There's Treasure Hidden in Upper Macungie Park

Hidden treasure awaits in – rain or shine (The forecast gives a 60 percent chance of rain).

Bring your umbrellas and your GPS devices for “” 2011, the township's first geocaching event, at Upper Macungie Park, off Route 100 in Fogelsville.

It starts at 10 a.m., rain or shine. Participants may arrive anytime between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.; a brief presentation on the basics of geocaching will be held at 10:30 a.m. at the Falcon Pavilion in .

Geocaching is “a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices,” according to www.geocaching.com

The Parks and Recreation Board decided to hold a geocaching event after seeing how popular geocaching has become throughout the country but especially in the region, said Jim Soltis, parks foreman for Upper Macungie.

“We found this at a trade show,” Soltis said. “Then we realized how many people are involved in this.”

An added bonus awaits the skilled and the lucky on Saturday, Soltis said. Some of the hidden caches will have prizes donated by local businesses and sponsors, he said.

Those prized caches will be spread out, too. Caches will be hidden in several other township parks in Upper Macungie, in addition to the park off Route 100, Soltis said. That will require the adventurous to drive from one park to the next, he added.

Park officials encourage geocachers to bring GPS-enabled devices – such  as a smart phone with GPS capability – with  them, but a limited supply of such devices will be available for use by those who do not own one, Soltis said.

A list of all cache coordinates will be provided at the start of the event.

Upper Macungie Park is on the east side of Route 100, about one mile north of the intersection of Route 100 and Interstate 78. The park is located between Route 100 and an old stone quarry.