Hide 'n Go Seek
Geocachers find fun and fellowship
Kevin Howell
Photography by Richard Fields
September/October 2007
author commentary | geocaching video
Chris Baker, aka Team Shydog, plugged coordinates into his hand-held GPS locator and led the way down a trail at Cass County’s France Park.
Keeping an eye on the locator as it tracked distance and direction, just past a split in the trail, he cut into the woods. One of a rapidly growing number of hobbyists known as geocachers, Baker was off searching for hidden “treasure” he had stashed for others to find.
A resident of neighboring White County, Baker was demonstrating the basics of an activity that was born, according to geocaching.com, in May 2000, when the federal government removed selective availability from GPS (Global Positioning Systems) satellites, drastically improving the accuracy of GPS technology.
Before the year was out, Dave Ulmer, a computer consultant, tested that accuracy by hiding a target in the woods, posting the coordinates on the Internet, and developing the simple geocaching rules of “take some stuff, leave some stuff.”
Bikedog's smashed penny geocoin; the Herd's geocoin shows the group members' tendency to injure themselves on the trail - a colletor's item since only 10 were made.
The “stuff” in Baker’s geocache, hidden under a log and partially covered with leaves and forest debris at France Park, included a silver Tennessee “geocoin,” a Travelbug he labeled “Merkman’s smashed penny collection,” and an assortment of other trinkets and prizes placed in a rectangular, metal waterproof ammunition can.
Baker said he took up this craze about four years ago.
“I started getting into it through a friend of ours when we (Baker and girlfriend Valerie Carson) went up to visit him in Michigan. He said ‘hey, we’re going out to do some geocaching,’ and we said ‘well what’s that?’
“He said basically it’s looking for Tupperware in the woods using GPS. I said ‘that really sounds stupid.’ Until I found the first one. From then on it has really been an enjoyable hobby or sport or however you want to classify it, to take part in.”
While Baker’s geocaching enthusiasm takes him on hunts in Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina and other states around the country, as well as to areas in Indiana, another enthusiast, Mike Hendricks, geocaches mostly around his home area of Spencer.
“It’s kind of an adult treasure hunt is what it really amounts to,” he said.
Hendricks, an electrician by trade and an avid outdoors enthusiast, said he learned land navigation by using a compass and a topographical map, and counting paces.
“When the GPS (units) first came out, obviously they were a big boon to land navigation, particularly for us older folks who learned it the old way,” Hendricks said.
Hendricks and friend Jack Steele enjoy walking through the woods when they’re not fishing or hunting. Searching for geocaches adds another bit of adventure to their hikes.
“I’ve only done two caches myself. They consisted of a .30-caliber ammo can for a stash vessel. I camouflaged it and put in some miniature birdhouses my wife painted, some trinkets and odds and ends - one had a 200-piece puzzle - whatever you can find on the sale shelf for 50 cents or a dollar.
“When the guys get there and dig it up, if they want something they’ll leave something - maybe their trademark - it’s all on the honor system. It’s fun and games to let someone know they found your cache and whether they like it, or if it’s a stupid place to leave it or whatever,” Hendricks said with a laugh.
Hendricks said he’s amazed at how popular the activity is becoming.
“The numbers are rising,” he said. “I see more and more people getting interested, especially through the Internet.”
A GPS unit points to hidden "treasure" (above left); Geocacher Amber Edwards, aka The Herd, shows off a few of her treasured coins (above right).
Hidden benefits
Hendricks and Baker are miles as well as years apart. The former is 52 years old; Baker is in his early 40s. Hendricks is from southern Indiana, while Baker comes from the north and works in Lafayette.
But both share the same attraction to geocaching and have gained an unexpected, similar reward from the pursuit. They’ve discovered areas of Indiana previously unknown to them, particularly its state parks and reservoirs.
“There’s a lot of caches I’ve read about that are in inner-city or urban areas, but the ones we tend to migrate to are out in the boonies,” Hendricks said. “We like long walks through briars and brush, going down deer paths and that sort of stuff. You think you know something about your home territory until you start doing this, then you find out the places you hadn’t known about.”
Near Spencer lies McCormick’s Creek State Park, one of the areas Hendricks has been getting to know through geocaching.
Baker’s adventures through the hobby have opened up the outdoor world of Indiana for him, partially through a DNR-sponsored contest in the fall of last year.
“I actually own a geocache at Prophetstown State Park,” he said.
He acquired it by participating in - and winning - a promotion called “Fall into Geocaching” that was coordinated by Brad Bumgardner, current interpretive naturalist at Indiana Dunes State Park, who was working at Pokagon State Park at the time. The program ran from Labor Day weekend through the end of December, with 22 of the state’s parks and reservoir areas participating.
In the contest, a cache with a special code word on the top of a log sheet (a required item in a geocache that whoever finds the object must sign), was placed at each site. The winner was the first individual to find 10 caches out of the 22, log the finds online, report to Bumgardner and have the finds verified. The prize was a $100 gift certificate to state park inns.
The names of other competitors who found at least 10 caches were entered into drawings for prizes like annual passes to state parks, camp nights and daily entrance admissions. Anyone who found at least one cache was entered into a drawing for commemorative T-shirts. About 1,000 participants logged in during the contest.
Afterward, Bumgardner contacted Baker to see if he was interested in taking over the Prophetstown cache, which he agreed to do.
