The middle of May brought the Wisconsin Geocaching Association to Interstate State Park for the annual WGA Camp Out.  We were joined by the Minnesota Geocaching Association and geocachers enjoyed getting to know each other across the mighty St. Croix River. 

Some geocaching teams just joined us for the day but most participated in the camping part of the camp out.  Geocachers gathered around the fire on Friday and Saturday nights for roasting marshmallows, hot dogs and some lively geo-chatting.

It turned out to be a soggy weekend, we got a lot of rain.  This made some of the planned activities like the tug-of-war, fishing tournament and the guided nature hike lose some of their participants.  But on the other hand, the temperatures were comfortable in a sweatshirt and geocachers found themselves gathering under the covered picnic shelter for geo-chatting during the rain. 

But when does weather stop Wisconsin geocachers from going out and doing some hiking and geocaching?  A big thank you to Spike007 and scott543 for placing the new caches in the park for the event.  The beautiful park sits along the St. Croix River and it’s beautiful gorges, steep cliffs and unique rock formations made this an ideal setting for geocaching.  By Saturday around noon the rain stopped, just in time for us to fire up the grill for lunch, and we were treated to a beautiful, sunny day. Both the Wisconsin and Minnesota geocachers did their part in keeping our parks clean and beautiful by picking up trash for the Cache In Trash Out event. 

A few hearty souls braved the chilly rain and participated in the fishing derby contest.  Congratulations to Sandlanders and CacheNoTrace, winners of the fishing derby.  We were also treated to the yummy smells during the Dutch Oven cook-off.  Congratulations to the dynamic cooking duo mucluck and the katsmeow for their winning concoction of Beef and Beer Stew.  As the sun set it was time to pull out the flashlights and hit the trails for the night cache contest.  We were treated to all sorts of glowing and creative caches, it was really a hit!  Congratulations to Team Black-Cat, the Night Cache Contest winner for his eerie Snow White’s magic mirror entry.

Sunday morning we were treated to the WGA pancake breakfast.  It was pouring rain outside but we were nice and cozy under the picnic shelter.  It was a great way to finish off the weekend with a little more geo-chatting before everyone began to pack up their tents and head home to their own part of the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota.  Thank you to all who attended and especially to all who helped make this event happen.  Check out the photos of the event on the cache page or in the WGA photo gallery.

As the weather gets nicer (finally), activity has picked up a little in the WGA Cache of the Month. Here are the winners for April.

Northern Zone
North Country Trail: Swedish Settlement by jenhen
Difficulty: 2.5
Terrain : 3
If you enjoy historical sites and abandon ruins then you will enjoy finding this cache located in The Chequamegon National Forest.

Northeast Zone
Where Are the Cows? by Love2Labs/kmhiker
Difficulty: 4.5
Terrain: 3
This is a multi cache in the Kettle Morine State Forest. You would do well to read the cache page carefully before heading out for this one.
"Excellent location picked, makes you think Outside-of-the-box to advance to second stage."

West Central Zone
Marathon Mystery by peach107
Difficulty: 2.5
Terrain: 3
An Earth Cache by Platinum Earthcache Master peach107. The Dells of The Eau Claire is a scenic treasure that is well worth the trip.

South Central Zone
Sepulchre by mate dulce
Difficulty: 1.5
Terrain: 1
A fun, feild solvable, inside/outside puzzle cache in Mad Town.
"Excellent family cache, unique and fun!"

Southeast Zone
Mind Maze by heavin
Difficulty: 4
Terrain: 1.5
This on-site puzzle should keep you busy for a while, so plan a little extra time.
"This one was just plan awesome to try and figure out while out in the woods."
"This was a cleverly constructed cache. It took a while to navigate through the mind maze. This is a nice park too."

Series of the Month
Dr Seuss Series by beccaday
This fun series located in Pike Lake State Park will take you on a tour of your childhood memories. Oh, the places you'll go!
"This was a very well done series with the location of the caches as well as the containers. The series included 10 caches which were a combination of puzzles, traditional and Multi's which led to the final. Very well themed cache containers which were unique. The cache page write ups were very clever as well."
"My son still talks about the Horton container! Enjoyed the creative waypoints!"
"There was alot of effort put into these caches, which we love!"
"Awesome series with creative cache containers that take you all around the state park."

If you happen to be in the area, you owe it to yourself to seek out one of these great geocaches. Click here for Nominations and voting for the May Cache of the Month.

