+WalruZ Posted February 19, 2004 Posted February 19, 2004 I've exchanged a few emails with a WSJ reporter who contacted me a few days ago. Below is the text of the last one (excuse any formatting issues). His last question for me was "is there anything new to write about geocaching?" -- I figured I would ask here. I intend to forward the replies back to him, so please stay serious and on-topic. Try. --------------------------------- Thanks! I did some additional research in the WSJ story archive, and actually found a story. That´s too bad, since my chances of writing about GeoCaching are not as large anymore because of that. But the story (below) is two years old. Since this is a newspaper, we can however print new stories, if something interesting has happened. So, except for that the number of GeoCachers have grown, are there any new techniques, approaches or some other funny thing that I can use to convince my editors? [text of previous article in 2002] LEISURE & ARTS Pinpoint GPS Spawns a Global Treasure Hunt By Susan G. Hauser 1,036 words 19 March 2002 The Wall Street Journal A20 English (Copyright (c) 2002, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) Portland, Ore. -- GEOCACHING, the international pastime that got its start in a bucket hidden in the woods here, has reached (at last count) 111 countries. There were a mere 105 countries involved when I went cache hunting for the first time on a recent Saturday morning, but things happen fast in geocaching, which is what you'd expect from a sport based on satellites and the Internet. The official Web site, www.geocaching.com, hails this as "the sport where YOU are the search engine." All you need is a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver (which costs about $100 for a basic model), Internet access to learn the longitude and latitude of the caches, and the brain of a dog. If you can behave like the type of mutt who leaps without looking, runs full tilt into hornets' nests, rolls in manure and scares the stink out of skunks, then you are cut out for this wildly popular sport. The reward for putting one's safety and sanity at risk is accolades on the Web site and a collection of silly toys taken one at a time (there's an honor system here) from caches hidden by fellow geochachers deep in the woods, high in the trees or even buried in sand at low tide. I owe my introduction to geocaching to an otherwise intelligent young man, Ben Higgins. He is happily employed as a software engineer, but on the weekends -- well, actually every spare waking moment -- he can make a tail-chasing hound look downright catatonic. He has located and logged more caches than any other hunter in the Northwest. On the morning he took me along, his total rose from 214 to 217, which is nothing really, since he's accustomed to finding up to eight caches in one day. With me following at a safe distance, he lumbered through the woods to find two separate caches. At a third location, he scrambled up a tree in high winds just to be able to sign his name in the cleverly secreted logbook. Some guy back East holds the national record with about 450 finds. But Mr. Higgins's number is impressive because he's been active just eight months in a sport that's nearly two years old. It came into being when somebody set out a cache on May 3, 2000, just two days after the government began permitting civilian-owned GPS receivers to pick up more accurate satellite signals. Previously, only the military could pinpoint exact locations; signal degradation prevented civilians from zeroing in closer than about 100 feet. The new sport's very first cache, just a bucket containing a logbook, was found outside Portland on May 6, 2000, by Mike Teague, using his GPS receiver and coordinates posted to an Internet newsgroup. A few months later Mr. Teague and Jeremy Irish, a Seattle Web developer, launched www.geocaching.com. Mr. Irish continues to maintain the Web site, currently the official hangout of hordes of geocachers seeking more than 14,000 caches hidden around the world. Mr. Higgins has put 21,000 miles on his truck by driving to cache sites. On the day I joined him, he added another 40 driving west of Portland into the Coast Range Mountains to find the first cache of the day. After we parked along the highway, it was a hike of a couple of miles into the woods before his GPS receiver indicated that we were close. The cache, which turned out to be a plastic bin containing trinkets and a logbook, was hidden in the crumbling remains of a rotten stump. I would have continued hiking, oblivious to the waiting cache, but Mr. Higgins's trained eye spied it. "Sometimes you find it right away," he said. "Sometimes you walk around for a half hour sticking your hand down stumps." Inside the cache were toys, knickknacks, lottery tickets and various other offerings. To play fair as a geocacher, one must put back as many prizes as one takes. Mr. Higgins took a toy alien for himself, and I chose a small jewelry