GPS game

Geocaching is a hobby that combines hiking and treasure hunting with hand-held Global Positioning System devices. 8216;8216;Cachers8217;8217;, as they are called, hide waterproof containers8212;caches8212;and mark the exact locations with GPS coordinates posted on the Internet. Other cachers punch the coordinates into GPS receivers and follow the digital directions to the hidden prizes. What8217;s inside the containers8212;usually cheap knickknacks, plastic toys and a logbook8212;is not significant. It8217;s the challenge of the hunt that fuels this sport.

The hobby is surging in popularity, almost doubling in new players annually for nearly six years. Now is the time of year the pastime gains newcomers. More geocaching converts are made in December, January and February because people who receive GPS units as Christmas gifts discover that the hand-held devices have recreational uses beyond locating the nearest Starbucks.

But geocaching is not as simple as following directions from a GPS unit, which is accurate to within 10 ft at best. At the satellite coordinates, a cache might be placed inside a fake rock, a plastic apple, a faux bird nest, even a knot in an oak tree. A cache can be as big as a car battery or as small as a pencil eraser.

Geocaching has about 1 million players worldwide, enthusiasts who rummage through parks, trails and city streets in search of more than 222,000 caches in 219 countries, according to Geocaching.com. There are now caches in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia and Lebanon. A brazen soul in Iraq even put a cache in the arm of a statue of Saddam Hussein in downtown Baghdad.

Attend a geocaching party and you are likely to meet baby boomers and retirees with an affinity for hi-tech gadgets, brain-draining puzzles and outdoor adventures. The banter will be laced with words such as 8216;8216;travel bug8217;8217; an item moved from cache to cache, 8216;8216;spoiler8217;8217; a hint to a hiding spot, 8216;8216;swag8217;8217; trinkets in the cache and 8216;8216;microcache8217;8217; a tiny hidden container.

Ogborn and O8217;Connell8217;s favorite cache was in an Oxnard park where the GPS device led them to a patch of grass. They found nothing but a lowly snail. They gave up, but returned later to find the same snail in the same spot. The snail, which was fake, was the cache and contained a tiny scroll instead of a logbook.

8216;8216;It8217;s the challenge of the search that we like,8217;8217; says Frank Marler, a Navy veteran who with his wife, Sandy, has uncovered about 300 caches in about a year. A cache includes a logbook to sign as proof of your find. In the case of microcaches, you sign a tiny scroll hidden inside. Money, food and drugs are not allowed in the caches. You may not bury a cache or damage the surroundings.

One recurring discussion: Is the ultimate goal to attain a high cache count or to experience adventures, meet people and explore the outdoors? For Steve O8217;Gara, an aerospace worker from Agoura Hills, the count is crucial. He ranks third in the world with more than 7,000 uncovered caches, an achievement he attributes to 8216;8216;power caching8217;8217;. O8217;Gara strives to find as many caches as possible. His record is 102 in a day. If O8217;Gara can8217;t find a cache within seven minutes, he doesn8217;t linger.

While O8217;Gara takes pleasure in uncovering caches, Roland Herman of Thousand Oaks, California, delights in hiding them. Herman, the manager of a high-tech company, creates lifelike caches that blend into the environment. He takes pride in a real acorn he fitted with a tiny metal container that opens with a twist to reveal a tiny scroll inside. Herman hid the acorn in a hole in the bark of an oak tree. 8216;8216;I get more fun trying to outwit them,8217;8217; he says of fellow cachers. 8216;8216;When they find my caches, they get a real thrill from it too.8217;8217;

Los Angeles Times