"What," you may be asking yourself at this point, "is geocaching?!" Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunt. People create treasures - "caches" - that are hidden out in the world. Your aim is to find this treasure, and to do that, you use a handheld GPS navigation device. I remember our first taste of geocaching. We were at Smith Mountain Lake State Park in Virginia for Memorial Day weekend. They had many activities planned for the day. One of them was geocaching. It was nice walking around the park with these GPS units, following the coordinates that park rangers had entered into the units. They took us down trails we hadn't been down yet, and saw things we hadn't seen, such as the Osprey's nest and some different shoreline. It was really fun and was the perfect last activity for the day. This is a great outdoor activity for Tiger, Wolf, Bear, and Webelos Scouts, and of course great for Boy Scouts, too. You go to www.geocaching.com and enter your location. Go to the box labelled, "Search for Geocaches" and enter your zip code. What will follow after you click "Go" will be an astoundingly long list of geocaches in your area. It will show various types of geocaches, such as: Traditional Cache: A container and a log book. Multi-Cache: Involves more than one location with the final location having the container. The first cache will lead you to the next, and so on. It can get pretty involved! Mystery or Puzzle Cache: This is a catch-all category. You might need to solve puzzles to get thelocations for this type of cache. A lot of fun and a great thinking activity! Trackable Item or Travel Bug: These are special items marked with an identifier. When you find these, make sure to log them as requested, usually instructions come with these. The listings provide the coordinates, just click on the name of the geocache to get more information. It may have the first puzzle to solve or clues were to find the geocache. What do I do when I find a geocache? First of all...don't panic! Open it up and take one of whatever is inside. Some items you may find, especially the trackable ones, come with a built-in responsibility to take it, log it, and then leave it somewhere else. Consider this before taking one of these items. Sign the log. Second, leave something in the geocache! If people only take, then geocaches eventually die. Don't be a Third, make sure that you hide it back again like you found it. That way the next people to come along will have the same good time hunting for it that you did. Don't try to hide it "better" than you found it. If you think an improvement could be made, let the one who created the geocache know this. Lastly, when you return home after your adventure, go back to www.geocaching.com and log your find and any trackable items. This is a very important step to the people who set up geocaches, because learning about the people who came to it is their part of the hobby. It really is that simple to get started in the geocaching sport! It gets everyone outside and exploring areas that you already know, but leads you to spots you wouldn't have normally gone. This is also an event where you can practice Leave No Trace as you "cache in and trash out," combining outdoor fun with community service! What do I need to go geocaching? You need a handheld GPS. There are many makes, models, and price ranges available. You don't have to spend a lot to get a good GPS. If you do make an investment in a better model, though, it will be worth it because of the additional features. It makes a great gift for a cub scout or boy scout because it will also encourage them to get outside!
The most important thing, though, is that you get out and try geocaching. Go to your local state or national park and ask about their geocaching program. They will probably have units you can borrow. Extension Offices will also have these units. You can also find local organizations, and they may really enjoy coming out and providing your Scouts with the opportunity to try this out with people who really know the game. So Go Geocaching Today!
|
|||
Perhaps one of the most exciting activities that has come up in the 100 Years of Scouting celebration is Cub Scouts geocaching! 
geocache killer. Consider getting one of the special 
is a great model for only $79. This is the model we used on our very first geocaching trip, and we were very happy with it. You are guided by a readout of your position and a compass interface. It can store 500 waypoints, help you find your way back to your car (TrackBack), and get you where you're going. It will hook up to your computer if you have a serial port, and really, who has a serial port anymore? This is a good unit to start with if you don't mind entering the coordinates yourself. Also keep in mind that this unit needs 3 hours to find its satellites the first time. After that, you're good to go!
would be the next step up for around $133. If you have the extra $54, this is well worth the price difference! This one includes a built-in base map, showing you features on a map interface, including (according to Garmin) Lakes, Rivers, Cities, Interstates, National & State Highways, Railroads & Coastlines. This unit also has the 500 waypoints and the TrackBack feature and the ability to save 10 track logs. This one, though, comes with its own software for managing your unit called MapSource Trip & Waypoint Manager software! It also has a USB cable - a quicker computer port that all computers have these days.
for $399.99. I like Bushnell - I have one of their 
that I also really enjoy and use a lot. But back to geocaching. The Onix400 comes with a built-in XM radio receiver. It will download NEXRAD weather information downlinked from XM Weather. It is also an XM Radio. It won't do everything your typical XM Radio will do, but hey, its a GPS unit, right?It will tell you if the road is washed out or the bridge is closed. The GPS receiver itself is extremely sensitive, which is great in the cover of the deep woods. You can also download satellite images of the area in which you will be heading, and topographical maps! It really does it all, providing all of this important information into one handheld unit. It's the newest in GPS units, so as you can imagine, we are heading to great places with this type of product in the future!