Words Ria Rivera
If in the olden days, treasure hunters traveled far and wide armed with their ancient yet trusty maps and manual tools, today's treasure seekers bring on a dose of patience, a keen sense of accuracy, and of course, their handy GPS receiver. Better known as geocaching, this modern-day treasure-hunting game has caught on all over the world ever since it first came about in 2000.
And just what is geocaching supposed to be? Geocaching.com dubs it as the sport where you are the search engine. Geocachers use a Global Positioning System receiver to pinpoint the exact location of the coordinates which they are trying to locate. The directions often come from various websites where other geocachers post clues on the whereabouts of the treasures they have hidden. The goal is to find a cache - typically a small, waterproof container that has a logbook of some sort where geocachers record their names and comments, and more importantly, little treasures like coins, pins and whatnots that geocachers can take home as souvenir. Others even leave treasures of their own for the next geocacher to find.
Thanks to GPS technology, people from all over the world can easily participate in adventures like these. Using a series of two dozen satellites in low Earth orbit that continuously broadcast specific positions, GPS receivers can determine one's exact location on the Earth's surface. That's why someone who came from say, France, can easily locate the Rizal Park just by following the given coordinates that lead to its specific location. In fact, countless geocachers who traveled abroad for vacation or business purposes have made side trips to find caches posted online. And that's what makes geocaching very popular. It's fun, exciting, and one of the easiest ways to get an adrenaline rush.
It's also something anybody and everybody can do - as long as they have a GPS receiver - practically anywhere in the world. In fact, there have been a number of caches hidden in the Philippines as far back as 2002.
These days, there are countless variations to the activity, which more and more people are referring to as a sport. Some examples include the mystery or puzzle caches where the exact coordinates are not listed and the seeker must solve a problem to find the actual coordinates and the Cache-In, Trash-Out (CITO) events where geocachers meet at a specific location to clean up the area.
There are many other forms of geocaching that cater to varied personalities and groups. If you're interested in participating in one, try checking out Geocaching.com or any other website and look for one you like the most. Happy hunting!
