This was in the Little Falls Times newspaper back on June 2nd.
Little Falls, N.Y. —
What do “Moss Island Earthcache,” “Buttermilk Falls,” “Blue Light Special,” “Herkimer Gold Dust,” “Herkimer History,” “Russell Park 2: Take a Seat” and “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” have in common?
They’re all listings for geocaches in the vicinity of Little Falls, Herkimer, Ilion and Frankfort; and there are hundreds of others within a 100-mile radius. Many are located at historic sites, places with interesting natural formations, parks and the like.
What’s a geocache?
It’s the proverbial pot of gold at the end of a high-tech treasure-hunter’s rainbow.
As noted on geocaching.com. geocaching is “a real-world, outdoor treasure-hunting game using [global positioning system]-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.”
The coordinates lead searchers to the general vicinity of the geocache container which usually contains logbooks or logsheets for people to sign. Some contain items. The boxes generally contain small trinkets. Finders may exchange an item of their own with one in a geocache box. The rule of thumb is that one should leave something of equal or greater value when taking an item.
For members of Little Falls’ C.A.R.E. (Community Advocates for Revitalization Efforts), geocaching is a way to increase “low-impact” visitation to Moss Island and enhance appreciation of the site.
In order to go geocaching, one needs a GPS device or a mobile phone with a GPS application, like iPhone’s Geocaching Intro or Geocaching.
A call to the Herb Philipson’s Army and Navy store in Herkimer revealed that handheld GPS models there run about $200.
Paul Jaquay, the sporting goods supervisor, said the store carries Garmin, Bushnell and Lowrance devices. The store also has BackTrack devices to help you find your way home again.
The devices also available for sale online and at big-box stores like Wal-Mart, Kmart and Target.
Once a prospective geocacher has equipment, he or she needs a treasure map.
Groundspeak Inc.’s website,
www.geocaching.com, has a wealth of information about geocaching, equipment, rules, and a database of geocaches all over the world.
With a free membership, geocachers can watch videos to learn about the sport and get detailed information about geocache coordinates in specific zip codes, states/provinces or countries; notes about terrain and difficulty; hints; sometimes photos (with a caution about spoilers that might give the treasures’ location away); the size of the geocache container; and more.
It’s a sport for families and sports enthusiasts alike.
There’s even extreme geocaching and multi-caching for seasoned enthusiasts.
