Linn County receives award for parks challenge geocaching program

Sometimes, it can be hard to 'unplug.'

But, it turns out, there's a way to turn your phone attachment into an outdoor adventure through geocaching.

'Basically, geocaching is a high tech scavenger hunt,' says Tim Stewart, known as 'the weasel' in the caching community.

Jenny Corbett, a naturalist at Wikiup Hill Learning Center, says you don't need a lot of 'fancy equipment' to geocache — just a smartphone, GPS coordinates and a desire to get outside.

Once you plug your coordinates into your phone or GPS device, you'll begin a treasure hunt that will lead you to a hidden container with a log book and possibly goodies inside.

Aaron Haworth, a 37-year-old who has been geocaching for less than a year, says it 'awakens the little kid' in him.

This year, Linn County was recognized by the National Association of Counties (NACo) and the National Association of County Parks (NACPRO) for it's Linn County Parks Challenge, a year-round geocaching program launched in 2014 by the Linn County Conservation Department.

The ongoing program, which features 25 caches in 25 parks, was designed to bridge technology and nature to get people outside.

'We wanted people that just have to have their phones to get outside ... (we) wanted to give them a little sense of adventure and let those people know where they can go in Linn County, because we have a lot of neat and unique areas that people just don't even know about,' says Corbett.

Haworth says he's discovered spots that no one else seems to know about, places he had never known despite growing up in the area.

Corbett says that geocaching doesn't get people to fully 'unplug,' but it does get them outside, getting lost on adventures in unexplored areas and forgetting about their daily stresses.

Though the hobby is not new, it's expanded exponentially since it's beginnings in the early 2000s, when GPS was first released to the public.

There are thousands of geocaches and geocachers in Iowa alone, but more than 2 million caches in more than 85 countries and at least 6 million cachers worldwide, according to Geocaching.com.

'When I started back in 2002, there was only a handful of people that geocached (in the area),' says Stewart.

He took a break in 2005 after discovering the 88 caches he could find within 20 miles of Cedar Rapids, but as of Aug. 21, he had completed 14,604.

He says there's 'probably a couple thousand' caches in the area now, and likely 'a cache within a half mile of everybody's house.'

In fact, 'you've probably walked by more than you'd ever know existed,' possibly some in plain sight, says Jim Kasik, known as 'Lego Masters' with his wife, Heather.

'If there's a trail or a park, there's probably a cache or two on it, if not a hundred,' Stewart says.

There are different kinds of geocaches — puzzle caches, underground caches, virtual caches and 'where I go' caches that tell a story about the location as you explore it.

Other, more competitive challenges include 'first to finds,' where cachers receive a notification about a new cache and try to be the first to find it.

The Kasiks, who have only been geocaching for about a year, are close to completing the 365-day challenge to find 1 each day of the year, with just Feb. 29 missing. They also recently organized a 'cache in trash out' event at Pleasant Creek Recreation Area in Palo, where cachers cleaned up an area while geocaching.

Caches also vary by terrain and difficulty. Some, Stewart says he hid 'weasel style,' meaning they're hidden as high as 40 feet in a tree. Some pose risks like poisonous plants, tight squeezes through caves or require a kayak to find them. And that's just the beginning.

For the Kasiks, geocaching is a family activity that get's their 7- and 8-year-old sons involved. Heather says it's taught them how to decipher and decode puzzles, while also getting them out of the house. They've even planned vacations around geocaching.

'It's harder and harder to get kids outside these days,' she says. But 'they get so excited when they find something someone else hid.'

Though it's a free activity that anyone can do, Stewart warns to 'cache within your ability,' because 'no cache is worth getting hurt over.'

While most might avoid caching in the cold, Stewart is out year-round.

'I don't care if it's cold, hot, windy, rainy ... I'll go out in anything,' he says. He looks forward to at the end of the week.

The Kasiks agree, 'it's addicting.'

Want to cache?

• Check out www.geocaching.com for caches and geocaching events near you

• Learn more about the Linn County Parks Challenge at www.linnparkschallenge.org