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Treasure found in Lakewood and Edgewater!

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Contributed by: SM Merchant on 7/12/2006

Congratulations! You can find it, too!

Over 4,898 hidden caches are waiting to be discovered in Lakewood and Edgewater. I long for adventure -- adventure for my children and myself, like those out of the pages of Tom Sawyer, with named treasure and code names, wrapped in the rigors of the outdoors and exploration of the unknown.

Imagine finding a pirate's account book and treasure map like Jim Hawkins and his mother in Treasure Island. What would it be like traveling the hero's journey without a remote control, game card, joy stick or digitized computer graphics in real time and all within city limits?

I have found the ideal childhood restorer -- Geocaching! Geocaching is a sport and adventure game -- geo meaning "geography" and cache meaning "a hiding place for valuables." Geocaching uses the technology of a $20 billion system consisting of twenty-four satellites, millions of computers that make up the Internet, and a $100 hand-held GPS or Global Positioning System receiver.

The GPS is the tool that makes Geocaching possible. Technology is only the vehicle not an intoxicant. In May of 2000, the United States opened satellite signals to civilian and recreational users of GPS technology, allowing increased accuracy and the ability to explore peaceful, commercial and scientific applications. Geocaching, complete with website (geocaching.com), was born.

Dave Ulmer, the "father of geocaching and self-professed technology geek," came up with the idea for a treasure hunt. He hid a five-gallon bucket near his home and placed inside a logbook and trinkets for trading. He posted a message on the internet and encouraged others to do the same.

Today, there are some 269,715 active caches hidden in all 50 states and in 221 countries. The hand-held GPS device downloaded with longitude and latitude coordinates guide the participants to within approximately 10 feet of a hidden cache.

Participants are then likely to get their feet wet, their hands dirty and their minds stimulated in order to actually find the cache. Each cache is rated for difficulty and terrain on a scale of 1 to 5 -- 5 being the most difficult.

There are a variety of caches. Typically, once a cache is located, you write about it in the logbook at the site, take something and leave something in the cache.

My husband and I have introduced geocaching to my parents, who are octogenarians, a college-aged daughter and boyfriend and an 11-year-old disabled grandson, all with equal success. It is hard to imagine another hobby embraced with more enthusiasm.

Geocaching enhances relationships because of the team work it requires. My summer goal is to find all the caches hidden in the city parks but first we are going to hide a cache of our own -- look for it under the Jolly Roger flag, 10 paces east of the Spooky Bat Cavern!

Suggested Reading: The Geocaching Handbook by Layne Cameron and/or Geocaching For Dummies by Joel McNamara.

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Showing 1-2 of 2 comments

Submitted By: mark taylor

posted on 6/29/2006 @ 10:46:57 AM

Rated Story

Great job on this we to also are very involved with caching great story

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Submitted By: SM Merchant

posted on 6/29/2006 @ 9:48:01 AM

Rated Story

Intriguing!

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Showing 1-2 of 2 comments

CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

SM Merchant

Lakewood , CO

SM Merchant has posted 152 stories and 2 comments since joining on 2/24/2006. SM Merchant's average story rating is 4.93.

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