News - Wisconsin Geocaching Association

2012 WGA Campout

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The 2012 WGA Campout is coming up fast! The event will be held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 1st, 2nd and 3rd at Governor Dodge State Park. This was the location of the very first WGA Campout, and the event will be the 10th anniversary celebration of the Wisconsin Geocaching Association. This is going to be one you don't want to miss.

The WGA BOD and the campout committee have been hard at work for the past few months planning this event. There are a number of activities in the works including a fishing derby, Geo Golf, GPS Inaccuracy game, family and kids' activities, a photo contest, the annual WGA Night Cache contest and much more!

As usual, we have reserved a couple of group campsites, and there is still room for more campers. See the WGA Upcoming Events page for more info on camping. Remember that you do not need to camp to attend this event. Come for the day, or stay all weekend! If you are camping at the group site, don't forget to pay for your camping in the WGA Store.

We will have WGA merchandise for sale including WGA shirts, 2012 WGA Campout shirts, WGA Geocoins and Campout Pathtags. Help support the Wisconsin Geocaching Association with your purchase.

Join us at the campfire after sunset at the group campsite. Don't forget to bring the marshmallows and your best caching or fishing stories! Non-campers are welcome, but must be out of the park by 11PM.

As a special "Thank You" to everyone that has supported the Wisconsin Geocaching Association over the last decade, we are going to be having a pig roast on Saturday. This is a seperate event, and everyone is invited! More details are in the next article, but for less than the price of a quarter pound cheeseburger, you can get a big plate of roasted pork with all the fixin's!

Finish off the weekend at the annual WGA Pancake Breakfast on Sunday Morning. We'll be serving up hot pancakes, sausage and your favorite breakfast beverage from 8 to 10 AM.

We hope to see you all at the 2012 WGA Campout Event at Governor Dodge State Park. Here are the links to the events.

2012 WGA Campout

2012 Campout CITO

2012 WGA 10th Anniversary Pig Roast

2012 WGA Campout Picnic Breakfast (Not listed yet)

WGA 10th Anniversary Party!

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The WGA is 10 years old! The BOD has decided to celebrate this occassion with a PIG ROAST! It will be held in conjunction with the Campout at Governor Dodge State Park on Saturday, June 2nd. (admission fee required). YOU DO NOT NEED TO CAMPOUT TO ATTEND!!

The Pig Roast is for ALL GEOCACHERS! The cost is $3/person, with a $13/family cap.

We would like to see as many of you as possible! Plan a day trip to the area with your family and caching friends. We will be gathering at 5 PM for a picture and info session, and then the pork will be served by Past and Current Officers of the BOD.

You will be responsible for your own beverage... the rest is on the WGA! Our 10th anniversary only comes once, and we would like to have a good turnout for this special feast. We really believe this is "the one" you won't want to miss!

See the Upcoming Events page for more info.

2012 WGA Spring Adopt-A-Highway Cleanup CITO

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GC3DN3M

Saturday, April 14 2012 approximately 25 cachers got together along a 2 mile stretch of US Hwy 10 between Reedsville and Brillion to clean up litter. In just over an hour the work was completed, and the full garbage bags piled up near a stop sign.

This springs clean up seemed relatively light compared to past years, this may be do to the milder than normal winter we have experienced this year.

The Spring 2012 Highway Cleanup Crew

The final count of bags

Thank you to everyone that came out Saturday to help clean up our 2 mile stretch of Hwy 10, and a big thank you to Cheeto (Shane) for setting up the highway clean up and getting everything organized.

2012 WGA Geocoin Contest

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The 2012 WGA coin contest is officially open! The WGA will be producing a 2012 WGA Geocoin for sale to all members and the general public. The sale of this coin will help raise funds to operate the WGA.

Click to read the full article

2012 Spring Photo Contest

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Spring has sprung a little bit early in Wisconsin! Trees are budding, flowers are blooming and geocachers are coming out of hibernation. Be sure to grab your camera before hitting the trails and you could win!

Show us your original geocaching related photo that you think best illustrates what Spring is. Enter the WGA Spring Photo Contest. You could win a $40 gas card or a 2011 WGA Geocoin.

Submit up to three of your favorite Spring photos to photos@wi-geocaching.com by May 31st. Member voting will be open from June 1st to June 20th. The two winning photos will be announced shortly after that and will be displayed on the front page on the WGA website.

If you would like to see some previous WGA photo contest entries, go to the photo gallery and click on Past Photo Contests.

