Take a high-tech treasure hunt

By Linda Shepard
C & G Staff Writer

Five years ago, Gary Scramling purchased his first hand-held global positioning system. He soon discovered geocaching.

“As of today, I’ve had 2,800 finds,” he said at the Nature Center at Friendship Woods in Madison Heights May 13. “I’ve found a cache in every Michigan county. But it’s not about the cache — it’s about the adventure.”

Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a GPS receiver to hide and then seek out containers, called caches. A cache is a small waterproof box holding a logbook and trinkets. Currently, more than 650,000 geocaches are located in more than l00 countries around the world and on all seven continents.

Scramling and his wife, Donna, have geocached with their adult children in Alaska on the Iditarod Trail and traveled through a rainforest on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. “We took a hand tram used by miners over the gorge,” Donna Scramling said. “The flora and the fauna were beautiful.”

Participants use the Internet to find geocaching sites — typing in ZIP codes at www.geocachingcom. “Plug in your ZIP code, and you will be shocked,” Donna Scramling said. “There are at least 400 in a 10-15 mile radius.” The information is free.

Gary Scramling said geocaching has become a fun activity to do with his granddaughter. “I could put in a movie or play a video game  with her. This gets us outside,” he said. “Ten-year-olds love the technology of it, and some people discover the outdoors for the very first time.”

Caches are typically hidden in parks or off trails and involve no off-trail wilderness bushwhacking, Scramling said. “The simplest GPS unit will work,” he said, and prices begin at $100 for a basic unit.

Geocaches are hidden near every Michigan highway rest stop that has a trail, Gary Scramling said. “It’s a good way to get out of your car and stretch your legs,” he said. “I discovered a beautiful waterfall a half-mile from the road Up North that I would never known was there.”

Letterboxing is similar to geocaching, also using the Internet as an information source, but without utilizing GPS. Visitors to www.letter boxing.org find visual clues that will lead to the treasure box, and they use a stamp to mark their find. Donna Scramling said some geocaches combine with letterboxing — delivering visual clues with GPS coordinates.

Dan Keefer, of Friends of the Clinton River Trail, said geocaching is popular on trails. “Trails are tailor-made for that kind of discovery,” he said. “It’s all about getting out and enjoying the local outdoors. And everybody loves technology.”

Donna Scramling said geocachers are sensitive to the environment and have scheduled “Cache in, Trash out” days to help clean up the local landscape.

The hobby has become a great activity for the couple, currently enjoying retirement. “We put in our ZIP code on the geocaching Web site and see what is hidden. Then we plan our day,” she said. “And the best time to geocache is when you are on vacation.”

You can reach Staff Writer Linda Shepard at lshepard@candgnews.com or at  (586) 498-1065.