#14

The youngest and I went out after supper to go find at least one. The oldest had already invested 10 minutes into NCIS and decided not to go. Nice camo work! I Think I Owe You a Smiley Without the hint, we might have had a hard time finding it. I gave the hint to my youngest and he spotted it pretty quick! It was about 7:30 pm when we found it so there was absolutely nobody around. Signed log - BadAnimals


Lots of ground cover around this one so be careful. Thorns don't seem to be an issue. I imagine though there will come a day when this lot will become another building along the Beltway. Get it while you can.

Geocaching in the news...

Regarding the 'Geocaching in the news...' posts, I find them interesting because I am still a newbie at geocaching. I'd like to be making more 'found' posts than I am but that thing called life just gets in the way. :-)

I can foresee a point where the 'Geocaching in the news...' posts become less frequent. And, once summer hits here in Houston, I can see the 'found' posts becoming less frequent as well.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the site and find the posts and links I have on the sidebar helpful.

Geocaching in the news...

Geocaching becomes popular adventure

With terms even Harry Potter would love, geocaching is becoming one of the hottest high-tech games in the world, and it has made its way right into Marshall County.

Geocaching is a treasure hunt for which anyone armed with a Global Positioning System unit can participate.

The idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, that are placed somewhere outdoors. Longitude and latitude coordinates pinpoint the location. Other adventure seekers then hone in on the item, or benchmark, to discover the prize.

Caches can be hidden in anything from an old ammunition box to a discarded coffee can - anything waterproof - and contain various items such as pencils, small toys or trading coins with names. They can be found anywhere along bike trails or public places such as GrimesFarm and city hall.

Once the item is found, the hunter signs a log book and returns the container to its original location.

Afterward, participants may go to on Web sites like geocaching.com or iowageocachers.org and share their experiences. Anyone can enter a postal code or address and explore the caches in their area and beyond.

There are currently 761,834 active geocaches world wide and hundreds of them are literally popping up across the state. People of all ages are becoming part of this phenomenon due to a sense of environmental and community support.

Marshalltown's Convention & Visitor's Bureau and the Marshall County Conservation Board are local organizations that participate in the cache-finding missions. In fact, the Girl Scouts have recently added a geocaching badge to their list of merits. Individuals can also set up cache boxes onto their property or another location with permission.

"There are quite a few people around town that do it," said CVB Director Shannon Espenscheid. "It's something neat that anyone can do, and it's a great draw to Marshalltown as far as visitors."

No longer a muggle or non-geocacher, Amy Mills, assistant with the Marshall Economic Development Impact Committee, has become quite savvy, locating nearly 140 caches on travels to places such as Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota.

"When we visit the Twin Cities, we'll stop along the way just to find caches," she said. "It's the excitement of having the coordinates in your GPS system and finding things. We became fascinated with it and my grandkids just love it."

Hand held GPS units may be purchased at various electronic stores or online with an average price of $100.

---

Contact Tammy R. Lawson at 641-753-6611 or tlawson@timesrepublican.com

Fact Box

Geocaching tips:

Figure out where you are going before you get there.

Wear sturdy, comfortable shoes and clothes for hiking. Be aware of poison ivy, oak or sumac - ticks, too.

Before heading out, make a way point to your car or starting location.

Route choice is an important part of the hunt. Stay on trails as long as you can.

Some caches may be hard to find. When less than 20 feet from the item, your GPS can't help when you are that close.

Carry a bottle of water if walking or biking long distances.

Leave something in the box stating your town or location to say you were there.

Always get permission from a property owner to search for an item or cache box.

Geocaching terms:

Caching: Geocaching

Cacher: Geocacher

Muggle: Non-geocacher

Ground Zero: Immediate area where the geocache is hidden

Sig Item: Signature item

Log: Log sheet or log book

BM: Benchmark

Coin: Usually refers to a geocache coin

Multi: A multi cache - a cache with smaller items, or stages, that provide information to find the final treasure

Swag: Items for trading

- Tammy R. Lawson, Times-Republican - Central Iowa's Daily newspaper

#13

Found this, Way to Bovay , after spending the weekend at Bovay for Webelos Do Your Best, so it was just S and I for this one, we both easily spotted it.
Nice cache! Great area. Took a couple of little creatures, left 4 erasers (1 space-themed and the other 3 travel-themed) Signed log - BadAnimals - Left travel bug Tyler



There were some thorns around this one, careful.

