Kenosha News Article On Geocaching Intro Class At Bong
6/9/2006

The Kenosha News has printed a geocaching article containing information obtained by a reporter who attended the introduction to geocaching “class” at Bong Recreation Area on June 3rd. Several WGA members are quoted, and there is a picture of our treasurer and the main organizer of this event, Brian Geoffrey.

Link To Article
WHAT’S YOUR POSITION?

Geocaching combines adventure of scavenger hunt, ability to use Global Positioning Systems, Internet

by Karen Gustafson KENOSHA NEWS

BRIGHTON – A few years ago, Jeff Thorson couldn’t have imagined leaving his computer to hike in the woods. Then along came geocaching and his lifestyle changed.

Geocaching is an outdoor adventure game for users of GPS, or Global Positioning System, that has lured thousands of adventuresome spirits, including computer geeks like Thorson, outside and off the beaten paths.

“If not for geocaching, I’d be sitting at a computer on the nicest day of the year. I’m a computer nerd,” said the Pewaukee native as he hiked along trails at Richard Bong State Recreation Area to hide a geocache. “The neatest thing about geocaching is discovering Wisconsin.”

Recently, Thorson, along with New Berlin resident Brian Geoffrey and other members of the Wisconsin Geocaching Association, a group of avid geocachers, visited Bong to introduce the sport to about 20 adults and children.

How geocaching works, explained Geoffrey, is simple: First someone hides a geocache in the woods and uses a GPS to log the precise location. Next he publishes the GPS coordinates of the cache on the Internet. Then others use their GPS to find it.

A geocache is a weatherproof container with various items placed inside it. Often geocachers use Army surplus ammo boxes, Tupperware and Rubbermaid containers or empty food jars, all painted in camouflage color or flat black. For a micro-cache, they sometimes use very small containers, such as a pill bottle or 35 mm film container.

To be an official geocache, it must contain a logbook (sometimes just a piece of rolled up paper) so the finders can record their find. Many caches contain trinkets to trade, like small toys, coins or other interesting odds and ends.

And that leads to the few simple geocaching rules, Geoffrey told the group: Sign the logbook; if you take something, leave something; leave the cache as you found it; respect private property, and “cache in and trash out.”

When Geoffrey geocaches, he takes along a trash bag and picks up litter he finds on his way.

In fact Earth Day Is “Cache In and Trash Out” day for geocachers, Geoffrey said. On that day, the group posts a geocaching event, for example at a state park. Then geocachers gather there to pick up trash while they’re on the hunt

Like Thorson, Geoffrey had never entered the Bong State Recreation Area before he started geocaching. Back then, Geoffrey said Bong to him was “just a giggle on a sign” as he drove past. Now it’s one of his favorite places to visit.

“It’s a way for people who like to sit at the computer to get out and see the real world,” Geoffrey said. “It’s a great excuse to get out of the house.”

What you need to start geocaching, Geoffrey said, is a sense of adventure, a GPS receiver and a computer with Internet access. Cost for a decent GPS starts at about $100. Other GPS models with more “bells and whistles” can run $400 or $500 but the low-cost one is just as accurate, according to Geoffrey.

It’s also a good idea to carry a compass (just in case you can’t get a GPS reading), some bug spray and good hiking shoes.

“The first time I went out (geocaching) in shorts and sandals with a 4-year-old daughter and a pregnant wife to a bog, a swamp,” he said. “That was a disaster.”

The way to find a cache, Geoffrey explained, is:

Go to the official geocaching Web site (www.geocaching.com). On the site, users can type in a zip code to get a listing of the 500 geocaches closest to a certain location.

Choose a cache and learn about it. Each cache listing includes the GPS location, along with a name, clues and a rating. Caches are rated from 1 to 5 according to difficulty to find and the terrain. A cache with a 1-1 rating is very accessible and the easiest to find. Sometimes the clues are puzzles to solve before the hunt.

Enter the GPS coordinates into your GPS, print out the cache page and take it with you. Also go prepared with something appropriate to trade for an item in the cache. Popular items include small inexpensive toys and specially designed coins called “geocoins.” Inappropriate items include food that might spoil or attract animals.

When you find the cache, sign the logbook and trade if you choose to. Trading is optional, however. “Leave something of equal or greater value compared to what you take,” Geoffrey said.

Then re-hide the cache back in the same spot. When you get home, enter your find on the Web page so geocachers can track their caches.

Some geocachers place “travel bugs” in a cache and specify a destination for it. If another geocacher finds it and will be traveling in the right direction, he or she takes it to another cache closer to the destination and enters the new location on the Web.

Geoffrey planted a travel bug in a cache near his New Berlin home. His travel bug is a small plastic Homer Simpson figure with a tag reading, “Take me to Springfield.” Geoffrey hopes to have his Homer travel to all 22 states that have a Springfield (the Simpson’s hometown). In the two years since he “released” it, Homer has been to four states and traveled more than 2,000 miles. His Homer was last recorded on the Web near Fort Worth, Texas.

The next step, he said, is to hide your own cache. To do that, you go out with a GPS, hide your cache and record the GPS coordinates. Be mindful of sensitive areas and don’t hide a cache without permission of the land manager, Geoffrey emphasized.

Be sure the cache is well hidden so nongeocachers aren’t likely so find it. It’s also important not to put geocaches in dangerous places, he said.

“The idea is you want geocachers to find it, but you don’t want other people to find it,” said Geoffrey.

Finally, use your computer to post the cache with GPS and hints on the Web site. If it’s an “active” cache, it needs to be maintained from time to time so it’s wise to plant it near your home.

When Geoffrey hides a cache, he sometimes tries to show off a favorite area. That’s what he did when he hid a cache on the top platform of a 75-foot-high fire tower in the North unit of Kettle Moraine State Forest.

“You have to climb the tower to find it,” he said, “it’s a way to bring people to one of my favorite places.”

During the introduction to geocaching at Bong, all of the geocaches were temporary rather than active official caches. So that night the beginners were given handouts detailing the caches rather than finding the information on the Internet.

Before Geoffrey gave a slide presentation on geocaching, Geoffrey, Thorson and other group members hid 18 temporary caches around Bong for the novice geocachers to find later.

Two weeks earlier. Geoffrey had visited Bong to find places to hide caches and used his GPS to get the exact locations of each spot.

The group came prepared with a collection of small weatherproof containers painted in camouflage color and some trinkets, including some Smokey Bear paraphernalia supplied by staff at the state recreation area.

That morning WGA member Dave Secondino of Rochester had put out six temporary caches. Secondino started geocaching about nine months ago and usually goes with his wife.

“For me, it met a need,” he said. “It got me outside, and there’s some discovery and the social aspect, too.”