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Community Corner

Kids Bored? Try Treasure Hunting in Cranberry

Geocaching is a fun and inexpensive sport.

The long days of summer may be dragging for your children, or maybe you just need a new reason to get out and about.

Why not go treasure hunting?

There are hundreds of “treasures” called geocaches in Cranberry Township.

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According to its official website, geocaching began as a sport in 2000. Once the government lifted restrictions that prevented civilians from using GPS systems, someone hid a “treasure” in Washington, D.C. and posted the coordinates. Within 24 hours, someone found the cache  -- and geocaching was born.

Today more than 1.2 million caches are hidden around the world. My husband and I are avid geocachers, and we have found caches in several states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Hawaii, Washington, and Maryland. We also have found caches in Ireland, Germany, St. John and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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Geocaching is easy and relatively inexpensive. Here's how is works. 

Use a hand-held GPS unit to obtain information from the official geocaching website. By entering your zip code, you will find a listing of caches hidden in parks, parking lots and other public places in your area.

When Cranberry's zipcode of 16066 is entered, more than 3,000 caches came up within a 30-mile radius.

The treasures are hidden by other cachers, then registered on the website. Typical cache hiding places are under logs, behind rocks, under brush and in lampposts.

There are several caches just in . Last week, we found 12 treasures within a short period of time while out and about in the community.

Nearby North Park has more than 30 geocaches.

The cache itself is a waterproof container filled with prizes. Usually, these treasures are small trading objects such as key chains, toys, pins and even travel bugs (more about these later). There also are log books, where cache finders write in their names and the date they found the cache.

For those without a scientific bent, the concept behind a GPS may sound a bit tricky.

To track your position, the GPS communicates with at least four of 12 satellites that circle the globe. The GPS identifies locations, and by entering the latitude and longitude coordinates of a particular spot -- in this case a cache -- a directional arrow will lead you to your destination.

Hand-held GPS systems can be purchased for as little as under $100. I have a simple, waterproof Garmin version that is pretty much indestructible.

Each cacher uses a logging name, usually a nickname that describes his or her personality or other traits. These names are used on the website and to log a cacher's finds.

My tall, basketball-playing husband is “BB Big Guy,” and I'm “Lady Bug Lady,” because of my love for little bugs.

Part of the fun in caching is finding travel bugs, and we're not talking about the actual creepy-crawly kind.

A travel bug is a dog tag engraved with an identification number. The number is tracked through the website as the tag moves from cache to cache, around the state, around the country and sometimes even around the world.

As a sport, Geocaching also has something for everyone. There are child-friendly caches, handicapped-accessible caches and those that require kayaking, repelling, and even scuba diving to find.

For more information, visit the official geocaching website or read “Geocaching” by Erik Sherman and “Geocaching for Idiots” by the editors and staff of Geocaching.com and Jack W. Peters.

There also is a DVD on geocaching. “The Complete Guide to Geocaching” is available at www.geocachingvideo.com.

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