Under close inspection, it is possible to find a treasure inside the storm-splintered Douglas fir that spans Full Moon Falls. Most travelers pass the Route 58 waterfall without much notice, but to a growing number of outdoor enthusiasts known as “geocachers,” the secret stash at Full Moon Falls is one of more than 91,000 items waiting to be found.
The sport of geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) adds the thrill of discovery to a traditional hike by giving hikers the chance to search for strategically placed containers with the help of satellite signals. Participants download coordinates from the Internet and use a hand-held Global Positioning System to lead them to the hidden wares.
Though the concept of treasure hunting predates Robert Louis Stevenson, geocaching began when President Bill Clinton signed an initiative on May 1, 2000, eliminating “Selective Availability” restrictions on satellite signals. These precise signals, which until then were only permitted for military use, allow the public to use GPS devices to locate any position on the globe to an accuracy within six to twenty feet.
According to http://www.geocaching.com, the first official geocache appeared two days after Clinton’s announcement, when a Seattle man placed a notebook inside a watertight ammunition can and hid it in the woods outside of Portland. He e-mailed the coordinates to a friend, and a modern-day version of hide-and-seek ensued. Today, GPS devices are being used to link people in 200 locations ranging from Antarctica to Zimbabwe.
The rules of geocaching are relatively simple: Find the treasure, take something, leave something for the next finder and sign the notebook. Those involved with the game often assume aliases and log their comments on the official Web site.
The typical cache consists of a Tupperware container filled with small trinkets, though as the game gains popularity, so do the variations. Some coordinates will lead the finder to a hard-to-locate film canister in the middle of an urban area, while others lead to mountain tops and cave bottoms. In the more difficult caches, money is often left as a reward for the first finder.
While a person can get within 40 feet of the cache location by simply following the directional arrow on their GPS screen, finding the actual hiding spot often proves to be a more daunting challenge. Weather and tree cover can throw off the satellite’s accuracy, and the GPS cannot differentiate between a treasure on the ground and one 50 feet above in a tree.
“(The cache) could be anywhere. Under these rocks, in a log or in the ferns. Hey, I’ll bet it’s in the water!” said senior geography major Jay Grayson, a weekend geocacher who originally bought a GPS receiver to record the distances of his motorcycle trips. Grayson said he has looked for the Full Moon Falls cache twice.
“The best thing about geocaching is that everyone has probably walked by a treasure at some point without knowing it,” senior and occasional geocacher Nels Larson said. Larson, who signs his logs with the handle Free Range, was introduced to the sport when he accidentally stumbled upon a cache at the base of a tree in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley. Inside the weathered container was a note explaining the find and inviting him to join the game.
“It’s like a little secret that a whole lot of people are in on,” Larson said. “You never see the other players, but you know they’re out there.” In Oregon, both Portland Geocaching, http://www.pdxgeocaching.com, and Central Oregon Geocaching, http://www.cogeo.org, regularly organize group treasure hunts. Through the Web sites, geocaching families plan informal dinner parties at kid-friendly restaurants, swapping stories and phone numbers for future geocaching play dates.
The geocaching playing field includes all areas except private property, designated wilderness areas and National Parks. According to http://www.geocaching.com, there were 64,166 reports worldwide of people attempting to find a treasure at the beginning of April. As the number of active geocachers increases, so does their potential impact on the natural areas in which treasures are most often hidden. With more than 91,000 different treasure containers scattered across the globe, a sport created for those with an appreciation for nature has spawned a type of “geo-litter.”
A walk around the area of the Full Moon Falls cache reveals a fresh boot trail through delicate vegetation and over land that may have otherwise gone untouched.
“This is the dilemma,” Larson said. “We all want to walk off-trail to find that perfect spot, but we can’t all walk off the trail.”
Larson isn’t the only geocacher aware of the ecological setbacks caused by inviting people to explore lesser-known forests and beaches. The geocaching Web site supports the principle of “Cache in, Trash out,” through which geocachers are encouraged to pick up trash they come across in the process of treasure hunting.
“The best thing about geocaching is it gets people outside,” Larson said. “Once they begin to find enjoyment in the wild, they can learn to respect it.”
GPS units come equipped with a variety of features and can be purchased at sporting good and electronics stores nationwide. At the Eugene REI, prices range from $100 for a basic model to $450 for a GPS complete with voice instruction and color maps.
“The new models will even tell you where the best places for fishing and hunting are,” REI salesperson Emily Kegil said.
A group hunt will take place on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Sheldon Park, located next to Sheldon High School at 2455 Willakenzie Rd. Organizers request that participants RSVP online at http://www.geocaching.com.