Comment in the forums

Northern Zone
2CachingLoons Have Found Their King! by UnlivableVenus8 (aka PokerPlayingEMT-&a-BookWormQueen)
Difficulty 2
Terrain 2.5
Located in a mini park in the Loon Capital, Mercer, is Clair D'Loon. It's hard to miss this geo-beacon.
"This one is just fun! What's not to like about a twenty foot tall loon?"
"Who wouldn't love a two story loon for a beacon????"

Northeast Zone
Where the Wild Things Are by suzisumac
Difficulty 2.5
Terrain 2
A two part multi-cache located in Dale. One log describes it as "Devilisly creative".
"A fun multicache. Both stages are quite creative."
"It has a challenging first stage, a clever final... A well put together cache!"

West Central Zone
Sally's Savings Bank and Geocoin Exchange by zuma!
Difficulty 1
Terrain 1
You might get a chance to meet a geocaching legend since the container is hidden in the front yard of some well known Wisconsin geocachers. (Sally and Jessie) Always well stocked, this one is worth a visit any time you are in the area.
"This is an easy to find and well cared for TB motel."
"It's in Zuma's front yard, need I say more!"

South Central Zone
The Truth Tree by Smashing Ground
Difficulty 2.5
Terrain 2
Sometimes the truth jumps right out at you. This puzzle cache will either have you banging your head or enjoying a quick solve depending on how you look at it.
"Couldn't count the number of times I looked at this one before I got the "Ah Ha!" moment. Final is a cool location too!"
"Nice puzzle, nice hide location.  Nice solid cache.  Tree-mendous fun all around!"

Southeast Zone
Goldie, You're My Idol - Season 4 by beccaday
Difficulty 4
Terrain 2.5
This is a tribute to Goldie Diggers who has been described on the cache page as "well known for his creative puzzles, fun cache containers, challenging hides and his total disregard for his own safety".
"A devious and creative hide, my favorite type!"
"A cache that you have to use your noggin for, and when you finally do you want to slap it!"

Series of the Month
American Literature: Final Exam by krymdog
Difficulty 3.5
Terrain 3
A series of eight puzzles located in the "up nort". The series forms a perfect "?" when viewed on a map.
"It was a learning experience to read all the different literary styles and answer questions pertaining to the story.'
"Brought me back to High School Lit. Class and remembering  GREAT Literature calssics.  It had been a long time since a final exam and I enjoyed the challenage."
"This series has everything that makes for a great series in our mind...interesting puzzles, wonderful northwoods setting and finds that are meant to be found."
"This Cache series embodied all the fun elements of geocaching, challenging both mind and body."
"With currently 100% "favorite" status, this series has everyone enjoying lit class.  Eight caches, each representing a different period in American lit, lead up to the final exam. Well thought out, well put together... one whole package of mental and physical caching fun!"
 

Nominate or vote for your favorite geocaches in the April WGA Cache of the Month! 

Meeting was called to order at 9:05 am by Jim.
All board members were present including: Lisa Daniels, Peter Quella, James Bliefnick, Barry Butrymowicz, Rebecca Lillo, Chris Walker, Rob England, Brian Kling, Renee Vanselow-Tapp
 

First order of business was the election of officers for the 2013 BOD.
For the position of President: Jim was nominated by Barry and second by Rob
Brian was nominated but declined
Pete was nominated by Brian and second by Jim
Vote was cast by paper ballot with Jim receiving 7 votes and Pete 2 votes
 

For the position of Vice President: Brian was nominated by Barry and second by Lisa
Pete was nominated by Renee and second by Brian
Vote was cast by paper ballot with Pete receiving 5 votes and Brian 4 votes
 

For the position of Treasurer: Renee was nominated by Brian and second by Pete
With only one nomination Renee had unanimous vote
 

For the position of Secretary: Barry was nominated by Brian and second by Pete
With only one nomination Barry had unanimous vote
 

Recap of "How to be a Board Member"
Jim explained some of the problems about making motions in the forums, if possible motions should be brought up in the Board forums first, so we can discuss it first, the make the formal motion to vote on.
Pete brought up about the actual term of Board Members. The actual term for new members starts at the annual meeting. New members to the board gain access to the BOD forums immediately after the election, but do not have voting powers for the approximately 2 weeks that they are in transition.
Access to the BOD forums is so that they can get caught up to speed on current happenings and also the past info that is available there. A motion will have to be made, and a change to the bylaws stating the actual start of new BOD terms.
Talked about making motions, posting in forums, and how to use the electronic voting.
Terms begin at the annual business meeting we need to post and change the bylaws.
Posts can be moved and deleted by any BOD, If it looks like obvious spam, it can be deleted. Brian mentioned that the new “attacks” we have been getting are by actual people who go thru the process of signing up for the site, and then post links in their forum tag lines.
 

