Palo Alto community explores geocaching

Uncover treasures around the world using GPS coordinates

posted October 19, 2009

by Gaby Cahill of Campanile

geardiary.com

Geocachers use numerous clues along with a set of GPS coordinates to find hidden objects.

After punching a set of Global Positioning System coordinates into her iPhone, Palo Alto High School Living Skills teacher Leticia Burton sets off to do what every young child wishes they could –– discover hidden treasure.

She will not unearth a buried chest filled with gold or magnificent jewels but instead with only a couple of clues and an iPhone application in hand, she will be sure to find adventure, excitement and maybe even a little bit of history.

Burton is geocaching, something she describes as a "high tech treasure hunt." Geocaching utilizes GPS technology to allow people to hide and find small treasures all over the world.

"What captured my imagination was the idea that there is treasure everywhere and we don't even know it," Burton said. "As we go about our lives, there's all this unseen stuff around us that geocaching allows us to find."

While geocaching locally, Burton has encountered pieces of the Berlin Wall, among other things.

A colleague, Paly History teacher Arlyn Sharpe, first introduced Burton to the world of geocaching.

"I consider geocaching to be a cross between geeky and outdoorsy," Sharpe said. "People have always hidden stuff for others to find, but I think geocaching is the 21st century buzzword for this more techy way of doing it."

Sharpe, who says her lifelong fascination with geography first led her to try geocaching, joined the Paly teaching staff this year.

She herself , learned about geocaching from a colleague, whom she taught alongside at the School for Independent Learners in Los Altos.

"This teacher had geocached all over the world, from India to Ireland," Sharpe said. "I think the international aspect is very cool."

Caches can be hidden anywhere from the middle of University Avenue to deep below the surface of the ocean, but all must be found using a set of GPS coordinates posted on a geocaching website such as geocaching.com by the creator of the cache.

When the price of GPS devices started to decrease in the early 2000s, geocaching started coming into prevalence and the popularity of geocaching went up. Marc Prioleau, the parent of two current Paly students, was involved with GPS technology for many years.

"As [GPS devices] got better and cheaper, more people started using them for geocaching," M. Prioleau said. "A whole community sprung up around the geocaching websites."

Prioleau often searched for geocaches with his son, sophomore Luke Prioleau.

"I started geocaching when I was nine or 10," L. Prioleau said. "I liked it because you could do it anywhere, and time and at any difficulty."

When a new cache is made, its creator posts several pieces of information other than the requisite GPS coordinates. Several clues to help the searcher are usually included, along with its difficulty on a scale of one to five.

"You can select the difficulty of the cache you set out to find," Sharpe said. "Some are right in front of your face, while others have many parts or involve strenuous hikes."

Each cache, no matter how easy or difficult it is to reach, also contains a logbook where people record their journey each time they find a cache.

Caches may also contain small toys or trinkets, which, if taken, must be replaced by something of equal or greater value.

"The things you find inside the cache have no real value," M. Prioleau said. "Geocaching is more about the hunt than the object you find."

The trinkets geocachers find inside the cache are not nearly as important as the places that the caches lead them to.

"One of the things that attracted me to geocaching was that if I was in a place I hadn't been to before, I could go out and find interesting locations that I wouldn't have found otherwise if someone hadn't placed a geocache there," former Paly parent Bill Haydock, whose daughter Sarah graduated last year, said. "Caches often take you to interesting places that you wouldn't have found by yourself."

Geocachers agree with Haydock's sentiment that different variations of caches have arisen where caches have evolved to be both physical places and creative activities.

"Some caches are physical, but another type of cache is based on videos," Haydock said. "You go to the specific spot, and a webcam will take your picture. To claim the cache you have to go to that place and have someone take your picture with the webcam."

To sign the logbook and prove they have found the cache, the geocacher must follow clues and coordinates to a specific location. Once there, the finder will not encounter a box of trinkets, but a web-streaming camera.

Other variations on the traditional physical cache include locationless geocaching, which is similar to a scavenger hunt. Instead of coordinates to a cache, a description of an object is given.To claim this cache, the finder must look for the object in the description and post its coordinates, along with a picture of him or herself at the location. The same coordinates may not be used twice to fulfill any one cache. Though Haydock is a very experienced geocacher who has found around 700 caches all around the United States, a single cache he found several years ago in Monterey remains one of his favorites.

"In the early days [of geocaching] people really thought about where they put the caches," Haydock said. "Someone had placed a geocache way out of the way, up a fire trail, but it had the most staggering view of the entire Monterey Bay. It was the kind of place only locals know about, and geocaching gave me a kind of window into local attractions I wouldn't normally have."

While Haydock enjoys searching far and wide for his caches, Burton prefers to look for caches close to home.

"It's a great thing to do with family," Burton said. "I like being outside and walking around in the fresh air with my grandchildren, and I enjoy the sense of connection with others geocaching gives you - you're sharing an adventure with people you don't even know."

Though Sharpe is novice in the world of geocaching, she is certain that it is more about the feeling of exploration than simply finding small hidden objects.

"It's a neat, accessible and inexpensive way to expand your horizons and learn about new places," Sharpe said.