Geocaching in the news...

Geocaching the Tucson area makes for a great family day trip

Written by - Nancy M. Dickinson

Geocaching is the latest sport to take hold in the world but what is geocaching?

The website dicitonary.com defines geocaching as "a type of scavenger hunt for waterproof containers bearing treasure using the containers' exact geographic coordinates and Global Positioning System devices." People who do geocaching define it as fun, exciting, adventuresome and a great way to spend a day.

Go here for the full article - Link

Geocaching in the news...

GPS Marks the Spot: Geocaching Houston

Face it. You've been wanting to go treasure hunting ever since you saw the Goonies chasing One-eyed Willy's loot and running from the Fratelli's. Don't lie or we'll make you do the truffle shuffle.

Lucky for you thousands of objects are hidden around the greater Houston area just waiting for you to find them. All you need is a hand-held GPS receiver (less than $100) and a bit of creative thinking (priceless). The game is called geocaching and everybody's doing it for lots of different reasons like it's a great way to explore the city and sometimes you can win a Jeep.

Geocaching started in 2000 after the the US government made available data from the Global Positioning System (GPS). The roll-back of selective availability made it possible for civilian GPS users to increase accuracy ten fold. Dave Ulmer, a computer scientist from Oregon, placed the first geocache (a waterproof container containing a log book and some giveaways), recorded the GPS coordinates and sent them to a GPS user group. Within three days two GPS users had found the cache.

The popularity of Geocaching has snowballed during the ensuing six years. Caches have been hidden on six of the seven continents; only the Arctic is not represented. So, don't forget to bring your GPS next time you're in Antarctica. There are currently 17 caches down below including one named Cone_Z that requires a helicopter for access resulting in only three folks finding it in just over two years.

Those of you lacking a helicopter are in luck. Roughly 2200 caches have been placed in the Houston area dating back to February 2001 when the first cache, appropriately titled Houston's First, was placed near the Johnson Space Center. Don't worry about getting busted for trespassing unlike when you're out cow tipping in College Station. All caches must be placed in publicly accessible areas like T.C. Jester park, Braes Bayou and downtown. But, that doesn't mean it's as easy as walking up and eyeballing the cache from 50 feet away.

Caches range in size from five gallon buckets to old ammo cans to empty chapsticks. The containers are hidden in such a way that non-participants (called muggles; yeah, like in Harry Potter; yeah, you should stop snickering) don't happen upon them and run off with the loot.

The loot typically consists of some sort of log, so that you can let folks know you found it, and whatever stuff the hider can stuff into the container. Five gallon bucket sized hides may yield something fancy while a film container may only contain small trinkets or maybe some foreign money. Finders may take an item from the cache, but must leave something in trade.

Sometimes folks place a trackable object, called a travel bug, into the cache. These items are tagged with a serial number that the finder enters on the website to record the location before placing the item in a different cache. The objects have a mission, like returning a hula dancer to Hawaii or a Randy Johnson figurine traveling the MLB ballpark circuit.

Sounds like more fun than a barrel of monkeys; don't it? Go pick up a GPS, or unleash the capability in your cell phone, and get started. And, let us know if you get a line on a helicopter.

LINK

Geocaching in the news...

It's Spring! Time to get out there and Geocache!

What is Geocaching, you may ask?

Geocaching is an entertaining adventure game for GPS users. Participating in a cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the wonderful features and capability of a GPS unit. The basic idea is to have individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the internet. GPS users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches. Once found, the treasure box reveals a visitor log book and an eclectic mix of favorite trinkets. The find is recorded in the book and any trinkets taken are replaced with equally interesting objects.

This is one of the fastest growing adventure/hobbies in the world today and the North Vancouver Office of Cultural Affairs has joined the game by hiding several caches at local public art sites. It is a family friendly activity that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. More importantly, it's about finding new places you can explore, that you may have never found otherwise. Combine this sport and fun adventure with a delightful outdoor art search. Start today! To find the game rules and FAQ's, at www.geocaching.com and to find coordinates for the public art caches search using postal code V7M 3H6.

Link

Geocaching in the news...

