Seeking the Hidden

Geocaching in the White Mountains National Recreation Area

by Craig McCaa 

My location must remain secret, even though this story is all about location. Let’s just say I’m somewhere in the 1-million-acre White Mountains National Recreation Area north of Fairbanks, and I’m closing in on a hidden treasure of sorts, one that I’m trying to find with the cellphone-sized global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver in my hand.

My GPS says I should be standing 30 feet directly in front of my elusive prize, if the latitude and longitude I downloaded off the Web site geocaching.com are to be trusted. I see nothing there but sun-drenched tundra. Off to my left a bit is a dense thicket of black spruce trees. Could it be in there? I claw my way into the trees and emerge a minute later holding my very first geocache.

What I’ve found is an Army-surplus ammo can tightly sealed against rain and snow. I pry off the top and discover an odd assortment of items left by previous visitors. A yellow Livestrong™ bracelet, a disposable camera, hand warmers, a survival whistle, a deck of playing cards.

In a sealed plastic bag is a logbook listing those who have found this cache before me. I count six entries in the previous two years. I add my name before resealing the ammo can and carefully placing it back where I found it. 

A new outdoor adventure game

Geocaching is a relatively new activity, but with around 2,400 caches now located in Alaska, it’s one that’s already shaping outdoor adventure in the state, including on BLM-managed public lands.

At least ten geocaches have been placed in the White Mountains alone. Others are hidden on public lands along the Denali, Steese, and Dalton highways. Fifteen geocaches are located on public land within the BLM’s 730-acre Campbell Tract in Anchorage.

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(A modified version of this story appeared in the Summer 2008 issue of BLM-Alaska's quarterly newsletter Frontiers.)

What is Geocaching? Geocaching is an outdoor adventure game involving Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. The object is to use location coordinates to find a hidden object called a ‘geocache’ or cache’ (typically a waterproof box containing a logbook and other small items). The largest Web site devoted to geocaching, geocaching.com, lists more than 580,000 caches all over the world. Geocachers use this and other Web sites to share coordinates and clues about the caches’ locations.

Many geocaches consist of an Army surplus ammo can or other waterproof container containing a log book and tokens left by previous visitors.