In the modern adult lifestyle, there are few opportunities to replicate the joy of “searching” which we so fondly remember from childhood games of hide and seek—the peeking under cars, over garden walls, among the shrubs and bushes of your neighbor’s property.
And for most of us, “searching” the flat listings of daft.ie just doesn’t cut it.
But with access to a mobile phone, you can once again enjoy that very same feeling. Geocaching is a global game in which people use GPS devices to hide and seek “caches” at specific coordinate marks, made available on a global database. The hunt for the geocache is often complicated by puzzles, codes, and hints constructed by the original hider. Most geocaches contain a paper logbook to record the date of discovery as well as your name.
Geocaching is a relatively new phenomenon. Back in 2000, the civilian treasure hunters and puzzlers of the world received the greatest possible gift from Bill Clinton and the U.S. government: access to an accurate GPS model. Up to that point, the GPS model offered to the public had integrated error readings, intentionally delivering the civilian user a location which was inaccurate by up to hundreds of meters. This, of course, was designed in the name of national security— the military’s GPS network was accurate to the meter. However, ever since we were graced with this accurate technology, millions of geocaches have been hidden around the world, all of which have been found and re-found potentially millions of times.
Gleefully unaware of Bill Clinton and the potential anti-government implications of the handheld GPS device in my dad’s pocket, my childhood was spent searching for caches along the shaded hiking trails and smooth-stoned riverbanks of my home region.
My parents would often take my sister and I out to a new corner of local nature, and with the grace and reserve of a wizened mentor from a heroic fable, sprinkle hints and directions into their conversation with us, having us hanging on their every word. It was great fun to slowly close in on some unknown treasure with boundless curiosity and cooperation.
The discovery and contents of a rusted metal ammo box or plastic pencil case would be enough to fascinate me for the rest of the day. Geocaches contain a variety of SWAG, or ”Stuff We All Get”; plastic toys, keychains, playing cards—tiny items which you keep around not because they are valuable, or rare, or even that useful, but because they are items which have found their way into your life, and that is enough of a reason to keep them. And, by that same ethos, a reason enough to share it; I mostly contributed plastic bracelets and polished rocks to the geocaches and would always take necklaces or ink pens if the geocache had them.
My most recent geocache discovery was just this summer during a hike through the longest pedestrian tunnel in the United States, a decommissioned train passage cut through a mountain range.
I recall walking through the dark tunnel, bouncing my flashlight’s beam off of the stalactites which hung from the arched ceiling, the graffiti which decorated the concrete walls, and the shallow puddles which potholed the gravel path. I am sure that I was whistling a tune which echoed down the hundreds of yards of darkness. After 15 minutes of walking, I encountered a corroded pot-bellied stove tucked into a shallow bay in the wall, a remnant from when the passageway was in service. Above the stove, a wooden beam was nailed across the bay, coated in coal dust. And wedged between the beam and the wall, just barely visible within the spotlight my flashlight cast, was a metal ammo box.
It was only after I had scaled the stove and inspected the ammo box that I realized that I was holding my first geocache in well over a decade. Inside, I found a paper logbook with names of geocachers, a handful of typical SWAG, and enough coal dust to give me a nasty case of black lung. It struck me how, ironically, the childhood geocacher I once was would have never been able to find this specific geocache due to having awfully short limbs and a crippling fear of the dark. I later discovered that this geocache was originally hidden in 2004 and that the original hider had written his clues from the perspective of the monstrous Grendel from the “Beowulf” story, who would have been right at home in the dark and dank tunnel.
While I did not have any SWAG to trade, I was able to take home a rekindled interest in geocaching. And thanks to that ammo case tucked away in the heart of the mountain, I have come to discover the expansive and innovative world of geocaching once more.
The design of geocaches has changed from the simple containers I remember from my childhood. You can now find caches which pop out of tree trunks only when a specific knot is pressed, caches which float upwards inside of tubing when water is poured inside it, and thimble-sized caches which are magnetically stuck to the underbelly of tables, benches, and bridges.
I have also trawled through the webpages of geocaching.com, the official website which serves as both a map and logbook for the hundreds of thousands of geocachers around the world. I have come to discover that, at most times in my life, I will never be more than about 20 minutes away from a geocache.
The official website hosts a discussion forum as well, where an entire spectrum of backgrounds and interests clash in threads regarding locations, souvenirs, and proper procedure. The forum is good for more than just semantics. I skimmed a thread in which a geocacher, eager for their upcoming trip to Europe, was made aware of the historic relationship between Ireland and the UK solely because they had inquired as to why Ireland and the UK’s regional listings on the website were based on geographical names as opposed to political ones. The geocachers of Ireland had sided with the nationalists in claiming Ulster, it seems.
On Campus
According to the current online map, there are about twenty geocaches located on or immediately next to the main UCD campus. In Dublin alone, there are 1,127 geocaches hidden away in plain sight. If you find yourself yearning for the childhood joy of hide and seek this upcoming semester, take note of these geocache hints which have been lifted from the website. These snippets offer just a taste of the creativity and attention to detail that the geocaching crowd prides itself on.
- Howaya Five-0 “It has nothing to do with the original series, although some references accidental or deliberate may appear from time to time. The main point is that they are all Dublin-based, will be linked in some way to the number 50, and located within 50 meters of the appropriate reference.”
- UCD Sculpture Trail – The Bonus “The information required to find the location of this cache can be found in ‘UCD Sculpture Trail’ Lab Caches as explained above on this page. Insert the numbers in the following formula: N53 AB.CDE W006 FG.HIJ”
- F is for Fen “A small piece of suburban wilderness sandwiched between the Rock Road and the DART – it’s the last remnant of un-reclaimed shoreline in South County Dublin and a haven for birds and plants, including a rare grass – Puccinellia Fasciculata, which was threatened by an invasive rush. The situation was saved by removing a sluice gate put in place in 1914 […]”
- League of Ireland Series – UCD FC “This cache is one of a series based around League of Ireland football clubs. The caches are all located at or near venues where current League of Ireland soccer teams play.”
- Mirkwood“The cache is located in the area between Belfield and the Stillorgan Road. Please ensure you do all the things that a person of average intellect (or above) would do to keep themselves safe during the search. Should you choose not to, then it is only fair that you assume full responsibility for any nasty outcomes that may result. I certainly won’t.”
By Ben Floyd – Features Editor
