The Geocache Kids Chalk Up A Big Win
The idea of using a GPS device to find boxes hidden in state parks caught fire in the hearts of my boys as well as myself past year.
Texas Parks and Wildlife last year launched the first Texas Geocache Challenge, in which two groups of state parks were used as a pilot to see if the event would gain popularity.
Tyler just happened to be in the epicenter of one of those groups, and Tyler State Park was participating, so we marched up there and, using a Geocache iPhone app, managed to find the box.
I'll explain more in a second, but first a look at this geocache thing. There is a subculture of folks out there dedicated to planting and finding a geocache, which basically is a fancy word for a container hidden somewhere and requiring the use of a GPS decide to find the given coordinates. Some are big boxes, like with the state challenge, while others could be large enough for only a small log to be inserted.
They are all around us and could be hidden in almost anything. There is one by Calder Elementary School hidden in a lamppost, for example. Many geocachers have handles and log their finds online. Here is a link to the official site: http://www.geocaching.com/
Back to last year. After the Tyler State Park score, we decided to see if we could find others in the region. My wife, Amy, came along for the find out at Purtis Creek State Park.
Each state-challenge box contains a unique hole punch to use on the log sheet. It also contains the answer to a log sheet question corresponding to that particular state park. The hole punches and completed questions are there so state officials can verify whether a geocacher indeed found the boxes. You also write your name in the box's log book. The first 25 people to submit a completed log sheet to the state got a commemorative coin and a certificate. Everyone else who submitted a completed log got a certificate. Another aspect of geocaching is trading trinkets. People leave behind things like plastic soldiers, and if you take something, you leave something. I've left everything from Buffalo Blonde (my band) CDs to a Cattle Barons T-shirt. Usually the prizes are not that grand.
Our quest last year ended at Daingerfield State Park north of Longview. The Chevy Blazer, towing a camper, broke down halfway there. Weeks later, the boys and I decided to try again, and the Blazer broke down in the park entrance. We tried our best to find the geocache while Amy drove up to retrieve us, but after an extensive search, we could not find it. I suspected someone moved it to keep others from getting into the Top 25.
Since then, Amy gave me a serious GPS device to use. The state this year expanded the challenge to include several regions statewide, with 14 state parks participating in the Northeast Texas region, spanning from north of Sulphur Springs to Crockett and Mexia all the way up to Atlanta near Texarkana. That's a big region.
With no aspirations of being among the Top 25 first to find, the boys and I set out June 26, the day after the challenge started, to grab the Tyler State Park geocache. It took us 15 minutes to get near the geocache, but finding it proved difficult. I still relaid more on the iPhone app than the GPS, with which I was not quite familiar yet. My oldest son, Curt, 9, lost morale and started whining incessantly. I thought about giving up, but then I sat him down and said, "We can do this. The geocache is here. We just have to look hard for it. We can't give up." So we started looking again, and there, in the crook of a fallen tree, we found it. I learned my lesson about the unreliability of the iPhone app.
That sparked geocache fever.
A week later, my youngest son, Luke, 7, and I drove out to Martin Creek Lake State Park and nailed that geocache in minutes. I had become more familier with the GPS device and figured out how to get within 20 feet of the box. Two days later, the whole family toodled out to Purtis Creek, which required a long hike. Amy found the box before anyone else.
Geocache fever grew.
With sights set on completing the challenge and getting a certificate, the boys and I set out Saturday to score four geocaches in one day. The trip took us far north to Lake Bob Sandlin, two Cooper Lake State Park boxes and then Lake Tawakoni. As we found one box after another, it occurred to me that none of the boxes had more than a dozen visits. That meant the Top 25 was more than within reach.
Geochache fever soared.
We decided to score four more Sunday. That odyssey took us far south, to Mission Tejas State Park west of Alto, Fort Boggy near Fairfield, Fort Parker only 40 miles east of Waco and then back to Fairfield State Park. With each find, we got better and better at geocaching. There was a sense of determination in the car, and nary a complaint about the sometimes tough hikes, poison ivy, bugs and 100-plus temperatures.
Along the way, something else dawned on me. Many of the geocachers before us had remarked that they had like nine down and two to go, or had gone beyond the halfway point to 11. I'd thought we had to get all 14, and then I vaguely remembered something I'd read on the state website about this challenge.
On Tuesday, I contacted Texas Parks and Wildlife about the rules and was delighted to learn that geocachers had to get only 11 out of 14 in the Northeast Texas region. I grabbed our log, filled out the remaining paperwork and had the package in the mail to Texas Parks and Wildlife within an hour.
We're pretty much guaranteed an unexpected Top 25 finish, perhaps even a Top 5 finish, perhaps even No. 1, with this challenge. We hiked, learned about the environment, got some history lessons, did some father-son bonding and saw some spectacular scenery. Each state park is a wonder unto itself.
