By CHLOË ERNST

 Hiking through brush, making a trip to an island and discovering treasure can all be part of a geocaching adventure - a recreational activity with participants all over the world, including the South Shore.

 "A lot of people put caches in interesting areas in their town ... they are not something that you'd find out about in a tourist bureau," says Dave Carr of Bridgewater.

 Mr. Carr maintains a cache, a prize-filled plastic box hidden at specific global positioning system (GPS) co-ordinates, in Miller Point Peace Park. The contents of the box continually change as geocachers bring a prize to trade for another.

 Although seekers have the GPS co-ordinates of the cache, finding it is not always simple.

 Once geocachers come within 10 feet of the cache, the GPS isn't so accurate, explains Mr. Carr, and they have to rely on their hunting skills.

 But for many, the enjoyment is in the journey.

 Travellers and locals who wouldn't have stopped otherwise have visited the park to search for Mr. Carr's cache.

 One family who signed the logbook was from New York state. They said they "never would have found this pretty park if it weren't for the cache."

 Over 30 groups - families, couples and individuals - have found the Miller Point Peace Park cache and signed the logbook since Mr. Carr hid it last September.

 There are more caches hidden around the South Shore, including one on Second Peninsula, some at Highway 103 exits and another at the "Labrador Castle."

Dave Carr displays the contents of his cache in Miller Point Peace Park. Cholë Ernst photo

 In April, Gary Longard was leading a hike with the Second Maitland Scouts to Labrador Castle, near Exit 7, when one of the boys found a strange box.

 "One of the boys found ... it under a rock and he said, 'What's this, somebody's lunch?'

 "And I said, 'No, it's probably a geocache.'"

 Mr. Longard had heard about geocaching on the radio.

 The scouts chose a gnome from the items inside. Now, they hope to create their own cache.

 "When we plan our scouting activities for this fall, we'll try to plan a hike or something and actually go out and set this gnome somewhere.

 "It might go all the way around the world, you never know," says Mr. Longard.

 Mr. Carr says the activity is family friendly, so people shouldn't put drugs, alcohol or dangerous objects in caches.

 He has been geocaching for about two years and has found caches in San Francisco, Tampa, Boston, New York and Las Vegas.

 "When we travel, we have a destination in mind, a hotel booked and a car rented - the rest we just wing it," he says.

 During a recent trip to San Francisco, Mr. Carr and his girlfriend visited a cache in a lovely 200 to 300-year-old forest.

 Many geocachers tend to like nature and often put caches in places of particular beauty in their area, he adds.

 Likewise, Mr. Carr says he hid his cache in the park because he enjoys the natural surroundings of the LaHave River.

 Nature also inspired the name of the cache - "Quiet and peaceful."