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Geocaching is a recreational activity to which one uses a GPS to hike & seek containers, usually containing a logbook along with other goodies. One signs the logbook & then can take an item in the stash & replace it w/ something of their own. The hobby has become popular around the world yet its origin begins in the year 2000 from this exact location where the very first stash was placed along South Fellows Road near Estacada, Oregon. A memorial plaque for the world's first geocache reads the following:
GEOCACHING.COM
From geocaching.com:
On May 2, 2000, at approximately midnight, eastern savings time, the great blue switch* controlling selective availability was pressed. Twenty-four satellites around the globe processed their new orders, and instantly the accuracy of GPS technology improved tenfold. Tens of thousands of GPS receivers around the world had an instant upgrade.
The announcement a day before came as a welcome surprise to everyone who worked with GPS technology. The government had planned to remove selective availability - but had until 2006 to do so. Now, said the White House, anyone could "precisely pinpoint their location or the location of items (such as game) left behind for later recovery." How right they were.
For GPS enthusiasts, this was definitely a cause for celebration. Internet newsgroups suddenly teemed with ideas about how the technology could be used.
On May 3, one such enthusiast, Dave Ulmer, a computer consultant, wanted to test the accuracy by hiding a navigational target in the woods. He called the idea the "Great American GPS Stash Hunt" and posted it in an internet GPS users' group. The idea was simple: Hide a container out in the woods and note the coordinates with a GPS unit.
The finder would then have to locate the container with only the use of his or her GPS receiver. The rules for the finder were simple: "Take some stuff, leave some stuff."
On May 3rd he placed his own container, a black bucket, in the woods near Beaver Creek, Oregon, near Portland. Along with a logbook and pencil, he left various prize items including videos, books, software, and a slingshot. He shared the waypoint of his "stash" with the online community on sci.geo.satellite-nav:
N 45° 17.460 W 122° 24.800
Within three days, two different readers read about his stash on the Internet, used their own GPS receivers to find the container, and shared their experiences online. Throughout the next week, others excited by the prospect of hiding and finding stashes began hiding their own containers and posting coordinates. Like many new and innovative ideas on the Internet, the concept spread quickly - but this one required leaving your computer to participate.
Within the first month, Mike Teague, the first person to find Ulmer's stash, began gathering the online posts of coordinates around the world and documenting them on his personal home page. The "GPS Stash Hunt" mailing list was created to discuss the emerging activity. Names were even tossed about to replace the name "stash" due to the negative connotations of that name. One such name was "geocaching.""
Now here we are, 10 years later with well over 1 million active geocaches worldwide, and estimated 3-4 million geocachers across the globe and just in the past 30 days over 4 million logs have been posted. Since the first cache, things ahve changed, we now have pocket queries, benchmark hunting, Waymarking, Wherigo, events that bring together people from all around the world, Travel Bugs, Geocoins, heck now you don't even need a GPS to cache, you can use your cell phone!
This cache though, is about the beginning, the first cache, long since gone,but the site is now marked by a bronze plaque. The cache, like the original, is a 5 gallon bucket. It's hidden in Dann Lake Park, the area around the cache is a bit swampy, so boots are suggested.
The starting contents include 2 small "lock & lock" containers, 2 bottles of hand sanitizer, a 2 pack of notebooks that would make good logbooks and, like the original, one can of beans.
Source: https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC27VKX_in-honor-of-the-original-stash?guid=035622c3-3f12-4e7b-a280-636532ace6ed
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The United States is one of the most diverse countries on earth, jam packed full of amazing sights from St. Patrick's cathedral in New York to Mount Hollywood California.The Northeast region is where it all started. Thirteen British colonies fought the American Revolution from here and won their independence in the first successful colonial rebellion in history. Take a look at these rolling hills carpeted with foliage along the Hudson river here, north of New York City.The American south is known for its polite people and slow pace of life. Probably they move slowly because it's so hot. Southerners tend not to trust people from "up north" because they talk too fast. Here's a cemetery in Georgia where you can find graves of soldiers from the Civil War.The West Coast is sort of like another country that exists to make the east coast jealous. California is full of nothing but grizzly old miners digging for gold, a few gangster rappers, and then actors. That is to say, the West Coast functions as the imagination of the US, like a weird little brother who teases everybody then gets famous for making freaky art.The central part of the country is flat farmland all the way over to the Rocky Mountains. Up in the northwest corner you can find creative people in places like Portland and Seattle, along with awesome snowboarding and good beer. Text by Steve Smith.