Treasurer’s Report
Renee passed around a spreadsheet for the PayPal account and the checking account.
Renee is looking at gaining online access to the checking account and having the availability for the four officers of the BOD.
PayPal Account is now a business account using our Tax ID number. We can have 25 authorized users to use the account. It is still attached to Renee's credit card as a backup. With our checking account,
we are able to get a debit/check card that could be used as the backup and would free Renee of all indemnity if we had a back charge from a PayPal dispute.
Brian made motion to accept the Treasurer's report, Rob second, all in favor.
Minutes from 2012 meeting accepted.

Possible purchase of bookkeeping software
Brian has a point of sale program that could be used, a few tweaks are needed to make it work at
events, but can be easily done.
 

2013 Budget
Reservations have been paid for the Campout event.
In the past this has been the operating budget that we have ran off of:
Publicity events $1000 (Brochures, Patches, Stickers)
CITO Events $900
Regional Events $600
Campout Reservations $475
Picnic $400
Winter/Chili $120
LCG $100
Mega/ Pancake Breakfast $300
BOD Plaques $100
Geocoin Minting $3000
Pathtags $300
Generic Shirt orders $700

Discussion on the budget was tabled and will be discussed.
 

Web Site Report
Brian presented a recap of what happened in the last year and what will happen in the future on the website, as time permits.
Lately we have only have had the COTM winners article as our only monthly WGA news article. New news articles are needed more often.
WGA membership requirements and related website changes
At this time no changes are needed to the membership requirements. If we are looking at becoming a 501(c)(3) all information will be needed for our records.
 

Education Committee Report
We should look at other opportunities with state parks in other parts of the state. Similar to the way that Scrappy has his set up at Pike lake, his 101 classes went over well last year.
Rob brought up that Kohler Andrae had a interest last year.
Geo 101 and Train the Trainer Contact West Bend committee, to set up the times for the Train the Trainer and 101 consecutively. Running the Train the Trainer first, then let them help with the Geo 101 after.
101 Classes at State Parks. It was brought up to see if we can only have our “certified” trainers do 101 classes at State Parks, per our reviewers, we cannot limit who can hold a 101 class.
We need to update the 101 training info on the webpage.
 

Membership Committee Report
Talked about possibly sending out a “New Member Package” (Nametag, Coin, WGA Pencils) at a approximate cost of $3 per person, $100 per year. Possibly send out once a month.
Possibly send nametags to membership who do not have yet.
Send reminders to soon to expire memberships or expired memberships.
 

Ways to maintain Membership (Facebook, Twitter, other Social Media) - growing membership and a outline for growth
Chris talked about Facebook page. Weekly it is growing, Pictures get the biggest hits; about 1200 to 1300 hits on Facebook weekly. Might want to link to other caching groups in the area. (Wild bunch,Cooley Region, NE WI Geocachers).
Brian and Chris, are the two admins for FB.
 

Committee Assignments for 2013
Membership Chris is Chair, Brian, Barry
Education Jim, Rebecca, Renee is Chair
Website Lisa, Pete, Rob, Brian is Chair
We should put out a feeler post in all three committees to see if current members want to stay, and
maybe post in regular forums for new committee members.
 

A break was taken and Group photo to be posted on the WGA website.
 

Campout WI/MN
Brian has been in contact with the President of MnGA about 2 weeks ago.
Agreed to $175 in help, plus Cachkins and other donations.
Friends of Interstate park will be doing a presentation they could also do informational walks about the geographic features of the park.
We will again be doing Night Caches will need to have volunteers place them.
Preorder Shirts Need to have a longer leg time. Need to get the logo for shirts and pathtags finalized.
We will again have the Pancake Breakfast we need to look into Safe Food Handler classes.
Spike007 and Scott543 will be hiding caches for the event.
Possible GX Proxy Coin, along with a pathtag. Barry will look into designs and GX coins.
Preorder of shirts through store instead of just guessing on our sale quantity.
 

Geocoins and pathtags
2012 geocoin recap and inventory 49 silver 5 gold
2011 geocoin inventory 89
Barry will try to sell 2011 coins @ 9.99 Buy it now 5 of each
2012 at 9.99 with free shipping on both.
Start a new WGA eBay name and link to the new business Pay Pal account.
Look at making a 2014 geocoin. Goal to have it Ready for November 1, of 2013. Start working on it after the campout.
 

