Geocaching makes Montana news

[Team Sidewinder]

New-age treasure hunting

catching on

04/18/02

By KAYLEY MENDENHALL Chronicle Staff Writer

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Hunting for hidden treasure is no longer a

game left to eye-patch-wearing pirates

with hooks for hands.

 

The New-Age pastimes of "geocaching"

and "letterboxing" have brought treasure

hunting to the 21st century. The games

challenge computer-minded souls with a

love for gadgets and outdoor exploration

to leave their cubicles and venture into the wild.

 

Armed with a topographic map, a global positioning system unit,

exact latitude and longitude coordinates and clues printed from an

Internet site, Mark Sheehan drove in the general direction of a

geocache hidden just north of Bozeman.

 

"The reason you want to print maps beforehand is you can see the

exact spot," Sheehan said as he searched for the right place to

park. "It is on this side of the river."

 

Before leaving for an afternoon adventure, Sheehan used his

laptop and a computer map program called "Topo USA" to get his

bearings. The software only costs about $50, but he said

geocachers could buy a topographic map at any outdoor gear

store that would work as well.

 

After a few wrong turns, Sheehan decided to park near a trailhead

for the "Main Street to the Mountains" trail system just off Bridger

Canyon Drive. He strapped on a fanny pack full of supplies and put

his GPS unit around his neck before heading down the trail.

 

"You can actually pick up a GPS unit on sale sometimes for under

$100," Sheehan said. Watching the arrow on the tiny GPS screen,

he narrated when the trail was veering off course from the final

destination of hidden treasure.

 

"Danger Will Robinson, danger," he joked as the trail wound

sideways away from the direction the arrow indicated. Soon it

straightened out and Sheehan knew he was within 10 feet of his

goal, he set down the GPS and scoured under fallen logs and

bushes until a small Tupperware box was found.

 

From a note pad placed in the box, Sheehan read entries from the

nine geocachers who had visited the site. The latest entry was

from Don and Nancy Wilson, the Bozeman couple who hid the box

of odds and ends including a yo-yo, a compass, golf balls and

some baseball cards.

 

"Most of our things are kind of like little camping gadgets or

survival tools," Don Wilson said of what he chooses to hide. "There

are certain things you don't put in caches. You don't put food in a

cache. We don't personally put any matches in caches. We think

about safety."

 

The Wilson's started geocaching a few years ago. They have

hidden nine caches so far and Don is working on a 10th that will

incorporate a series of clues leading people to different statues

around Bozeman.

 

"We've taken whole vacations just based on geocaching," he said.

"Most people who place caches, place them at neat places to

visit."

 

Sheehan admits he is more into letterboxing than geocaching, but

has an interest in both hobbies. Letterboxing is more labor

intensive. People are expected to carve their own unique rubber

stamps -- one to leave in the box they hide and another to carry

with them as a trademark.

 

"An article in Backpacker magazine gave letterboxing a higher geek

index," Sheehan said. "Because you have to carve the stamp."

 

Geocaching, on the other hand, requires only that a person carry

along an inexpensive trinket to leave behind in exchange for

whatever trinket is taken out of the box.

 

Instead of collecting items, letterboxers have a journal used to

collect stamps. Sheehan has hidden five letterboxes in Hyalite

Canyon, but he thinks he is the only letterboxer in Montana.

 

"It came first. I read an article about it in the Smithsonian

magazine," he said of letterboxing. "Geocaching is a little more

elitist in the sense that you have to own a GPS unit. Anyone with

Internet access can letterbox."

 

While this may be true, by Sheehan's calculations, geocaching is

about six times more popular than letterboxing in the United

States. Web sites like geocaching.org and letterboxing.org give all

the specifics of where to look, how to start and what rules to

abide by when participating in the hobbies. There are some ethical

issues about making fair trades and staying close to trails

discussed on the sites.

 

"The whole movement is very ecologically sensitive," Wilson said.

"Most people are very sensitive to the ecology and will try to put

them near a trail so people aren't traveling through the woods so

to speak. A responsible cache owner will check on the cache

every once in a while."

 

For most, it seems, the fun is more about the hunt and the glory

of finding the hidden box than what is tucked inside. Many who

had visited the Wilson's box north of Bozeman wrote, "took

nothing, left nothing," on the note pad.

 

Wilson agrees with that sentiment and said he likes geocaching for

the problem-solving aspects of it and for all the interesting places

it has taken him.

 

"If a hider is really thinking about a good place to hide it, they are

putting it in a place that is interesting or historically exciting to

see," he said.

 

Kayley Mendenhall is at kmendenhall@dailychronicle.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

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