Finding Hidden Treasure

Growing sport of geocaching appeals to modern day treasure seekers worldwide

Can you remember the thrill of searching for and finding Easter eggs when you were little? Or maybe when you were a kid you imagined finding a map to a buried treasure, following the map to the giant X, and then digging for the treasure chest. For many of us those days are long gone, but we can probably remember the thrill that came with hunting for and finding treasure. That thrill is the same feeling that drives people toward the sport of geocaching and it’s a thrill we can experience right here in the Comox Valley.

Geocaching can be described as a real world scavenger hunt that never ends. To geocache is simple—you create an account on www.geocaching.com, use the site to find a cache hidden near you, enter the coordinates onto your GPS or smartphone, and have a great time finding the geocache. Then you sign the enclosed logbook and go online to log your find. It’s as easy as that.

The sport of geocaching is fairly new—the first geocache was placed on May 3, 2000 in Oregon. Since then the sport has grown by leaps and bounds. In fact, geocaching is listed as one of the fastest growing recreational sports of the millennium. There are more than 1.7 million active caches hidden worldwide—and this number grows every day. The Comox Valley has more than 400 caches, and if you count the caches from North Nanaimo to Campbell River, there are more than 4,000.

Just as you’d imagine, all those hidden caches are waiting to be discovered. In the past 30 days alone, more than seven million caches have been logged as found. Worldwide, there are more than five million people who actively geocache, and a good many live right here in the Comox Valley.

Kurt Bauman and Linda Walton are two such Comox Valley residents, though they lived in Victoria when they were bit by the geocaching bug two years ago. It happened when they were relaxing and watching a movie that mentioned the sport. They looked at each other and said, “That sounds like something we’ve got to try.”

Since Bauman already had a GPS it was easy for them to start searching. They went online, created an account so they could access the cache coordinates, and then went out the next day to find their first cache. “It was so much fun that we couldn’t wait to find the next one,” says Walton. Soon the couple was searching for caches almost every day. “We went a little crazy,” she says, laughing. “We just couldn’t get enough of it.”

The couple found quite a few caches those first couple of weeks. Walton recalls how the searches took them to spots they would not have ventured, such as tiny community parks and secret places with stunning viewpoints. The sport also got them outside regularly—to locations both in the city as well as in the wilderness.

Caches range from simple to complex, random to themed. Many require you to bring your own ‘swag’ to trade.

Photo by Seadance Photography

It wasn’t long before they decided to set their own caches. They purchased some things to create caches people would remember. They didn’t want their caches to stand out in clear view, but they did want them to stand out in people’s memory. There were online sites where they could buy merchandise related to geocaching, but after a while they began to wonder if they could produce their own items. Since Bauman already had experience in retail, and Walton was trained as a marketer, it seemed natural to consider creating their own store. “That entrepreneurial spirit is in both of us,” Walton says. So they immediately got to work to create an online store that promoted the sport they’d grown to love.

Let’s Go Caching! went live in 2011 and their slogan, appropriately enough, is “Get Geared Up with Us!” In fact, they stock hundreds of items relating to the sport. Online shoppers can find a variety of geocaching supplies, from apparel and flashlights to cache boxes and logbooks. But they don’t carry just any cache boxes—the beautifully camouflaged caches they sell are hand painted by Bauman. He also designs and builds cache boxes from ordinary things like tennis balls and electrical boxes. He even creates caches that are cleverly disguised to look like anything but a hidden treasure, such as ferns, insects, rocks, and my personal favorite: the cache disguised as dog poop—gross, but effective.

So far the Let’s Go Caching! website is catching on. Though mainly popular with Canadians, the fact that it’s an online store means anyone from any country can browse their merchandise. Just recently they sent an order to a happy customer in Australia.

Even though Bauman and Walton run a geocaching store, it’s important to note that one doesn’t have to spend a lot of money to enjoy the sport. “You can spend as much or as little as you want, it just depends on what sort of geocacher you are,” Walton says, noting that the geocaching account is free, and it doesn’t cost anything to find the caches. You just need a GPS or a smart phone. And if you don’t have either of those you can join a geocaching club, where the caches are found collaboratively.

