Here’s a really nice video by TodayandForever videos titled Wisconsin Geocaching featuring a few WGA members that you may recognize.
Monthly Archives: January 2015
Lonely Cache Photos Needed!
Lonely Cache Game players, we need your photographs! If you have some nice photos from your adventures finding Lonely Caches in 2014, we would like to use them at the upcoming Lonely Cache Game event.
Lacknothing has volunteered to create a presentation for the event. If you would like to show off your best LCG photos from last year, you can email them to lcgphotos<at>wi-geocaching.com.
WGA Lonely Cache Game Event | Mead Just For You!
The 2015 Lonely Cache Game Event will be held February 21st from Noon-3 PM at the Stanton W. Mead Visitor Center on the George W. Mead Wildlife Area near Milladore, WI.
Join us for socializing and geo-talk about everything that makes WI geocaching special. We’ll talk about Cache Rescues and the Lonely Cache Game, which has the sole purpose of encouraging people to visit those WI geocaches that are not often visited and to keep our caches in tip top shape for all visitors.
Never played the LCG? Not important, just stop by and enjoy the Meet and Greet.
Date: Saturday, February 21, 2015
Time: Noon – 3 PM
Place: George W. Mead Wildlife Area – Stanton W. Mead Education and Visitor Center
GC5KMNM
Voting for BOD Now Open
The WGA is accepting votes for the 2015 Board of Directors Election through February 8, 2015 at 11:59pm CST. There are 4 open positions on the Board that will be filled in this election.
All WGA members can vote for up to 4 of the candidates that appear on the ballot. Click here to vote now. (These candidates received 2 nominations from fellow WGA members.)
A link is provided to each candidate’s profile on the WGA website… click on the profile icon to the right of their username to view it.
We have also provided a link to the posts that the candidates have made in the Candidates Corner forum, and we encourage members to read these posts to learn more about the candidates before casting their votes.
At the conclusion of voting, the votes will be tallied and the 4 candidates with the highest vote totals will be awarded the open positions on the Board. In the event of a tie, a run-off election will be held soon after voting ends.
YOUR VOTE COUNTS! If you are unable to vote, please check that your WGA membership is up-to-date. If you still have problems voting, please email a current BOD member or the webmaster.
The Map is Back!
One of the casualties of the changeover to the new website platform was the WGA Member Map. It was a popular feature, and there have been a few requests to bring it back. Our webmaster dug through the toolbox and spare parts and hacked together the new WGA Member Map. If you are a WGA Member, you can add a location to your profile and it will show up on the map.
As the map fills in, you will see that the WGA has members from Superior to Kenosha, and from Hudson to Washington Island. Add your mark to the map and show us where you’re at!
Blast from the Past: Puzzle Caches
This article was written by Code Junkie for the March 2013 WGA Newsletter:
Puzzle Caches – 101
I know there are many cachers out there that just ignore all those blue question mark caches (and may have already stopped reading this article already), but hopefully this article will provide you a few tips / tricks to help you along the way. This is a “101” article and will address the very basics of puzzle caches, but advanced topics will be covered in future articles.
Puzzle Types
Puzzles come in a variety of types (numbers, trivia, ciphers, etc.), so one important piece of solving a puzzle is to determine what type it is. Knowing this will help determine what “tools” are most likely to help solve it.
Numbers – The most common form of this is the Sudoku style. There are numerous tutorials (and solvers) available online to help with these. My best advice on these is to print them out on paper and work from the paper copy with a plain old pencil and eraser.
Trivia – This type of puzzle involves doing some kind of research to calculate coordinates. Most “Field Solve” puzzles fit into this category because you’re asked to collect information (i.e. trivia) at some predefined spot. Online search engines (Google is my favorite) can be your best friend for these types of puzzles.
Ciphers – This type of puzzle requires you to use sort of formula or algorithm to convert gibberish text into readable text. These can be extremely difficult to do by hand, so the best option is to use the online cipher tools to help you with these.
Tips / Tricks
The 2 Mile Rule – Generally puzzle finals are within a 2 mile radius of the published “bogus” location. This can help narrow down possible locations for the cache.
Keep Good Notes – Keep notes of methods you’ve tried, coordinates you’ve entered in the geocheckers, etc. The cache page allows you to enter notes as does GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife). If you’re using a paper printout be sure to always write the cache ID on the paper so you know which cache it is.
Ask the CO – Feel free to contact the Cache Owner (CO) for help. This is where the “notes” you keep come in handy. You can share these with the CO to explain what you’ve tried so far and many times you’ll discover you have the right method, but missed something minor that can easily be corrected.
“Google” – Google (or your preferred search engine) should be your friend. This is going to be your friend for solving those “trivia” type puzzles, but can also be used for much more.
2015 WGA Chili Event Photos
The 2015 WGA Chili Event was a great success. About 200 geocachers enjoyed hot chili and socialized for several hours at the Schuetze Recreation Center in Waukesha.
If you have any great photos from this event, email webmaster<at>wi.geocaching.com, or any BOD member.
GC5H9JA 6th Annual WGA Chili Feed – Chili at the Janboree
Saturday, January 17, 2015
2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Come join the use for our 6th Annual WGA Chili Feed.
We will be providing plenty of chili- not too hot, but we’ll have everything you need to make it as spicy as you like. We will also be providing hot beverages (coffee, tea and cocoa) as well as bowls, cups and utensils.
Cost will be just $2 per bowl or if Chili isn’t your thing, we will also have hot dogs for the same price.
We will be serving Chili and Hot Dogs from 2:00PM until 4:00pm (or until we run out).
Short on time for the day or just ate? No purchase is needed to be a part of this event. We just want you to stop in and visit us!
Everyone is welcome to join us for socializing.
Log your Will Attends at:
GC5H9JA 6th Annual WGA Chili Feed – Chili at the Janboree
Lonely Cache Game Announcement
The November/December list will remain active until Friday, January 16th. Since the LCG was not working correctly, anyone that submitted any LCG reports for December will need to re-submit them.
Thank you for being patient as we work out the bugs. There may still be a few display issues, but the LCG should now be fully functional.
The Squirrel Has New Digs
The WGA website has been moved to a new web host. The move was prompted by poor support, slow service and random crashing on our previous host.
The move should give us enough headroom to run our custom applications such as the LCG and COTM, as well as the WGA Forums and all the other “stuff” we have going on.
Webmaster Brian Kling (Team Black-Cat) recommended the move and the Board of Directors unanimously approved it after late night online duscussions and testing.
The board wanted the move to the new host to be completed well in advance of the voting segment of the WGA elections.
We apologize for any inconvienence during the move, and thank you for being patient.