CITO or Regional events - How many @ $150? Specify what funds can be used for.
We will sponsor up to 6.
Merchandise will be donated at Retail Value to events out of the $150.
Pete made motion and Chris second to sponsor CITO or regional events if asked for by the membership. Merchandise can fill the $150 if requested. All present in favor.
We should have a goal to promote more CITO across the state.
Having a board member take over the DOT contact. Chris will take over the Contact.
 

Fall Picnic event location.
Location: Gov. Thompson
Chair: Barry Butymowicz
Brian made motion Barry second and all in favor of holding at Gov Thompson SP. September 14 or 21. Check hunting start dates, Barry will meet with Maggie (Park Ranger). And check hunting in park.

Limited edition geocoin awards and service plaque awards
Brian made motion Renee second, to purchase the award plaques from Mantiowoc Trophy for Brian Mckay and Ralph Edwards approx price $32 and $10.95 shipping. All present in favor.
Brian made motion Lisa second to present Debbie (Amita17) with a Silver Geocoin for efforts put forth at events. All present in favor.
 

WGA property
Current assets report
Trailer
2 grills
printer
download equip
turkey shoot targets
portable fire place
nescos
coffee Pots
T-shirt report and inventory
Current Inventory is all in one place.
Will need to order more before the Appleton CITO.
Renee made a motion to sell all old event shirts at $5 until gone. Brian Second. Motion Passed.
Renee will research and bring back to to the group the option of ordering hats, minimum order is 24 would have the generic logo on them.
F1rebirds brought up idea of Panthervision hats. Tabled until we see a better finished product.
 

Merchandise Sales at non WGA events / Donations to events
If asked by the cache owner and we have someone available to bring stuff there, sales can be at any event. In appreciation of allowing us to sell at the event, a donation of shirt or coin can be made to the event raffle (at the discretion of the seller).
 

Possibility of placing a geocache in every state park
Research # of state parks and which do not have caches.
WGA would be the owner of the cache, have a local cacher be the trail boss and maintain the cache.
Contact Ralph and see what info he has from this in the past.
Possibly make up labels to put on cache containers, send them to willing trail bosses with pencils.
Brian will contact Ralph and get the information.
 

WGA TB Race prizes
Possible prizes would be a State park sticker. Come up with about 10 “categories” for prizes.
With the response that we had this year, having another race again the following year could be easily done. Brian said the TBRun site is easy to use, but could write the code easily enough to run it directly from our site.
First place winner would win a State park sticker, Winner would also have team name, mileage and year put on WGA trailer. Brian made motion Renee Second. All in favor.
 

Amend the "Vendors at WGA Events" motion? Or keep wording/ cost the same?
Changes made and will be posted in the BOD forums. Motion will need to be voted on and passed online.
 

2014 Waukesha Jamboree
City wide community event. Geo101 and temp caches. Have been using the WGA as a sponsor, Renee will be the contact as it has been in the past and will keep us informed.
 

Discuss possible amendment to Article XIII: Property, Funds, and Assets of the bylaws to allow for some funds to remain in the WGA PayPal account (see attachment B)
We should check into the insurance issues with PayPal. Discussed at meeting and resolved
PayPal holds funds in federally insured bank accounts.
Discuss wisdom of having a personal bank account tied to WGA funds, and possible solutions to current situation.
Look at getting a Debit card attached to our checking account. This would relive Renee of liability of having her Credit Card attached to the PayPal account.
Discuss responsibility of WGA for reporting income and paying taxes or annual filing and publishing of Form 990
We were advised by free legal counsel (Mr Curly Girls) Attorney at law:
As of right now we are not violating any issues and being a non-for-profit non-stock org and do not have to worry about paying taxes.
 

Best way to track WGA assets.
Bring trailer to all events possible.
 

LCG Event
Pete brought up that there might be a few rule changes or clarifications needed soon.
 

COTM
Possible COTM Tours setup on the website.
Brian also reminded us to check the COTM near the end of the month. The program needs to have at least one cache in each region nominated.
 

West Bend Cache Bash
Barry will bring a Fire Dept tent to the Picnic to try out. They are purchased at Sam's Club approximate price $300. After the picnic we can decide if we would want to purchase one.
Pancake Breakfast and Geo101 are wanted by the West Bend committee.
 

Newsletter
Rebecca will take on the challenge of the newsletter, all of the BOD members need to help with this.
Try to get one out at least quarterly. Any material should be ready for a Mid March Newsletter.
 

"Remote" attendance to BOD meeting
Not reasonable as of yet.

Member Benefits Package
Jim brought a packet of info from the company he works for. Passed it on to Pete for review. It could be offered to our membership at no cost to us. It would be a accidental injury insurance similar to Afflac.
 

