Essays
Moseying: Outdoor Recreation Activities
Geocaching
July 30, 2003
On the first day of the Sibley Nature Center’s Llanero camp in mid-July, we first talked about what makes west Texas west Texas, and then went outside to pretend to be on "survivor," eating yucca moth caterpillars and mesquite beans. Then we "stayed frozen," sitting perfectly still for ten minutes without talking. Afterwards we discussed what we observed. Then we played "hunting for rattlers," by going into the thicket of willows at the east end of the pond. If there would ever be a rattlesnake at Sibley, that is the most likely place – but we never have found one. People have reported rattlers near the pond, so we are always super-cautious. The game “hunting for rattlers” demonstrates to students the heightened need to use all of our senses, just like critters have to do every waking minute.
What we did find while hunting for rattlesnakes was a geocache. If you click on geocaching.com you will find that over 40 small containers have been hidden at specific coordinates within an hour’s drive of Midland. To play, you need a GPS unit, so you can find the actual location of the longitude and latitude coordinates given for each cache. Even though modern GPS units are quite accurate, it can still be difficult to find what has been hidden. I interviewed local geocacher “Charizard” via e-mail about the game. “Over Memorial Day I found my first “virtual cache” in San Antonio. It was downtown, traffic roaring by with hundreds of people walking, and I had to stand trying to use my GPS, trying to not act suspicious and keeping the unit concealed.”
Like people in so many computer groups, geocachers use nicknames. With virtual caches the “owner” of the cache gives the coordinates, and then asks questions about the location. The finder of the virtual cache gets credit for finding the cache by answering the questions. After every geocachers non-de-plume on the cache’s webpage, the number of caches found by the correspondent is enclosed by parentheses. Charizard “owns” the cache at Sibley – she placed it there.
When a gamer finds a cache they remove one item from the cache and place a different one inside of it. People put almost anything into a cache, from little rubber toys to pencils, maps, pictures, tickets to shows or games, and a small logbook for people to write down when they found the cache. Some people make it quite the treasure hunt by leaving more valuable items such as CDs, jewelry, software, and even money.
Another item in some caches is a Groundspeak Travel Bug. These are purchased from Groundspeak, and they all have unique numbers. The cachers take them from one cache and put them in another. At least two travel bugs have passed through the cache at Sibley. Each travel bug has its own webpage that has a map to show its travels. Other gamers declare an object a “hitchhiker” and its movements are logged as well. One candle has traveled from Australia to Arizona, for example.
When you log on to www.geocaching.com and put in the zip code 79705, “Hogan’s Hideaway” is one of the cache’s listed. The coordinates are listed at the top of the page, then a brief description is given, with encrypted additional hints, then several pictures of places in the general area. After that is the list of logged visits. I was quite appreciative of a comment by “monkeyturtle,” who wrote on June 23rd , “nice little trail. I really liked the bench hidden in the middle of the trees.” On June 21st, Big Al Mac reported, “What an awesome first hunt. It was a nice West Texas evening. Just perfect for a little hike. Watch out for the field mice and the snakes, they were out. Almost gave up, but finally found it. Nice job!”
Team Tierra Buena, from Scottsdale, Arizona reported June 14th, “The couple who were in the car parked at the trailhead appeared to have, um, shall we say, a different idea of the “nature” of a nature trail than we do.” Team Tierra Buena, a married couple who have found 407 caches, were driving home, and to take a break from the boredom of driving down the interstate found the cache at Sibley, and the one at the Odessa Meteor crater. I decided they must have a laptop that can hook up to a cell phone.
On May 24th, sewbee wrote, “ I was scared off by the lightning. It seemed a little crazy to be looking around when not far away a transformer sent up a big ball of fire when lightning struck it, so I ran for the car.” On May 22nd, dObhran wrote, “I always thought that area would make a good cache site. The same day clanthomasj said, “ I left a hair tie to keep the hair out of somebody else’s eyes when the wind blows.”
On her description of the site, Charizard warns, “ do watch out for the mesquite thorns, they are long and will go through tennis shoes… I stepped on one placing the cache.” I have looked at a number of the other descriptions of caches within fifty miles of Midland, and discovered that Andrews has a hidden little lake that is surrounded by thick brush and trees. I plan on attempting to find the location, but without the help of a GPS. Although I like to go to the “boonies,” I always have topo maps to guide me, so I have never thought I would use a GPS, so I have not bought one. Deborah’s and mine 2003 vehicle has Onstar, which works with an onboard GPS system. If it ever was stolen, it can be found because of the unit, which is a real nice feature!
Charizard told me, “Cache In – Trash Out is a big push by geocachers. After you find the cache, and on your way back to the car, you are supposed to fill up trash bags and dispose of them properly.” It is wonderful to discover such a responsible civic attitude, and that geocachers are proud of their efforts. I looked through some of the discussions on the website, and found a number of different forums, including one about exotic weeds. Those geocachers that are knowledgeable about pest weeds reported that they pull up such weeds as they search for cache sites. Wow!
“I found out about geocaching through the purchase of my wireless phone,” Charizard wrote me. “One of the website options for the phone was geocaching. It was listed as a game, so I made it where I could access it. When I did access the website via the phone, what came up was GPS coordinates, but no explanation as what to do with them, so I got on the Internet. I am really hooked now!”