Geocaching provides motivation, exercise

Geocaching provides motivation, exercise Erin Allday   Geocaching has taken off in the past decade or so among adventure seekers and treasure hunters. But it's also a pretty decent fitness tool, says Sam Drake, who took up the hobby nine years ago after reading a story about geocaching in The Chronicle. Since then, he's tracked down more than 1,000 geocaches around the world and walked thousands of miles, many of them on Bay Area trails. He also lost 40 pounds and developed a passion for hiking. Drake teaches classes on geocaching at Santa Teresa County Park in Santa Clara County. For more information, go to the Geocachers of the Bay Area's website, thegba.net, or geocaching.com. Name: Sam Drake Age: 52 Residence: San Jose Occupation: Software architect for Oracle Activity: Geocaching Describe geocaching: It's a game that's played with a handheld GPS. A geocache is a container that is hidden. The latitude and longitude of the geocache are recorded online at geocaching.com. You put the coordinates into your GPS, and it'll give you an arrow and a distance. But the GPS is only accurate to 15 or 20 feet, so then you have to open your eyes and think like a spy to find it. Getting started: The No. 1 thing you need is a GPS. If you have an iPhone or Android or any smart phone with GPS in it, there's actually a geocaching app you can download and install. If you want something a little sturdier, you can buy handheld units that are a little more rugged. You also need an account at geocaching.com, which is free. Geocaching for fitness: Anything that gets people outside is a good thing. Too many people spend all their time inside watching TV or playing on their computer. Geocaching is a nice bridge, because it's a computer-related thing, but then after fiddling around on your computer, you have to get up and go outside. For me and my wife, it was the hook to get us out there. We started hiking in the park next to our house. I also used to travel a lot on business, and every time I traveled, it was a good way to explore a new place. Geocaching for adventure: I did the Grand Canyon down to the bottom this summer, and I just did a 12-mile hike with some friends in the Sierra. When I was traveling, I used to go to Asia a lot, so I've gone geocaching in Japan and Korea and the Philippines. Once I took a subway in Seoul to a park and hiked to the top of a mountain by myself.

Keep Cachin'
   Bill

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