Muggles beware: Geocaching is a popular outdoor activity in Lake County

A new hobby that combines hiking with treasure hunting is taking Lake County, Fla., by storm.

Geocaching is a passive recreation activity that uses the power of the nation’s global positioning system (GPS). The birth of geocaching began on May 1, 1991, when President Clinton opened up GPS signals for public use. Two days later, the first “cache” (small container of trinkets) was hidden outside of Portland, Ore.

Using a handheld GPS unit, participants of all ages, or “cachers” can track the location of a cache. They often remove a small trinket from the cache and leave one before signing their name to the cache logbook.

Many cachers use Geocaching.com, the self-proclaimed “Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site,” to find new cache sites and post the coordinates to their own cache sites. According to the Web site, there are more than 100 caches located in Lake County.

Locally, some area cachers belong to the Lake County Geocachers club. Started by Erik Willke, of the Grand Island community, in July 2005, the club offers local cachers an online forum (http://groups.yahoo.com/ group/lakecountycachers/) to discuss tips and drop hints about hard-to-find caches in the area.

“What’s nice about Lake County is there are quite a few parks here,” Willke said. “People can grow up around an area, but never see the true beauty of it. I’ve seen some of the most beautiful areas that I would have never found if I wasn’t geocaching.”

The fact that people tend to put caches at places they really enjoy visiting is why Lake County is such a popular spot for geocaching. The multitude of public lands and preserves provide for a variety of excellent hiding spots. The Lake County Water Authority, which manages several large public preserves, including Crooked River, Flat Island and Hidden Water preserves, allows cache sites on their properties, but asks cachers to notify the main office at (352) 343-3777.

“It just so happens I found a cache box once,” said Patricia Burgos of the Lake County Water Authority. “From what I understand, you leave your name on the little notebook in the box. I remember one entry that had a grandparent who brought their kids and they visited this geocache site. Another entry was from a couple that had just married and was on their way to Orlando for their honeymoon.”

According to local geocachers, Burgos is what is called a “muggle,” or non-geocacher. Geocachers want their cache sites to be secret so they try to avoid high-traffic areas where non-geocachers cannot happen to accidentally discover them.

“Half the fun is trying to act normal as you are searching,” Willke said. “Geocachers want to try to be as discreet as possible so other people don’t notice.

“People stare at me sometimes,” he admits. “I remember one time I went to a location four times looking for a cache site. When I finally found it I about kicked myself because it was so obvious.”