A Struggling Town Is Reviving Itself With... Geocaching (vice.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: In the town of Wilberforce, Ontario, a quick detour from the main street will take you to a seven-foot-tall wooden fork that sits at the point where the road splits into two -- a literal fork in the road. Unfamiliar passers-by may think it's a joke. But to locals, this landmark goes by the name "Fork and Beans." It has a logbook hidden inside its frame and it's one of the more than 500 geocaches scattered around Wilberforce -- the "Geocaching Capital of Canada," as the town calls itself, and home of one of the most popular geocaching tours in the world.

The rise of Pokemon Go in 2016 brought with it a surge of location-based outdoor games on mobile. Geocaching, which is akin to an outdoor scavenger hunt, uses GPS to locate hidden caches with logbooks inside and predates the latest crop of augmented reality games; it was a fixture of internet culture at the turn of the millenium. Geocachers use either an app or a GPS-enabled device to search for hidden containers (usually filled with something like a notebook) that are nearby or that they've sought out online. According to Geocaching HQ, a company that created one of the largest websites for the geocaching community in 2000, there are currently more than three million of these caches hidden in more than 190 countries around the world.

For Wilberforce, geocaching is more than a game from back when a low-res dancing baby was the height of online entertainment. It's a growing industry, with new caches being hidden and special events organized every year, that is helping keep the town afloat amidst economic struggles.

Comments

Tourism, it's called tourism

[H3lldr0p]

And it's an old hack that lasts about as long as the trend you've attached yourself to does. So unless you can get some hookers and blackjack going as well, I hope you have a plan C when people move on to other distractions.

Re: Tourism, it's called tourism

[Anonymous Coward]

Real tourist traps are built around water: parks, lakes, rivers. Swimming, fishing, boating, drinking... things that will never die. That way summer is the usual grind and we get all the cool months off.

Re: Tourism, it's called tourism

[tomhath]

Wilberforce is pretty close to Algonquin Provincial Park; plenty of boating, fishing, and biting insects up there.

Re:Tourism, it's called tourism

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean people like you?

Re:Tourism, it's called tourism

[Anonymous Coward]

"And it's an old hack that lasts about as long as the trend you've attached yourself to does. So unless you can get some hookers and blackjack going as well, I hope you have a plan C when people move on to other distractions."

They should start geocaching hookers and cocaine. That will bring in lots of tourism.

Re:Tourism, it's called tourism

[TomR teh Pirate]

Well done with the Bender reference!

Re:Tourism, it's called tourism

[DerekLyons]

And it's an old hack that lasts about as long as the trend you've attached yourself to does.

Geocaching isn't a trend - it's a hobby and an activity with a huge number of active participants across the world.

how cute

[Anonymous Coward]

look at our northern little brother trying so hard to be relevant! so cute except when he clubs baby seals

PHAH!

[Thud457]

Come on Vice, it's not a story unless Elon Musk is leaving bitcoin in geocaches around town!

Have you tried creimercashing?

[Anonymous Coward]

You have to find a "prize" Chris has hidden somewhere in his chins! He can't actually afford to buy anything so he makes sculptures from his hand-collected feces he keeps in the freezer.

Oh well, it's the thought that matters.

You're forgetting the coins

[Pfhorrest]

You're forgetting the actual "cache" part of geocaching! In traditional geocaching, the cache is a cache, a depository, a place where stuff has been stashed away. You bring something to the cache, and swap it with something that's been left behind by a previous geocacher. The traditional objects are custom-made coins, Geocoins, which are trackable online at Geocaching.com.

I'm not a cacher myself but I work for a company that makes stuff like coins and we get a lot of geocacher customers.

Re:You're forgetting the coins

[Pfhorrest]

it's frivolous shit that accomplishes nothing useful or edifying in any way

You mean "it's a hobby/pastime"? Yeah, it is. Like hiking, but with a game overlaid on it.

Re:You're forgetting the coins

[WallyL]

Can we patent geobitcoins? Let's use as a catchphrase, "Shave and a haircut, two bitcoins!" (Obviously, would have been more applicable in 2011 or before.) In fact, let's go with GeoBitCoinCaching (GBCC) and GBNU, Geocaching Blockchain is Not Unix!

Re:You're forgetting the coins

[Pfhorrest]

I've had to make some physical representations of bitcoins at work (still not clear exactly what use those are), so yeah I don't see why not. Make geobitcoins, I mean. Patents don't work like that.

Re:You're forgetting the coins

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't get it, yo pinko stooge. Geocaching is a blight on our fair nation! People wandering around outside, having fun, getting exercise and NOT SPENDING ANY MONEY!!!