Last spring the DNR developed a geocoin giveaway, with 100 specially made to contain a State Parks and Reservoirs logo. An imaginary character was created that visited the parks and hid the geocoins. Bumgardner said the contest and giveaway drew a lot of attention and that more are in the works. He said many properties, like Pokagon, Spring Mill, Potato Creek, Mounds and Clifty Falls state parks are hosting or organizing their own day-long geocaching activities, often for prizes.
A logbook entry at the (retired) Wing Haven geocache shows the enthusiasm of the first finder (above left); Geocacher Amber Edwards, aka The Herd, shows off more of her treasured coins (above right).
Naturalist turned geocacher
Bumgardner himself has caught the geocaching bug, although he knew almost nothing about the game until an encounter at Pokagon.
“A person who had found a geocache in the woods and didn’t know what it was came to the Nature Center to ask,” Bumgardner said. “I looked at geocaching.com, started to learn about it from there, and it all kind of fell into my lap one day.”
He became interested in it as a high tech scavenger hunt and now regularly goes geocaching with his girlfriend, with whom he has logged about 900 finds.
From the left: Contestants receive their coordinates and are issued flags for a closest-to-the-pin contest; geocachers use hand-held GPS units to gather information beamed from satellites orbiting overhead to determine where to plant their flags - once a winner is determined, a tape measure is employed to award second and third place;
Like Baker and Hendricks, Bumgardner has discovered new areas of the state through the hobby.
“That is the main reason I got into it. It allowed me to visit obscure nature preserves and natural areas that I might not have known about, or new areas of our parks that I didn’t know existed.”
One example he cited occurred last year at Spring Mill, while he searched for a cache called “Spring Mill Stonehenge” near the historic village. That one turned out to be an old overgrown Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) amphitheater.
“Walking toward it was reminiscent of finding an old jungle ruin,” he said.
Rules of the game
While geocaching offers a fun opportunity to get out and explore DNR properties, basic guidelines need to be followed to help protect natural, historic and other sensitive areas from damage.
A free permit is required to place a cache at a state property. Common-sense limitations are applied on the number of caches allowed on one property, and what’s allowed in a cache.
For example, no more than 25 caches, or a number derived by dividing the total acreage of a property by 200 acres, can be placed on one property. A property smaller than 200 acres does not qualify for geocaching.
Food, alcohol, firearms, drugs, items not suitable for minors, or items that could pose a danger to people or wildlife are not allowed.
Caches must also be inspected at least once every six months and removed at the end of one year.
Baker plans to adhere to the guidelines and remove his “adopted” cache from Prophetstown at the end of the year’s run.
He considers it praiseworthy that the DNR allows the activity to take place on its properties and said he is pleased with the amount of cooperation he has experienced from people like Bumgardner.
“He understands that we can work together to get people out to our parks and encourage them to enjoy it,” Baker said.
He said geocaching also fits in with Gov. Mitch Daniels’ efforts at promoting fitness, and getting people to hike and walk the trails.
Even when not on DNR property, at France Park for instance, Baker said he follows the guidelines and works with property managers to help maintain a good geocacher image.
“I have worked closely with the property manager and use the state park permit policy (at France Park),” Baker said. “I rotate out caches after a year so that I don’t cause any damage, or geotrails, and I want to basically leave no trace.
“The geocaching community worked well with the DNR to come up with a feasible policy – one that can be followed and (with which) we can still get out and enjoy our parks.”
With that in mind, he and other geocachers follow the CITO (Cache In, Trash Out) philosophy, picking up not only their own trash, but others’.
English ferns at Wing Haven may mask a geocache's location (above right), Member's of the geocaching teams Oak Travelers, Nana's Crew, 501 Gang, The Herd, Roc & Stone, Heidigoseek and Wolverine Warriors pose with the Wing Haven geocache as it is retired after a year of service in Steuben County.
More events, more fun
Baker is planning a CITO event at Salamonie Reservoir near Huntington this fall, complete with a hot dog cookout, geocaching, and a few hours of picking up litter at heavily used boat ramps.
The event is one of several at which geocachers gather for good times. Last winter Baker held an event at France Park, the Chilly Chili Open, Feb. 17, around a blizzard. His girlfriend cooked 13 pounds of chili. Baker located sites for about 35 geocachers to find caches as they trudged through 17 inches of snow.
Typically, one Indiana Geocachers event is held in the fall in southern Indiana, and another in spring in the northern part of the state.
In 2005 a gathering of more than 90 geocachers was held at France Park. Last spring close to 200 people showed up at Potato Creek State Park for a picnic. A drawing was held, from which roughly $300 was collected and given to the park’s Nature Center.
“It’s very important to help support everyone who helps support our hobby,” Baker said.
Whether it’s considered that, a sport, a game or, as Hendricks tagged it, an “adult treasure hunt,” the activity is gaining popularity.
For the base price of a GPS unit—about $100—a set of coordinates, and plenty of outdoor areas to explore, geocaching has become both an adventure and a 
great way to discover Indiana’s natural treasures.
And, said Baker, “it’s just all fun.”
For more information about geocaching check out www.geocaching.com.
Geocachers embark for a remote cache accessible only by boat at Wing Haven Nature Preserve in Steuben County (top left); Prizes are presented during an afternoon picnic at Wing Haven (above left); Geocacher with GPS receiver and PDA in hand (above right).