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Hastings Hensel hunts under rocks at Paris Mountain State Park in search of his first geocaching find.
Photo by Matthew Franklin Carter
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Thank goodness for GPS in the woods! A geocaching phone app helps users find their way to small treasures in places like South Carolina state park.
Photo by Matthew Franklin Carter
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A geocaching app guides our treasure hunter to within 15 feet of the cache on a rainy day.
Photo by Matthew Franklin Carter
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When at last he finds the hidden cache, the treasure hunter takes a token from the box and leaves another behind in its place.
Photo by Matthew Franklin Carter
I know where I am, but I don’t know where I am supposed to be. Not exactly.
I’ve just stepped off the Mountain Creek Trail at Paris Mountain State Park, just outside of Greenville, and I’ve climbed up the stone amphitheater in the rain to the top of the hill. I’m walking through a well-worn path in a forest of sweetgum and maple, and I come at last to a kind of ruin—a broken foundation of cinderblocks, many of which lay on the ground.
I look down at my phone. The Geocaching app tells me I’m within 15 feet of the treasure—the small box of trinkets called the cache. I poke around the ruin like I’m looking for a lost television remote or a set of keys. For 10 long minutes, I peer into every cinderblock hole, every crevice and corner. I turn over logs. I look up into branches. I kick up leaves.
Nothing.
I keep refreshing the app, keep looking down at the GPS map and then up at my surroundings. The name of the cache is called “Tiers of Seats,” but surely that refers to its proximity to the amphitheater? The description tells me I’m looking for “a small lock-n-lock container,” but how small?
Frustrated, I almost click the “Hint” button on the app. Determined, I keep looking on my own. This will be my first geocache find, and I want to start strong in the hobby. After all, I know I’m already hooked—what’s more fun than a treasure hunt in nature?—and that I’ll be readily joining the 3 million geocachers who play the game worldwide.
Geocaching, simply put, is a guided hunt for purposely hidden trinkets at sites around the globe. You use an app and a GPS to find one, see what’s inside the cache and, if you choose to, replace a goody with an item of your own. The trend began nearly 25 years ago, when GPS technology became more accurate after the U.S. military allowed it, and a GPS buff named Dave Ulmer buried some random things in Oregon, posted the waypoints to an internet forum, and sat back as another GPS buff named Mike Teague found it.
Geocaching now has made its way into nooks and crannies all across our state. More than 4,500 geocaches are estimated to be hidden in South Carolina, and almost every state park has beginner-friendly and more advanced geocaches for its visitors to find.
“Some have been placed by individuals, and some by our park staff,” says Gwen Davenport, the S.C. State Park Service sales and marketing manager. “Geocaching is a fun way to get people of all ages outside—all while using technology. It’s a popular activity across the country, and we have embraced it to give folks another activity to enjoy in our parks.”
As the rain splatters on my phone, making the touchscreen difficult, I ask myself if I’m really enjoying it. Or am I just on a fool’s errand?
But then something catches my eye—something slightly out of place, something I won’t spoil for anyone who might hunt for “Tiers of Seats.” The next thing I know, I’m opening a small plastic box roughly the size of a deck of cards. I snap it open to find a random collection of trinkets: Pokémon cards and a homemade bracelet. Worthless, perhaps, but a treasure all the same to me.
I leave behind what I have in my wallet—a guitar pick—and place the box back before logging my first-ever find on my phone. But it isn’t time to rest on my laurels. No, it’s literally time to head to “Don’t Rest on Your Laurels,” the name of the next geocache located not even half a mile away.
How to geocache at S.C. state parks—and beyond
- Download a geocaching app on your phone and register a username. There are multiple apps for the activity, but the one used for hunting at South Carolina parks is simply called “Geocaching,” and it’s free.
- Open the map and select a geocache to find. Note the difficulty, the terrain and the size of each quest and cache. Read the notes in the description.
- Select “Navigate” and use the GPS to get within 10 to 15 feet of the cache.
- Start looking. If you need help, use the “Hint” button.
- Once you find the cache, you may take a trinket if you leave another one in its place.
- Write your name in the logbook and/or log your find on the app.
- Move on to the next geocache.