Article reprinted with permission of the Daily Record.
Writer Meghan Van Dyk spent some time with a couple NJ cachers for an article in the July 27th issue of the Daily Record. The text of the original article is below.
http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20090727/COMMUNITIES/907270312/1005/N...
It didn't take long to quiet five children on a cloudy summer afternoon in the woods of Mountain Way Park. Within moments, complaints of the sticky weather, mosquitoes and the steep ascent up stone steps laid out by Revolutionary War soldiers faded as the kids' sense of adventure kicked in.
"We're about 77 feet away from it," Madison dad John Neale called out, and the kids dashed to a large boulder, brushed away fallen leaves and uncovered rocks to find their treasure — a camouflaged, reinforced Tupperware container filled with tiny trinkets.
This is geocaching — the tech-savvy nature-lover's take on treasure hunting. Armed with GPS units and latitude and longitude coordinates, cachers take to the trail to find clandestine caches that come in the form of steel canisters or fake beehives holding log books for visitors to leave their names.
Each time someone finds a cache, they log their discovery onto Geocaching.com, where users create virtual footprints of their adventures and can leave comments. Anyone can create and hide a cache, then post a page about it on the Web site with details on the difficulty of the journey, which sometimes includes kayaking or rock climbing.
There are 854,826 hidden caches (and counting) across 230 countries, and 6,441 in New Jersey. Many can be found throughout Morris County, in parks, along trails or near roads, stuck with magnets to guardrails or hanging from tree branches.
"Geocaching is something anyone can do, from Scouts to retirees," said Neale, president of the Northern New Jersey Cachers, an organization of 300 founded in 2005. "For most, it's the thrill of the hunt, the idea that you don't know what you're going to find."
The best part of the game, cachers say, is the scenic, historic and sometimes odd places they visit.
"It's taken me to places I never knew existed, parks close to my house that I had never been to," said Pine Brook resident Allan Egeth, 67, who's known as BigA800 and has logged 2,840 caches in two years.
Reached by phone for this article, Egeth had just bagged a cache in Avenel. The retired pharmaceutical executive said he had never been much of a hiker until he heard of geocaching and now searches for caches every morning.
Another draw is that geocaching is an inexpensive way to spend quality family time. It's free other than the initial cost for a GPS unit, about $150. It also instills in children an appreciation for nature, because in order to get to most caches, one must meander through forests, soak in sunlight, breathe in fresh air and get to know Earth's creatures.
Apart from the spiders, that's 10-year-old Kelsey Neale's favorite part.
"It's relaxing to look at the views," Kelsey said on a recent trek to unearth five caches along the Beacon Hill trail in Mountain Way Park with her older brother Brandon, and friends Connor, Meghan and Abigail Riley, also of Madison.
Howard Feldman, 46, of Parsippany said geocaching has helped to create great memories with his three children, Shawn, 14, Hannah, 13, and Jacob, 11.
"Once you're at the right longitude and latitude, it's this adrenaline rush to find the cache," he said. "If you didn't know what to look for, it might take you hours and you'd be looking right at it — some are hidden in hollowed-out logs, on milepost signs, chairs."
Feldman said his kids take old toys, such as matchbox cars or inexpensive jewelry, and trade them in the caches for trinkets others leave behind. Some caches offer first-find prizes, such as money or GPS units.
Geocaching began in 2000, after the U.S. government released GPS signals for civilian use. The sport has grown since then, along with the growing availability of GPS units. That also makes hiding caches more difficult. At times, "muggles," people who unknowingly stumble on caches, have alerted authorities, fearing the containers are bombs.
Neale, 51, who has logged 1,200 caches and is known as Old Navy, said he hopes to partner with municipalities to offer geocaching 101 classes as a way to expose residents to the game and to local trails.
One town, Jefferson, has caught on to the idea and asked the Northern New Jersey Cachers to blaze new trails throughout Camp Jefferson, hiding caches along the way.
"A true naturalist thinks it's garbage we're putting out there," Neale said. "But we are out there picking up real garbage and giving people an incentive to enjoy nature."
Meghan Van Dyk: 973-428-6633; mvandyk@gannett.com
