MEDIA CONTEST: A hunting we will go … Here’s the cache: High-tech devices help locate simple treasures

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ACC MEDIA CONTEST --  Sprinting through the sagebrush and over the whistle pig holes, Kalynne Sapp, daughter of Tech. Sgt. Allen Sapp, 266th Range Squadron, kept her eyes open for thorny bushes, spider webs, animals and hidden treasures.

After an hour spent splashing through a creek, walking past cows and taking several wrong turns, Kalynne stopped at the base of a tree and screamed, "I found it!"

The family was just off Mountain Home Air Force Base on a high-tech treasure hunt called geocaching. What Kalynne found was called a cache (pronounced cash), and there are about
2,100 of them within 100 miles of the base. Caches are usually waterproof boxes of varying size, but they can be a statue, building or other landmark.

Since Sergeant Sapp began hunting in January, he has found 373 caches, including some in Wyoming, Utah, South Dakota and even Guam.

People who hunt for caches use a Global Positioning System device - it's like a high-tech compass. GPS tells the user where in the world he or she is, using longitude and latitude. (Longitude measures how far east or west you are from a place in England called Greenwich. Latitude measures how far north or south of the equator you are. The measurements come in pairs - one for longitude, the other for latitude - that are called coordinates.)

People who hide caches put the coordinates for their treasure online at www.geocaching.com.
Hunters, such as Sergeant Sapp, enter those coordinates into their GPS devices and follow the directions until they find the caches.

Most are in public places and the boxes are hidden so they aren't too visible or mistaken for trash.

"You have to look for things out of the ordinary," said Sergeant Sapp. "I found one cache at a park in Boise that was hidden in a hollowed out pine cone. Another one I found was about 3-feet tall and as big around as a dinner plate. It all really depends on the area they are placed."

Geocaching offers another opportunity for families to get out and participate in something together.

"The first day we decided to try it, I had to drag my daughter out of bed. We found eight that day," said Sergeant Sapp. "The next day, she dragged me out and we found 12 more."

Sergeant Sapp isn't the only Gunfighter looking for caches around the country.

"We started geocaching when I was stationed at Mountain Home," said Lt. Col. Eric Johnson, 388th Electronic Combat Squadron commander, Naval Station Whidbey Island, who was here for the
366th Operations Group change-of-command ceremony Aug 10. "My son really likes geocaching, and when you can get teenagers interested in something, it's important to keep them involved in it."

Caches can be found anywhere as long as people know where to look, and can take you to out of the ordinary places or just let you know about the history in the area.

"I actually found three caches this weekend while I was here for the change of command," said Colonel Johnson. "You can be at a rest stop and put in your coordinates and who knows what can be there."

"We have discovered cave paintings in the mountains near Mountain Home, hot springs and the old racetrack near Bruneau Dunes State Park all while geocaching," said Colonel Johnson. "I think we have learned more about the local area we are in just by getting out and exploring the area while geocaching."

"One cache I found in Guam was amazing," said Sergeant Sapp. "It took us four hours and we were walking through the jungle, down a river most of the way. When we found the cache, it was on a beach and there was a school of dolphins swimming in the ocean ahead of us."

The first cache was hidden in Oregon in May 2000. Before that, GPS units were used by the military and people who wanted to remember favorite hunting or fishing spots. As the satellites that send the coordinates became more accurate, people found new ways to use GPS devices, including hiding caches.

So what was the hidden treasure Sergeant Sapp and Kalynne found that day?

Inside the cache were a logbook and some small toys. They each picked out a toy and left one of their own. After signing the logbook, they put the cache back where they found it for future fortune hunters to discover.