Geocaching: It's the Trip, Not the Trove

By Virginia Heffernan
March 31, 2009 7:22AM

Geocaching doesn't attract the rogue and huckster gold-diggers of yore. And despite the early participation of some culty tech people, after nearly a decade geocaching is now a pleasant avocation largely for good kids, moms and retirees, with associations found around the world. This loose confederacy of geocachers has a Boy Scouts vibe.

Americans have a history of believing in oracles that tell them to dig. Where I grew up, not far from the American Society of Dowsers in Danville, Vermont, even skeptical farmers consulted dowsers to help them decide where wells should go.

Before he discovered Mormonism, Joseph Smith was a "money digger" who trusted that a stone in a hat, properly viewed, could lead him to buried treasure; when the stone pointed the way to a hill in New York that contained the Book of Mormon, he hit the mother lode.

California, of course, was settled in part by men who felt called to go gold-digging. And in this century, with perhaps less riding on their hunches than Smith or the forty-niners, a growing clique of hobbyists who started in Oregon nine years ago have combined G.P.S. satellite technology and social networking in a curious pastime called geocaching.

Geocaching is a kind of global treasure hunt. It has a number of advantages over dowsing or other Luddite methods for finding hidden stuff. First, geocaching is undertaken just for fun. Second, someone has always deliberately buried the treasure (or "cache"), noted its coordinates (usually someplace outdoors) and supplied facts about it online.

Finally, players use no magic rods, enchanted sticks or seer stones to find their caches: They use G.P.S. devices. That must take some of the witchcraft out.

It's mysterious nonetheless: What's the allure? The treasure has been planted, after all, by people so good as to signal when the surrounding terrain is not wheelchair-accessible -- so where's the suspense? What's more, it's almost a certainty that the treasures in geocaching will be nearly worthless.

You might turn up a logbook that you can read and sign; or Geocoins, which are the Monopoly money of geocaching; or some old golf balls or coupons, the esoteric trophies of the sport. But there is never gold. Food is discouraged because it rots and draws bears.

Those who find caches are expected to record their visits in the accompanying logbook and at Geocaching.com, clean up their trash and replace whatever they take with something of comparable value. ("Cache in, trash out" is the "be prepared" of these sensible scouts.)

Paul Sookiasian, a recent college graduate who lives in Pennsylvania, has become an ardent cacher in the past year. He has turned up about 70 caches so far. "What drew me to geocaching was the little bit of mystery it puts into everyday existence," he explained in an e-mail message. "It's kind of fun (in a nerdy way) to go by these places with the knowledge that something interesting is there that everyone else around you doesn't realize. Maybe there's a little fascination in us left over from childhood of hiding little treasures in secret places."

That seems about right. Thor Muller, a Web entrepreneur in San Francisco, takes his 7-year-old son on geocaching adventures. Mr. Muller seems like a busy man; why go hunting for worthless trinkets? "You discover places you had no idea existed," he told me.

"Recently, we were out looking for a cache on Russian Hill. There are breathtaking views of San Francisco. But we couldn't find this thing anywhere. Finally my wife kicked a stone, and it turned out to be hollow. The treasure was inside." A great day. Sort of: When they went through the treasure, Mr. Muller said, "it was just junk. I think my son cried a little bit."

And then there are virtual caches. "The reward for these caches is the location itself" is how the Geocaching site explains them. They're just nothings, then -- an instruction to go somewhere for the sake of it. Virtual caches are no longer allowed on the site, but some older ones have been grandfathered in.

Geocaching, in spite of its superficial mystery, has to be among the least ominous epiphenomena of the Internet. It's a sweet and highly organized way to make ordinary vistas surprising, and it seems to speak to the better angels of the Internet's nature.

Sometimes the Internet is its own place -- a blown-out fantasia that exists independent of the world of rocks, soil, flesh and blood. At other times, it seems not like a pyrotechnic cloud above us but like an earnest guestbook for life on Earth, filled with entries that say little more than "I was here and it was beautiful." Or "I was here and it was weird." When you're feeling open to these sentiments, they're each surprisingly moving.

Link

Park and Gab: Eleventh Edition - GC1NK8H

Great event! I got to meet and chat with Pappy'sPosse, The Popeteers and Manofsteel73. Saw Tachito but didn't get a chance to get introduced. There were many others there as well that I didn't get to meet. Picked up a TB to move along. The youngest BadAnimal attended with me and he enjoyed the games there.

