Hitting a geocache milestone in the hills

A few days before a planned visit to Creemore, my mother sent me a message asking me if I was aware of a large fake tree in the area.

“Uh ya,” I replied. “I can think of at least one.”

In my mind’s eye I could see the huge fake pine cell tower rising from the tree line, visible from just about anywhere around here.

While in town, my parents wanted to visit the fake Christmas tree. To anyone else this would seem like a strange request but I knew what was coming.

You see, my parents are geocachers; they are on a perpetual treasure hunt and there is treasure buried at that there tree.

At first glance, geocachers may look like people with their heads buried in their cell phones but their behavior is even more strange. They tend to walk in one direction and then another, trying to get their bearings as they keep a close eye on a handheld GPS unit that is leading them to the X that marks the spot.

The treasure, or caches, are placed and logged by other geocachers who make up a worldwide network of explorers who are in it just for fun. They look up caches online and use GPS coordinates and hints to find their prize. Caches come in all shapes and sizes; sometimes you can remove something from them as long as you put something back in but often you just sign your name to a crumpled piece of paper hidden inside and then log the find online. Many of the homemade caches are nothing more than a Tupperware container filled with trinkets or an old film canister containing a scrap of paper.

The trip to the cell tower Christmas tree marked a milestone for my parents; it was their 1000th cache.

They have trekked through the woods, driven down long country roads over the last few years to find 1000 of these containers, which are sometimes quite small, stashed in the middle of nowhere.

They would tell you they got off to a slow start, that 1000 is nothing compared to others who make geocaching their hobby.

They aren’t even operating at full capacity. Once my mother has her new hip and my father gets his compression fracture and meniscus tear repaired, they will be unstoppable.

Geocaching has rules that everyone seems to follow obediently. Caches are only allowed on public property and are maintained by those who go looking for them. My parents carry a repair kit and often repair cashes and make sure the elements can’t get it.

There are millions of geocachers looking for millions of caches all over the world.

Aside from their strange behaviour, they try to be covert while on the hunt.

They try to stay out of site of muggles – a term nicked from Harry Potter to describe non-geoching types – all in an effort to protect the cache.

To learn about the secret world of geocaching, visit www.geocaching.com.

This article is completely unauthorized.