2/26/2012 Meeting Minutes

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Wisconsin Geocaching Association

February 26^th 2012

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Meeting was called to order at 9:00 am In attendance were: Ralph Edwards, Renee Vanselow-Tapp, Peter Quella, Brian Kling, Barry Butrymowicz, Brian McKay, James Bliefnick, Rob England, and Lisa Schewe Daniels.

A Message from the President

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Hello WGA!

As I sit at my desk, glancing at the snow flakes floating down, I'm reminiscing about the first 2 WGA Events that were held in February at the Visitors Center in Horicon. Two different Events, planned by different members, supported by the WGA. This is the strength of the organization...our volunteers! It takes many hours of planning to pull off a successful Event, and our membership has a great deal of diversity in the many talents needed to plan these gatherings. WELL DONE!

Your new Board of Directors met on Sunday the 25th of February for 5 hours of WGA business. This is our required BOD meeting according to the WGA By-laws. We assigned our Committee heads and the roster is open for team mates to plan another year of development of this young organization. Please let us know if you would like to serve on any of the committees!

Soon there will be the smell of spring flowers and rotting winter trash! That means it's CITO TIME!! Watch the Events list for WGA sponsored and locally sponsored CITO Events near you. This is our way of "giving back" to the state of Wisconsin!

This is also the 10th anniversary of the WGA, so the Board has decided to "go retro"! The WGA Campout will be held at the same place the first Campout was held...Governor Dodge State Park. The Fall Picnic will be held at Pike Lake State Park, the starting point for the first picnic in '02. Watch for some very special things to happen at these Events!

Lastly, it was never my goal to serve as the President of the WGA, but it was my goal to give back to the organization that has provided many opportunities over the last 4 years to explore the secret and magical places that this great state has to offer. I thank you for the opportunity to serve as your President. Just as you should leave a cache better than you found it, I hope I receive a passing grade from the members during my term on the BOD

Jim Bliefnick

WGA President

2012 WGA Winter Bonfire and Chili Feed

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2012 WGA Winter Bonfire and Chili Feed - GC39JNK

Some hearty souls got together Saturday, February 25th for the 3rd annual WGA Bonfire and Chili Feed. This years event was held at the Horicon International Education Center, located just a short distance from Horicon. This years venue was a real treat, not only for its excellent facilities,
but also for the large number of excellent caches to be found in the area.

In attendance were 97 cachers from across the state, many of whom ate large quantities of chili, hot dogs, and other delicious foods that were prepared for the event.

A lot of caches were found over the weekend in the Horicon area. One log of note for GC38XJP by geocacher "dawnzie" states, "Started out at the event and then went off caching on my own. I pulled up at this one, got out of the van, and I heard Averith yell "reinforcements are here". I said what you give up? He said no he was looking at past logs. I walked up to GZ took a quick look to get a feel of the area and I walked right over picked it saying "here it is". Then Labrat_wr walked over, just in time to sign. Sweetlife said they were there for 10 minutes looking. TFTC"

Other activities at this years event were several impromptu classes on using GSAK, and how to set-up cache pages. A table full of trackables was available for trade and discovery, with 92 travel bugs, geocoins, and other trackables being registered on the cache page.

The blustery weather we had made having a large bonfire difficult, though a number of brave people were gathered around a portable fire pit out in the driveway.

Saturday's event was a great deal of fun, both for the caches found as well as the socializing that took place.

Thank you to the 2012 Winter Event Committee made up of: JimandLinda, Janks15, RCflyer2242, beccaday, Trekkin and Birdin, and amita17. As well as the staff at the Horicon International Education Center

2012 WGA Winter Bonfire and Chili Feed Event

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The third annual WGA Winter event is just a few days away! It will be held at the Horicon Marsh International Education Center in Horicon, WI on Saturday, February 25th from 10AM to 3:30PM. There will be plenty of hot chili to warm you up after caching or hiking/snowshoeing on the trails at HMIEC.

This will also be an opportunity to meet some of the newly elected WGA board members. If you have any ideas / suggestions for the organization, this would be a good time to share them.

Registration and more information can be found here.

2012 WGA Board of Directors Elections Results

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The 555 votes from 114 members that were cast in the 2012 WGA Board of Directors election, which ended on Monday (February 13), have been counted and certified. The following individuals have been elected to the Board:

2 YEAR TERMS (Ends February 2014)

Peter Quella (labrat_wr)
James Bliefnick (JimandLinda)
Brian Kling (Team Black-Cat)
Rob England (Averith)
Lisa Daniels (Curly Girls)

1 YEAR TERM (Ends February 2013)

Brian McKay (uws22)

Congratulations!

Full details can be read here.