GEOCACHING

WRITTEN BY REX

"Geocaching is an entertaining adventure game for GPS users. Participating in a cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the wonderful features and capability of a GPS unit. The basic idea is to have individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the internet. GPS users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches. Once found, a cache may provide the visitor with a wide variety of rewards. All the visitor is asked to do is if they get something they should try to leave something for the cache."

AS I SAID LAST WEEK I BOUGHT A HAND HELD GPS UNIT. WE TOOK A COUPLE OF UNSUCCESSFUL TRIES AT GEOCACHING , BUT FAILED. THE UNIT DOESN'T WORK UNDER THE TREES, AND STAY LOCKED ONTO THE SATELLITES. THE NEXT TRY TOOK US ONTO PRIVATE PROPERTY AND WE JUST WEREN'T COMFORTABLE SEARCHING AROUND SOMEONES BACK YARD.

WE DROVE OUT TO WASHOE LAKE STATE PARK AND BEGAN OUR SEARCH FOR THE DEADMANS CREEK CACHE. FIRST YOU ENTER THE LONGITUDE AND LATITUDE INTO THE GPS RECEIVER:
N39(DEGREES)14.119 W 119(DEGREES)45.932

WE STARTED UP THE TRAIL AND THE GPS UNIT INDICATED WE WERE .3 OF A MILE FROM OUR TREASURE. AS WE'RE HIKING ALONG ENJOYING THE SPRING FLOWERS THE GPS UNIT INDICATES WE ARE GETTING FARTHER AWAY FROM THE TREASURE. I CONCLUDED WE WERE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE CREEK, SO WE GO BACK TO THE TRAILHEAD AND START WALKING UP THE OTHER SIDE. THE GPS UNIT INDICATES HOW FAR YOU ARE FROM THE WAYPOINT (TREASURE) AND SHOWS THE DIRECT LINE YOU SHOULD BE TRAVELING. THE GPS IS HAPPILY COUNTING DOWN THE DISTANCE, AND SUDDENLY CLICKS OVER TO FEET, NOW I'M 500 FEET FROM THE TREASURE. DAM, THIS IS GOING TO BE EASY, BUT NOW I'M GETTING FARTHER AWAY? THE GPS SAYS I'M HEADED SOUTH AND I NEED TO BE HEADING DUE WEST !!!

AHHH......... DUE WEST IS STRAIGHT UP THE SIDE OF A MOUNTAIN............ I AM GOING TO FIND THAT TREASURE I DON'T CARE IF IT'S STRAIGHT UP THE MOUNTAIN!, I DON'T CARE IF IT TAKES AN HOUR, A DAY OR ALL WEEK !

NOBODY WAS HURT, BUT I DON'T THINK MARY WILL BE FOLLOWING ME UP ANY MOUNTAIN SIDES EVER AGAIN! LESSON LEARNED, THE GPS INDICATES HOW FAR YOU ARE FROM THE WAYPOINT IF YOU COULD FLY. THE ACCURACY IS AMAZING, TO WITHIN 5 FEET OF THE POINT.

SUCCESS !!! I FOUND THE TREASURE UNDER SOME ROCKS ON A ROCKY OUTCROP OF THE MOUNTAINSIDE. A HUNDRED FEET AWAY I FOUND THE TRAIL WHICH WOUND IT'S WAY SAFELY UP AND AROUND THE MOUNTAIN.

WHILE ON THE MOUNTAIN TOP I TURNED THE GPS OVER TO MARY TO LEAD THE WAY AND WE FOUND OUR SECOND TREASURE. THE BENEFIT OF THE SEARCH WAS A BEAUTIFUL HIKE UP THE MOUNTAIN AND A MOST BEAUTIFUL SITE DOWN TO WASHOE LAKE AND ACROSS THE VALLEY TO THE SNOW CAPPED SIERRA NEVADAS ON THE OTHER SIDE. THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT !!!

WE'VE CREATED A NEW PAGE ON OUR WEBSITE TO LOG OUR GEOCACHING HIKES.THE PICTURE ON THAT WEB PAGE IS A TREE WE FOUND AT THE TRAILHEAD OF OUR FIRST HUNT. A SILVER TREE IN THE SILVER STATE.