Geocaching is not just a game

Posted 1/8/21

Al Cole is the president of the Treasure Coast Geocaching Club and began geocaching in 2010.

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Geocaching is not just a game

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OKEECHOBEE — Al Cole is the president of the Treasure Coast Geocaching Club and began geocaching in 2010. It all began when his family which at that time consisted of him and his wife Coreen, their son Brandon, daughter Lea and baby Nicholas went hiking at Highlands Hammock and decided to check out the campgrounds to see if they might want to go back for a weekend of camping.

As they were heading for the primitive campground, they passed a family on bicycles. They noticed the father reaching up into the “v” of a tree trunk, feeling around for something, but when he saw them, he hurriedly snatched his hand out and waved. The Coles waved back and drove on by, all the while thinking, “That was weird. We definitely need to go back and check that out.” They drove down, circled the campground and on the way back, stopped at that tree, and Cole reached into the same tree and found a large pill bottle wrapped in camo Duck tape. Inside it, they found a slip of paper that read, “Congratulations. You found it! You found a geocache. Whether by accident or on purpose.” Then it gave the website and briefly explained what it was all about.

When they got home, they researched it on the computer and Mrs. Cole said, “This sounds like a lot of fun!” They created a free account and the very next day went out and found their first original geocache on the storm water treatment path across from the boys’ school.

Back then, it was a lot more difficult and painstaking, Cole said, because they didn’t have a GPS or smart phones. They did everything by searching on the website, getting clues and satellite imagery. In their first five years, they only found 78 geocaches, although part of the reason for that was that they took three years off to have more children.

Now, their family consists of Al; Coreen; Nicholas, aka Twig, age 11; Justus aka Shrub, age 9; Aubrey, aka Sprout, age 7; foster children 8-year-old Danielle aka Ivy and 5-year-old Eric aka Branch and last but not least, 11-week-old granddaughter Khloe aka Bloom. Lea and Brandon have grown up and moved out, and Lea has two children of her own.

In 2015, the family got smart phones and began geocaching again. “We are approaching 6,000 finds now,” Cole said. The kids have an account of their own and are up to 4,000 finds.

Cole said geocaching is defined as a high tech, worldwide scavenger hunt. You use latitude and longitude coordinates to find containers or places that are hidden all over the world. In every country of the world, there is at least one cache, except for the country of North Korea, where it is forbidden, and the punishment could be death. There are well over 3,000,000 hidden throughout the world.

When the Coles got back into geocaching in 2015, there were about 15 geocaches in the Okeechobee area. Now, there are more than 400.

When looking for a cache, you use latitude, longitude and clues. You don’t know what you are looking for until you find it, he explained, unless there is a very detailed description on the page which is rare. Inside the cache is a small log book or piece of paper, and when you find it, you write your geo nickname to prove you were there. The Cole Family’s geo nickname is coleclan, and the kids geo nickname is nalceloc which is coleclan spelled backwards. Some of the larger caches sometimes contain small goodies or trinkets you can take home, but the rule is that you must replace it with something of equal or greater value for the next person to find. The Cole family carries a SWAG (stuff we all get) bag around with them so they have readily available things to trade in these instances.

Occasionally, the caches are found by accident and are thrown out by someone thinking they are garbage or even called in to the police as a possible bomb threat. Many have been taken to a field and blown up by bomb squads, said Cole. Afterward they realize it was just a geocache. It hasn’t happened here in Okeechobee County so far.

The Coles have caches in 17 different states plus Washington D.C. They have made some of the best friends of their lives while geocaching. The kids are not always the biggest fans of geocaching though, because they don’t love traveling by car. They do love climbing trees, going to new playgrounds, going on boats, meeting new people and some of the other things involved. All in all, it depends what mood they are in and when you ask them, said Cole.

For a couple years, the Coles led a geocaching 4-H club, but the other couple who led the club with them had to drop out and because with 4-H, you need two adults who are unrelated to lead, they were unable to continue the club.”Maybe when we get back to some semblance of normalcy we can start it up again,” he said.

Geocaching has several types of events — standard meet and greet at a park or restaurant where you just hang out and talk, mega events where 500 or more get together, giga events where 5,000 or more meet and CITO events. A CITO event means cache in, trash out and often the event literally means what the name says. They go in looking for a cache and bring out the trash when they leave. Cole’s club has adopted a road in Saint Lucie County — a 1 mile section of Angle Road — which they meet quarterly to clean up. On Jan. 3, Cole organized a CITO event at Lock 7. They had people show up from Ft. Myers, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Jupiter, Palm City, and Satellite Beach. They collected over 25 bags of garbage, plus tires, other car parts, and floor tiles, just to name a few things. Despite all that work, they said there was at least that much more still left to be done when they quit for the day. Annually, Cole organizes a CITO event on Taylor creek and everyone goes in using a kayak or other type of boat. The Cole family has been to 30 or 40 CITO events. A CITO event does not always involve garbage though, he said. It is about giving back to the community, and it involves nature. They have done other things like planting a butterfly garden at Jonathon Dickinson State Park or repairing trails and building walk bridges at Highlands Hammock State Park or even building zoo enclosures at the Brevard Zoo, anything to do with the environment and nature.

If anyone is interested in getting involved in geocaching, they can sign up on geocaching.com. Cole said there are many apps for smart phones you can download which can help you find the caches. “It’s not like it was when we started. It was very time consuming and difficult then but still worth it. We have made some lifelong friends while geocaching.”

Cole, clan, geocaching, geocache

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