GPS Games

Part treasure hunt and part techie obsession, geocaching has turned a military application into an activity for the families and adults who never quite grew up.

Geocaching, also known as Global Positioning Stash Hunting, is a game developed to use GPS (Global Positioning System) technology in the hunt for caches of goodies across the state and around the world. GPS users log onto sites like geocaching.com, write down (or download) coordinates to start a hunt for one of the millions of caches and trek off in search of a hidden box with "stuff" in it.

That is about the most accurate description possible for the items found in a geocache. The geocachers are asked to sign a log book and trade an item from the box. Items in the caches can range from keychains to buttons to scratch-off lottery tickets to oddities like a "crazy glow wild waffle lite," found in one cache.

For most people, geocaching is less about what is in the box than the hunt to find it. The items, after all, are generally just trinkets.

"It is not really about the cache that I find," local geocacher, Woodwalker9 said. "It is the places that geocaching takes me."

Woodwalker9, who preferred to use his online name only for this article, said he has learned a lot about history through geocaching. He said he learned about artist Peter Wolf Toth, who traveled the country sculpting statues of Native Americans. The 13th sculpture is located in Little Rock.

He has visited historic log cabins, submarine memorials and a boxcar given to Arkansas by France after World War II. And he has the pictures to prove it. Woodwalker9 has posted 139 photos of caches he has found on the geocaching.com website.

He has found 309 caches since he started hunting them in May 2003.

"Those are things I never would have known about without geocaching," he said.

Jimmy Poor, who goes by the Internet handle firechief1956, said he likes geocaching because it gets him out and enjoying nature.

"Taking this little device and depending on something that is miles above you and finding something that small," he said. "That is just amazing."

Poor, a volunteer firefighter for Letona, said he and his wife take their 4-year-old granddaughter out to hunt for the caches. The family has gone on about a dozen together.

"We let her pick things out (of the cache) when she goes with us," Poor said.

He and his wife visit garage sales to get things to leave in the cache. He said he prefers leaving miniature flashlights or other firefighting-related items behind.

Of course, that depends on the type of cache that is involved. Some ask for specific items to be placed in the waterproof cache boxes. One of Woodwalker9's newest caches, named "The Final Frontier," is built around a space theme. It contains several space-related items. Another of his caches is built around state quarters, asking visitors to leave a state quarter in exchange for a regular one.

Woodwalker9 is one of the more prolific cache hiders in the White County area. At present, he has about 10 caches hidden, mostly in Searcy. One of his latest projects is to try and offer a day of hunts to people who might visit Searcy. He contacted the Searcy Parks and Recreation Department to ask if the city minded him placing caches in the local parks.

"They loved the idea," Woodwalker9 said. "And we have had a great response."

He said several people from outside the area have contacted him about the series of six hunts.

David Camp, a local optometrist, only began hunting for caches a couple of months ago, but said he especially enjoyed the "around the town" hunts. He referred to geocaching, as many people do, as a "treasure hunt."

Camp's wife Cheryl, who purchased the family's first GPS device, said David hunts as often as his schedule allows and daydreams about getting out to do it.

When he does get a chance to hunt, he tries to take his 12-year-old son Kit along with him. David said his son is not always as enthusiastic as he is about hunting, but they have fun when they do go.

"It seemed like a good way to get out and see nature," he said about his original interest in the game. "You actually have a place you are going and not just hiking around without a purpose."

To learn more about geocaching, log onto the following websites:

- www.geocaching.com - The original site.

- www.todayscacher.com - An alternate caching site, with information about the game's history.

- www.arkgeocaching.org - Arkansas Geocacher's Association website.