Monthly Archives: May 2015

General Geocaching, Hints & Tips, Technology

Geocaching Pebble

Geocaching has changed a lot in the fifteen years it has been in existence, the technology we use has seen the most changes. The first GPS units had black & white or gray scale displays and weren’t always the most accurate or easy to use. Many of today’s GPS units have touch screen color displays, cameras, and other bells and whistles. Now with the popularity of smart phones with GPS receivers built in, just about anyone can get in on the fun of geocaching.

Recently I have come across a new way of geocaching that uses a smart phone as the GPS and the Pebble smart watch as the display I use to find the cache.  At first I wasn’t sure if using this combination would make a good replacement for my dedicated GPS unit. After finding many caches using the app on my smart watch I have to say that I have been impressed by the accuracy of this setup.

To geocache with a Pebble smart watch you will of course need a Pebble Smart Watch, the watch app for both the watch and phone (sorry Android only), and c:geo as the geocaching app for your phone. Once you have these installed using the watch to geocache couldn’t be simpler.

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Just open c:geo, select a cache to search for, and choose Pebble as your method of navigation. Once you’ve done this the watch app will open with a compass arrow and display the distance to the cache in meters.  Just use the watch as you would the compass display on a GPS unit until you reach ground zero.

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While caching I place my phone in my pocket or in the phone holder of my backpack and look for the cache exclusively from my watch. If I require more information to locate the cache such as hints, or instructions for a field solve puzzle I get my phone back out to get the required information.

 

Member Submssions, Newsletters

Member Submission: A Sign You Are a Die Hard Geocacher

A Sign You Are a Die Hard Geocacher

Written by luckyastrodiver

My favorite geobuddy, Mrs.2 tinkers, and I both got new bikes last summer so the natural thing to do was find a great bike trail with caches along it. We were successful in finding one in Fond du lac, about 30 miles from home.

After getting a couple easy caches along the trail, we came to a hilly area. So, being apparently not too bright, I raced down the first hill hoping to have enough momentum to help me up the next one. What I didn’t count on was the curve at the bottom that I was going to fast to negotiate. My plan went completely awry when I ended up biking right into a barbed wire fence!

After assessing my minor injuries, we thought we’d better work on the dime sized hole in my neck. Being logical and sane, Mrs.2 tinkers was all set to take me to ER for stitches, etc. I guess there’s something about looking at a person’s neck and seeing cartilage and blood pooling that makes one think emergency care is essential. OR NOT!

Being a nurse with probably the world’s best supplied first aid kit, I talked my friend through patching me up on the trail. It’s amazing what a little gelfoam blood stop and steri-strips in the hands of someone not squeamish can do!

Soon, Mrs.2 tinkers had me back to normal (not really a possibility for me, but close!) and after we pulled my undamaged bike out of the fence, we hopped back on and cached for another 4 hours! The tetanus shot came the next day 🙂

So – idiocy or die-hard geocacher. You decide…..

Event Reports

WGA Spring Campout recap

The WGA’s 2015 Spring Campout GC51T7V was a huge success!  A big thank you to all who attended the event, we had teams visiting from all over this great state of Wisconsin.  Approximately 150 geocachers came to enjoy the beauty of High Cliff state park for geocaching, socializing, and to partake in the festivities.  High Cliff State Park gave us all some amazing views of Lake Winnebago.  The forests were alive with spring blooms and brilliant green moss on the rocks on the cliffs.

Geocachers arrived on Friday at various times, several had spent the day caching on their way to the event.  Soon a large group had gathered around a campfire at the group camping spot.  The talk and laughter from the geo-chat happening around the fire was even louder than the buzzing sound of the lake flies swarming overhead.  The light faded and the temperatures dropped but that didn’t stop the attendees from chatting as voices could be heard late into the night swapping tales from the trails.

