The Moser family are geocaching geeks.
They have stopped at remote locations in Alberta and British Columbia to search for hidden caches and have hidden their own caches in both provinces.
“We’re good geocachers,” said eight-year-old Carson Moser.
The family recently moved to Camrose and have found that using their GPS unit to search for caches around the city’s lake is a good way to get to know their new community and get out of the house.
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“With three boys, it’s like a treasure hunt,” said Kelli.
Geocachers walk, hike, bike, boat or drive to sites using GPS co-ordinates to search for hidden caches.
“I like finding the toys,” said Carson.
Kevin Edwards of Three Hills, Alta., said geocaching is a high tech treasure hunt that uses multimillion-dollar satellites in the sky to find Tupperware in the woods.
Mostly it’s just a fun game, said Edwards, who helped host 1,300 geocachers from around the world in a mega geocaching event in Three Hills, Alta., July 15-17.
“Geocachers love to go off the beaten track. They like to see interesting things and unique thing,” said Edwards. “It’s a family friendly way of seeing intriguing, interesting and forgotten places.”
Edwards has found 100 caches since he began geocaching more than a year ago. Many of his holidays and trips include stopping at geocaches along the route.
“Geocaching takes you to out-of-the- way places. When you go on a trip you have something to do while you’re there.”
Before leaving on a trip, geocachers log onto www.geocaching.com, type in the postal codes on their travel
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route and download the co-ordinates of the caches.
Then the search is on to find the hidden cache, some as small as an old fashion film canister and others that involve solving clues and travelling to several locations.
After the cache is found, the geocacher makes an entry in the log book, takes something from the cache, leaves something for the next player, returns the cache to the hiding place and logs the visit on the geocaching website.
The Visitor Information Centre in Camrose rents out handheld GPS units and helps beginning geocachers get started. There are more than 85 caches within a 16 kilometre area of the centre.
“This is a way of getting people to stop at the smaller towns,” said Krystle Pederson, a travel counselor with the centre.
Sweis Ubels’ wife introduced him to geocaching when she decided he needed a hobby.
The Three Hills pastor has found more than 1,000 caches across Canada and the United States and created and hidden his own caches.
“The unexpected is just a thrill for us,” said Ubels, whose best discovery was a 1950s nuclear fallout shelter bored into a mountain near Canmore.
“It’s stunning,” said Ubels, who would have driven past the tunnel like thousands of other tourists if it wasn’t for geocaching.
“These things are hidden everywhere. It slows people down. I really think it’s such a hit because it combines outdoors and exercise with social media and the digital world.”
For some geocachers, it’s all about the numbers and finding as many caches as possible. For others, it’s about learning history or getting outdoors or spending time with family.
Ubels created a cache called Learn your Manors, a cache hidden by the old Manor school district east of Three Hills.
As part of the cache, Ubels has written the history of the old Manor schoolhouse and nearby church.
Other cache routes are built along historical trails or small towns that encourage geocachers to drive to remote locations.
Alberta’s historic Legacy Trail has 200 caches between Three Hills, Drumheller and Dorothy. Economic development officers in rural communities use geocaching to help bring visitors to their communities.
During the Mega geocaching event in Three Hills, Ubels planned to host a geocaching event while canoeing on the Red Deer River. The caches are only accessible by water.
HOW DOES GEOCACHING WORK?
Choose a location and fill a waterproof container with items to trade and a logbook.
Register the site on geocaching.com
Other geocachers use hand-held GPS units to look for the cache.
Finders take something from the container as a memento, leave something for the next visitor, sign the logbook, return the container to its hiding place and log their visit on geocaching.com
Variations:
Micro cache: Small caches, often in film containers with only a log sheet. They are hidden in urban settings.
Multi cache: A cache that uses instruction to lead the player to several locations for a tour of an area.
Mystery cache: The player must solve a puzzle to find the cache location.
Event cache: A meeting of several geocachers for a day or weekend of caching.