Thank you Pappy'sPosse for hosting this event, I had a good time and came away much more knowledgable about geocaching.

Here's the Travel Bug, Tyler, that I picked up from the Popeteers.

Geocaching in the news...

Tired of the treadmill? Get out and play instead

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Tired of the same old exercise routine? Get out and play instead, suggests a fitness expert who spoke at the American College of Sports Medicine's (ACSM) Annual Health and Fitness Summit in Atlanta.

Play is "the perfect anecdote for when your exercise routine starts to feel like more of a chore than an activity of enjoyment," health scientist from Bethesda, Maryland, and ACSM faculty member Dr. Carol E. Torgan noted in a statement from the meeting. It's good for the body, mind and soul.

"Think about activities you loved to do as a child and incorporate those into your routine (and) include your family," Torgan added in comments to Reuters Health.

To rediscover your inner child, visit a playground, toss a Frisbee, take a hike, go rock climbing, pick up a hoola hoop, or dance. An adult weighing 150 pounds can burn more than 300 calories an hour by dancing.

"If you spent your childhood outside exploring," suggested Torgan, "head out the front door and try Geocaching" -- an outdoor treasure hunt game using GPS.

You don't need to be young to reap the calorie-burning, mind-stimulating benefits of play. "The 'power of play' for adults," Torgan said, "lies in simply focusing on the joy of moving, having a little fun with it, and not taking ourselves too seriously."

"Whether it's shooting hoops or even playing on a teeter-totter with a friend, these unstructured activities can create a sense of belonging and community," Torgan said.

Another benefit of "play" exercise is that it "doesn't require expensive equipment, a gym membership, or form-fitting Lycra - it's free. You only need an open mind," Torgan said.

"The key for most adults," she added, "is simply to give themselves permission to play - even for 10-15 minutes. Unplug and dance. Life is too short to spend it checking your email."

Link

Park and Gab: Eleventh Edition

The boys and I are looking forward to this event tomorrow evening, hopefully nothing will come up where we don't get to go. I'll post about it if I do make it.

#12

This cache, Slippin', is surrounded by ALOT of thorns, be careful! I wouldn't let my kids in without safety glasses on. I was in the midst of it and couldn't see it when my youngest, his third of the day, spied it from the outside. Took green Geocaching thing (anyone know what this is (hopefully you can see it in the picture)?) and yellow happy face whistle, left McD Dr. Oct toy and a couple of pirate coins. SL Nice cache!


Oh, and as we turned around to make our way back home, a rabbit came to visit!


Regarding the thorns issue, I saw a post on the Houston GeoCaching Society site and it was asking folks to post how much geocaching had cost them in terms of making mistakes, some folks had locked their keys in their car, or lost their GPS, etc. Well, I'd really hate to see some kid lose an eye because of geocaching in the midst of thorns. With this cache and the Bling Baby cache, you cannot avoid them. I have 5 well placed scratches on my arm from the thorns yesterday that I tried my best to avoid, well my arm is about head high for smaller kids. I'd just like you all to think about safety when it comes to geocaching, I don't want to see anyone get hurt.

#11

Got this, Deadend, on a Sunday afternoon so the day care was closed. No muggles around except that one was cutting his grass on the other side of the brick wall, he never saw us. This was a first of its kind for us and my youngest figured it out, his second in a row for the day! TNLN SL

#10

I haven't been in Bane Park since they made some major renovations to it and it looks great! This cache, Remember the Alamo, is super nice, full of interesting things regarding the Alamo. My youngest spied this one. Took baseball and electronic game. Left traditional yo-yo and Chinese yo-yo. Signed log. Left BUGGY ON! travel bug.

George Bush Park

I've never been to George Bush Park, but judging from this thread, it looks like we might need to check it out sometime! There are over 100 caches in the 7,800 acre park.

Geocaching in the news...

The great GPS stash hunt

Published: March 26, 2009

Click this picture to view a larger image. A group of kids pillage a geocache stash. Geocaching is a great way to get the kids off the couch and out in mother nature. Photo by Gary Short

By Jan Short

The ‘Wild Rivers Coast' is home to some of the most beautiful scenery anywhere in the world. The coastal trails lead to shimmering waterfalls and pristine beaches through magnificent growths of forests, ferns and wild berry patches.

