When Captain Jack Sparrow teetered onto the big screen with singular panache and that certain quirky and irresistible approach to most everything, it became clear quite quickly that pirates were about to make a comeback. The pirate scene has never really bothered me. I mean, black eye patches, colorful parrots on a shoulder and funky facial hair are mostly harmless. Yeah, murder, marauding, and thievery are less savory pirate characteristics, but these are often downplayed. Plus, the lure of treasure has captured the greedy, adventurous hearts of humans for ages and ages.
When I was a spunk-filled lad in my formative childhood years, my friends and I created dozens of maps with a stereotypical “x” to mark the spot of hidden prizes like marbles, green plastic army men, or even forbidden and lurid Garbage Patch Kids playing cards. We would hide our treasures, write intricate instructions in the form of a treasure map in crayon or colored pencil, and send friends out to find the glorious and priceless hoard.
Ingenious adult outdoor enthusiasts have found a way to recreate the mysterious joy of hiding and discovering buried treasure (that was once reserved for children and pirates) in an activity called geocaching. Geocaches are hidden all over the world (including many right here in the Laramie area), and participants seek out these caches using GPS or other navigational methods. When these little treasure troves are found, participants sign a list attached to the geocache with a code name and return the cache for the next adventurer to discover.
Geocaches come in all shapes and sizes, and they are often shaped to look like the environment, making discoveries that much more exciting. Many times lists are kept in waterproof containers made to look like rocks, burrowed into tree roots, staked into the ground, or camouflaged to look like plant laden surroundings. Sometimes geocaches are found in even more intricately staged containers, like fake robin eggs or even a fake raven. Geocaches are placed in remote outdoor areas accessible only via long hikes or smack dab in the middle of large population areas.
Geocaching provides participants with the thrills of treasure hunting, the excitement of exploring new areas, and opportunities for connecting with a community of others interested in this increasingly popular sport. A simple google.com search for “geocaching” will yield thousands of resources, electronic apps, and communities to explore.
While I can see the attraction to this kind of outdoor activity (which admittedly has similar draws to my own outdoor obsession, birding), I have never been a willing participant of a geocaching mission. I have, however, stumbled upon geocaches in somewhat serendipitous fashion, completely unaware of the significance of the find until well after the fact. Folks that stumble unknowingly upon geocaches, often misplacing the cache from its specific location or throwing it away altogether thinking it trash, are called “muggles” by the geocaching community. “Muggles” often muck-up the geocaching operations or get in the way of geocaching activities by virtue of just doing whatever it is that “muggles” do.
I have nothing against geocaching in a general sense, but I think I will keep my current status as a “muggle” – at least for the time being. It must be a personality thing; I just don’t think that geocaching is for me. My issue with geocaching is simple; I don’t want a map with detailed coordinates and specific location details or to be led around by a small electrical device. The intricate coordinates of each geocache is listed for participants to slap into a GPS and be on their merry way. While the thrill of the journey when one sets out to discover each geocache is, I’m sure, filled with fun, excitement, and community, the whole thing feels just a little too convenient for my taste. I like more elements of the unknown mixed into my outdoor activities.
What actually sounds more interesting to me is seeking out geocaches with no map at all. I think I’d prefer to take the renegade role of the outsider and allow little mysterious messages to emerge unexpected and wonderful as if out of thin air. Although my fellow mates and I played treasure hunts as children for many years, I never stopped playing at hunting for treasures yet unknown. For some people, I think geocaching actually covers this yearning for an adventurous search. For me? I think I’d rather have at that horizon – the true unknown – and see what’s in store for the merry wanderer.
