Geocache

Geocaching- A worldwide game using GPS technology to find hidden caches.

GPS technology was first made available after a S. Korean aircraft, Korean Air Lines Flight 007, strayed into Russian airspace and was subsequently shot down. To prevent future occurrences President Ronald Reagan issued a directive making GPS freely available for civilian use.

To maintain the military advantage Reagan decided to limit the accuracy of commercial units to 300 yards of the coordinates. This was known as selective availability. In 1996, Bill Clinton recognized the importance of GPS to civilian users and issued a policy directive declaring GPS to be a dual-use system. In 2000 GPS units became accurate to within 60 feet.

Geocaching began in early 2000 by an Oregonian named Dave Ulmer. Within 3 days two people had used the GPS coordinates Dave provided on sci.geo.satellite-nav to find the cache Dave had hidden. The original stash was found in a black plastic bucket containing software, videos, books, food, money, and a slingshot. The idea was that the lucky geocacher who found the stash could take an item, and leave an item of equal or greater value.

Thus the age of geocaching was born. Today geocachers hide their caches in forest, fields, cities, and neighborhoods. Then the geocacher posts the coordinates online and waits for someone to find the cache. Usually the cache has a log book so people know who has found the cache, what they took and what they left. To play you simply have to have a GPS unit.

After you play a few times you can begin playing different types of geocaching games.
A unique ideas:

1. Project A.P.E. Cache
In 2001, twelve geocaches were placed in conjunction with 20th Century Fox to support the movie Planet of the Apes. Each cache represented a fictional story in which scientists revealed an Alternative Primate Evolution. These caches were made using specially marked ammo containers. Each cache had an original prop from the movie. Only a few Project A.P.E. caches exist today.