'Caching' in on fun

Geocaching hobby leads to adventure

By SUSAN THACKER

Friday morning, Tim Winkelman of Great Bend set off on a high-tech game of hide and seek – but the object of his search was an object, not a person.

A hand-held Global Positioning System device told Winkelman he was close – probably within 30 feet a hidden cache. Instructions found on the Internet told him he was looking for a black 35 mm film canister somewhere on the Great Bend Public Library grounds.

After a few minutes of searching, Winkelman retrieved the canister from its hiding place. Inside was a scroll listing other treasure hunters who had come before him.

Winkelman’s hobby is geocaching – pronounced geo-cashing – a worldwide game of hiding and seeking “treasure” using satellite-based navigation systems. Sponsors call it “the sport where you are the search engine.”

According to geocaching.com, The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site, there are 917,765 active caches hidden in outdoor locations around the world. The last time he checked, Winkelman said over 2,000 of those cashes were within 100 miles of Great Bend.

Sometimes a cache holds nothing but a paper log for finders to sign. Those can be as small as the film canister or perhaps a magnetic key holder tucked under a park bench. But not all caches are as tiny as the one unearthed by Winkelman on Friday. Sometimes the cache is an ammo box or a Tupperware bowl filled with swag – such as wooden nickels or small toys. According to geocaching etiquette, whoever finds a cache has first choice of what’s inside, but for every item removed another item should be added.

Other rules are to leave sites undisturbed, although some geocachers make a point of picking up trash. There is no digging required to find a cache, and caches are never on private property unless the property owner has given permission. Caches can be just about anywhere in the outdoors, except for national parks, Winkelman said, and no cache should be within 0.1 of the mile of another cache.

Reportedly, some caches have contained valuable prizes for the first person to find them. But for most geocachers, the fun is in the thrill of the hunt, Winkelman said. Along with family members, he has trekked across the state, enjoying scenery and exercise as he hunts for caches. Some are an easy “park and grab,” such as the film canister at the library, but one journey had searchers reaching out over a small cliff to retrieve their prize.

“It’s great to do with kids,” Winkelman said. “It teaches them a little bit of history.” Retired people search for caches as they travel around the country.

Free membership at Geocaching.com allows members to view the coordinates and location information for geocaches, write about their experiences in an online logbook and share geocaching stories and photos online. The Web site also offers a buying guide for GPS devices and other information for getting started.