Geocaching hits P.A.

A current adventure game involving global positioning systems has made its way to the Prince Albert area.

Geocaching involves individuals and organizations setting up caches all over the world and sharing the locations of these caches on the Internet, allowing GPS users to use the co-ordinates of the location to find the caches.

Caches, which can provide the visitor with a variety of rewards, can range from large to small. Larger ones could include maps, videos, money, tickets or other similar items.

Each cache includes a logbook so the person finding it can record his or her discovery. If the visitor takes something from the cache, he or she is asked to leave something in return.

Glen Booker of Prince Albert said there are about 37 caches in the area and about 500 around the province.

A local group of about six dedicated geocachers is planning a "meet and greet" at 5 p.m. on Aug. 24 in Little Red River Park across from the swinging bridge.

Such gatherings are known, in geocacher parlance, as "event caches" because there is no physical cache involved (those are called regular caches).

"I currently do have two (physical caches) in Little Red River Park," Booker said.

He became a geocacher two years ago.

"I was just doing a web search after I bought a GPS and I stumbled across it," he said.

A couple of different aspects of geocaching make it appealing to Booker.

"It's going to areas you wouldn't have gone to otherwise," he said.

The second aspect is the challenge inherent in finding the cache, he said.

"Some can be tricky (and) some of them you don't even need a GPS," said Booker, adding a GPS can help a person get within 30 feet of the cache.

He said geocaching.com is the site to go to for hiding or seeking any cache.

"Anybody that geocaches can place caches."

The person placing the cache decides on a name for it - for example, Booker has hidden a cache, which he calls Gold in the North Saskatchewan, by the Shell River - and where to put it. However, several factors have to be considered before anything is done. For example, food items are not a good idea, and items such as explosives, ammunition, knives, drugs and alcohol should also not be placed in a cache.

Variations on the game include virtual caches, in which a person visits a specific site and records information about that site on the Internet so that the cacher knows the finder has truly visited the site, and travel bugs, where items (e.g., coins) get tracked around the world.

There can also be caches built on a particular theme. For example, Booker said there is one cache near Prince Albert composed entirely of lapel pins.

Location is a vital part of geocaching.

"They try to put them in places that are interesting," Booker said, adding "it has to be (within) 100 miles of where I live (because) I have to be able to look after it."

If the cache is damaged or lost, he is responsible for the replacement. If the damage is too great to repair, then he would archive the cache. This means it would be recorded on the Internet but would not be active.

Caches can be placed in either urban or rural sites, but cachers have to be aware of the area in which they put caches, to be sure it's not ecologically sensitive. Another rule is that caches cannot be buried, only hidden. There are also places where caches cannot be put (e.g., under a bridge), for potential security reasons.

Sometimes non-geocachers (known as Muggles) stumble across the cache by accident. A note attached to each cache asks the finder to be responsible and not to steal the cache, known as "muggling" in geocacher parlance. Not only people, but also animals can "muggle" a cache, said Booker.