The treasures of nature: Geocaching catches on at the Overland Park Arboretum

If you want to feel like you’re uncovering buried treasure, the Overland Park Arboretum may be the place for you. The GeoArboretum program offers nine different geocaches throughout the facility.

In geocaching, participants use a GPS device, along with a set of coordinates, to find specific points around the world.

When you find a geocache, there’s usually a small trove of trinkets inside, along with a notebook for each person to record when he or she found the cache. You can take a trinket and leave a different one in its place.

The arboretum offers classes for those unfamiliar with the idea of geocaching. Each class provides a basic outline of the history and guidelines of geocaching, then groups go out with a volunteer guide or staff member to find a few of the ones tucked away on site.

A class session, offered sporadically throughout the year, costs $15, with a $5 discount for Friends of the Arboretum members. In the spring and summer, special classes are offered just for kids, but anyone can come to the arboretum and do geocaching on their own when the facility is open.

The arboretum began laying the groundwork for the program in 2010. Geocaching in general started in 2000.

“They asked volunteers for ideas, and a couple of them were big geocachers with the World Wide Web,” said Sally Williams, chairwoman of the arboretum’s geocaching committee.

Geocaches are placed in each of the arboretum’s eight ecosystems.

“We have two really close up in the gardens for the younger beginners, then we have some that are a couple of miles out in the hiking areas,” Williams said. “Anything to bring people out to share being outside in all the beauty is a good excuse to go.”

The GPS device doesn’t do all the work. You follow it, like a compass, but that only gets you to about 5 to 10 feet from the object. Then, it’s all about keeping your eyes peeled.

“Even though the device can get you there, you have to use your brain and the clues to really focus in on the cache,” Williams said.

A cache might be within a spot on a wall or inside a fallen log, but the arboretum won’t put them anywhere dangerous.

If you’re tracking other caches outside the arboretum, you want to pay attention to your surroundings to make sure you don’t get hurt — or walk through a field of poison ivy.

“One thing we really emphasize is the GPS will try to direct you as the crow flies, Williams said. “It’ll tell you to walk across a creek. One of the things that’s difficult to teach people is that they can’t rely on the GPS. They have to use common sense.”

Participants can use the GPS on their phones or borrow a device from the arboretum. Garmin donated 12 devices when the program started.

The caches at the arboretum all contain a bookmark and a stamp to place in a provided book. When “hunters” have visited all the caches and get all the stamps, they can get a prize from the arboretum.

Leawood resident and arboretum volunteer Celeste Gogel leads groups through their first geocaching experience. She got into geocaching while in Arizona when she visited a state park in 2009 and calls the activity “ageless.”

“I love to go on desert trails and mountain trails. … It’s also taken me to places that normally you wouldn’t really think about. You know, the firefighter’s memorial or just a little out of the way kind of place that is very, very interesting,” Gogel said.

“I think it’s a really great activity to get kids off their iPads. You can use your phone, but outside, walking, having an adventure, getting some exercise.”

This story was originally published September 3, 2019 at 12:00 AM with the headline "The treasures of nature: Geocaching catches on at the Overland Park Arboretum."