Geocaching: a modern day treasure hunt

Grandma Dall left her mark in 45 states and seven countries in Europe. A coin she left behind trailed 20,000 miles across the Atlantic to Europe and is now somewhere in Texas.

Grandma Dall, a.k.a. Cindy Dall, isn't on the run but on the hunt for caches.

She's a geocacher - a modern day treasure hunter.

In three years she's found over 178 caches all over the world.

"That's nothing," she said, "Some cachers do that in a month."

Geocaching is a location based game where geocachers ("cache" is pronounced "cash") use GPS to locate hidden treasures.

The caches can be anything from a rolled up logbook to coins.

There are over 1.4 million caches hidden around the world. The locations of these caches are logged on Geocaching's website ( www.geocaching.com) using longitude and latitude coordinates.

It's the cacher's mission to use his GPS device to find those coordinates.

In a 20 mile radius of Sebring there are 222 caches hidden. Near the library, government center, park and parking lots.

Some caches like "Let's read a story" have clues that are well hidden in a micro container.

Others, like the one quart camouflaged container in Crescent Beach, tell you to watch out for muggles, people who don't play the game but spot a geocacher and later find the cache.

The term muggle comes from the book "Harry Potter."

Caches can be as small as the length of a thumb nail to as big as a military ammo box. The micro caches typically hold just a log where the larger ones hold interesting treasures from past visitors.

These contain a logbook, where geocachers log their name and date of find.

To pump up enthusiasts to the game, some cachers leave a SWAG, which is an acronym for "stuff we all get."

These are trade items that include random things like toy soldiers, coins, bottle caps, old photographs or key chains.

The caches can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to find. They can be hidden on the ground, up high in a tree or disguised into their natural surrounding.

Finding it using the clues and coordinates is the thrill of the game.

"You can have a lifetime of fun," said Dall, who geocached while on vacation in Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Ireland.

"Ammo boxes are the best," she said.

Containers like the one in Crescent Beach took just a few minutes.

A jogger who found the cache last week wrote, "Thanks for bringing me here."

Its logbook dated back three years ago to Nov. 11, 2007.

"Great find with my 4-year old son. Thanks for the frog," wrote one cacher who took a frog.

One of Geocaching's rules is when you take something you leave something behind of equal or greater value.

The ones who don't follow the rules ruin the game, said Diane Morse, geocacher and math instructor at Sebring Middle School.

Morse and Lyle Pontious, another math instructor, incorporate the game into their advanced sixth-grade class.

It helps students learn about the Pythagorean Theorem, longitude, latitude and how technology can be used for more than just playing video games.

For the last four years Morse and Pontious have taken their classes on a scavenger hunt to Highlands Hammock State Park.

There they hide about 26 caches and it's the class's mission to find them.

"It's the one trip they remember every year," Morse said.

How it started

Back in the day, when computers were a farfetched reality, people geocached using letterboxes.

Instead of GPS devices they followed clues to find the container and logged their find with a personal carved stamp.

In 2000 the term geocaching was born when a GPS enthusiast named Dave Ulmer wanted to check the accuracy of his GPS device.

He logged his coordinates online and the trend took off. In a few months 75 caches were hidden.

Although there are other Web sites that use the same principal of caching, geocaching is the largest.

There are hundreds of members in Highlands County and thousands more who when passing through stop and log a find.

Everyone from "Chief Talking Bull," "The 3 Amigos" to "Snowbirds Tom and Chickie," have signed a logbook in caches throughout the county.

It's a hobby for everyone, said Morse, who takes geocaching to heart.

She's found about 900.

She picked up one hitchhiking cache called a Travel Bug to Munich, Germany.

"I climbed up 14 floors and put it in St. Peters," she said.

On a trip to Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Stuart she found 55 of the 200 caches, in two days.

"What better activity than to be sightseeing and finding stuff," Morse said.

Join or create your own caches

So you want to start your own cache? Don't be shocked to find there are rules and etiquette to caching.

Here's a quick guide.

First you'll need a GPS device. Since most smart phones are equipped with this feature you can luck out by having to buy one.

Register as a member at Geocaching.com. There are two types of membership, the basic is free. The only requirement is a name and an e-mail address.

To find caches just enter a zip code on the "Hide & Seek a Cache" tab. You'll find a list of caches that have the date of its last find and its rate of difficulty.

To start your own, grab a logbook, a waterproof container and find a location.

If it is private property you will have to get permission. Otherwise log your site coordinates on the Web site and you're ready to start tracking.

Some people like to post photos of their find along with their log.

It's up to you how creative you want to be.

Remember what you leave behind may help the next cacher find the site.