Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.05.2007, Side 10

10_RVK_GV_05_007_TRAVEL
The arctic wind and a nearby waterfall seem to be
having a strength competition. They are both doing
quite well. The GPS receiver in my hand tells me that
there are still 150 metres to go. I feel like I am actually
looking for a treasure. This is treasure hunting in the
satellite time – this is geocaching. I notice a pile of
rocks before me. That must be it!
Geocaching is a hobby where people seek small trea-
sures that other geocachers have hidden. This is done
with the help of GPS satellite receiver. One has to go
online, check the geocaching Internet page, choose a
cache to seek and get the coordinates of that cache.
These coordinates are then entered into the GPS de-
vice, which leads the way. It tells the seeker in which
direction and how far to go, even if the cache is on
the other side of the world. Easy, isn’t it?
These caches can be found almost all around the
world: there are almost 320,000 caches in 222 coun-
tries. Iceland has had its share too. Somewhere under
the rocks, in the holes in the ground and in other
perfect hiding places there are 62 caches waiting to
be found. And where exactly? Well, everyone who is
interested has to go out and look themselves.
Logbooks, Trading and Challenges
Although geocaching is about finding the caches, the
caches themselves are not that important. For some
geocachers the main thing is the thrill of the hunt and
for some the place where the cache is. The caches are
often hidden in such places that by finding them the
geocacher also sees something remarkable: a natu-
ral monument, nice scenery, a culturally important
place or a building, to mention a few. Many of the
caches are in the nature, but they can be found in
urban areas as well. Big city centres like New York or
London have a dense geocache population. It’s noth-
ing unusual to see someone staring at the screen of
a handheld GPS around Tower Bridge or Brooklyn
Bridge – there might be serious geocache hunting
going on. And even in the Reykjavík city area there
are 20 caches.
The caches are usually small waterproof contain-
ers with small items and a logbook inside. The idea
is to mark the visit into the logbook and trade items:
if you take something, you must put something in as
a replacement. These small items are usually pens,
batteries, little toys and so on. But not all the cach-
es are these traditional ones: the geocacher might
have to solve mysteries or seek many other caches
before getting to the final one. The mysteries are usu-
ally something to do with words and counting with
many variations. In order to get the final coordinates
of the cache the seeker might have to count stairs,
the handprints in one specific sculpture or answer a
question about history. A many-sided hobby indeed.
What do people get out of geocaching? Why
do they do it? Most geocachers I know say that the
moment of finding the cache is the best one can
have. The challenges – both mental and physical – of
geocache hunting are important for many. The only
thing needed to start geocaching is the ability to use
Internet and a GPS receiver, anyone willing to, can
do it.
Icelandic Hiding Places
Iceland is a unique country in geocaching as well. It
povides the opportunity to hide caches in easy loca-
tions or in the most difficult places in Northern Europe.
The country has beautiful nature and many interesting
and unique sights to visit. City caches can be found
around the globe but Vatnajökull glacier, Askja calde-
ra, Dimmuborgir or active volcanic areas are Iceland’s
own specialities. Some of them already have caches
waiting to be found. A thing to keep in mind while
hiding a cache is that the land owner has to approve.
Also, the cache should not be placed in a way that
the people looking for it damage the nature around it.
With all this in mind, happy geocaching in Iceland.
The weather-beaten pile of rocks in front of me
seems like a perfect place for a geocache. My GPS
seems to agree because it is pointing in the same direc-
tion. The moment of truth! I walk around the pile with
only the wind and the great big wilderness around me.
A rock in the bottom of the pile seems to be loose. I
move it gently and what do you know – there it is: my
first Icelandic geocache.
The Satellites Above Us
GPS stands for Global Positioning System. It is a satel-
lite navigation system created by the USA originally for
military use. It consists of 24 satellites whose orbits are
20,200 kilometres above the Earth. With the signal of
these satellites, a GPS receiver can determine location,
speed and direction anywhere in the world. The signal
is one-way; a GPS user cannot be traced unless the
user wants to be. The accuracy of a normal handheld
GPS receiver is usually 5 to 10 metres. The GPS system
is free for everyone to use.
Handheld GPS receivers usually cost around 30,000
– 60,000 ISK. Some of them can have a map shown on
the display and there is an accurate topographical map
of Iceland available for GPS receivers.
The use of GPS is expanding all the time. First it was
used in military operations and navigation at sea. Now-
adays GPS can be found in cars, mobile phones and
palm computers. The EU is building a satellite naviga-
tion system of its own called Galileo. It should be in use
by 2010 and it’s said to be more accurate than GPS.
More information on the Internet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gps
A Modern Treasure Hunt
By Juho Salminen Photo by Skari
What do people get out of ge-
ocaching? Why do they do it?
Most geocachers I know say
that the moment of finding
the cache is the best one can
have.
Léttöl