KINGSPORT, Tenn. - Dozens of people scoured Bays Mountain Park in Kingsport in search of hidden treasure on Tuesday.
But there weren’t any treasure maps, compasses or metal detectors to be seen. This new band of treasure hunter relies solely on the guidance of GPS.
It’s called geocaching.
The Tricities.com team reported about the geocaching at Bays Mountain on News Channel 11 Tuesday evening.
But after watching the geocachers in action, we decided it was time for us to try it out for ourselves.
We quickly learned that it’s not as easy as it looks.
What’s The Cache?
Tucked under a tree branch in the forest or magnetically attached to a crowded city park bench, around 300,000 hidden “caches” are scattered around the world. The cache comes in many forms but always contains a log book that lists the names of everyone who has found it in the past. Some also contain prizes or pictures.
David Clark, A Herald Courier staff member who provided veteran geocaching leadership to our group, reported once finding a cache in North Carolina that contained a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure. The cache instructed the finder of the toy to move it closer to its intended destination in Alaska.
A few months after he placed it in another cache, Clark checked the cache online and read that the turtle had not only made it to Alaska, but was now on its way to Australia.
How Does It Work?
The longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates of where the cache is hidden are entered online by the person responsible for originally hiding it. Searchers enter the coordinates in to their GPS systems, and use the satellite aided technology to find the hidden treasure.
Ask a Geocaching enthusiast like the ones we met Tuesday at Bays Mountain Park and they’ll tell you that it’s not as easy it sounds.
As you’ll see from the video above, after geocaching in Bristol, we certainly agree.
Get Searching
If you want to get started on your own search, visit the website listed under the “Related links” tab to the left of this article. It provides detailed instructions on how to get started, including good advice for choosing the right GPS system to buy.
If you already own a GPS unit and are ready to begin the search now, the site lists the coordinates for thousands of caches hidden in the Tri-Cities.
Let us know how your search goes. And if you manage to find the cache that eluded us, please tell us where it was hidden!
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