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Geocaching Around the Chesapeake: High Tech Treasure Hunt |
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Captain John Smith Geotrail features over 40 Chesapeake sites in Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware
 Annapolis – Set to launch on National Trails Day, June 4, 2011 at the Accokeek Foundation at Piscataway Park, the new Captain John Smith Geotrail is a journey across Chesapeake landscapes that evokes scenes and stories experienced by Captain Smith 400 years ago. Adventurers will have the chance to explore more than 40 sites that highlight places associated with Smith’s explorations, the natural resources of the Chesapeake, and American Indian communities then and now. Located along the James, Rappahannock, Potomac, Susquehanna, and the Nanticoke Rivers, the geotrail’s sites complement and promote the congressionally designated Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail.
This multi-state initiative is sponsored by the National Park Service and its Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network, Maryland Geocaching Society, and Chesapeake Conservancy.
Geocaching, pronounced “geo-cashing,” is a worldwide phenomenon, in which participants use a hand-held GPS (Global Positioning System) to plot map coordinates in order to locate a hidden treasure or “cache.” Searching for a cache is akin to going on a treasure hunt and can involve clues, riddles and visits to multiple locations. A “geotrail” is a series of caches tied together by a common topic or theme.
If you are a journalist or blogger interested in a sneak preview of the Geotrail with an experienced geocacher, please contact Susan Kelley or Cindy Chance.
Geocaching volunteers will be on hand at the kick-off event to teach the basics to people new to the hunt, and extra caches will be placed, including some just for kids. The event begins at 10:00 am and runs until 12:00. Do expect most serious geocachers to bolt as soon as the Smith Geotrail cache coordinates are officially “published” sometime around 11:30 and cachers download to their mobile devices.
Once the hunt is done, participants will find plenty more to explore at National Colonial Farm. Lying on the banks of the Potomac, with Mount Vernon visible on the opposite shore, the Accokeek Foundation and its National Colonial Farm offer a wide range of fun educational events for adults and children.
“The geotrail is a wonderful way to introduce people, especially families, to the wide variety of resources available on the Captain John Smith Chesapeake trail” said Jonathan Doherty, National Park Service Assistant Superintendent. “As a National Historic Trail, we have an obligation to help everyone discover important Chesapeake places and provide an opportunity to have fun learning about our common heritage. Geocaching is good clean fun that gets everyone outside!”
Charles Stek, chairman of the Chesapeake Conservancy, said “the Geotrail will get people to come out and play with the trail, Chesapeake history, and our great natural resources.”
To join the adventure, a geocacher must access the official geocache website at www.Geocaching.com to set up an account. A basic membership is free. Once an account is established, the geocacher can use the advance search function to locate the Captain John Smith account, retrieve the map coordinates, and see the cache details for each Captain John Smith Geocache. Included with the information for each cache location is a description of the site and its significance to the Chesapeake and Smith’s voyages. The next step is to head outside with a GPS to find geocaches along the Captain John Smith Geotrail!
This is the second geotrail along the Bay. Last year, on a cold February day, the launch of the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Geotrail drew nearly 800 weekend visits. In the past year, that trail has drawn nearly 8,000 visitors to its sites.
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