{image1} Take something from the cache; leave something in the cache; write about it in the logbook. These are the three basic rules of geocaching (pronounced "geo-cashing"), a relatively new adventure sport that's wildly popular around the world, including Wisconsin.
Geocashing is kind of like a treasure hunt that's organized over the Internet, and hunters use a special device called a GPS (global positioning system) to find the caches. Caches are planted anywhere from the side of a mountain in Salt Lake City to the bottom of the Caribbean to a parking lot in downtown Milwaukee.
"I've been taken to the top of bluffs with beautiful views over lakes, inside deep woods, to the Northen and Southern units of Kettle Morraine," says Rick Amen of Wauwatosa, a three-year veteran geocacher. "I tried to find one while visiting Ireland and came close, but would have needed a boat to finally reach it."
Individuals, organizations and teams set up caches and then share the location coordinates on designated Web sites. GPS users take the coordinates and attempt to find the caches. Once found, a cache may contain anything, including gifts, "travel bugs," riddles leading to other caches, disposable cameras and/or a logbook.
The logbook contains information from other founders like their names, the date they made the discovery, jokes or information about other attractions in the area.
In return, the visitor is asked to leave something in the cache.
"The cashe contents are usually useless little trinkety things. I've left Benno's and Wolski's bumper stickers. I've taken some chicklets and a deck of playing cards. Somebody is always leaving behind those damn mini Altoids. Some caches leave a disposable camera, and wait until enough people have visited, retrieve the camera and post the pictures on-line," says Amen.
It's understood that certain items are not appropriate to stash in the cache, such as drugs, pornography or explosives. Geocaching is, after all, very popular with families.
Jonathan and Veronica Brewer of Whitefish Bay geocache with their two small children every weekend and some weeknights. They started caching when their daughter was just one month old.
"Instead of sitting at home and watching TV, we're hitting the trails," says Brewer. "We're discovering things."
The Brewers have found 140 caches, including one in Arizona in the middle of an Indian reservation.
"I've seen a lot of places I never would have seen," says Brewer, and he doesn't just mean out of state. He says geocaching brought him and his family to many Milwaukee County parks that he never even knew existed.
"Most of the cachers are interested in the world around them, and the cache is just a good excuse to get out and explore it," says Amen.
Most geocachers also have a strong respect for the outdoors, and consequently place caches in a way that's not disruptive to nature. Many caches, according to Brewer, even contain garbage bags so that people will pick up litter on their hike to their car.
Geocaching is a relatively inexpensive sport, although it requires you to have access to the Internet. A GPS can be purchased for as little as $100, or as much as $1,000.
As of the middle of May, there were 99,217 active caches in 203 countries. James Williams just planted one last week in central Wisconsin. He says it was his first cache, and he left a number of small trinkets, including a Pez dispenser.
"Geocaching is a rush," says Williams. "It's the only thing I can think of that combines nature with cyberspace, usually two opposing forces."
The offical geocaching Web site is www.geocaching.com
The Wisconsin Geocaching Association's (WGA) Web site is www.wi-geocaching.com
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
