BY Justin Yang

COLUMBIA, MISSOURI— At dusk Tuesday, eight adventurers set out to Rhett's Run Mountain Bike Trail at Cosmopolitan Park in search of a green box.

The group, which varies in age from about 30 to 60, is all male except for one woman. They're wearing bucket hats and carrying walking sticks and flashlights. Each has applied a liberal dose of bug spray to his or her clothes and skin.

The Internet description of what they are seeking said to look for trail marker reflectors – small shiny cubes stuck to trees along the steep, narrow trail.

The group is geocaching, a modern-day searching game that uses GPS technology, the Internet and nature. Geocaching usually requires solving riddles, puzzles or simply following descriptions from Internet posts that can be found at websites like Geocaching.com. The goal is to find caches, usually army surplus ammo boxes, that other geocachers have hidden.

According to Geocaching.com, more than 4 million people geocache globally.

Read the entire article at www.columbiamissourian.com.

As published in the Sacramento Bee

Treasure Hunters Lured to Tourist Destinations with Geocaching

By JOHANNA SOMERS
The Seattle Times

SEATTLE - Historical sightseeing may never be the same again. Now parents can tell their children to bring their smartphones with them for a nature walk, and national parks may want tourists to leave something behind. Geocaching, a form of high-tech treasure hunting that utilizes clues from a GPS device, is being harnessed by tourist destinations as a new way to draw visitors and encourage them to explore.

Five locations from Washington, D.C., to Park County, Colo., recently launched tours created by Seattle-based company Groundspeak, which runs the Geocaching.com website.

The nearest geocaching tour is centered on Cache Creek, British Columbia; it weaves through the region's Gold Rush country and will have 144 caches by the end of the summer. Several more tour locations are in the works.

POTOSI, Missouri. Travis and Cindy were on a mission.

After parking their minivan in front of Mark Twain National Forest's Potosi Ranger Station, they turned on their GPS unit and stepped out of their vehicle.

They weren't there to purchase a map, or to inquire about camping, or to buy a firewood permit. They were searching for something…something that they knew was very close by. And if they found it, it would be momentous because never yet had they been the "First To Find."

Time was of the essence, and even the damp and chilly air of that October 2011 morning was not enough to deter them. They had to find it, and find it first.

They walked down the sidewalk, past the Pollinator Garden, across the parking lot, and headed into the woods. As they approached a small vernal pool, they suddenly stopped. Did they see something? Maybe a bird flushing from a bush? Or a frog jumping into the pool? No, they saw something much less obvious.

Travis walked a few steps further, stopped again, turned around, then kicked some leaves and exclaimed "I found it!" Pulling an old ammo box out from behind a tree, they both grinned from ear to ear. This was what they were looking for. This was the geocache!

Travis and Cindy represent hundreds of people who participate in geocaching, or treasure hunting on Mark Twain National Forest.

This particular geocache was put there by Mark Twain National Forest Employee Marge VanPraag.

A geocacher herself, Marge has enjoyed encouraging others to participate in this recreational pastime.