Geocaching: A worldwide scavenger hunt

Photo by Sean Sauro / Here I am climbing a tree to get a geocache hanging on a branch.

*This blog post first appeared as a story in the Altoona Mirror's December 2016 edition of "Blair Living."

By Brian Yermal Jr. 
For Blair Living

More than a decade ago, Sue Burket learned about something known as “geocaching” while attending a Girl Scouts leader training weekend.

She thought it sounded fun, so Burket decided to try geocaching for herself. On Sept. 11, 2004, Burket found her first geocache at the site where the statue of former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno once stood at Beaver Stadium in University Park.

Since then, Burket has located about 5,000 geocaches.

Since its start in 2000, geocaching has garnered global attention with more than 3 million active users worldwide, according to the official geocaching website. Nearly 830,000 geocachers reside in the United States alone.

Many central Pennsylvanians such as Burket – an Altoona resident who previously lived in State College and Pittsburgh – have embraced the hobby.

Geocaching is an outdoor scavenger hunt where people use coordinates to find hidden “caches.” Caches are containers that store a logbook or a piece of paper that geocachers sign to make their find official. Caches vary in size from magnetic capsules no larger than a fingernail to Tupperware containers and ammunition boxes. Larger caches are used like treasure chests to hide trinkets.

Geocachers are allowed to take items from the cache as long as they replace them with something of equal or greater value. Some caches contain “travel bugs,” which are objects that are meant to be carried from one cache to the next. Travel bugs feature a tracking code on them, which can be entered online to show where the travel bug has been.

Geocaching can be a cheap hobby, depending on how you play it. Players can find geocache locations on the official website at geocaching.com. In order to virtually log finds, players must create an account and a username for the website. Having a basic account is free, but in order to have access to all geocaching locations, players must pay a premium subscription that costs $5.99 a month or $29.99 for the year.

Some players use a GPS to find geocaches, but the official phone app, which can be downloaded for free for Android and Apple devices, can also track your location to find geocaches.

There are more than 2.8 million registered geocaches in about 180 countries, according to the geocaching website, meaning players can find them just about anywhere. Some examples of geocache locations include state game lands, cemeteries, parks, libraries, towns, parking lots and mountains, Burket said.

“There is a nice variety of caches here. There are some caches which test brain power or physical strength, some easy ones and some that lead to surprising spots,” Burket said. “There are some you can find quickly and some you can spend hours to find. ​There are some to find at night, underwater, in tunnels or caves, up trees and just in the ends of guardrails.”

Some locations have high concentrations of geocaches. Huntingdon County is home to more than 100 geocaches in places such as Lincoln Caverns, the Thousand Steps, Raystown Lake, the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River, and downtown Huntingdon, said Matt Price, executive director of the Huntingdon County Visitors Bureau. Price, who geocaches with his son, said geocaching helps bring awareness to attractions in Huntingdon County, and it can be played year-round.

“It’s a great way for people to get out and explore the area,” he said.

Some areas are designated as “geotrails.” The Main Line Canal Greenway GeoTrail has 22 active geocaches and coincides with the 320-mile corridor of the Pittsburgh to Harrisburg Main Line Canal Greenway, said Justin LaVelle, heritage education coordinator with Allegheny Ridge Corp.

The Main Line geotrail was started in December 2010 as a way “to offer a new and unique way for people to experience the greenway,” LaVelle said.

“We have heard some amazing stories from cachers who came specifically to our greenway just for the geotrail and then discovered the bounty of history and recreation it has to offer,” he said.

Some of the most popular caches on the geotrail are located at the Cassandra Railroad Overlook in Cambria County, the Lower Trail, Chimney Rocks Park and the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, LaVelle said.

Geocaches can be difficult to find with just one person, so teaming up with other people can help. Burket geocaches alongside her spouse, Terry, and their two dogs, as well as with friends on occasion, she said.

People who are new to geocaching or want to find fellow geocachers can join groups on Facebook such as the Central PA Geocachers and the Johnstown-Altoona Geocaching Association, Burket said. There are also geocaching-related events listed on the geocaching website “where everyone is welcome,” she said.