bushwhacking and even paddling.
“One thing that’s really nice about geocaching is you can do so many other things with it,” says Jeremy Billow of Champlain, who geocaches about once a week with his wife Colette and their two children. “A lot of people will go fishing and geocache or hiking up a mountain and there’re geocaches on the mountain, and I do photography, so I typically go [geocaching], and I’ll bring the camera, and I’ll take pictures of wildlife.”
Jeremy and Colette keep a record of their geocaching adventures on their online blog(geo-billow.blogspot.com), which Colette says has become a great way for friends and family from out of town to stay involved in the couple’s daily life.
Of course, geocaching wouldn’t be much of a treasure hunt if there were no treasures. While some caches are no larger than a thumbnail, all contain a logbook in which finders inscribe their name and the date of their find. It is customary, however, for larger caches to contain tradeable knickknacks called swag.
There are no rules about what swag can be other than that it should be kid-friendly, says Elin Ohara of Plattsburgh, who was introduced to geocaching while studying abroad in Sweden.
“[Swag] is almost always of no monetary value what so ever,” she says. “It’s the sort of stuff you’d find at the dollar store.”
Typical swag may include items such as decorative pins, plastic figurines or hair barrettes.
If a cache finder takes a piece of swag, he or she is obligated to leave a piece of swag so that the cache is never depleted.
Aside from being a great outdoor, group activity, Jeremy says for many people, geocaching has a strong environmental element to it and that often people, including himself, will tuck garbage bags inside the cache containers to promote keeping the area clean.
“When you’re out and about geocaching, if you see garbage along the way, you pick up the garbage and dispose of it properly because the world is the game board,” he says. The sport has even taught Jeremy and Colette’s young daughter the importance keeping the earth clean.
“Our daughter, who’s three [years old], is hard-core when it comes to trash,” says Jeremy. “She’ll run over and pick up bottles, it doesn’t matter what they are, and she’ll want to throw them away.”
For anyone interested in putting his or her own treasure-hunting skills to the test and giving geocaching a try, Ohara says only three things are required – a pen for signing the logbook, an activated account on a geocaching website, such as www.geocaching.com (free accounts are available) and a GPS device.
Although some of the North Country’s caches are available year-round, it seems the fair weathered months make finding the cache and exploring the outdoors a bit easier.
“It’s more difficult to [geocache] in the winter time, obviously because there’s snow covering up the ground,” says Ohara. “It’s a great activity for the summertime.”
People all over the planet hide weatherproof containers of various sizes in publically accessible locations. They then record the GPS coordinates of their hide and post those coordinates on a geocaching website, the most popular being www.geocaching.com.
Members of the site can then login, search for missions in their desired zip code (there are currently 12,928 geocaches within 100 miles of 12901 and 1,106,697 geocaches around the world, according to www. geocaching.com), plug the coordinates of their chosen mission into their own GPS system and navigate their way to the hidden container, or cache.
Because caches are typically hidden outdoors, finding them may require hiking, bushwhacking and even paddling.
“One thing that’s really nice about geocaching is you can do so many other things with it,” says Jeremy Billow of Champlain, who geocaches about once a week with his wife Colette and their two children. “A lot of people will go fishing and geocache or hiking up a mountain and there’re geocaches on the mountain, and I do photography, so I typically go [geocaching], and I’ll bring the camera, and I’ll take pictures of wildlife.”
Jeremy and Colette keep a record of their geocaching adventures on their online blog(geo-billow.blogspot.com), which Colette says has become a great way for friends and family from out of town to stay involved in the couple’s daily life.
Of course, geocaching wouldn’t be much of a treasure hunt if there were no treasures. While some caches are no larger than a thumbnail, all contain a logbook in which finders inscribe their name and the date of their find. It is customary, however, for larger caches to contain tradeable knickknacks called swag.
There are no rules about what swag can be other than that it should be kid-friendly, says Elin Ohara of Plattsburgh, who was introduced to geocaching while studying abroad in Sweden.
“[Swag] is almost always of no monetary value what so ever,” she says. “It’s the sort of stuff you’d find at the dollar store.”
Typical swag may include items such as decorative pins, plastic figurines or hair barrettes.
If a cache finder takes a piece of swag, he or she is obligated to leave a piece of swag so that the cache is never depleted.
Aside from being a great outdoor, group activity, Jeremy says for many people, geocaching has a strong environmental element to it and that often people, including himself, will tuck garbage bags inside the cache containers to promote keeping the area clean.
“When you’re out and about geocaching, if you see garbage along the way, you pick up the garbage and dispose of it properly because the world is the game board,” he says. The sport has even taught Jeremy and Colette’s young daughter the importance keeping the earth clean.
“Our daughter, who’s three [years old], is hard-core when it comes to trash,” says Jeremy. “She’ll run over and pick up bottles, it doesn’t matter what they are, and she’ll want to throw them away.”
For anyone interested in putting his or her own treasure-hunting skills to the test and giving geocaching a try, Ohara says only three things are required – a pen for signing the logbook, an activated account on a geocaching website, such as www.geocaching.com (free accounts are available) and a GPS device.
Although some of the North Country’s caches are available year-round, it seems the fair weathered months make finding the cache and exploring the outdoors a bit easier.
“It’s more difficult to [geocache] in the winter time, obviously because there’s snow covering up the ground,” says Ohara. “It’s a great activity for the summertime.”
