Treasure hunting for the masses

Watching the movie “Sahara” last weekend reminded me why “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” is such a big hit.

In 2005’s “Sahara,” when Matthew McConaughey finally finds the object he’s been searching for, he gets that sense of wonder and glee that comes with the satisfaction of a mystery revealed.

With the game of geocaching, there are “National Treasure” hunts going on all over the world, many of them starting from your home computer.

It entails having a GPS device, going online to a Web site to use the device to help you find a “cache” — booty, me hearties — and then recording and documenting your find in a logbook.

The hunt comes with directions, but also forces you to use some treasure-hunter intuition and good sense in unfamiliar terrain.

You can then switch out the object, or treasure, with another of your choosing, if you want.

You can set yourself on your mission at sites like Geocaching.com, Navicache.com, TerraCaching.com and Earthcache.org (for the environmentally minded who don’t leave/find physical caches).

There are many more sites to choose from, including state-based geocaching to connect would-be treasure hunters near each other. Go to wikiHow’s How to go Geocaching (http://www.wikihow.com/Go-Geocaching) for a thorough primer.

Tracking travel bugs
Within the game, tracking items called “Travel Bugs” and “Geocoins,” are extras that can add satisfaction beyond the moment of discovery.

Travel Bugs are dogtags imprinted with specific numbers that can then in turn be attached to anything. They are made by Groundspeak, the company that runs Geocaching.com.

Geocoins, as the company describes them, are coins created by individuals or groups of geocachers as a kind of signature item or calling card.

All Geocoins and Travel Bugs have individual tracking IDs, which lets them go from geocache to geocache, to be “passed amongst friends, picking up stories along the way,” according to Geocaching.com.

A look at Geocaching.com’s Travel Bug Gallery (http://www.geocaching.com/track/gallery.aspx) yields all kinds of whimsy — Homer Simpson’s “driver’s license,” a Colonial-looking statue dubbed “Soup Guy,” treasured stuffed animals, SpongeBob — and an array of colorful Geocoins.

Travel Bugs “are more interesting to the owner than to the various cachers that move it around,” said Art Gaudreau, a geocacher from Seymour, Conn.

“Most cachers will grab a TB from a cache and try to move it towards the goal found in its description.”

I found Gaudreau through Geocaching.com’s Travel Bug Gallery, where he had found the pink Bratz Seryna TB. (http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=4b28a9fc-53c6-4f1a-9df5-085732e1e2ca)

"Beth and Dan," Travel Bugs from Minnesota, have been traveling for 30 years. But they've never been to Germany, the home of their "ancestors."

Keychains, knicknacks and tchotchkes
Like other caches, it’s really not treasure in the traditional sense. These are keychains, knickknacks, tchotchkes — souvenirs picked up along a journey. Cars, planes and choo-choo-trains, being natural travelers, abound.

Gaudreau said the pink keychain was first placed in a cache less than 5 months ago, and has traveled just under 400 miles. 

Sometimes, the Travel Bugs with goals are very task-oriented, wanting not just to go to as many places as they can, but to specific destinations.

“I've got two TBs out that are in a race to China and back,” Gaudreau said. “One is currently in British Columbia, while the other is in the Czech Republic. You can find thousands more that have been out even longer, and traveled more miles.”

Another user on the site, Keith Bell, an associate professor of geography at Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin, Tenn., really appreciates the Travel Bug aspect of geocaching.

“I get to live vicariously through this little piece of plastic,” he said. “I get to go again, live through it and watch it.”

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