BOULEVARD — “These guys love Easter egg hunts, but they’re getting a little too old for just running around and picking up eggs out of the grass — we needed more of a challenge,” says Mary Gilbert of Imperial, Calif.
     Gilbert’s son Cyrus, age 12, and his friend Grady Drewry, age 13, stand on the front deck outside the Sacred Rocks Reserve park office, fiddling with the GPS tracking device, blinking in the bright Saturday morning sun. A blue, cloudless sky and a crisp 50-degree temperature provide near perfect weather conditions for the event. Gilbert, an eighth grade teacher, and the two boys are first-time Geocachers. Having trouble getting their GPS device to work properly, Grady and Cyrus enlist the help of Sacred Rocks worker Don Henderson, who downloads the instruction manual from the Internet.
     “This is the first time we have done a Geocaching event here,” says Sharon Courmousis, co-owner of Sacred Rocks Reserve in Boulevard, Calif., with her husband Dimitri.
     “In tough economic times, one of the silver linings is that people seem to get back to basics for entertainment,” Courmousis says. “Being together in nature with your family and friends is a great thing for both kids and adults.”
     Mary and the two boys are still having technical difficulties, so they also use a course map as a guide. Each cache on the property is marked by an “X and O,” either on a pale gold ribbon tied to a branch, or elsewhere in close proximity to the cache. “Look for a hollow tree,” says Cyrus. Hundreds of ancient old oak trees on the property make it a bit of a challenge — WHICH tree is the right tree? “We should have brought our dog,” Mary adds. “I didn’t realize the park was dog friendly. She would love it.”
     At the other end of the Geocaching course, Scoutmaster Paul Dugas leads the scouts of Troop 316, from Point Loma, through the reserve. GPS devices activated and backpacks loaded, the boys, ages 11-15, scour over the list of coordinates for the hidden caches.
     “We came out to the park last night for stargazing and stayed for the event today,” says Dugas. Also first-timers, Dugas and the scouts are frustrated with their lack of experience with the GPS devices.
     The boys spread out over the huge boulders for which the property is named, dissecting fallen trees along the trail, looking for clues. One of the GPS devices seems to be working better than the others – “We’re right on top of it!” the boy holding it shouts. Soon, half a dozen scouts are crashing through the brush. “I see the ribbon!” yells Chad Doran, age 12, of San Diego. Doran pulls the army green, metal ammo box out of a tangle of oak branches. The other boys gather around and excitedly add their names and the time to the journal inside. They also each take a bead from a bag inside and add it to their safety pin to show that they were at the cache box. “These are not easy hiding places to find,” says Dugan.
     Cyrus, Grady and Mary have found a ribbon elsewhere on the course but can’t seem to find the cache. “We have been over and over this area,” says Mary. At last they spot it, buried between two rocks, under a pile of branches. Cyrus pulls the journal out of the box so they can sign.
     Two and a half hours later, tired but happy Geocachers are back at the community campsite for a hotdog roast. Mary and the boys win the prize for the most caches found, five out of six, and get a giant Easter basket, in camouflage décor, stuffed full of candy and other treats. The other participants receive a small treat of Easter candy.
     Roman West, age 11, one of the scouts who found a cache says, “The most fun thing about this was working as a team to find the boxes.”
     Scoutmaster Dugas loved the challenge, “It was more fun because it wasn’t too easy,” he says. “And there’s something very healthy about being outside in nature – I think it makes your brain produce relaxation chemicals.” Says Dugan, “It’s good for these boys to get away from TV and the computer and have a wide open space to run around in.”
     In spite of a few technical difficulties, Courmousis declares the event a success. She plans to offer a brief GPS navigation class prior to the next Sacred Rocks Reserve Geocaching event, which will be held Saturday, June 20 (Father’s Day weekend) at 9 a.m. The theme will be Geocaching with Dad, though everyone is welcome to attend.
Sacred Rocks Reserve and RV Park is located at 1331 Shasta Way in Boulevard, Calif., 91905. Call 766-4480 or visit www.sacredrocksreserve.com for more information.