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 Remember
the popular game we played as kids called "hide and seek"? At Legacy of
Leesburg and Royal Harbor, a group of residents enjoy a hobby similar to
"hide and seek" called "geocaching," a pastime which has spread to all
parts of the world in recent years. John Krupcale, a resident of Legacy,
saw a documentary on TV about the hobby and has been involved with it
for two years. John was employed in the field of Telecommunication
Engineering for over 30 years, so he became "hooked" as a result. To
date, he has hidden three caches himself in nearby areas, and has found
almost 50 different caches along the East Coast during his travels up
north.
 Geocaching
is a sophisticated outdoor adventure game which makes use of the Global
Positioning System (GPS) and the Internet. Participants set up caches,
or hidden prizes, anywhere throughout the world. The location of these
caches is shared on the Internet by indicating the latitude and
longitude of its location. GPS users utilize the coordinates to search
for these caches, and when they are found, the discoverer may take
something and/or leave something, and usually sign the logbook which is
located inside of the cache. The discovery is then logged onto the
website. This website is used as a means of listing the locations of
hundreds of caches, a log of cache findings, clues towards finding
caches, and many other statistics that make the hobby interesting.
There are several types of caches that can
be "hidden." A regular cache contains some type of trinket, as well as a
logbook. A virtual cache brings the searcher to an object, such as a
statue, and questions are provided for the discoverer to answer about
it. A multi cache, when found, gives clues as to how to find the next
cache in a series of hidden caches. Sometimes a "travel bug" is enclosed
in a cache, a tag that asks the finder to carry the attached item to
another location, with the hope that the item will end up many months
later at a designated spot.
 One
of the goals of geocachers around the world is the "Cache In, Trash Out"
program. This goal is to encourage "finders" of caches to clean up the
general area where they find a cache, as a means of improving the
environment.
Interest in geocaching has become so vast
that it is now a very active hobby in all 50 states as well as in over
200 countries. It all started in May 2000, when someone hid the first
cache in Oregon, and its finder built a web page as a way of documenting
the find.
Becoming an active geocacher is not
difficult. All it takes is the purchase of a GPS unit and accessibility
to the Internet. The GPS unit is an electronic device that indicates
your location anywhere in the world by determining your latitude and
longitude. It is similar to the GPS system now available in automobiles,
but it does not broadcast your location to other parties. The GPS
receiver obtains its information from the 24 active satellites that
circle the globe, and it is able to calculate distance, direction,
elevation, and in some cases, maps and built-in compasses.
For more about this fascinating hobby, visit
www.geocaching.com.
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