These entitled bastards think that just because they are on public land, or have the landowner's permission, they can enjoy themselves without forking over cold hard cash to our corporate overlords. What they are doing has no measurable ROI! Morons. Whenever I'm not at my main job, or one of my "side gigs" where I wind up earning less than minimum wage, I'm spending my time on self improvement to better my value to my employers. They have earned (well, inherited) the right to treat me like shit, so I have to run to keep my head above the shitty water. 24/7, 110%.

These lazy fucks going around having unsanctioned fun in the great outdoors had better watch out; just a matter of time till someone with self worth (aka net worth) realises that what they are doing is bad for the bottom line and tells their monkeys in congress to make it illegal.

Re:You're forgetting the coins

[Pfhorrest]

I wish I could mod +1 Funny in a thread I've already posted in.

Re:You're forgetting the coins

[DerekLyons]

You're forgetting the actual "cache" part of geocaching! In traditional geocaching, the cache is a cache, a depository, a place where stuff has been stashed away. You bring something to the cache, and swap it with something that's been left behind by a previous geocacher.

Some cachers swap do-dads. Others (like myself) just sign the log and move on.
 

The traditional objects are custom-made coins, Geocoins, which are trackable online at Geocaching.com.

The traditional objects are do-dads or tchotkes of some sort. Coins are a distinct minority in caches, most are swapped hand-to-hand and only "virtually" dropped into caches. (They're too expensive the scatter liberally.) Geo-coins are practically a separate hobby of their own.

(I am a cacher.)

Pokémon Go

[Anonymous Coward]

"The rise of Pokemon Go in 2016 brought with it a surge of location-based outdoor games on mobile."

Then can you explain to me how I was Geocaching long before Pokémon Go and I owned a cell phone?

Now get off my lawn.

Ah yes, that game from way back when

[johannesg]

I geocache. So far I found 2735 caches in 42 countries, so I'm not doing too badly. I remember when I first started, there was this cool website by and for nerds. It had fascinating articles, interesting and stimulating discussion, and whenever an article was posted you could count on at least a few real experts chiming in. Sadly, it declined greatly since then. What was it called again... something like 'sloshdad'.

Re: Ah yes, that game from way back when

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah yes Sloshdad. Loved that site.
Remember Windows Girl? Good times.
I miss CtnFajita.

Re: Ah yes, that game from way back when

[hcs_$reboot]

Geocaching is not an "obsolete" game. It became a [geo]Cashing factory, though.

2005 Called

[Anonymous Coward]

They want their hobby back :)

Way cooler place: Punkeydoodles Corners

[Anonymous Coward]

Much cooler place...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punkeydoodles_Corners

Geocaching is addictive, for some,

[Anonymous Coward]

Geocaching is addictive, for some.
My sister and her adult daughter geocache.
They've found a cache and logged it every day for the last 8 yrs. EVERY DAY. Neither have jobs, but they spend tonnes on gas and usually get 300K miles on their vehicles in 10 yrs. That's a bunch of driving.

They plan travel around caching.

They have spent over $1000 on trinkets to leave and track in caches. Some of those start in Alabama and California, but end up all over the world. Each has a unique tracking number (I think).
I've been geocaching with them a few times - like the idea of GPS and it teaches how flawed GPS technology is, especially around huge steel structures and when under thick trees.

There are goals - like finding all the caches in a state.
It is sorta like people getting their national park passport stamps, but there is a website that you pay to play. You don't need to pay, but half the fun is being part of the geocaching community.

Finding a nano-cache in the middle of a state park, slightly off-trail, without many hints is non-trivial. GPS isn't as accurate as most people think. 30 ft is about it. Imagine something smaller than your car unlock FOB being hidden either slightly buried, in a tree knot, or hanging in a forest within 30 ft of the provided coordinates. Good luck with that.

People use a specially crafted bolts on signs as a micro-Cache to hide the log book.

Ammo cans are popular too, but we don't see them much outside the USA - wonder why?

I cache with them about once a year - meh. Not into the bush-wacking. Sometimes it is definitely trespassing - especially around airports. I've had to explain what I was doing walking along an airport fence line a few times. Or in the back of a strip shopping center or in woods off a side road that is certainly private property, but there isn't any buildings anywhere near.

There's also a Degree Confluence Point nearby

[Ross Finlayson]

The town is also less than 18 km away from a Degree Confluence Point (45 Degrees North, 78 Degrees West) - a 'natural' geocache.

GeoCashing

[hcs_$reboot]

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