New Age Treasure Hunting
 Have you ever dreamed of searching for hidden treasure with the aid of Blackbeard's crusty old treasure map? Have you longed to find the spot that "X" marks? Then, modern day treasure hunters, look no further that the Earth Day Nature Trail at DNR's Coastal Resources Division (CRD) in Brunswick!
When walking along the Earth Day Nature Trail, the average nature lover taking in the sights and sounds of the salt marsh surroundings might not realize they are also standing at the site of a new technological craze - "geocaching!" Geocaching is a challenging adventure experience that utilizes Global Positioning System (GPS) units and their capabilities in locating "caches", or secret containers, hidden all over the world.
With coordinates normally given in longitude and latitude, a GPS unit is an electronic device that can determine the user's approximate location (within 6-20 feet) on planet Earth. With geocaching, individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the location coordinates on the internet. GPS users can then use these shared coordinates to find the caches, or hidden containers. Once found, a cache may provide the visitor with a wide variety of rewards or treasures. All the visitor is asked to do is to leave something in the container if they take something out.
The rules are pretty simple for the relatively new phenomenon of geocaching: 1) Take something from the cache; 2) Leave something in the cache; 3) Write in the cache's log book. Cache "treasures" can be anything ranging from coins, to tape measures, post cards, trinkets, whatever the visitor decides to leave. Cache logbooks typically include information from the founder of the cache and notes from the cache's visitors. The logbook can contain much valuable, rewarding, and entertaining information and might even contain local attraction information and coordinates to other unpublished caches.
 And what does this have to do with CRD's Earth Day Nature Trail? Well, the Nature Trail is the sight of a geocache! Told about geocaching by a neighbor, CRD staff member William Hughes and his youngest son thought geocaching would be a fun activity for them to do together on weekends. William and his son have placed a total of five geocaches in various locations (and found many) and decided to locate one on the Nature Trail. According to William, "The key to placing a good cache is having something else in the area for people to do or see and CRD's Nature Trail fits that bill."
In fact, from reading through site-specific participant comments on the web at http://www.geocaching.com, it seems as though folks have really enjoyed touring the Earth Day Nature Trail as they look for the geocache site. Thanks to geocaching, the Earth Day Nature Trail is reaching an entirely new audience that otherwise might never have experienced the trail!
Said one participant, "This is our second trip to the Golden Isles, and we never knew this beautiful place existed. We thoroughly enjoyed the hunt for this cache. We'll be back just to enjoy the scenery and wildlife." Another satisfied geocacher reported, "Great place for a cache! If you have ever wondered what it's like on those salt cedar islands that dot the Spartina grass on the Georgia coast, then don't miss this cache! We found ourselves surrounded by hundreds of birds feeding and roosting in the cedars."
So, if you are ready to hunt for hidden treasure and enjoy the thrill of the search, geocaching might be for you! And the Earth Day Nature Trail is a great place to begin the adventure.
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