Hidden treasure waiting to be found

Ted Maxfield investigates the contents of a cache he'd left in a local park, for the treasure-hunting enjoyment of fellow geo-cachers. Players use GPS coordinates and other clues found on Web sites dedicated to the activity to find items left by other players. On Thursday, Maxfield's cache contained several items, including the colorful book he holds.

By Lynn A. Wade

Nevada Daily Mail

There's hidden treasure in Nevada. In Lamar. In El Dorado Springs. In nearby conservation areas. No, it's not gold or riches -- just small containers filled with surprises for the enterprising "geo-cacher."

Geo-caching is catching on everywhere. It's a high-tech twist on the old-fashioned concept of a scavenger hunt.

All that's required is an inquisitive mind, transportation to the hidden treasure site, and it helps a great deal if you have a handheld Global Positioning System.

It's all coordinated through Web sites like www.geocaching.com, where individuals who have placed a cache of some type post the GPS coordinates of their cache, plus supplemental directions. Others use a GPS to pinpoint the area, then supplemental directions lead to the exact spot where the cache is located. The geo-cacher then removes an item from the cache and replaces it with another, signs a log book in the cache, then registers their find on the Internet. Sometimes, caches are simply clues that lead to a particular site. There's one in El Dorado Springs that leads to a plaque.

Recently, someone has placed one near 13 curves. One was formerly placed at Katy Allen Lake, but it disappeared -- or was "muggled," in geo-caching lingo -- a short time later.

Tedd Maxfield of Nevada is an avid geo-cacher. So much so that he's placed two caches of his own in Nevada.

"It's a lot of fun," he said. "When people hear about this they're in one of two camps. They either think, gee, that really sounds like fun. Or they think that Tedd Maxfield's just crazy."

One of his caches is in Postlethwaite Park, and it's been visited many times. Some visitors are local folks; others are travelers who were either passing through or came to the area just to find caches.

"It's not about what you find in there. It's more about finding it, seeing new places, or seeing places from a different perspective. People from Nevada find mine, and sometimes they say they didn't even know the park was there," Maxfield said.

Nevertheless, the items in the boxes provide some of the fun. Just about anything might be in there, Maxfield said, rifling through the contents of an ammunition box he'd used as a cache. There was a coloring book, a jack with a tag identifying who'd left it there and a tube of lip balm, still in the package (Maxfield, making a face, noted that sometimes, they leave used lip balm, clearly a less appealing find.)

One of the more interesting items in the box was called a travel bug. Not a insect at all, Maxfield's travel bug was a plastic figure of Roy Rogers' horse, "Trigger." Attached to Trigger is a metal tag, similar to a military dog tag, imprinted with a number. The number is specific to that item, and cachers remove such items and place them in another cache elsewhere. The original owner, or anyone else, for that matter, can track the item's travels.

"I found one that had been 11,000 miles," Maxfield said.

Geo-caching has caught on in a big way. There are several Web sites devoted to it, but some are more organized than others. Geo-cachers are in every state, and in more than 200 countries. There are even conventions where avid geo-cachers meet one another and swap stories and information.

"The main thing is, it's just fun. Anybody can do this. You can do this alone, with friends -- some people do it with their families. I had trouble finding one, so I took my niece and nephew with me. They found it." Maxfield said.

Placing your own cache is also part of the fun, he admits.

"You have to put it in a weatherproof container," such as a glass jar with a lid that seals, a sturdy plastic food container with a lid that seals, or a metal box like a small ammo box. One local cache was in a plastic lunch box that didn't weather well, so that may not be the best choice, Maxfield noted.

There are a few rules, of course. Visitors who take something must leave something else behind, and write about the visit in the logbook.

Those placing a cache must get permission from the landowner or governing body responsible for the location before doing so. Moving the cache is forbidden, and no one may remove it entirely except the person who placed it.

"The rules are simple, and most people abide by them," Maxwell said.

Hidden treasure is out there, Maxwell said, "but the real prize is just being able to find it."