Louisiana Geocachers

A Personal log of a first time Geocachers' experience.

"Today I went Geocaching. I discovered the activity a few months ago, right around when I was moving up to Covington, but I was too busy to try it. This weekend I decided I'd give it a shot. Geocaching is a sort of game or sport in which strangers will hide a small 'cache' (varying in size from a film canister to a large chest) somewhere inconspicuous, note the coordinates with a GPS unit, and then post the information on a website. Other 'players' will read about the cache, make a note of the coordinates, and set out with their own GPS unit to try and find it. Caches always contain a small notebook that serves as a log, and each player who finds the cache is supposed to sign the log to describe when they found it, and what they thought of the experience. Caches also often contain random trinkets (they can be anything from dollar-store toys to CDs to computer hardware to action figures), and you're encouraged to take some and leave others in trade. So in essence, it's a scavenger hunt you play with strangers. And it's fun as hell. There's several variations. One is called a multi-cache: the coordinates listed on the website only lead you to the first hint or clue; it might directly list the coordinates of the next 'stage' of the cache, or it might give you instructions or a riddle to solve in order to figure out where to go next. It was just one such multi-cache that we sought out today: a pirate-themed cache named The Treasure of Pirate's Cove, only about 10 miles away. I mentioned the idea to Bryan and Cat the other day, and they also thought it sounded fun, so the three of us set out today. Finding the first waypoint was pretty easy: my laptop-based GPS led us to the lakeside marina in Mandeville, where we parked and used my handheld PDA-based GPS to find the clue: a cooler on one of the docks, which bore a sign containing the next set of coordinates and a warning: "Muggles Beware!" (Geocachers have adopted the term 'muggles' to refer to 'normal people' who aren't aware of the game). I entered the new coordinates in my GPS and found that it was about half a mile away. We set off in search of it, and found our way into the woods, where we found a stone marker with an encoded message. Knowing that Rot-13 is used heavily on the Geocaching.com site to obfuscate information which people might not want to see (such as spoilers), we decided the message must be encoded with the same code, and the three of us set about decoding it. A few minutes later, we had our instructions: FROM THIS MARKER WALK ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE FEET SOUTH EAST. We had brought along compasses as well, so we identified the direction and started walking. We soon found ourselves at the water's edge, in the mushy swampland that tends to separate the water from the land in Louisiana. We spent a few minutes searching this unpleasant terrain with no success, before Bryan decided to go back to the stone marker and try counting off the 135 feet. On his way back, he noticed something suspicious, which turned out to be a wildlife camera strapped to a tree. Sure enough, following its line of sight Bryan found the cache itself, a large military-surplus ammo can hidden behind a tree. We opened it and found a treasure chest (arrr) with replica gold doubloons, pieces of eight, a sailor's compass, jewels, and other pirate booty, along with several random knick-knacks like toy cars and action figures. We all signed the log (which was the coolest-looking notebook I've ever seen, and I was sorely tempted to take the log itself) and read past visitors' entries. I didn't have much to leave, since I just moved up here and only shipped up my most important possessions, but I left an 8x10 print that I had lying around of a silly photo of mine (in a ziplock bag, of course), and took a gold doubloon and a Travel Bug (I'll mention that in a bit). Bryan left some of his old Pogs from Hawaii, dated 1992, and also took a doubloon and a Travel Bug. Cat took the sailor's compass, and left a small film canister in which she had poked holes in the bottom, so that when you hold it up to the light, you see the constellation Orion. She made sure to label the film canister 'Orion (The Hunter)' to give some hint that it wasn't just a standard, if leaky, film canister. Travel Bugs are another cool aspect of Geocaching — you can order a tag with a unique serial number, and affix it to an item that you leave in a cache. You register the serial number on the Geocaching.com website, and provide a description of what the Travel Bug is hoping to accomplish (travel to a certain country, visit 10 countries, etc). When someone else takes the Travel Bug from the cache later, they're supposed to log it on the website (using the serial number), so that you can track its progress and see where it has travelled. They then leave it in another cache, or mail it to a friend in a different part of the world and have the friend seek out a cache in their area and leave it there. The Travel Bug I picked up belongs to an organization called Unite For Diabetes. It started out in New York, and its stated goal is to travel to Higashiura, Japan. I'll have to figure out if anyone I know is currently in Japan — if not, maybe I'll send it to one of my friends living in Europe, to at least get it halfway there. All in all, I had a great time, and I definitely plan to do this on a regular basis. Geocaching seems like such a great idea. It doesn't cost anything to participate, once you've got the GPS unit. You get to go out on treasure hunts (who doesn't like treasure hunting?). You get to take fun little things home. And you get to spend time outdoors, exploring areas you very likely wouldn't ever have seen otherwise. As I started looking up nearby caches on the website, I was surprised by how prevalent they are. I found at least 40 caches within 10 miles of my house. I find it amazing that there's all these little hidden treasures surrounding us everywhere as we go about our daily lives, and we spend our days completely unaware of it. The concept of Geocaching itself is very new — it arose only seven years ago, in May of 2000, when Clinton decided to stop degrading the accuracy of civilian GPS signals. Suddenly, the average Joe's GPS receivers were accurate to within a few feet, whereas before they had been restricted to an accuracy of only several hundred feet. Within days of the announcement, people were starting to wonder what they could do with this newfound accuracy, and someone came up with the idea of hiding a container and letting people look for it. I'm amused by the idea of using billion-dollar satellites to hunt $2.00 tupperware. But I can't wait to get out and do it again."