Many caches require you to bring some little trinkets—also known as swag—to trade. But swag can be inexpensive things you have around the house—little baubles someone may appreciate, spare key chains, colorful erasers, or stickers. However, like many other geocachers, you may eventually find yourself putting little things in your shopping basket—simply because they’d be great for trading. “Just the other day I found two robot keychains I just had to have because they’d make great swag,” says Walton.

Kids especially like finding the caches to look through the swag. Some caches will have entirely random contents, but some caches are themed where all the contents relate to a specific subject or type of item. For example, one cache hidden here in the Valley is full of Kinder surprise toys that can be traded. Another cache is full of pins. These themed caches will have special instructions on the website, so you’ll know what to bring with you for trading.

Unlike many sports, geocaching is an activity most people can try, whether they’re nine years old or 90. Some geocaches can be reached with very little walking and are quite easy to find; other caches are even designed to be wheelchair friendly. At the other extreme, some caches are found on mountain tops and take hours of hiking to discover. Furthermore, there are caches that can only be found by scuba divers and some are on islands, accessible only by boat. Some caches require rock climbing to find, and some are designed to be found under cover of darkness.

Whatever the difficulty, geocaching is a great way to get the family out doing something together. Even rainy days won’t keep the kids from wanting to search for another treasure. Kids love following the coordinates to the spot and then scouring the area to find the hidden cache. Geocaching is a great way to solve problems together—especially the caches that are harder to find, or have puzzles that must be solved before the cache can be revealed. But no matter how many finds one has logged, it’s always a thrill to look into a hollow log and see the hidden cache, or to solve the puzzle to get the extra clue.

Some people find the occasional cache and some geocachers find several in a single day. One day, Bauman and a friend found 34 caches. In total, he and Walton have found almost 500. That’s impressive, but the record so far is an astounding number—more than 69,000.

To help geocachers increase their stats, some trails—called power trails—have multiple caches hidden along their length. However, to keep the search interesting and always challenging, there are rules as to how close the caches can be placed. “You can’t saturate an area,” Walton notes. In fact, one day they had to move a cache just a couple of feet to make sure theirs wasn’t too close to another cache nearby.

Because the sport of geocaching takes place outside, it’s a great way to get exercise and fresh air. “I know some people who have lost weight geocaching,” says Walton. “Geocaching just gets you outside and moving.” Some people who desire to lose weight or improve their fitness, instead of vowing to go to the gym every day, vow to find at least one geocache each day for a month. Needless to say, they’re likely to be successful in their fitness goals—probably because they’re having so much fun.

Geocaching is interesting in that it is a sport that can be as simple or as complicated as you make it. You can take the sport as far as you want—literally. Many people actually travel the world looking for caches. Some even work geocaching into their holidays. Come to think of it, geocaching is a fantastic way to break up those long road trips—“Are we there yet?” can turn into “How long until the next geocache?”

Just like everyone’s personal take on the sport, the caches themselves range from simple waterproof boxes containing nothing but a log book, to beautifully decorated boxes and puzzle caches where you must solve multiple riddles to discover it. Specifically, there are 17 different kinds of caches, and each are rated from easy to very difficult. The variety built into the sport ensures that even after thousands of finds, geocachers will always be challenged.

Because the sport can be complex, Bauman and Walton have created a geocaching blog, where they videotape their experiences searching for and finding geocaches. They have also teamed up with two other geobloggers—one from Sweden and one from the US—and every Sunday at 10 am they broadcast a live show based on geocaching. On these shows they discuss issues related to the sport and they interview people about their experiences geocaching. After two years, Bauman and Walton are still enthralled with geocaching. That’s one of the reasons they have taken the steps to create their YouTube channels and open a geocaching store. “We’re doing it because we’re passionate about the sport,” Walton says. “We want to help others learn about geocaching, and we want to offer merchandise that keeps it interesting and fun.”

To find out more about the sport of geocaching go to www.geocaching.com

To visit Bauman and Walton’s online store go to www.letsgocaching.com

To meet other geocachers visit the Mid Island Geocaching Organization at www.migeocaching.org

To familiarize yourself with the sport of geocaching you can watch Kurt and Linda’s adventures on their YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/letsgocaching