Geocaching celebrates 10 years
Geocaching celebrates 10 years
May 3rd, 2010 @ 6:15pm
By Keith McCord
SALT LAKE CITY -- This is a special day for those who participate in the outdoor activity geocaching. Ten years ago, it started as a fun way to add to a family's hiking experience. Now, there are millions of enthusiasts around the world, and they are celebrating in their own special way.
"It was 10 years ago that the satellites were turned on ... and we were able to use million-dollar technology to find Tupperware in the woods." - Charlotte Laudie, geocacher
This past weekend, a group of geocachers gathered in Mantua, Utah, or in their GPS language: North 41 degrees, 30.175 latitude minutes and west 111 degrees, 56.612 minutes longitude.
"It was 10 years ago that the satellites were turned on, however they do that, for the average person, and we were able to use million-dollar technology to find Tupperware in the woods," says geocacher Charlotte Laudie.
Tupperware containers, ammo cans, even small 35-millimeter film containers; the idea of geocaching is to hide a container someplace, fill it with odds and ends, mark the GPS coordinates, and list them on a website.
"You pick out what you want, put them in your GPS, and it will take you there. It'll get you to within 10 or 15 feet," says geocacher Gerald Brockbank.
"It's family-oriented, it's inexpensive -- other than the unit, depending on the one you get. It's great for families. Kids can do it," Laudie says. Over the last decade this activity has grown dramatically. More than 1 million so-called "caches" are hidden worldwide. Even the state of Utah got in on the fun a couple of years ago by hiding caches with special collector coins in all the state's parks.
Some call geocaching "hiding things in plain sight," and the fun is finding them.
"I've only found 104, which really isn't very many compared to most people," Laudie says. "My sister, I think, has found over 2,000."
"We're over 6,200," Brockbank says.
By the way, we checked our coordinates here at KSL and found there's 75 geocaches hidden just within a mile of Broadcast House.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=10630654
