Geocaching

From Chris Gane

What on Earth is Geocaching?

People have been walking in the countryside for centuries and when the Ordnance Survey began publishing maps for the general public, people started walking along specific paths by following the features indicated on a folded map in their hand. In the last 10 years, it has been possible to follow a path by using an electronic map in your hand - the GPS (Global Positioning System). The enjoyment of the outdoors has been combined with the new technology to create a new hobby – geocaching.

The leading website defines it as: “Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure-seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment”.

So, how does it work? You decide to go for a walk and suggest it to the kids (who are currently on level 99 of a Playstation game and not for moving). So, you tell them that it’s a kind of treasure hunt with coordinates from the interweb. Ah, now they’re interested! You then go to a site like goecaching.com and select an area of the countryside you’d like to walk in and find the nearest cache (there are 1.3 million caches worldwide, so you’re always near one). The website gives you a lat/long coordinate or OS grid reference you put it into your GPS (which could be a handheld device for walkers or a modern phone), and off you go.

When you get to the specific area you look for a place where someone might have “stashed a cache”. It will be a Tupperware box or old ammo case hidden under a rock or tucked into a culvert. You open it up, sign the visitors’ book and swap a trinket - a small, fun item like a keyring, badge or whatever you have on you. When you get back home you can log onto the website and post a comment about your find (this bit is optional and tends to be for the more dedicated cachers).

So, why is this relevant to the Kilchoan Diary? Well, we have a few caches in the village.

This one appears on the geocaching website (it’s called “End of the Road” and was hidden in June 2009) and has over 30 comments from recent finders. As you can see, there are several trinkets and a log book wrapped in a plastic bag for extra weather protection.

This cache also has family calling cards. These are laminated cards made by dedicated cachers who leave a card at every cache that they visit. Here’s an example:

People usually sign the visitors’ book and sometimes specify what they took out and what they put in (it works a bit like the bothy principle). The cachers have developed a code like TN (took nothing), LN (left nothing), SL (signed log), TFTC (thanks for the cache) so you sometimes see a post like TNLNSL-TFTC. Below is an example from a Kilchoan cache.

There are a number of websites recording the location of caches and there are quite a few on the peninsula. However, unrecorded on the website are a further 6 caches in the village. It started out as a treasure hunt for bored teenagers up for Hogmanay 2008 and the hidden boxes are still there. All the caches are within an area bounded by the ferry slip, the Free Church Manse and the Point (or end of the road!).They are all in readily accessible public areas and look a bit like this:

But this one’s got a bit of a twist as the coordinates are in the form of a quiz: solve the clues to get the missing numbers. The questions can be found here. There are also laminated copies available to borrow from Kilchoan Community Centre and Cliff has a copy behind the bar at the Kilchoan House Hotel. As for the answers, well, maybe in a future post….