Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
COOL CACHE
Worldwide hobby opens eyes to Arkansas’ beauty
Geocaching, essentially a worldwide hideand-seek game, has opened the eyes of many of its players to the hidden gems in Arkansas. “Oh, absolutely,” said Laura Neale, who serves on the board of the Arkansas Geocachers Association. “There have been so many niches in Little Rock that I have been introduced to through geocaching.
“There have been some cool little spots that I am so appreciative of being introduced to.”
Neale mentioned Knoop Park, near The Heights, and the River Mountain Trail that runs through Two Rivers Park and Conner Park. She said she has a cache hidden at Knoop Park now, because “I wanted to bring more people to the area because it is so cool.”
“Geocaching has introduced me to cool spots that I wouldn’t have noticed or been to otherwise,” she said. “It has introduced people to spots that they think are cool.”
Neale said geocache participants will hide caches, usually camouflaged in some way and in a container of some kind. The container generally features a note or trinket for the finder.
“Once [the cache] is placed out in the wild, it stays in the spot for anyone who would like to hunt it down,” she said. “We aren’t allowed to bury them, and once you have and log a cache in the wild, you have to leave a digital log.
“I usually try to leave a fun or encouraging note for the next person.”
She said some people think once you find an item, you can take it home with you. Neale said you want to leave the cache where you found it for the next finder.
“We try to use stealth, so that ‘muggles’ or
nongeocachers, don’t interfere with, damage or remove caches,” she said. “It can be more difficult with urban caches than the rural areas.”
To participate as a geocacher, Neale said, there is a yearly membership fee. Neale joined in 2013 and currently has about 737 finds, but she said there are people with hundreds of thousands of finds.
“I don’t get to travel much, so I stick to the local area, and if I place one, I want to be able to maintain it as well,” she said. “I have to be there to fix any problems that might arise, such as poison or damage.”
According to arkansasstateparks.com, “Arkansas state parks offer plenty of geocaching for kids and adults. … The hallmark of the Arkansas State Parks System is its diversity, and this wide variety of natural and historic settings, landmarks and architectural works makes for great getaways and enjoyable geocaching in Arkansas.”
The website states that geocaching in Arkansas State Parks can be a fun and rewarding adventure for school groups, youth groups and families.”
Jim Sick of Little Rock said he has been geocaching since December 2004 and has found almost 3,000 caches.
“I have seen some fantastic sights and been to a lot of interesting places that I never would have visited if not following that little needle on my GPS,” Sick said. “What I really like about it, unlike a lot of other sports — geocaching has no age limitations.
“I did it with my kids growing up and can now do it with our grandkids.”
He said he has made some great friends over the years while attending geocaching events.
“I enjoy placing caches, and most of mine tell some type of story or take you to an interesting place,” he said. “I think the one that probably gets the most visits is the one I have downtown at Heifer.”
Neale, who works for the Central Arkansas Library System as a library assistant at McMath Library in Little Rock, said geocaching has been around since the first GPS satellites went into orbit, with the first cache being placed in Seattle, and now there “are literally millions all over the world.” She said she got started after a friend at work told her about it.
“I used to work at the main library in downtown Little Rock, and there would be several [caches] within walking distance, so I would go out and look for them,” she said. “There is a thrill in finding things that I really enjoy.
“It is an endorphin rush for me.”
Ken Hayes of Russellville said he and his wife have been caching since 2007 and are close to 20,000 cache finds in 35 countries.
“We plan our vacations and every trip around geocaching,” Hayes said. “And now, we have our grandchildren caching with us.
“There are so many wonderful aspects to this hobby, including being in the great outdoors, travel bugs, technical aspects with data management and electronics and, of course, using our million-dollar satellites to find Tupperware in the woods.”