CHAMPOEG, Ore. — Treasure hunting via GPS is hitting a milestone this fall with a celebration planned in the Willamette Valley.
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Geocaching will mark its 25th anniversary at Champoeg State Park on Sept. 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The recreational pastime began in Oregon in 2000.
“Geocaching is an activity everyone can enjoy. Exploring the great outdoors in your own backyard and connecting with the vast beauty of our natural environment is what made me a geocacher,” said Melissa Tacker, president of GEOregon.
GEOregon, or Geocachers Exploring Oregon, is a not-for-profit membership association founded in 2008 to promote the game of geocaching.
What is Geocaching?
Geocaching is a technology-based treasure hunt. Players use a GPS-enabled device or smartphone app to find hidden containers, called geocaches, that contain trinkets to trade or a logbook to sign.
Geocaches are rated by difficulty and terrain so players can gauge how challenging they are to find. Some caches are tucked away on hiking trails, while others might require mountain climbing or even scuba diving. Players can also take on challenges by finding a certain number of caches in specific areas.
Today, more than 3.4 million geocaches are hidden in about 190 countries, from city parks to remote forests, and are available to find on Geocaching.com.
Origins in Oregon
Geocaching.com launched on Sept. 2, 2000, after the U.S. government ended selective availability—the deliberate weakening of GPS signals for civilian use—on May 2 of that year, known as “Blue Switch Day.”
“The very first geocache was hidden here in Oregon, just outside Estacada the day after Blue Switch Day,” said PJ Hubbard, treasurer for GEOregon. “Membership dues and donations are utilized to host monthly meet-and-greet events to encourage geocachers to interact and build community.”
Dave Ulmer, an Oregonian, placed the world’s first geocache in Beavercreek in May 2000. When Geocaching.com launched, it listed about 75 locations worldwide.
By November 2000, Geocaching HQ was founded, and in 2008 the first official geocaching app was released, along with dozens of community events.
“My husband is the culprit that gave me the geocaching bug,” Hubbard said. “He stumbled across the hobby when he was a graduate student at the University of Buffalo. He introduced me to the game, and since I loved camping, I introduced him to tent camping.”
Eight years later, the couple has logged 10,354 finds.
“Although I grew up in the Western New York region, geocaching took me to little hidden gems of parks and hiking trails that I never knew existed in my own backyard,” Hubbard said. “It provides a fun way to interact with nature, encouraging healthy and active lifestyle choices.”
When they lived in New York, the Hubbards met monthly with a group of geocachers for breakfast and conversation, building friendships through the hobby.
“We relocated to the Hillsboro area in March of last year after my husband finished his Ph.D. and took a job at Intel,” Hubbard said. “We packed our belongings and literally hit the Oregon Trail knowing nobody here. Within a few weeks, we attended our first GEOregon event and started making connections.
“A few months later, the treasurer at the time had to move out of state, so my husband and I were ‘volun-told’ to become the new treasurers. We have since made several wonderful friends through GEOregon, which has made Oregon feel like home.”
Event Details
“Having the ability to enjoy the outdoors for most of the year is new to me. Let’s just say, I’m not missing Michigan’s cold winters,” said Kinley Baker, event coordinator for GEOregon. “Oregon is full of beautiful spaces, which we like to showcase by hosting geocaching events.”
The anniversary celebration will feature a full day of activities, including geocache hunts, adventure labs, themed games, a trackable trading center, door prize drawings, and historical exhibits.
“To commemorate the 25th anniversary of geocaching, Geocaching HQ is allowing a limited number of events to earn ‘Block Party’ status,” Hubbard said. “This is a unique type of event that is not regularly available, so geocachers from far and wide will be coming to Oregon to attend and earn the elusive Block Party icon on their profile.”
To earn the Block Party status, the event needed at least 300 geocachers to RSVP to attend. Currently, the event is expecting 353 players plus their families.
“We chose Champoeg as our venue because just like geocaching started here in Oregon, Oregon itself took its first steps to becoming a U.S. state at Champoeg with the founding of the Oregon Provisional Government in 1843,” Hubbard said. “The name of our event, Oregon: Where It All Began, pays homage to both the birth of geocaching and the birth of Oregon itself as a state.”
Peter Hubbard, GEOregon co-treasurer, added: “We found a group of friends in GEOregon, and our explorations with the group have allowed us to see the most beautiful hidden gems Oregon has to offer.”
GEOregon also hosts two ongoing ‘adventure labs’—location-based experiences similar to a guided outdoor scavenger hunt created by community members: the Portland Park Blocks Adventure in downtown Portland and the Pioneer Adventures: The Oregon Trail in Oregon City.“The geocaching community continues to grow, largely due to the increased availability of GPS technology on smartphones. In the early days, cachers used handheld GPS devices, and many old-school cachers still carry them in addition to their smartphone,” Hubbard said.
