Geocaching at large Scouting Event

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:36 am

I'm looking for people that would have an interest and experience in running a geocaching event for a large (thousands) at a scouting event (Great Lakes Centennial Jamboree www.glcj.org) this fall (September 25-27, basically on Saturday the 26th) at the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) grounds in Oshkosh. We have run of most of the grounds.

I've done gecaching and some small events, but not a large one. People with large event experience would be great. Youth ages will mostly be 11 - 18, and I'd like to maximize opportunities for number of youth (obviously not all) without having them stumble over each other. Small prizes in the caches are a possibility.

Please contact me ASAP as we need to nail down event logistics soon (I was only recently asked to see if I could find resources)

Thanks!

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:43 am

Perhaps the WGA itself should pick this one up, and recruit cachers to work it.

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:16 am

I would be willing to help out in any way. Being a fellow scouter I would like to give back to the future of the sport/hobby. Maybe the WGA can set up a group of people to help organize the event and volunteer to staff it.

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:31 pm

How would I go about encouraging that

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:01 pm

I think you would have to talk to the WGA president and see about getting this done.

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:09 pm

mlgnight wrote:

How would I go about encouraging that

I am guessing the WGA board is reading this .......

Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:45 am

I would be willing to help with this any way I can. I am in the process of oraganizing our Troop to attend this event.

WGA Member Joined: 2006-12-23 Posts: 6012

Our pack just brought this up in the bear den as they are going to be webelo's soon.

Will be cool but its going to be a challenge, 7000+ attendee's expected, not sure if that includes parents and support staff or not though.

Fall Jefferson is that weekend too, ARGH!

I'd start by contacting the jamboree coordinators and see if there is anyone there who could share the structure of other small group at a time type activities.

regurgitating the thought stream from the overtired brain:

1. Run sessions, probably a hour maybe hour and a half, 1st half hour general gps use and caching 101. 2nd half send them out searching on the grounds.
2. Limit the # of session attendee's to 2 per device you have(10 dev's, 30 attendee's).
3. Setup 2 caches per device to be found, stick to trad's, lots of places around to hide caches there. Scout A runs gps while scout B does the search on 1st hide and switch for hide 2.
4. Going to require some pre-event recon, someone(s) will need to go on the grounds a day or two in advance to place, and then print out sheets.
5. Create sheets that list the 2 caches to be found and the basics of caching 101 in case they get stuck.
6. Explain to them DNF's are normal Razz

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:29 am

RSplash has the logistics down for this. I have done a group of over 60. THAT, in itself, was a large group to get through and answer questions. Unfortunately, at this point, this weekend is my weekend to work and I would not be able to help out (I work every other weekend...in heathcare)

Joined: 2007-01-29 Posts: 69

Our son just bridged over to boy scouts this spring and we are pretty sure we will there. Not sure yet how much time we will be able to donate to help out with this yet.

With that many people there you are going to need a LOT of GPS units if you want to get maximum exposure. The gears in my brain are turning right now trying to figure out how to tackle this problem.

Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 10:45 am

I. too, have been doing some thinking on this, since we are only 1 mile from the EAA.

But 7000 getting exposed to geocaching, in an orderly fashion, has my head swimming! Plenty of ground for cache hiding, but how do you search for caches without every attendee standing in line?

The West Bend Cash Bash had 300+, and a few of those had groups of 2 or 3 waiting near GZ after the cache was rehidden. Of course, that was only one aspect of the Event, and it was all cachers.

I was wondering if the Geocaching could be offered as a Scout Leader Workshop. After the gathering, it could be taught to the Scouts in their teens, according to the guidelines taught at the Workshop. That way, one adult could pass on what was learned to each subgroup of Scouts in there home town, if they wanted to. If not, they would still have some knowlege of the sport.

I would be willing to hide a few temps on the grounds before the Event.

Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 4:58 pm

JimandLinda wrote:

I was wondering if the Geocaching could be offered as a Scout Leader Workshop. After the gathering, it could be taught to the Scouts in their teens, according to the guidelines taught at the Workshop.

That sounds like a good idea if the Scout Leaders can leave their troops.
Maybe we can also build a list of cachers in the Troop's home areas that could be utilized as a resource for questions, if there are people willing to lend a hand with that.

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 5:49 am

The leaders can move about seperate from the youth, but having even adults sit through a class and not hands-on experience will be tough.

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 10:26 am

How many scout leaders will there be? I think if that number is reasonable, they could get some hands on.

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 2:18 pm

There could be preliminary information offered on line, so the leaders won't have to "sit through a class". But they will need to instruct the youth, so listening will need to be the precursor to teaching. I did purchase the Geocaching DVD, and it is a practical tool for guiding new cachers.