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New sport entails finding
caches
By Jeff Lowe
Staff Writer
The students walk around in the woods and every
now and then consult a device in their hands.
After minutes of searching, the device tells them
they have found the spot they were looking for. Moving aside some rocks
and dirt, they find a small case. Inside the case there are small prizes
such as coins, flags, rubber ducks and action figures.
The box they found is a cache, or prize, and the
activity they are performing is a new sport called geocaching.
This new sport requires a computer connected to
the Internet and a global positioning satellite unit, a small device
that allows users to know their exact location anywhere on Earth. Geocaching
involves taking coordinates, or directions, to local caches, which are
hidden by anyone who's a member of www.geocaching.com,
from the Web site and using a GPS device to find the caches with the
exact coordinates.
Tim Holzer, a graduate student in the School of
Science, started geocaching after he saw a news program about the sport.
"I went to the Web site and downloaded some local coordinates and just
taught myself how to navigate," Holzer said.
After looking at the directions, geocachers search
for caches in their area. Once the geocacher has found a cache, he takes
one prize and leaves another prize for the next cacher.
In addition to finding the caches, many of those
involved in the sport enjoy the hunt for the caches, which are often
placed in highly visible areas such as Happy Hollow Road and Hicks Undergraduate
Library — yet most people do not even realize it.
Holzer said, "It's like a secret society but out
in public. Some of these caches are right off the beaten path and thousands
of people may go by but only a dozen or so would discover the cache."
Although some caches are easy to find, others involve
solving complex puzzles that must be decrypted. Considering that finding
the caches can be tricky, many geocachers work in groups to find the
caches; some families even participate in the sport together.
Natalee Reese, a Purdue graduate, said, "Part of
the fun of geocaching is that not everyone is doing it. It's completely
non-commercial and there is this stealth element to it."
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Speaker
urges Purdue to coordinate diversity
'Showtime'
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New
sport entails finding caches
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