Taylor Parks gripped a map and compass in her hands. She studied the path she was supposed to follow, remaining inconspicuous yet alert, as she embarked on a journey to find hidden treasure.
However, Parks, a psychology freshman, is no modern-day Jack Sparrow. Her iPhone serves as her map and compass, and what she seeks is far from gold.
Parks is a geocacher, and the University campus is her treasure island.
Geocaching is what many consider a modern treasure hunt in which people find or hide items using a GPS device while
going unnoticed by those unfamiliar to the sport — often branded as muggles. The worldwide game of hide-and-seek began on May 3, 2000, when the first item, or cache, was hidden in Beavercreek, Ore., according to Geocaching.com.
Geocachers use coordinates and clues to locate treasure. Many caches are small capsules with a log inside that can be signed, and others are slightly larger and contain items a finder can take and replace with something else.
Geocaching may promote stealth and subtlety, but it has a strong presence on campus and in Louisiana. The Louisiana Geocaching website has 357 members who represent only a portion of the many hunters tracking down thousands of caches across the state.
The Baton Rouge area alone hosts more than a thousand caches, and the University is home to many of them. Parks and her fellow cachers spend much of their free time on the hunt.
“It’s free entertainment,” Parks said.
Parks began geocaching when a friend downloaded the official iPhone application. Since then, she has found more than 30 caches in places as remote as the Tunica Hills forest in St. Francisville, and the free app has been her constant guide.
Hunting with friends can add to the thrill, said Christian Bondy, mass communication freshman. She works with a group that signs logs as Team Diva Flare.
Bondy and Parks, who often hunt together, said geocaching has also connected them to people around the country. They once discovered a cache in Louisiana left behind by a group from Kentucky.
Geocaching began as an expensive hobby because of the high costs of early GPS devices, but it has become inexpensive in past years thanks to GPS capabilities incorporated into the iPhone and other smartphones.
The free app displays three caches nearest to a person’s location then acts as a guide to the cache selected, providing important information and hints along the way.
“It gets you to the general area,” Parks said, explaining the app is not 100 percent accurate but still brings her close to a cache.
The inaccuracy of cell phone GPS systems should not discourage geocaching newcomers, said Ken White, associate theatre professor, who has been an avid cacher for more than five years.
He said many of his fellow cachers exclusively use an iPhone, but doing so requires practice.
White began geocaching as he traveled the U.S. working in theater light design. Caches hidden by locals in the many places he would visit led him to interesting sites he would not have discovered otherwise.
White has found 2,011 caches and hidden 51 of his own since he began. His thrill comes from finding his very own treasure, a cache that is hidden and unknown to those around it.
“There’s something magical about geocaching,” he said.
White warned, though, that geocaching can lose its luster when the secretive nature of the game is not respected. He said one danger of geocaching is an item being “muggled” or defaced by those ignorant of its purpose.
White advised curious beginners to be sensitive and courteous as they begin hunting themselves.
Those interested in becoming a geocacher can visit the official geocaching website, download the free app or download one of the many paid apps for more features.
“Geocaching can be as simple as you want,” Parks said, “but it can also be an adventure.”