box. He replaced those items with a box of crayons and a pack of baseball cards that he pulled from his backpack. He made an entry in the logbook, noting the date and time that he came across the cache. He said one is expected to write at length on noteworthy features of the hunt. He wrote about the beauty of the birdsongs we had heard as we hiked deeper into the woods. "People are missing so much!" he said, expressing his bewilderment that the woods were not full of nature-loving geocachers. Through his new hobby he has come to know western Oregon and the Portland area better than most denizens. "Oh, and I finally know where all the nude beaches in Portland are," he noted. Sadly, his former girlfriend broke up with him because he didn't share her love of hiking. That was before he came to associate physical activity with high-tech obsession. "All I needed was a GPS receiver, and I wouldn't have complained," he said. Since his conversion to geocaching he has tried to win the hiking ex-girlfriend back. But she kept on hiking without looking back. At 24, Mr. Higgins is the youngest of the 50 or so active geocachers in the Portland area. "Most of the people I know want to go partying," he said. "They're not into hiking out in the wilderness and looking for a Tupperware container." The second cache was hidden just off a path in a city park -- easy pickings for Mr. Higgins, who could save his strength for the third cache. It was strapped to a tree trunk about 50 feet off the ground. Mr. Higgins climbed the tree without mishap, which made this a breeze compared to the time he tumbled down a forest embankment, or the time he got lost in the woods after dark with no flashlight. But he'll keep on geocaching unless things change. "I might get a new hobby," he mused. "Or a girlfriend." Quote
+bigredmed Posted February 19, 2004 Posted February 19, 2004 There are several things. 1. The expansion around the world. 190 countries. 2. The International Cache Exchange. Now several between the US and Canada as well as Europe. This would spin the "international" aspect of the game. 3. The rather bizarre limits on geocaching placed by the NPS/FWS which seem unusually restrictive compared to the laisez faire view towards other sports that are obviously more ecologically threatening. The WSJ is heavily into these kind of stories and might be the angle your reporter could use to get this one past her editor Quote
+Gazza&Girls Posted February 20, 2004 Posted February 20, 2004 The above list but also rather than how geocaching contributed to a break-up, how aobut a couple geocachers who got together? Use them as the thread in the story to wrap CITO, cachers with over 1000 finds, NPS/FWS mess, etc. It has grown alot in 2 years. Quote
+aka Monkey Posted February 20, 2004 Posted February 20, 2004 I agree with bigredmed, the number of places that are banning geocaching while allowing other activities that they know to be much more harmful to the ecosystems is an interesting topic. What Geocaching needs is a lobby. Quote
+RJFerret Posted February 21, 2004 Posted February 21, 2004 I second some of those concepts: 1) Exponential growth. 2000-2003 my state had 200+ active caches. 2003-2004 there are now 400+! 2) Geo_Ho & Mopar might be willing to be a love story vis-a-vis caching. 2b) Other social aspects: locally we had 4 events last year and already one this year--all at least a full day if not all weekend, all featured at least 1/2 dozen caches to do. 3) Addressing the NPS ban compared to the benefits of caching is a great idea. 4) Innovations in the hobby: night geocaches, handicapped-accessible, puzzle geocaches, geocaching in education, etc. In terms of the NPS issues, an appropriate representative should handle that PR rather than just anyone. The dating aspect is topical to this time of year. The others would obviously be follow-ups to the original article. hth, Randy Quote
+GEO*Trailblazer 1 Posted February 21, 2004 Posted February 21, 2004 (edited) I am incorperating CERT Training with the GPS,and Fire Mapping as well. There are many advantages for it in Homeland Security,it all started with a similar article here for us. There are many Geocachers getting more involved in their communities due to the rise in the interest in the Sport. The main fact in my opinion being that we are getting out there and getting approvals,talking more in the communities and bringing in others from their respective communities and tying it all together. We all have a common goal to protect and preserve our Planet and will continue to do so.CITO>.>>>>> There are so many new things that has occured since the last article it merits a update. Some where here in the Forums a while back I posted The WSJ article that stated the top 3 Technologies for the next 7 years and These Technologies were there in the top 3. One Being International Communications Systems. Edited February 21, 2004 by GEO*Trailblazer 1 Quote
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