Treasure hunters around metro Grand Rapids aren't much into plundering, and their maps appear on digital displays powered by batteries rather than decomposing parchment with secret clues missing.
But you couldn't tell the difference between a modern day treasure seeker who engages in geocaching and a pirate looking for lost booty when it comes to enthusiasm. They are just discovering a different type of fortune.
"We've found more parks and public areas that we never knew existed, both here in Grand Rapids, and in other states and countries," says Marc Ellens, a software engineer at X-Rite, Inc. (http://www.xrite.com/home.aspx?region=94&lang=en) in Kentwood. "It continually changes. If you're adventurous, you can cache year-round."
Ellens, 42, is one of a growing number of adventuresome souls in West Michigan who engage regularly in geocaching, an outdoor recreation where someone seeks out an exact treasure spot through the use of the U.S. military's Global Positioning System (GPS).( http://www.gps.gov/) The system employs a network of 24 satellites originally lofted into orbit by the U.S. Department of Defense for military purposes that has since been opened to civilian use.
As one bumper sticker for geocaching puts it: "Use multi-million dollar satellites to find Tupperware."
"It's kind of cool [that we] use technology -- very, very expensive technology -- to do something fun and cheap outside," says Ryan Norman, 28, who found his first cache last month using his brother's GPS.
"It was pretty far off the beaten path," he recalls. "We parked on the side of the road, and walked in, and it was ‘hiding' on top of a mossy stump. It wasn't very hard."
There are 932,724 geocaches listed around the world on the Geocaching - The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site (http://www.geocaching.com/), with more than 500 in a 10-mile radius of downtown Grand Rapids.
Since September, Norman and his wife Rebecca, 25, have found 15 caches and plan to hide their own. Though they usually cache together, Norman is occasionally moved to go it alone.
"It's pretty versatile. You can do it with groups or alone," Norman says. "If I happen to know there's one really close, I'll find a parking lot and go for it."
Your basic cache is a waterproof container with a logbook, holding small items such as plastic rings,(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vSWSXaAyP4&feature=player_embedded) foreign currency, and wooden tokens. Some cachers also hide travel bugs and geocoins – traveling items (http://www.geocaching.com/track/) that tracked online by their numeric IDs. According to www.geocaching.com, the sport's virtual Bible, geocaching etiquette requires that "if you take an item, leave an item, and write in the logbook.”
The first recorded geocache was hidden in Beavercreek, Oregon in May of 2000. Earlier that year, the government disabled the Global Positioning System's Selective Availability security control – increasing accuracy for non-defense users tenfold and making geocaching possible.
“Dave Ulmer placed the first geocache, then called a ‘GPS Stash’, and posted its coordinates online,” explains Jen Sonstelie, public relations staffer at Groundspeak, the company that manages Geocaching.com.
“Within three days, two people used their own GPS receivers to find the container, and shared their experiences online," Sonstelie says. "Four months later, geocacher Jeremy Irish began Geocaching.com as a listing site to support his hobby. Initial funding for the site [came] from the sale of 144 donated geocaching t-shirts.”
Joined by his dot-com colleagues, Elias Alvord and Bryan Roth, Irish started Groundspeak, Inc. to manage Geocaching.com. Their mission: “to inspire global play using location-based technology.”
Since 2002, Groundspeak has encouraged geocachers to practice “Cache In Trash Out” (CITO) (http://www.geocaching.com/cito/) to minimize the impact of the activity on the environment. An annual event by the same name helps raise awareness and spur volunteer clean-ups.
“It’s obvious when geocaching that people treat the environment as a trash heap,” says Ellens. “I wouldn’t consider myself an environmentalist, but we’ve participate[d] in the clean up on occasion because it’s just too obvious to ignore. I would guess that geocaching goes a long way toward making people aware of the problem.”
Today, there are caches stashed on every continent, including Antarctica, and Geocaching.com reports that there are more than three million geocachers enaging in the recreation worldwide.
"Anyone can participate, from very young to very old," Ellens says. "It's not hard to be successful."
Setting up an account on www.geocaching.com is the first step. Basic membership is free and allows you to search for caches by postal code and participate in forums.
"You type in your address, or whatever area you're in, and then you request a download, depending on what kind of GPS system you have," Norman explains.
"I receive a file via email and put it on my Garmin using the Garmin software. Some people even use their iPhones. There is whole suite of Garmin software that can be added to it."
Most geocachers use handheld GPS devices – they're more accurate and durable than car GPSes – which will set you back anywhere from $70 to $400.
"Once you have invested in the equipment, there is no cost," Ellens says. Even so, he was initially reluctant to take up the hobby because of the start up costs.
"I was pretty interested but not really willing to pay the cost," says Ellens, now an avid geocacher. "But shortly thereafter, because of the increasing interest, a marketing promotion offered a free GPS to participants, so I participated. The rest is history."
Norman also lucked out. Due to a perfect storm of markdowns, clearance sales, and gift certificates, he scored his Garmin for a fraction of the sticker price.
Ellens currently uses the Garmin Etrex Legend, unless he's traveling for business and using his iPhone. He recently received a Garmin GPS Map 60c (retails around $210), which he hasn't had the opportunity to use yet.
Finding a cache can take anywhere from 10 minutes to days, Norman says, due to the difficulty of the terrain, and the size and type of cache.
"There are varying difficulties of caches," Norman explains. "There's a five-star rating system that tells you how difficult it is to navigate to it. On top of that, caches vary in size. A ‘micro cache' can be the size of a thimble."
Micro caches are popular in downtown areas, says Ellens, because there are more rules about what you can hide and where in an urban setting.
"The caches are either very small and so often difficult to find, or they are virtual caches, which just means that you need to prove you were at a particular location, you don't actually find a container," Ellens explains.
“I am stunned by the creativity of the geocaching community,” says Sonstelie. “What I find exciting about it is that you can be right next to a geocache and not see it – they are often very cleverly camouflaged. There is a victorious feeling when you finally "see" the geocache that was completely invisible to you a moment before.”
Allegedly, a multi-part cache called Huff Trails is one of the hardest geocaches to find locally.
"It's been around for a long time," says Ellens, who geocaches with his wife Julie, 43, and his daughters, Karys, 15, and Serena, 13. "It's very clever with each stage requiring some thinking out of the box.
"We attempted this cache at least three times, with one time when it was pouring rain because we just couldn't let it go. We enlisted help from two other families during the whole process. Unfortunately, I can't give away any spoilers, but I'll suffice to say that not everything is as it seems."
If and when you find your cache, it's important to log it on www.geocaching.com.
"It's basically like an online collection," says Norman about the website. "You go online and say ‘I found that' and it keeps a record of all the ones you find and all the ones start."
Ellens believes part of geocaching's growing appeal is that it offers something for everyone and takes cachers to unexpected places.
Ruth Terry is a freelance writer living in the East Hills neighborhood. She also works as a grant writer for an international nonprofit organization.
Photos:
Ryan Nelson local geocaching enthusiast (4)
IPhone geocaching app
Photographs by Josh Tyron -All Rights Reserved