Elysian Park to host a geocaching block party celebrating 25 years of hide-and-seek

A tiny geocache was supposed to be hidden in a hedge lining a Pasadena sidewalk, between a pole without a sign and a parking meter. The geocaching community labeled it as an easy find in the app, but I still came up empty handed after several minutes of searching through the branches and leaves.

Turns out, geocaching can be tricky, but the search was — as thousands of people have described it — exciting, curious and fun.

But what exactly is geocaching? And why is it the heart of a Spring Fling Block Party happening at Elysian Park on May 3?

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Chris Ronan,  senior public relations manager at Geocaching HQ, told LAist it’s essentially a worldwide, mobile game of hide-and-seek.

“It takes you places and maybe introduces you to people that you never would've known about otherwise,” he said. “ Geocaching tends to maybe take you out of that routine, introduce you to a part of your neighborhood or a part of your city.”

SoCal caching community

Southern California’s geocaching community is thriving and passionate, Ronan said.

Unlike some other areas, the climate is pleasant year-round and has a variety of landscapes within driving distance.

Sharon Carlson, who lives in Simi Valley and goes by the geocaching username ShareBear64, has found more than 8,000 geocaches across dozens of states and 7 countries. It started as a New Year’s resolution to be more active and became a way to bond with her soon-to-be son-in-law through his “weird hobby,” she said.

“It just hit a chord with me. ... So  on January 1st, 2016, I turned on my app and I said, 'Oh, there's some geocaches, like, within a mile of me near a park,'” Carlson said. “I took my dog, and we walked, and I found my first geocache that day. And I've been caching ever since.”

More than 2,000 geocaches are within a few miles of her home. For comparison, Carlson's son-in-law has about about 700 active in Richmond, Virginia, where he lives.

A "GeoArt" series, created by user foomanjoo, honors the Dodgers.

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Courtesy of Sharon Carlson

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The geocaching community also keeps itself going. Some players hide the caches, while others prefer to stick to the hunt. Carlson said that’s part of what makes exploring so exciting — you get to experience different terrains and creativity.

“ I had friends who just took a cruise to Antarctica, and there's a geocache on Antarctica, and so it's truly worldwide,” she said.

How it works

A geocache is a container hidden in the real world for other people to find.

Players will post the coordinates of that geocache and other details, including difficulty, terrain, size and hints (in case you need it) on the official app or online.

Other players will use that information to look for and find containers in urban areas, deserts, underwater and on hiking trails, just to name a few.

If you’re successful, you sign the log sheet or book tucked inside. You then use the app or website to share your experience and register the find before putting the geocache back where you found it.

Pull up the fake snail and find a small vial to record that you found this cache disguised as a log.

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Courtesy of Sharon Carlson

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More than 3.3 million active geocaches are hidden worldwide, and there’s also different types.

They include:

• Traditional geocache, the simplest form that can come in many different sizes.
• Multi-cache, which contains at least one additional stage that geocachers use to find the next stage or final container.
• Mystery cache, otherwise known as a puzzle cache, which requires players to solve a puzzle or bring a special tool.
• Earth cache, which includes educational information and geoscience questions players need to answer.
• And 16 others.

An earth cache took Ronan to the top of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano in Hawaii, for one of his most meaningful finds.

“My memory is not just of being on the top of this beautiful mountain and beautiful views of the Hawaiian islands, but also of being with this friend that I hadn't seen in 20 years,” he said. “That was one of those experiences that geocaching gave to me that I'm pretty sure I never would've had … and I can tell you about a hundred or more different experiences like that.”

A gadget-style cache was displayed at a previous Spring Fling event.

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Courtesy of Sharon Carlson

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How to participate

The Spring Fling Block Party geocaching event will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 3, at the Bishop Canyon Picnic Area in Elysian Park.

Registration has closed, but anyone is welcome to attend.

“ It's this wonderful social community of just, you know, people from all walks of life that have this one bizarre common interest,” Carlson said.