Geocaching in West Hartford

( Rick Hartford, Hartford Courant / March 19, 2013 )

Joe Krukowski of Bloomfield opens a geocache at the base of a cedar tree in Fernridge Park in West Hartford during a snowy and rainy Tuesday afternoon. They can come in small, cleverly disguised containers to containers the size of an ammo box, he said. He's been a geocacher for five years now, using his GPS to zero in on treasures hidden in a variety of locations -- some are even stashed underwater, he said. The GPS gets you close, but its not exact, so there is still some sleuthing to be done when you are close to a hidden object, he said. "You look for little things that just don't belong," adding that the difficultly level goes from easy to, well, "there's some evil ones out there." Krukowski is a member of the Central Connecticut Cachers, a group which meets on the first Tuesday of each month. He said that there are about 300 cachers in the state and encourages anyone who wants to know more about geocaching to go to Geocaching.com. This particular geocache was called "Just some shade in the park," and if he had been the first to find it, a coin inside the container would be his. "But, we didn't get it," he said.