Ken Durham and Nita Driscoll head off into the woods for a modern-day scavenger hunt and look for something called a cache.
“Geocaching is heading out into the woods looking for hidden Tupperware using a hand held GPS,” says Durham, a long time geocacher.
Durham says geocaching’s popularity caught fire early in the 2000s when GPS use exploded. He says the first New Brunswick cache was hidden near Campbellton back in 2004, which started a bit of a provincial movement.
“There are just over 12,000 active caches right now in New Brunswick.” he says.
Nita Driscoll had heard about geocaching back in the mid 2000s, but she didn’t know how to get involved.
“I thought geocaching would be good to do but I didn’t where to go or what to do.” she says.
But then, by chance, Driscoll ran into one while hiking in the woods with her grandkids.
“I think one of the kids asked me ‘What are you doing?’ and I told him, and off we went and since then she’s been tagging along.” says Driscoll.
But how can these two cachers, now good friends, really call this a fair scavenger hunt, when GPS coordinates lead them to where the caches are hidden? Isn’t that cheating?
“Not really, because the GPS can only be so accurate with the satellite system,” says Durham. “It’s only accurate to within about 10 metres. and then you have to start looking from there.”
So finding a well-hidden cache does offer up some bragging rights. It’s all about the moment a cacher finds it, and signing the log with your geocaching handle. Driscoll is known as as “Little Red Hen” and Durham as “KFD Canada”.
Geocaching is not just popular in New Brunswick — it’s a worldwide phenomenon. There are more than six million caches hidden around the world, and people travel all over to find them.
“My wife and I just came back from a 58-day trip, 18.000 kilometres driving.” says Durham.
“My husband and I cruise a lot and I check out all the maps and look for the geocaches in all the ports,” says Driscoll. “We were in Alaska in June and I found them there. So, it’s fun.”
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