Treasure hunting, while watching out for Muggles, is not a storyline picked up from a best-selling novel, but is actually part of a worldwide pastime known as Geocaching– a popular activity in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
 If you have merely heard of geocaching, you may ask, “is that the hobby that uses GPS devices and satellites to find Tupperware™ in the woods?”
For curious Muggles, meaning non-geocachers, this article should serve as a proper Geocaching 101 class. Perhaps you may be intrigued enough to get out and give it a try this summer.
There are roughly 22,853 geocaches in Pennsylvania and approximately 1,369,365 worldwide. These numbers change daily, and sometimes hourly, as new caches are placed and older ones are removed.
The goal is to find a cache by using a hand-held navigation device, or GPS, to find specific latitude and longitude coordinates, found at www.geocaching.com.
Once a search is narrowed down to within a few feet, use of super sleuthing abilities, or “geo-senses”, kick in.
Frances Slocum State Park Ranger Rex Bradish explained that, with advances in technology, GPS units are not as expensive as they once were.
“I have seen people geocache with their cell phones,” Bradish said. “There’s an app for that.”
Some are hidden in the most amazing places, off the beaten path, while others are tucked away in parking lots and outside of fast-food restaurants. As inconspicuous as possible, caches are by no means easy to find. The size of the cache can range from a magnetic nano, which is the size of a pinky fingernail, to large ammo canisters.
As avid geocachers, team name Write2Live, my family and I have found some very creative containers including hallowed-out screws, fake mushrooms, and even a mind-boggling fake rock hidden amongst many real ones.
Inside each cache, a log book must be signed with your team name, noting the visit. In larger caches, tradeable items often emerge. Geocachers respect each other, so an item traded should be of equal value, and the cache should be put back where it was found, for the next person.
Sometimes, trackable items like special geocoins or travel bugs are found. These items possess an imprinted code and should be recorded and moved to another cache– similar to the message-in-a-bottle theory.
My team has several travel bugs out. One has traveled to the Netherlands and another to Canada, both within one year. It is interesting for children to watch how far their travel bug moves along.
A geocacher with 10,757 finds to his name, “Captainmath”, known in real life as Kevin Devizia, loves the thrill of the hunt, but also likes to see how creative geocachers are in their placement and choice of containers.
Devizia, a teacher from Millrift, Pa., explained that a colleague turned him on to the hobby. He received his first GPS as a Christmas gift from his wife in 2005.
“I could not wait to start using it,” he said. “For a geometry teacher, I have a terrible sense of direction.”
Devizia described the feeling he gets geocaching as a “kind of undercover operation” because the goal is to be stealthy and not draw attention from Muggles.
Many state parks and trail systems throughout NEPA have caches stashed away. Bradish noted that within Francis Slocum State Park’s 870 wooded acres, there are seven caches placed.
Any caches placed in a state park have to be registered and a $25 fee has to be paid. Trying to protect the natural areas, Bradish said caches must be removed after three years to allow the area time to reclaim itself.
Megan Taylor, environmental specialist with Hickory Run State Park, in White Haven, reported approximately 10 caches hidden within the park.
Geocachers try to hide caches in unique areas not normally seen by everyday activity. For example, Taylor claimed there is a cache hidden near an 1800’s-era cemetery within the park.
Devizia said geocaching has allowed him to try things he never thought he would, including climbing through a lava tube at Mount St. Helen’s in Washington, walking through a 2.3-mile abandoned train tunnel, and crawling under bridges.
“I even repelled for a cache once,” he said. “I hate heights.”
If this is extreme for your tastes, many local cachers keep their feet on the ground. Descriptions of terrain are also listed on the geocaching website.
Bradish advises geocachers to research each cache and dress properly for the area they will be walking through. Advice from those who know: bring water and use bug spray and sun block.
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