Published: November 02, 2009 08:42 am      

Geocachers meet in Stanly County

Sunday, November 1, 2009 — The N.C. Geocachers Organization (NCGO) held its fall fling last weekend at Morrow Mountain State Park, with more than 225 people in attendance. The event served as a way for the organization to thank its members for all the work put worth in the past year.

The NCGO is an organization that provides a forum for discussion of a popular hobby known as geocaching. Geocaching is the activity of hiding “treasures” in various location, documenting the coordinates and posting the coordinates for others to find.

The activity was first started May 2, 2000 by Dave Ulmer, a computer consultant and GPS enthusiast. He decided to test the accuracy of GPS by hiding a bucket full of items and posting his coordinates on a Web site. His instructions were to find the bucket using a handheld GPS unit, take an item from inside, but replace it with one of your own.

This activity has gained so much popularity in the last nine years that what started as Ulmer’s one cache has grown to nearly 931,000 caches worldwide. There are more than 1,640 caches hidden within a 40-mile radius of Albemarle and nearly 75 right here in Stanly County.

The NCGO event began Oct. 23 with a Halloween dress-up and covered dish, with many of the visitors camping out overnight on the mountain.

On Saturday, those in attendance participated in games, face painting, geo-Olympics and a silent auction and shared videos and slideshows of past geocaching adventures. The day’s activities were followed with a cookout.

“Before the meal, folks were spread out all over the mountain participating in various activities, but the meal brought everyone together, and that’s when folks got to put faces to geocaching names that we’ve seen online,” said Marlene Sanges, a geocaching enthusiast.

Finally, on Sunday, everyone met bright and early for the Cache In Trash Out (CITO) event that strives to help clean up a state park from litter left by visitors to the area. Following that, everyone dispersed to hunt for caches in the area. As a thank-you for hosting the event, NCGO placed 12 brand new caches in the area.

“Over the past five years, I have personally placed 28 caches in the area and just since Friday, I’ve had 337 e-mails from folks who found at least one of my caches over the weekend,” Sanges said.

“People come from all over the state (and beyond) to go geocaching in our area, and that means ‘tourist dollars.’ That is something we should realize, be proud of and take advantage of.”