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Geocaching: a fun endeavour
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The stash from the PBJ includes pens, the logbook, and alien figures. Caissie will sign the logbook before going on a search for another cache.
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The log in this nanocache (shown in Caissie’s palm) is a rolled-up piece of paper which must be carefully reinserted after being signed.
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Caissie has bought these geocoins, tags and lapel pins online. The one with the red border, one of his favourites, has the names of geocachers who are current or former members of the Armed Forces.
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Theresa Seraphim
for Spotlight
As Ken Caissie drives down a Gloryland road, his GPS tells him he is 45 metres from a treasure trove. He parks and walks into the trees, looking for a camouflaged peanut butter jar which holds a cache of items.
“PBJs are common (containers),” Caissie says of the stash.
Caissie is geocaching, a form of recreation which is growing in popularity everywhere.
“There are about 240 caches within 50 miles of Slave Lake,” Caissie points out, adding there are almost a million around the world.
“There are about half a dozen of us in town who do it quite often,” says Caissie.
“There’s some pretty difficult ones around here.”
The peanut butter jar is hidden beneath a log – or, in geocaching parlance, UPS (under a pile of sticks). If cachers have followed the rules, there should not be another cache within 160 metres of this one. Caches cannot be buried (although they can be under something) and must be available 24/7.
Caches range in size from nano (thumbnail size) to large. Each one contains a piece of paper or notebook called the log, which a cacher must sign upon discovering the cache. Some caches, especially the nano-sized ones, require the cacher to bring their own pencil.
If the container has trading items in it, a cacher can take one, but if they do, they must replace it with an item of equal or greater value. Rules prohibit putting items such as alcohol, drugs, and firearms into the cache.
“We try to make it family-friendly,” says Caissie.
Speaking of family, Caissie’s two granddaughters have caught the bug, particularly enjoying finding one cache in the Slave Lake area. That cache, off Caribou Trail, turned out to be the favourite of geocachers who came here for an event this summer.
After discovering the container, cachers then go to geocaching.com to record their find, so there is a record of how many times the cache has been found.
The web site also allows cache owners to track the use of their caches, which cannot be on private property without the owner’s consent. For example, if a cacher doesn’t see the cache, they can record that as a DNF (did not find) on the web site; if the cache has been taken, that can also be recorded, alerting the owner to the situation. Maintaining the cache is the owner’s responsibility, says Caissie.
Geocaching.com also lists details about the cache – the co-ordinates, the size of the cache, the degree of difficulty in finding it and the degree of difficulty of the terrain involved. For example, said Caissie, there may be a note that a cacher will have to swim to get to the cache, which alerts nonswimmers and gives them the option of going after another cache.
Cache owners can also post notices asking that cachers not post any spoilers (details which would give away the location) after discovering the cache.
Cachers are also reminded to avoid leaving an environmental footprint via CITO (Cache In, Trash Out) postings on the web site.
Altogether, said Caissie, there are 81 combinations of degrees of difficulty and degrees of terrain, and there are caches out there in which a cacher must get all those combinations before logging the cache. So far, he has encountered 56 combinations.
Besides the traditional caches, there are mystery (or puzzle) caches, which involve the cacher solving an enigma in order to get to the location. That mystery could be in the form of a crossword puzzle, or a military code, says Caissie.
The site also shows statistics for each cacher, such as best month, best day, or longest stretch without finding a cache, says Caissie. Besides the trading items, cachers can go online to buy pins, tags and geocoins. The idea behind these, says Caissie, is to keep them moving from cache to cache, with the hope that they will travel around the world.
Another important aspect of caches, especially in this climate, is to make them winter-friendly, and many in the area are, says Caissie.
He has received reaction about his caches, particularly one which involves two half-litre containers. When a cacher opens one, there are the usual items. The other one contains a play snake which “jumps” out of the container.
“One guy said to me, ‘That snake damned near killed my wife! Can you make that spring a little stronger?’” laughs Caissie.
He introduced his father to it last fall and, although the older man could not fully participate due to health reasons, he enjoyed it.
“He thought it was a great idea – he was telling everyone about it,” says Caissie, who has found about 1,300 caches since he began the activity in 2005.
It doesn’t take long to get involved, either, says Caissie, citing the case of one Slave Lake resident who began last November and has already found 2,100 caches.
“You can be as busy with it as you want to be,” he notes.
Caissie says there are several things he enjoys about geocaching – the thrill of the chase, the quiet of being in Nature, and the accomplishment of finding the treasures.
Those reasons also account for a growing number of requests about geocaching at the Visitor Information Centre, according to Big Lake Tourism’s George Wright.
“We’ve had about 25 people stop in at the Visitors Centre and ask about geocaching,” says Wright, who has spoken with potential partners about promoting geocaching here.
Although many people don’t come here specifically for geocaching, they end up doing the activity once they realize it’s an option.
“Families, especially, look for things they can do together,” says Wright.
People also like activities that don’t hurt the environment and can give a good amount of exercise, he says.
“It’s something that obviously is a tourism marker.”
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