BLAKE KNIGHT
Staff Writer
The day of Monopoly has passed. Scrabble tiles lie in thin sheets of dust and are strewn about the shelves of grandmother’s game closets everywhere. A new era involving more advanced gaming – video games involving motion detection – and more exciting ways of achieving a sense of entertainment is at hand. This is the age of geocaching.
Geocaching – “geo” for earth/geography, and “cache” for the process of hiding or storing something – is a relatively new form of recreation. Players are not given a weathered treasure map to seek out their goal, but are instead provided with hints and a set of coordinates that they input into GPS devices.
Combining the electronic technology of the Internet with old-fashioned treasure hunting, geocaching has treaded into uncharted territory for entertainment. Using some sort of waterproof package, usually Tupperware, fellow “hunters” are encouraged to place trinkets and messages of encouragement about the wilderness for other to discover.
While it may sound simple – how hard could going to a point on a GPS system be? – there are many things to consider when first embarking on a geocaching adventure. Location plays a key role in the overall amusement of the outing and some people take it to extremes.
“My chemistry teacher in high school was all about geocaching,” freshman Joe Riegerix says. “One time he told me about how he sank a box in the middle of a river where he lived. I don’t know if I would’ve swum in a river to get whatever his prize was. That’s taking it a little too far.”
Although there are some caches that are more for the veteran hunters, there are hundreds of locations on the online databases that have prizes still to be discovered. A simple search of the Malibu ZIP code brings up 2,204 within 25 miles of Pepperdine alone.
To get started on finding your first cache, all you need is a GPS system. On this campus, it’s easy to find students with GPS devices on the dashboards of their cars, but if you find yourself without one, you can buy them for around $100.
“It seems like an interesting idea,” junior Lauren Morton-Farmer says. “I can see why people would be into it with it being like a treasure hunt. It’s nice that it gets people up and out of the house to do something out of the ordinary.”
Out of the ordinary indeed! With various prizes at each location – small amounts of cash, toys, books, CDs, games and other items usually worth less than $10 – every geocaching adventure holds a new sense of excitement.
A popular prize left in caches is a disposable camera. A message with the camera generally instructs each “hunter” to take a picture of himself/herself. When the camera is full, the person who placed the cache will develop the photos and display them on Geocaching.com so that all of the participants can get an idea who has been “playing.”
According to the website, the one rule of participating is: “If you take a prize, you need to leave a prize of equal or greater value.”
That’s understandable since it would be easy for people to get online, get the coordinates and go raid dozens of cache sites to come out with a bit of cash and some free prizes. It also says something else about geocaching – the people who participate are looking for pure fun. It takes a lot of trust to plant a small treasure and expect others to do the same for you, but people who play abide by the rules and have a good time.
“Explosives, ammo, knives, drugs, and alcohol shouldn’t be placed in a cache,” instructions on the website say. “Respect the local laws. All ages of people hide and seek caches, so use some thought before placing an item into a cache.”
Geocaching is blazing a new trail in wholesome entertainment, and since that’s what most of its participants are looking for the idea is becoming widespread with families all across the nation. It can also been seen as a tool of education because the hunters learn not only how to work the GPS and the ways of navigation, but different geographic locations as well.
Participating REI stores – the closest one being in Santa Monica – offer free introductory GPS courses every so often. Bored for the summer? Pick up a GPS device and start treasure hunting in the hills of Calabasas.
05-23-2007