treasure hunts: not just for pirates

Treasure hunting is alive and well in the world of Geocaching.

Since the advent of GPS technology, navigation has advanced to a new level. New possibilities are endless...including the recent worldwide scavenger hunting craze.

Geocaching begins with locating nearby “caches” on the geocaching website (www.geocaching.com), obtaining their GPS coordinates, and using the clues left by other users to find the hidden container.

On September 2, 2000, geocaching.com was established. When the site was established, there were only 75 established caches. Now, there are about 3,215 in the state of Mississippi alone.

Two Southern Miss students recently took their first geocaching adventure and documented their experience. One was Garrett Campbell, a junior polymer science major from Satsuma.

“Well, first we went online to find some caches in the general Hattiesburg area,” Campbell said. “They listed some coordinates but what really helped us were the hints they listed. It was vague, like a scavenger hunt.” 

The students set out to downtown Hattiesburg to find the two caches they researched. They had written down the clues the website had given them. Neither had a GPS device so all they had to navigate by were the directions and clever clues they had jotted down. They searched up and down the streets of downtown Hattiesburg looking for anything that would answer the riddles that would lead them to the cache.

“We had a hard time finding the caches at first,” said Zach Mansell, a junior economics major from St. Louis. “They were really well hidden. We didn’t even find the second one, but it was still really fun.”

After successfully discovering the first geocache, located near the Bottling Company, the two signed their name on the logbook and returned it to its original hiding place.

Caches come in every shape and size. Some are no smaller than a matchbox, while others are large enough to generate a trinket exchange. Geocachers often bring small items with them to leave in place of any they take. Logbooks are also included in every container. Geocachers sign and date the logbook and perhaps leave behind a friendly message for the next person who discovers the cache.

For those who do not possess typical GPS devices, there are often specific directions and hints listed on the website to help reveal the location of the cache.  Some of the newer cell phones can even be used for geocaching. Janee Mattenson from Chicago said, “I use my iPhone and it works great, just download the app.”