1. text by CHERYL ROSE
h
iking through the woods,
gently pushing aside
branches, the group
members pause to consult
their devices. The cache is
somewhere nearby. They
split up and begin examin-
ing the ground, trees and rocks for anything
unusual. Aha! Hanging from a tree branch is
a small, dark canister. Success!
Hide and seek
Rick Beaulieu of Orangefield began
geocaching about 8 years ago, initially as a
way to spend quality time with his teenage
daughter. His favorite definition of geocach-
ing is “using multibillion dollar satellites to
search for Tupperware in the woods.”
Geocaching is a game with no winners,
yet it provides a sense of achievement and
satisfaction. People (including Beaulieu)
hide containers known as caches somewhere
and then post the GPS coordinates at an
online geocaching site. Others then accept
the challenge of finding these hidden con-
tainers. When they are successful in finding
them, usually all that is inside is a logbook
that they can enter their names in as having
been there. Though it sounds mild enough,
apparently this activity is highly addictive.
“I’ve got between 1,500 and 1,600 finds,
but there are people who have as many as
20,000,” Beaulieu said. “As an activity, it
is definitely growing in leaps and bounds.
When I got into it, the only people doing
Geocaching is a modern day
treasure hunt for fun and family
caching
in
g e o c a c h i n g
vip leisure

2. Geo-what?
In May 2000, the federal government
allowed a change in satellite technology
that instantly improved GPS accuracy for
the ordinary citizen. The first documented
person to hide a navigational target was
Dave Ullmer, a computer consultant, who
hid a bucket in the woods with a logbook
and swaps near his home in Beavercreek,
Ore. and posted the coordinates.
The game evolved and became known
as geocaching, an outdoor treasure
hunt game of hide-and-seek involving
containers of various sizes. Participants
use coordinates and GPS devices and
apps to attempt to find the hidden caches.
Caches (containers) can be tiny or large,
easy or extremely challenging to find.
Typical caches are waterproof contain-
ers such as food storage holders, film
canisters, ammo cans and more. Inside,
most containers have a logbook to sign,
though some also have items that can
be swapped with a “take one, leave one”
rule. Beginners can find the answers to
many fundamental questions about the
game at www.geocaching.com.
it were hikers with expensive GPS
equipment. Now that you can down-
load a free app on your smartphone,
it’s becoming more well-known and
something everyone can do.”
The game is constantly evolving,
too. Beaulieu said in the early days,
the game usually involved long hikes
in the woods, but now there are ur-
ban caches everywhere. For example,
there is a cache trail in downtown
Houston that follows the stops of the
commuter rail system. Also, most
caches used to have items in them
with a “take something, leave some-
thing” code. Now many caches are
too tiny to hold anything more than
a log book. When a cacher makes a
find, he or she can sign the physical
log book but also log in online and
share the adventure of finding the
cache.
Whenever he has a spare half
hour, perhaps waiting for an ap-
pointment or otherwise killing time,
Beaulieu checks to see if there is a
cache nearby. “You can’t go 10 miles
in Southeast Texas without finding at
least one geocache,” he said.
Catching the caching bug
Diana Thornton of Beaumont was
traveling with her son’s family on a
vacation in 2012 when she got her
first taste of geocaching.
“We stopped at a rest area on the
way north and my son kept looking
at his phone and looking up,” she
remembered. “Then he said he’d be
back in a minute, he was looking for
a geocache. He asked me if I wanted
to look with him so I got out, just for
kicks. Well, that’s all it took. I created
my own handle, downloaded the app
on the way back to Texas and I’ve
been caching since.”
Lewis Leach of Bevil Oaks, a
former U.S. marine, was familiar with
GPS, so when he first started hearing
about geocaching, he was intrigued.
“When I started out in 2011, I used a
car GPS to try to find a cache. After
three months of trying to find some-
thing, I finally found my first one in >>
photographybyAssociatedPressandLewisLeach