What many in this area are not aware of is that these same coastal trails hide other treasures – man made in origin. These treasures are called ‘geocaches' (pronounced geo-cashes). Geocaching is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache (a container filled with tradable items) anywhere in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache's existence and location online.

Anyone with a GPS unit or a map and coordinates can then try to locate the geocache. According to the official geocaching website there are 724,583 active caches worldwide. In a 30-mile radius of Gold Beach there are approximately 239 caches hidden and seven active caches within the city limits of Gold Beach.

The origins of hunting for treasures goes back as far as prehistoric man and the hiding of ‘caches' of food. Cave paintings and marks on trees may have been clues to the whereabouts of these hidden caches. As need became less of an incentive, the quest for treasures became more of a game. Modern man has developed technology to improve upon this activity.

The game of Geocaching goes back to an event that happened on May 2, 2000, when, unknown to most people, our government released orders that upgraded 24 satellites' Global Positioning Technology. Since Oregon has long been acknowledged as a stronghold of outdoor enthusiasm, conservation and adventurers, it is not surprising that on May 3, one such enthusiast, Dave Ulmer, a computer consultant, wanted to test the accuracy of the new technology by hiding a navigational target in the woods near Portland. He called the idea the "Great American GPS Stash Hunt" and posted it on an Internet GPS users' group website.

The idea was simple: Hide a container out in the woods and note the coordinates with a GPS unit. In the course of a few years the game and the name evolved to include a website and players from all over the world.

It is not surprising that many innovations to this game have been added over the years. One called ‘Travel Bugs' has become very popular. Travel bugs have tags with numbers that have been logged by the official Geocaching site. When a travel bug is launched it is put into a cache and the number and location are logged online. Whenever this bug is found and moved it is logged by the finder and the new location is posted. One travel bug, "Mr. Wonderful," began its journey in Gold Beach. It has traveled across this country, the Atlantic Ocean, and through Austria, France, and back again. Mr. Wonderful has not made it back to Gold Beach, but it is still traveling in the United States and has logged more than 14,000 miles. Most travel bugs do not enjoy such a long journey; many disappear, so Mr. Wonderful's journey is quite a feat.

One of the best aspects of this game is that it leads you to places you might not have ever seen without the incentive of the game. Caches are hidden in places that people have found and want to share with others, either because of the history or the beauty of the spot. Many towns and cities have begun hiding caches in places they want people to discover such as hidden parks or memorials and places of interest within their city that the casual tourist might not ever discover on his own. Boy Scout troops have begun using the game as a means of teaching the scouts outdoor skills. Parents and families use the game as a way to explore and spend time together.

If you are interested in learning more about this game you can log onto geocaching.com; don't be intimidated by the fact that a GPS is required.

There is an offshoot called ‘letterboxing' that is done strictly using clues. To learn more about letterboxing you can begin on the geocaching site and then find the link.

Good hunting.

#9

Had to get some fast food for the family, was jonesing for a find! A nice quick and easy park and grab. Signed log. SkyRookie's PNG series #11

Hopefully the boys and I can get some hunting in very soon!! I'm tired of seeing my ugly mug!

Header

I made the header for this blog last night, what do you think?

#8

I went by Aquarium World to get rid of some of our platys (which this was my first visit there and I highly recommend going to this place, the fish they have there are as good as, if not better than, the zoo's), decided to see what geocaches were around and, again, there was one pretty much in the parking lot. Hail to the Chief - Lyndon B. Johnson. I never even knew this BBQ place (Lyndon's Pit Bar-B-Q) was here. Coords dead on. Easy find. Microcache.


I know my graphic says 7 found but one of the ones we found is for premium members only and I can't log it until if/when I become a premium member. Would someone like to buy me a membership? :-)

#7

I had to get gas last night and while I was doing that I decided to check my Blackberry for nearby geocaches. Turns out there was one, SkyRookie's PNG series #10, right in the parking lot. I hadn't been geocaching in over a week and was jonesing hard. :-) Coords for this one was spot on, fun find! Signed log. I don't feel too guilty for doing some by myself, this was just a microcache anyway. :-)