High-tech scavenger hunt fun for all

High-tech scavenger hunt fun for all. A typical cache includes a log book and pencil and perhaps a trade good, or toy, for the kids. Photo/MARIE ZERNASK

Geocaching, which has been in existence for 10 years in 2010, is a high-tech scavenger hunt created by computer consultant Dave Ulmer, who wanted to test the accuracy of satellites by planting a container in the woods. It was an instant hit.

"It's using million-dollar satellite systems to find Tupperware in the woods," said Zernask, who has been geocaching for three years and has more than 2,450 finds, with the numbers growing daily.

Zernask, a semi-retired dog walker who lives at Bloor and Dufferin streets, got hooked on geocaching when she went with a friend and his dog looking for a 'cache', a waterproof container that consists of a log book and pen, at Cherry Beach.

"It was my first cache. I had no actual idea what geocaching was," she said. "It was a green box...There was a little trade good (a toy for kids) and the log book. It was started by a mother and her kids. It was months before I found the next one."

That first year, Zernask found 100 geocaches. Now her 'obsession' sees her finding about a half dozen caches a day, sending her throughout the city, across the province and as far as British Columbia.

"For me, a lot of it is a social thing. We go out...and spend time with friends. It takes me places that I wouldn't know about otherwise. When travelling, it takes you places generally only locals know about.

"It gets me out with the dogs. It gets me away from the computer...(Recently) I did a three and a half kilometre hike through Rennie Park just west of High Park."

Calling it her healthy addiction, Zernask said her computer is often on waiting for a notice when a new geocache is available.

Geocaching is a world-wide phenomena. In addition to ones in the ocean and outer space, geocaches are available in the Arctic and the Antarctic "and just about every country except maybe North Korea because you can't bring a GSP into the country."

Geocaching is a family friendly activity and one that is relatively inexpensive. It requires patience, computer skill, persistence and math skills. You don't need a car and there are caches that are wheelchair friendly.

"There is something just about anyone can do," she said.

And you do need a hand-held GPS unit that is different from the one you use for the car.

Zernask uses a hand-held Garmin, which accurate from three to five metres, which is important when you are hunting small containers in the woods. The price ranges from $75 to more than $500.

"(GPS units) start under $400. That's pretty damn cheap to get started."

Zernaska said some people use android phones, BlackBerrys or the iPhone.

"The iPhone, I think, can be accurate, a car GPS not really, (about) 10 to 15 metre accuracy and that is a big search area...I think people would be too frustrated using a unit from a car."

Once you have the gear, you need to find where the caches are hidden.

Zernask, and most geocachers, use a site called geocaching.com which is 'the biggest and best organized.'

While there are other sites, Zernask said they haven't taken off like this site, which offers a large database of caches to find, which can be looked up by postal code, address and province, and has a variety of other functions such as blogs, forums and resources all for free.

The site also offers a premium membership, which costs $30 a year, and lets members know the moment a cache is posted.

When you log onto geocaching.com you come to a cache page that will give you the instructions, which can range from simple coordinates, to puzzles and logic, encryption and more, on how to find the cache.

With a hand-held GPS, you need to print off the instructions but with a phone GPS, you could go paperless, she said.

Once the coordinates are in hand, the search begins.

Zernask said there are some pretty amazing geocaches out there, several of which Zernask has created herself.

One of Zernask's caches is located in an eight-inch by four-inch log that she drilled a half-inch hole in. She placed the cache inside, put it back together with two pins and placed the log beside a tree, putting another branch in front of it.

"That is a difficulty rating. It's intended to be difficult to find."

Another one of her caches, located in the Leslie Spit, is a jigsaw puzzle. It requires the geocacher to print out the cache page and put together the jigsaw puzzle in order to find the coordinates to the cache. This cache is called 'Get your saw out, the jig is up.'

Another cache is titled Toronto's Lost Rivers and it gives people information about several ancient rivers in the city and includes pictures of what they used to look like as well as information. Another information-based cache is the Tollkeeper's Cottage at Davenport and Bathurst Street.

"I like to take people to interesting places. Taking people to the Wal-Mart parking lot, that's not my thing," Zernask said in regards to the urban caches that have been placed in parking lots and lampskirts (the boxes around parking lot lights) around the city.

While Zernask creates caches to give back to her community, ("If people don't put out new hides there wouldn't be anything to find") she said it's the doing she likes the best.

Her most adventurous cache was a three-day camping trip with a picnic on top of the highest point in Ontario – Ishpatina Ridge.

"Six of us rented a float plane. Some people hiked in, people came in by canoe. It took three days by canoe...(A cache) can be anything you want to do.

"There as many ways of geocaching as there are people."

To say Zernask is enthusiastic about geocaching would be putting it mildly. Her enthusiasm is catchy as she talks about some of the places you can discover while geocaching.

She said you can tour one end of Toronto Island to another; enjoy wildlife in the Rouge Valley; have a tour of Mount Pleasant Cemetery; and a walking tour of Corktown.

"I grew up in Toronto and I never new this (Corktown) was there. It's a gorgeous oasis that I would have never found. Get out from behind your computer. Get out and enjoy. Find new and different places that you never knew existed."

Competition
Zernask said for the most part geocaching is not a competitive hobby, but rather an opportunity for people to get out with their families and enjoy their neighbourhoods.

However, "there is one tiny aspect of competitiveness and it's call first find (where a geocacher is the first to put her name in a log book). I am a first to find (FTF) hound. That's the only competitive aspect of it that I see. Probably 99 per cent of cachers say 'I will get to it (caches) when I get to it.' Not everyone approves. It's (geocaching) a game. It's just a game and you play it the way you want there are no rules, there are guidelines. I won't go more then three to four kilometres for a first to find. I do limit my obsession," she said with a laugh.

But just not too much of a limit.

Zernask said it's not unusual for her to notice a new cache posted and to immediately go out and find it.

People put caches up every day. I probably get a half dozen or more every day. For example, at 2:59 I got a notice of a cache published three kilometres from my house. I am out the door at 3. At 3:30 I found it and home before 4."

Code of Ethics
Geocachers live by a code of ethics, which is similar to those who camp and hike.

"What's the phrase? Leave only footprints," she said. For geocachers it's CITO - Cache in, Trash out.

"It's a hobby, a sport, an obsession, a game."