3. front of the Barnes and Noble
behind Parkdale Mall.”
Leach then began using
geocaching as an opportunity
for some daddy/daughter time
with his daughter, Faith, who
was just 3 years old when they
started. Faith loved to find
“treasures” in the caches that
had swap items. He got on a
roll and found 10 caches in as
many days and decided to chal-
lenge himself to find a cache a
day for a year. He did it, even
though he had to go out one
day in a tropical storm.
Memorable finds
Cachers have lots of tales
of their adventures and chal-
lenges. For Thornton, her most
memorable find to date was
with a group of cachers on a
trip to Kingsville.
“This cache was located
at the drive-thru to a defunct
bank,” she said. “We had to
call an 800 number to get a
‘pin’ number. The pin was the
combination to the padlock to
the vacuum tube machine you
had to open to get the log out
of the vacuum container.”
Beaulieu said the hardest
he’s tackled yet was a “mys-
tery cache,” which is a twist
in the game where you have
to solve a puzzle in order to
get the coordinates. The cache
was located in the Dallas area.
“After 15 tries and multiple
visits, I finally found it about
50 feet off a trail in a park,” he
said. “It was locked and you
had to solve a riddle to unlock
the combination.”
Another challenging one is
in a swampy area of Louisiana
that you can only reach by
boat, he described. The person
who hid this cache put in some
serious prizes – 10 envelopes
that could be redeemed for
items such as a portable TV.
Though it has been in place
for approximately nine years,
there is still one envelope left.
For Leach, the most memo-
rable find was on Day 365 of
his personal challenge. He
borrowed a kayak from a friend
and paddled out with Faith to
the middle of a lake in King-
wood in the greater Houston
area. A cache was stashed in
the mouth of a metal dragon
art installation in the middle of
the lake.
Meet-Up for
Geocaching
Get started with geocaching by
joining an informal group of cachers
the first Monday of each month
in the Lodge Room of the Gander
Mountain store in Beaumont. Anyone
is welcome to join the group to ask
questions and share stories from
7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The group, SETX
Gang, has a Facebook page, www.
facebook.com/groups/setxgang. The
“gang” organizes an annual caching/
camp out event called Octoberfest.
This year’s event took place on the
Coushatta Reservation. The gang
also organizes a Relay for Life team
and has committed to the Adopt-a-
Highway project as part of the “cache
in, trash out” motto of the geocaching
community. There are many geocach-
ing events sponsored by various
groups around the state.

4. Finders, keepers
As a group, the three cach-
ers interviewed agreed that
caching offers the opportunity
to spend time in nature, spend
time with friends and family,
and solve puzzles.
“Getting outdoors and back
to nature, memories I’m mak-
ing with my daughter,” listed
Leach, who is diagnosed with
Stage 4 colon cancer, yet is still
taking geocaching trips.
Thornton appreciates the
encouragement to do new
things. “I love the challenge of
the hunt, being outdoors, the
physical challenges of difficult
terrains and discovering places
you never knew existed,” she
said. “Caching has also taught
me a lot about nature and what
grows and lives in Texas and
other places. The most memo-
rable thing about caching is
the wonderful experiences you
have traveling around with all
your new friends to places you
never would have if it weren’t
for caching.”
Beaulieu enjoys challenging
himself now that his daughter
is grown. He creates his own
challenge or joins groups chas-
ing something unusual such
as certain number or type of
caches. He participated in a
group trip two years ago where
they went on a 900-mile trip to
find caches.
Join the hunt
Beaulieu recommends
beginners start with easy-rated
finds. Also, he cautioned new
cachers not to get discouraged
as GPS is only accurate to
about 30 feet, so there can be
a significant margin of error.
“Come to a meeting to learn
more and have an experienced
person join you on your first
few outings to give some
insight into the way things are
hidden and some of the telltale
signs,” he suggested.
Thornton said cachers
love to teach others how to
cache. Her main advice is to be
patient. “It can be frustrating
looking for little containers
in the woods or in odd places
when you don’t have enough
experience to really know
how many ways caches can be
camouflaged,” she said. “And
don’t expect to stay clean. It’s
the dirtiest obsession I’ve ever
had. But it’s the most fun I’ve
ever had.” VIP
Collecting Tags
Within the geocaching commu-
nity, pathtags are small medallions
to collect and trade to show where
you’ve been. There are also trackable
tags such as geocoins that can be
traced when they are moved from
place to place. The Texas Parks
and Wildlife supports geocaching,
with caches hidden in over 90 state
parks, historic sites and natural areas
including local parks Martin Dies
State Park and Village Creek State
Park. TPWD has a passport with
“stamps” to reward cachers. Check
the list at www.tpwd.state.tx.us/
spdest/activities/outdoor_recreation/
geocache/coordinates.phtml. Some
national parks also participate. Also,
the Boy Scouts of America offers a
merit badge in geocaching.