Geocachers throng to Bell Buckle this weekend

Geocacher Caroline Duncan, of Westfield, N.C., uncovers one of the many caches hidden around Shelbyville. She -- and thousands of others -- will be combing Middle Tennessee this weekend, looking for the hidden caches as part of GeoWoodstock VII, the international geocaching convention. (T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Order this photo]

If you're the type who loves to "collect" car tags, noting the ones from far away, this weekend should provide the mother lode. Not only will the Celebration's Spring Fun Show bring in hundreds of out-of-state visitors, but the geocaching international convention in Bell Buckle, GeoWoodstock VII, will be bringing in thousands more -- including some from out of the country.

"We have people from all 50 states," said Brad Simmons, a local geocacher who was instrumental in bringing the event to Middle Tennessee. "The last time I looked through the registrations, we had 32 countries."

"Some of them are already here," said Bell Buckle Alderwoman Jenny Hunt at last week's meeting of the Board of Mayor and Alderman. "They're just driving around and enjoying the countryside."

Simmons said an estimated 3,000 had signed up for Saturday's event, but that number was expected to grow.

"We definitely have a little over 3,000, but we expect more than that," he said. "Last year, they had 3,100 show up, and in our pre-registration numbers, we already have more than they did, so we're looking at 4,000-5,000. I think with the economy down, there are lots and lots of people who have contacted us and said they couldn't come, so I'm surprised and pleased to have this many show up. I'm really looking to see us break that 5,000."

Treasure hunt

"Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices," states the brochure on the geocaching.com web site. "The basic idea is to hide containers (caches) and post the locations on the Internet. Anyone with a GPS receiver can enter the locations' coordinates to find the caches and then log the caches at www.geocaching.com to show they found them."

Those locations can be out in the woods -- most are outdoors, said Simmons -- or in a local shopping area. The players use global positioning satellite devices to follow the coordinate clues.

Geocaching began in 2000, when access to more accurate information from the 24 GPS satellites was made available to the public. With new and better technology at hand, the next step, naturally, was to find a fun way to use it.

Dave Ulmer, a computer consultant, wanted to test the system's accuracy. He hid a navigational target in the woods and posted its coordinates in a GPS user's room on the Internet and called it the "Great American Stash Hunt."

The rules back then were simple: "Take some stuff, leave some stuff." When you found the cache, you could take what was in it, but you had to leave something else for the next searcher to find.

"All of the caches will have a notebook," said Simmons, as a registry to be signed by finders. "Some will have toys from Happy Meals, computer equipment ... we found one one time in England, and the first to find a prize found it was a leather Kenneth Cole wallet with a 20 pound note in it. If you find something in the cache you want, you can trade for it, but you trade up or trade even."

The real prize

But even though geocaching is called a treasure hunt, it isn't the tiny treasures in the caches that motivate the players.

"The whole point of the cache is that it's a neat place you want to show people, so you hide it there and get people to come see it. I've lived here a long time and I never knew about Rutledge Falls and Machine Falls until geocaching took me there."

Simmons was even instrumental in getting caches planted -- with permission, according to the rules of the sport -- at the Walls of Jericho. When he goes on vacations, he said, he does geocaching and finds sites -- and sights -- that aren't on the usual tour guides and maps.

"The treasure is not what you find in the cache, but what you find on the way," he said. "It's really great for tourism. The treasure is in your own backyard."

Some of the caches are in Shelbyville itself and some, he said, have been there for years.

"So if you see a bunch of strangers peeking into the bushes ... one every now and then isn't that unusual, but when it's 400 in one day?" Simmons laughed.

Scattered troves

GeoWoodstock is called a mega-event, an annual gathering that has at least 500 people attending. Bell Buckle managed to steal this year's event away from cities such as Washington D.C. and Pittsburgh. Last year's was in Sacramento, Calif.

"I think our name and location helped," said Hunt. "And affordability. Can you imagine what the cost of housing would be in California?"

Reservations for the event started coming in as soon as it was announced months ago and hotels, bed and breakfasts and camp sites should be filling up quickly.

"We did have one little problem," she added. "The Renaissance Fair is in May and a lot of those people camp out, so some of the campsites filled up."

Billy Phillips, who serves on the Chamber of Commerce in Bell Buckle with Hunt, said the event was a good way to introduce the town to a whole new group of visitors. Every event they offer, he said, brings in different demographics and he was eager to see what GeoWoodstock's would be.

Saturday is the main event, with the cachers meeting there and heading out to collect their caches, but GeoWoodstock actually takes place between today and Memorial Day, with other events all across Middle Tennessee. Tonight, there will be gatherings in Centennial Park in Nashville and in Antioch. On Friday, there will be a "meet and greet" at Barfield Crescent Park in Murfreesboro. There's an event planned for Saturday and Sunday in Shelbyville, and the final gathering will be at Percy Priest Park in Nashville on Memorial Day.

"It's an international convention," said Simmons. "But I think of it more as a big family reunion. Some of these folks have been to all seven events."

The cachers themselves will be all over the midstate area as they hunt their prizes -- from Lynchburg to Nashville.

"We've tried to showcase the surrounding communities because we have so much to offer here. We want to put our best foot forward; this is a piece of America you don't get anymore," he said.

Saturday fun

In Bell Buckle on Saturday, the visitors can expect presentations from GPS manufacturers, legendary geocachers and vendors of all sorts. Uncle Tom's Band will provide music all day and a barbecue luncheon will be served at the banquet hall. Representatives from Groundspeak, the organization that owns www.geocaching.com and sponsors the event, will be present to answer any questions about the sport.

Around 5 or 6 p.m., certificates, prizes and drawings will be given out, and the location of next year's event will be announced.

Simmons hopes to get a picture of the participants at that time -- all 5,000 of them-- as they gather near the stage behind the downtown area.

"With the combination of ladders, stupidity and bravery, we're going to try to take a picture from the top of the main stage," said Simmons.