Saturday morning was an early start as the board busily set up for the day and geocachers started assembling, chomping at the bit to find some caches and do some CITO in the park.  We had two separate CITO events, both were well attended and helped the High Cliff park staff clear out unwanted invasive species (GC5NCFN) and some metal garbage (GC5TJNZ) that had been around for quite a long time, littering up the park.  A huge thank you to Lostcheq and Seldom|Seen for organizing these CITO’s!  And a huge thank you, as well, to all who attended these CITO’s and worked to better the park we were enjoying for the weekend.

Geocachers checked in throughout the day, registered and got their start in this year’s new TeamUp Token Game.  Some chose to keep with their current caching companions and some chose to take this opportunity to meet new people.  A big congratulations goes out to Woodland3000 and Suzisumac, winners of the 2015 Token game!

This year’s silent auction was run by Sweetlife and was met with much enthusiasm.  The WGA was truly touched by the members who donated over 74 items!  And that generosity was met by the many members who poured over the items and bid on them.  The silent auction was a success, raising $1,175 for the WGA.  Wow!

As the light began to fade, the geocachers broke out their flashlights, head lamps, glow sticks and anything else that may help them not to trip in the dark.  There were 9 night caches set up and soon the woods were alive with geocachers visiting the cheerfully glowing or the creepy caches set out for the event.  Congratulations to Luckyastrodiver on winning the night cache contest with their trail of fluttering butterflies.

Sunday morning was foggy but the rain held off just for us.  81 geocachers came to enjoy the Cakes on the Cliff (GC5Q5ZJ).  After fueling up on pancakes, sausage and fruit, the WGA members went off to pack up tents and make plans to cache on the way home.

For more photos from the event please visit the WGA’s Facebook page.  It was an excellent weekend and we hope to see you all again at the next WGA events.  Stay tuned for more information on the Fall Picnic at Pattison State Park on September 26th.

 

Event Reports

Silent Auction Summary

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This last weekend at the WGA Spring Campout we held a silent auction to raise some funds for the WGA. A big thanks to all who donated to the auction and those who placed bids on the items.
We had over 74 items or groups of items in the auction and the grand total that we raised was $1,175.

The funds raised will be used to offset the costs associated with holding events (pavilion and building rentals, campsite rentals, firewood, charcoal, etc. it is also used to keep the costs of WGA merchandise at reasonable prices)

Thanks to the following people who donated to the auction:

Auntie Nae
beccaday
blue_cougar54494
Cache_Boppin_BunnyFuFu
Chewysfolks
crocket2u
Curly Girls
GR8Eyes
Hitman4
Hotdogs off Trail
Icy Paws
JimandLinda
LabratWR
Luckyastrodiver
PTK Pellicori
Rocky and Cindy (KA7EII)
rawevil
Sandlanders
Silyngufy
Spammela
sweetlife
Team Blackcat
Team Northwoods
Team Sloughfoot
Timberline Echoes
Trekkin and Birdin
Walking Adventure
Wandering Tracks
WGA

BOD Minutes

2015 Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

2015 Wisconsin Geocaching Association Board of Directors Meeting

March 7, 2015
204 Maple Street, Waupaca, WI 54981

 

Meeting called to order at 9:00 AM by Chris Walker.

 

Election of Officers

President – Chris Walker was voted in for a second term as president.

Vice President – Rebecca Lillo was voted in as Vice President

Treasurer – Renee Vanseslow-Tapp was voted in a Treasurer

Secretary – Rob England was voted in as Secretary

 

Recap of how to be a board member and overview of what the WGA is

A brief discussion of the responsibilities and duties of a WGA board member was held.  It was mentioned that being a board member shouldn’t be just work, we need to make sure that we are also having fun.  This is a pastime, not a job.