But most of all, we learned that the fruits of never quitting can be the best reward of all.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/activities/outdoor_recreation/geocache/index.phtml
Texas Parks and Wildlife last year launched the first Texas Geocache Challenge, in which two groups of state parks were used as a pilot to see if the event would gain popularity.
Tyler just happened to be in the epicenter of one of those groups, and Tyler State Park was participating, so we marched up there and, using a Geocache iPhone app, managed to find the box.
I'll explain more in a second, but first a look at this geocache thing. There is a subculture of folks out there dedicated to planting and finding a geocache, which basically is a fancy word for a container hidden somewhere and requiring the use of a GPS decide to find the given coordinates. Some are big boxes, like with the state challenge, while others could be large enough for only a small log to be inserted.
They are all around us and could be hidden in almost anything. There is one by Calder Elementary School hidden in a lamppost, for example. Many geocachers have handles and log their finds online. Here is a link to the official site: http://www.geocaching.com/
Back to last year. After the Tyler State Park score, we decided to see if we could find others in the region. My wife, Amy, came along for the find out at Purtis Creek State Park.
Each state-challenge box contains a unique hole punch to use on the log sheet. It also contains the answer to a log sheet question corresponding to that particular state park. The hole punches and completed questions are there so state officials can verify whether a geocacher indeed found the boxes. You also write your name in the box's log book. The first 25 people to submit a completed log sheet to the state got a commemorative coin and a certificate. Everyone else who submitted a completed log got a certificate. Another aspect of geocaching is trading trinkets. People leave behind things like plastic soldiers, and if you take something, you leave something. I've left everything from Buffalo Blonde (my band) CDs to a Cattle Barons T-shirt. Usually the prizes are not that grand.
Our quest last year ended at Daingerfield State Park north of Longview. The Chevy Blazer, towing a camper, broke down halfway there. Weeks later, the boys and I decided to try again, and the Blazer broke down in the park entrance. We tried our best to find the geocache while Amy drove up to retrieve us, but after an extensive search, we could not find it. I suspected someone moved it to keep others from getting into the Top 25.
Since then, Amy gave me a serious GPS device to use. The state this year expanded the challenge to include several regions statewide, with 14 state parks participating in the Northeast Texas region, spanning from north of Sulphur Springs to Crockett and Mexia all the way up to Atlanta near Texarkana. That's a big region.
With no aspirations of being among the Top 25 first to find, the boys and I set out June 26, the day after the challenge started, to grab the Tyler State Park geocache. It took us 15 minutes to get near the geocache, but finding it proved difficult. I still relaid more on the iPhone app than the GPS, with which I was not quite familiar yet. My oldest son, Curt, 9, lost morale and started whining incessantly. I thought about giving up, but then I sat him down and said, "We can do this. The geocache is here. We just have to look hard for it. We can't give up." So we started looking again, and there, in the crook of a fallen tree, we found it. I learned my lesson about the unreliability of the iPhone app.
That sparked geocache fever.
A week later, my youngest son, Luke, 7, and I drove out to Martin Creek Lake State Park and nailed that geocache in minutes. I had become more familier with the GPS device and figured out how to get within 20 feet of the box. Two days later, the whole family toodled out to Purtis Creek, which required a long hike. Amy found the box before anyone else.
Geocache fever grew.
With sights set on completing the challenge and getting a certificate, the boys and I set out Saturday to score four geocaches in one day. The trip took us far north to Lake Bob Sandlin, two Cooper Lake State Park boxes and then Lake Tawakoni. As we found one box after another, it occurred to me that none of the boxes had more than a dozen visits. That meant the Top 25 was more than within reach.
Geochache fever soared.
We decided to score four more Sunday. That odyssey took us far south, to Mission Tejas State Park west of Alto, Fort Boggy near Fairfield, Fort Parker only 40 miles east of Waco and then back to Fairfield State Park. With each find, we got better and better at geocaching. There was a sense of determination in the car, and nary a complaint about the sometimes tough hikes, poison ivy, bugs and 100-plus temperatures.
Along the way, something else dawned on me. Many of the geocachers before us had remarked that they had like nine down and two to go, or had gone beyond the halfway point to 11. I'd thought we had to get all 14, and then I vaguely remembered something I'd read on the state website about this challenge.
On Tuesday, I contacted Texas Parks and Wildlife about the rules and was delighted to learn that geocachers had to get only 11 out of 14 in the Northeast Texas region. I grabbed our log, filled out the remaining paperwork and had the package in the mail to Texas Parks and Wildlife within an hour.
We're pretty much guaranteed an unexpected Top 25 finish, perhaps even a Top 5 finish, perhaps even No. 1, with this challenge. We hiked, learned about the environment, got some history lessons, did some father-son bonding and saw some spectacular scenery. Each state park is a wonder unto itself.
But most of all, we learned that the fruits of never quitting can be the best reward of all.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/activities/outdoor_recreation/geocache/index.phtml
posted by Brian at 9:19 AM
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