The Lyme Land Conservation Trust and the East Haddam Land Trust have scheduled a field class on Saturday, Sept. 20 for anyone interested in learning how to participate in the outdoor game of geocaching, a real-world, outdoor treasure hunt using GPS-enabled devices.
Geocaching is a relatively new game in which participants hide “treasures” (caches) in various outdoor locations (often in parks, preserves, public forests, etc.) and then leave clues on the Internet on how others can find them using a smart phone or other GPS devices. Participants seeking out the caches navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find a treasure-filled container hidden at that location.
After finding a cache, a participant may take a treasure as long as it’s replaced with another small “treasure”, or as geocachers say, “Take some stuff, leave some stuff.” (Treasures are usually small items of little value, such as beads, buttons, small items of plastic jewelry, and the like).
The two land trusts will supply the treasures for this event and instruction by active geocachers led by Jim Lockhart, a geocaching enthusiast.
Participants must bring a GPS-enabled device or smart phone. More information and a free app needed to participate can be found at: http://www.lymelandtrust.org/event/geocaching-101/
Meet at 10 a.m. in the parking lot for Mount Archer Woods Preserve, Mount Archer Road, Lyme. (On the left one mile from Rt. 156. To locate using GPS coordinates, copy and paste the following log/lat into Bing Maps, Google Maps, or MapQuest search box: 41.409354, -72.353012 ).
This outdoor treasure hunt is anticipated to last approximately two hours.
More information on geocaching can be found at: www.geocaching.com
Register by sending an email containing your name and the number in your party to: [email protected] . Put “Geocaching” in the subject line.