 

Treasurers Report

  • A discussion on needed changes to the WGA by-laws was held in regards to the changing of the official mailing address.  Currently the address is no longer held by a WGA member.  It was decided to have the WGA Treasurers home address to be the WGA mailing address.  This change will require an amendment to the WGA by-laws.
  • Signature cards for the WGA bank account need to be updated.
  • The current balance of the WGA checking account is $3082.75.
  • WGA Treasurers thread is in need of updating, Renee will be addressing this
  • The current balance of the WGA Paypal account is $942.67.
  • The need for new Paypal swipers was discussed, Renee will look into ordering them.
  • A brief discussion of providing coupons for cash off WGA purchases while at the spring campout.  Placing in caches at the campout was mentioned as one possibility.
  • We are currently sitting on a large inventory of WGA apparel, need to sell them off.
  • State Park cache series t-shirt color decision needs to be made, limit amount of inventory to pre-orders and small number of common sizes to sell as needed.
  • Discussion of creating a WGA state shaped trackable in conjunction with GONIL, and other state organizations, Renee will be researching this.
  • Briefly discussed the WGA Cache Bash pancake breakfast.  176 teams were served last year.
  • Discussion was held on the possibility of requiring two signatures for all WGA related checks.  After a brief discussion it was decided that to do this would be too cumbersome.  It was also stated that transparency was essential with the funds of the WGA.  With our current system of requiring a motion before funds are spent, as well as the use of the treasurers thread to show all account activity.
  • The suggestion was made that login information for current WGA accounts (PNC, Paypal, etc) be placed in Keys to the Kingdom in the event that something unfortunate happens to the WGA treasurer.

WGA Assets Report

  • Pete provided the following information in regards to our current inventory.

3 Grills & Tanks

Trailer

Event Staff Shirts

Plastic Bins

Various Plastic Animals

Big Roll of Paper

Tire & Jack

Presentation Board for Geo 101

2 laminators & Supplies

Night Cache Numbers

 

Trackable Race

Discussion was held on participants rewards, ideas for future trackable races, and continuing with the winner receiving a state park sticker and their name on the WGA trailer.

Cache Hides at Events

Val brought up that more needs to be done to provide more handicap accessible caches at WGA events.  All agreed that this is something that needs to be pursued.  Both waterfalls at Pattison State Park are easily accessible making it a great choice for our Fall Picnic.

Upcoming Events

  • Chili Event
    • Difficult to find locations that are inexpensive
    • Was helpful having it at Waukesha Janboree free space
    • Consensus Mix it up each year
    • Deadline to find Chili event location,end of October
  • Lonely Cache Game Event
    • Snow shoe caching
    • Member driven event
  • WGA Highway Cleanup Cito
    • April 25th
    • Rob England organizing
  • WGA Campout
    • May 15-17
    • Being held at High Cliff State Park
    • Organization and prep work will be done online
  • WBCB
    • August 7-9
    • Pancake Breakfast August 9th
  • WGA Fall Picnic
    • September 26th
    • Decision on location, deadline end of March (location decided on was Pattison State Park)
    • WGA Fall Highway Cleanup CITO
      • October 10th
      • Rob England will be organizing this

Communications

The following items were discussed at length in regards to BOD communications:

  • Individual BOD Forum Topic to update on what we are working on
  • Hold each other accountable to remain active
  • Remain engaged
  • TBC needs to have website notify BOD when a motion is posted
  • BOD Contact Info List
  • Final decision in forum posts needed
  • Locking Topics when completed
  • Set-Up Google Hangouts for WGA Meeting (Rob)
  • Monthly meetings via Google Hangouts
  • WGA Chat Weekly for Members (August)

 

WGA Store

The WGA store will need to be setup for camping purchases, and shirt pre order.  Brian will need to be contacted to get this done, Chris will contact Brian to get this done.

 

Committee Assignments

Community Education Committee

Steve Chairperson

Becca

Renee

Website Committee (content managers for website) (social media)

Chris Chairperson

Val

Rob

 

Membership Committee (growing members)

Michael Chairperson

August

Pete

It was discussed that new members for the committees need to be found, and that current members will need to be asked if they wish to continue.  All board members are included in every committee by default.

Prizes at WGA Events

A discussion was held in regards to door prizes at WGA events, no consensus was reached beyond that prize drawings should continue at WGA events when appropriate.

