Regional Industry & News

GILBY, N.D. — For a specific group of hobbyists, Gilby, North Dakota, is one of the most exciting places in the United States.

It’s called the “Disneyland of Geocaching” by some geocachers for the sheer number of caches it contains, and the town is a well-known destination for those looking to take their searching up a notch thanks to the “gadget caches” created by Gilby local Chad Thorvilson, also known as Trycacheus.

“There are several places that are like Gilby that have a lot of caches, but none that are packed with just gadgets,” he said.

Friday through Sunday marked the seventh annual “Gilby Gone Wild” geocaching event, attracting between 80 and 100 people from around the country and even other countries like Canada to Gilby to find and solve the various caches Thorvilson has hidden in the surrounding area.

Geocaching is an outdoor activity that started in 2000, where cachers use GPS coordinates to find and hide caches, usually small boxes or other easily obscured items. Cachers log their presence at caches once found, sometimes leaving behind tokens or trackable tags that are meant to be picked up by other cachers and taken to the next cache they find.

Thorvilson’s caches are unique in that, while they’re not very difficult to find using the Geocaching app — unlike others that can require some searching — they require the geocacher to solve clues or use some creative thinking to unlock the cache itself, using things like magnets, coded locks or physical puzzles. Some are more traditional and have the location or name of the cache as the clue itself, like one located in a giant statue of an anvil that’s called “MEEP MEEP!”

Gilby Gone Wild started seven years ago, though Thorvilson has been hiding caches since 2010. He said it was actually a friend of his who came up with the idea to hold a geocaching event in Gilby.

“A friend of mine seven years ago had a list of all the different events that were going on in the area, and she had penciled in a Gilby event,” he said. “She was kind of the instigator to start with, and as we talked more and more I said, ‘Sure, why not? Let’s do it.’”

Thorvilson said he’s lucky to have an area like Gilby to hide his caches, as most of them would be too big to hide in a city; instead, they’re mostly hidden on property owned by local farmers.

“All the caches that go out, you have to have permission from the property to put them there,” he said. “The farmers all have been fairly positive for the most part.”

He creates new caches for each year’s event so those who have attended before will have a reason to come back, adding he will begin hosting the event every other year starting next year so he has more time to create and install more caches.

Karl and Martha Kirkman from Rochester, Minnesota, known by their caching name KKMK, have attended Gilby Gone Wild once before.

“It’s the kind of caching experience you don’t really get somewhere else,” Karl Kirkman said. “I don’t really know anybody else that does things like this.”

It’s also an opportunity for geocachers to connect with other members of the caching community, either making new friends or reuniting with old ones.

“The geocaching community is a really cool community,” Martha Kirkman said. “Everybody’s willing to help everybody and work together to find something — give you coordinates, give you a clue.”

The event is a benefit for the Gilby community as well — funds from a silent auction and raffle held during Gilby Gone Wild go toward the town’s park, and the community center and Gilby Grind sell food and drinks during the event.

Sherry Hockersmith, or LifeIsGuud, an attendee from Long Beach, Washington, said geocaching provides opportunities to see places and scenery one might not usually get to see.

“The people that put out geocaches, they put them in unique places that may be out of the way that you wouldn’t even know about,” she said. “It’s not on a map as a tourist destination, but the locals know where those unique places are.”

Thorvilson said geocaching is great because it also provides an opportunity for families and kids to get outside and do something together.

He also expressed his gratitude to those who have supported and volunteered at Gilby Gone Wild over the years.

“I’m very thankful for the community around Gilby that helps out with the event and letting me put the caches out,” he said.