Meeting adjured 4:27 motion by Jim second by Pete.
 

UPDATED VENDOR MOTION
Whereas the Bylaws of the WGA state that our mission includes, as one of four purposes, "Provide an opportunity for geocachers in the State of Wisconsin to gather and socialize with one another."
Whereas, commercial interests may desire to make their products available to members of the WGA at our events;
Whereas, some member of the WGA may like to purchase geocaching related commercial products while at our events;
Whereas, our mission is primarily to provide a place for geocachers to socialize with one another, and unfettered and uncontrolled selling of commercial products within the shelter can potentially compromise the purpose of our event by being over populated with commercial interests, and some members may feel that commercial activity makes it more difficult to socialize;
The WGA from this date forward establishes these rules for the selling of commercial products at our events:
1. Vendors must get prior permission from the WGA of at least 7 days prior to the event in order to be allowed to sell commercial products at any WGA event.
2. Vendors must provide to the WGA Secretary the following information in writing prior to being approved to conducting any commercial activity: Name of individual, name of company (if any), mailing address, phone number, email address, and description of products that are intended for commercial activity.
3. Vendors may be required to pay a fee of $25 to the WGA for the privilege of setting up their commercial activity at our event. If vendor fee is waived, a donation would be accepted (for door prizes) in lieu of fee.
4. The WGA BOD will designate a area for vendor sales, the area may or may not be inside a shelter (if available). Vendors must provide their own table, booth or shelter to the extent that they see fit. The WGA is not responsible for providing any equipment to vendors.
 

There will be plenty to keep you busy and entertained for the entire weekend. We’re hosting a campfire social at the group campsite on Friday and Saturday nights. Saturday you will be able to show off your rustic culinary skills in the Dutch Oven Cook-off, join the Interstate Tug-O-War, or if you enjoy fishing, join the fishing derby. The Kids' Adventure Cache will be available all day. Details for all activites will be available at the Interstate Shelter.

COMMENT ON THIS

The weather couldn't have been better and many geocachers took the opportunity to gather around the bonfire, enjoy a few ditties by a Lone minstrel and dodge a few snowballs. Inside the Nature Center, geocachers were welcomed by WGA board members and volunteers. Every team was given a Bonfire on the Bay pathtag when they signed in.

Untold gallons of chili and dozens of hot dogs were served up by our kitchen staff headed up by Lisa from Curly Girls. The rest of the food was provided by attendees and there was plenty! Nobody went home hungry.

Planning is already underway for the next WGA Chili and Bonfire event. Watch the forums and Upcoming Events for details. Winter is winding down and spring is just around the corner. We have several events planned between now and the next bonfire event including the 12th annual WGA Spring Campout  at Interstate State Park on May 17th-19th.

Northern Zone - Cheezehead's T.B & Coin & HCH container Barn by Hayward Cheezehead
Difficulty 1
Terrain 1.5
Size Large

This fun cache is located just a few feet from the roadside. Being a LARGE, is findable any time of the year, and is kept well stocked by the nearby cache owner. "Honk or wave as you drive by."

Northeast Zone - The Expedition by JimandLinda
Difficulty 4
Terrain 5
Size Regular

Several items are required to complete The Expedition, so read the description page carefully. The terrain changes depending on the season, but this multi is a true adventure any time of the year.

West Central Zone - URSA MINOR - YILDUN by bigjim60
Difficulty 2
Terrain 5
Size Micro

A great amount of effort was spent to recreate the Little Bear constellation near the Little Bear Creek in the George Mead Wildlife Area in Central Wisconsin. This one won't disappoint those looking for a high terrain geocache.

South Central Zone - WSQ Old Baptist Union Cemetery (Abandoned) by Smashing Ground
Difficulty 2
Terrain 2
Size Other

This out of the way WSQ is a true testiment to the power of natural reclaimation. Several Civil War era markers can be found here.

Southeast Zone - black bottom stomp by chevyole
Difficulty 2
Terrain 4
Size Small

Here is another higher terrain geocache that the owner refers to as "Homage to the Lonely Cache Game". With a Howitzer, a time capsule and a great view, this is a must do cache.

Series of the Month - The Muppet Series by Jim Henson (aka froggerz)
Difficulty 2
Terrain 2
Size Regular

A six pack that will have you chasing Muppets on the trails of Whitnal Park near Greenfield. You'll be getting the old band back together by finding the five original members of The Electric Mayhem Band. What could be more fun than Muppet hunting in Southeast Wisconsin?

Nominate or vote for your favorite caches in the March Cache of the Month.