Membership Discussion

  • Currently at 439 instate members, 14 out of state members
  • New members, send email requesting replies to weed out fake accounts.

Photos on WGA Site

  • Discussion was held regarding the lack of an ability to easily post photos to the WGA site.  Michael wanted to host photos on the WGA site.  Rob informed the board that doing this would put a great deal of strain on both the bandwidth and storage space of the WGA server.
  • Rob suggested looking into using something like Picasa, or Photobucket to host photos, then using links to access the photos on the WGA site.

Cache of the Month

A discussion about the Cache of the Month was started by Pete.  The following items were discussed.

 

  • Is it still relevant, not a great deal of participation.
  • General discussion of Cache of the Month
  • More promotion
  • Throw Back Thursday – Post a story about past winners
  • Use GC favorites points some how?
  • Include Difficulty/Terrain some how?
  • Work on this more in Website Committee
  • Series of the Year
  • Use favorites v finds to come up with cache of the month or featured cache (use GSAK)

 

Miscellaneous WGA Positions

Lonely Cache Game

  • Dave Secondino has agreed to continue in this role.

 

Event Posts on WGA Site

  • Barry Butrymowicz has agreed to continue in this role.

Social Media Coordinator

  • Chris Walker has agreed to continue in this role, all BOD have posting abilities.

Hyperactivity

  • The Squirrel has agreed to continue in this role.

Webmaster

  • Brian Kling has agreed to continue in this role.

WGA Historian

  • John Sudar has agreed to take on this role.  It was discussed that we should give John full access to the BOD forums for historical research purposes.

 

WGA Sponsored CITO’s

Discussion was held on WGA sponsorship of member CITO’s.  Agreed to continue to sponsor up to 6 CITO’s a year at no more than $150.00 each.  More promotion of WGA sponsorship of local CITO’s is needed to get more involvement.

 

Unfinished Business

WGA change of address to the treasures address – done

By-Law Changes

  • Need for two signatures needed on WGA checks to be struck from WGA by-laws.

Be mindful of asking Brian for too much help, don’t want to overwhelm him.

Update needed to presentation materials kept on the WGA site.

Train the trainer (Geo-201 Class) to be held at campout, Renee will be doing this.

BOD Length of Term, change from 2 years to 3 years.  After discussing it was decided to keep the length of term at 2 years.

New sticker needed for the winner of the travel bug race to be placed on the WGA trailer.  Also need to purchase the state park sticker for the winner.

WGA Events/Funding Stagnant

The following items were discussed at length:

  • Scavenger Hunts
  • Medallion Hunt
  • 50/50 Drawings
  • Money prize for hiding Easter eggs in the website
  • Unpublished caches hidden throughout the state for just WGA Members with special prize, profile badges
  • Sponsor MOGA? (August)
  • Geocaching competition
  • Fantasy Capture the Flag
  • Smaller WGA Sponsored Meet & Greets
  • Each BOD member hosting an event to help promote the WGA in their areas.
  • Poker Tournament
  • Paddle Rally for Geocoins
  • Silent Auction
  • Holiday WGA Christmas Coin Undated
  • Extagz www.extagz.com
  • Half the price of pathtags, not limited in shape, glitter, color, 99 for $100.00 starter kit, many more options available, no expiration on tag die.

New Business

Adopt a Trail – Further research is needed.

Caches in DOT areas – Steve will look into revisiting this.

Geo 101 – 102 Presentations put on Google Drive for people to access (Rob will look into)

Limited Edition Geocoins in recognition of service to the WGA will be presented to two individuals that were selected by the board at the WGA Camp Out.

Motion Needed for Barry’s WGA Service plaque (motion was successfully passed)

Prize budget for WGA Newsletter

Will come up with a plan (Becca)

Help would be appreciated in writing articles

WGA Print Calendar

Decided not cost effective as a fund raiser.

WGA Show your colors – A photo contest where WGA members show WGA apparel in photos in locations that they are traveling too.

 

Meeting was adjourned at 4:00 pm