Artesia Family Spends Time Together As Modern Day Treasure Hunters

“Marco!”

“Polo!”

Two modern, suburban treasure hunters use the childhood pool party game to signal when each one has found the hidden item - this provides an equal opportunity for the duo to experience the find. They creep around the bushing like a sidewalk Indiana Jones and Lara Croft. But what are they doing trudging through shin-high weeds on the corner of Bloomfield Avenue and 195th Street?

According to the Geocaching website, “geocaching” is “a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.”

Basically, participants strategically hide small containers filled with small toys, trinkets or name logs, post the GPS coordinates online, and it's up to the public to find these containers using nothing but their GPS devices and their wits. You can take an item, leave an item or both. Smaller containers usually contain name logs, notebooks or scrap paper where geocachers sign in to provide proof of their find.

With participants engaging in the activity for more than a decade, geocaching spans the entire globe, with experience levels ranging from casual finds and easy terrain to caches requiring various athletic abilities and equipment to reach. It's truly a sport for all ages.

Does Cerritos-Artesia Geocache?

The Cerritos-Artesia area is definitely not left out of the craze. Artesia-based husband, wife and son team - Mark, Julie and 12-year-old Veejay Robinson – also known as the Squishypets (named after the popular capsule toys they leave as caches), started geocaching almost 12 years ago.

Mark recalls he and his wife's first cache where they spent roughly 90 minutes going through bushes and scaling sides of cliffs, only to find their cache, a mint candy tin, magnetically attached to a telephone pole. Part of the fun and (sometimes cruel) humor of geocaching involves hiding containers in camouflaged or even way-too-obvious locations. Some more experienced practitioners of the sport go as far as hollowing out unsuspecting objects like tree branches or rocks in order to hide these treasures.

“First step is obviously getting onto Geocaching.com,” Mark explained. “Depending on the kind of GPS, or even with the new smartphones, you can download a geocaching application. You can load the geocache you want to find, then it's just a matter of setting the GPS to go to whichever cache you choose to hunt for. You just follow the little arrow on the screen. It's very basic.”

Mark recommends beginners start with inexpensive GPS devices by manufacturers like Garmin or Magellan, then acquiring Tools of the Trade (TOT) such as a stick with velcro on the end, a roll of fishing line, a magnet and tweezers to place smaller caches into hard-to-reach places. Geocachers can then place their caches in or around private property and in places that, according to Mark, doesn't require “life and limb” to place it. Geocaching.com includes a Geocaching 101 tutorial to further help beginners get started. But of course, geocaching isn't without complications.

“We've been stopped by the police a couple of times,” Mark said. “We tell them we're geocaching. A lot of law enforcement agencies know about geocaching.”

When asked about the growing popularity of this urban scavenger craze, Lt. Geoffrey Deedrick of the Cerritos Sheriff's Station said, "It's important for people engaged in any activiity in the city to be mindful of existing laws and the Cerritos municipal codes." 

It's Family Time Well Spent

The Squishypets eventually started going to geocaching events – usually a large group of geocachers meeting at restaurants or public areas to discuss the tricks of the trade, hold raffles or even plan geocaching excursions which involve large finds down lengthy trails. Just this year, Mark said, the Nevada Department of Transportation forced over 1,000 caches, that were listed on the Extraterrestrial Highway, to be archived and off-limits to cachers due to what the NDOT deemed as unsafe because of slowdown of traffic and vehicles parked without enough clearance off the road.

“We were fortunate enough to go out there the inaugural weekend of all the events and cache that trail,” Mark said.

Mark said geocaching gives his family a reason to spend time together. In a time where kids are interested in more indoor activities such as video and computer games, quality time spent with family is lost. 

“It started for him (Veejay) not always the greatest thing, but once he starts finding them, he goes and flies out of the car before it even stops moving,” Mark said. “It is a great way for families to spend time together and not spend any money.”

According to Julie, the Squishypets ended up with 3,000 finds after their first year. On the Extraterrestrial Highway alone, they found 1,078 caches in three days. They hope to be on the Top 50 geocachers list in the next couple of years.

“It doesn't matter what city we go to, there's going to be geocachers in that city,” Julie said. “It's been good.

Here some geocaches, placed by Squishypets, that you can find on your own!

firE

VJ's Under Cover

VJ's Cavern