Team Bamboozle: Making even the youngest cachers feel special.

Casey's Team Bamboozle Geocoin.

Casey is our 7 year old daughter, who doesn't even own her a GPSr. She uses ours when she goes geocaching with us. She was lucky enough to meet Team Bamboozle one day when they just happened to stop by the house. She announced to Henry that she had just found her 15th geocache. So Henry reached in to his pocket, pulled out this silver coin, which was still in its little red pouch. As he presented it to her, Casey smiled. She loved it, her own Bamboozle Geocoin! She felt pretty special that day as she knew Bamboozle is one of our local Geocaching Guru's. We desided to keep it safe and added it to the geocoin collection that we take with us to all the caching events. Thanks again Team Bamboozle for all the kindness that you share to us, to Casey and to the Geo-community.
Richie(A&R)

Surveyors start Geocaching Projects

Surveyors start Geocaching Projects
The Louisiana Society of Professional Surveyors (LSPS) has joined the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) in a national effort to place NSPS Geocaching Project caches throughout the county by means of the various state surveying societies using coordinators in each state to expand this effort with local members of each state.

The NSPS Board of Directors and Governors considers the hobby of Geocaching as an excellent opportunity to promote the surveying profession at the national and state levels by participating in the establishment of Geocaches that promote the career of surveying and an awareness of the mapping professions. (The average age nationally for surveyors is approaching 59 and an urgent need exists to recruit women and men to seriously consider the field of Geomatics (Mapping, GIS, & particularly Land Surveying))

NSPS Geocaches will be spread across the nation, sponsored by state surveying organizations, and maintained by volunteer surveyors. They will provide geocache seekers with information about the vicinity local to the geocache, information about surveying along with contact data, and, of course, the geocache for their recreational enjoyment. Each geocache will target local surveying-related attractions.

CajunAbear started their (Wayne & Pam) involvement at the beginning of this year and have steadily gaining enough background (by way of a number of hunts) on the sport of Geocaching in an effort to make quality hides that meet the criteria of the NSPS Geocaching Project and GEOCACHING.COM guidelines. Recently the first two caches were published and can be found at the following

Did You Know? Card

Typically NSPS/LSPS Geocaches will have the same items all caches usually have, but with one exception, the “Did You Know” Card which will be different according to State and even local issues.

An added bonus to the surveying-related Geocaches is the concept of adding a small packet of “Did You Know” cards to the contents of the cache. These are bits of trivia about surveying printed on small sheets of paper so that the public can take them home and show them off to more people. They act like a business card, not to promote a commercial business (which IS frowned upon), but rather to promote the career of surveying. The hides above were of the small and micro characteristic, therefore the “Did You Know?” was included on the logo books and scrolls.

Surveyors, like many professions are very busy so it may be a while before caches are hidden in quantity as is desired by NSPS/LSPS but it is hoped that the quality of the hides will provide fun and education.

About The Author

CajunAbear (Wayne) has been using the sport as a means of stress relief from work and rebuilding. He presently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Society of Professional Surveying and the Louisiana Society of Professional Surveyors Geocaching Coordinator. CajunAbear presently works in a mapping vocation for Chevron using Geographic Information Systems and is a Registered Land Surveyor in Louisiana and Mississippi.

NSPS Geocaching Project Page Link - http://www.nspsmo.org/news_events/geocaching.shtml

Angel&Richie's Engagement Party and CITO

Event Page

Located at the Northlake Nature Center, just off Hwy. 190 in Mandeville.
We will host a clean up effort in the park on Sat. 11-3-07. Time: 10:00am - 1:00 pm.
We will also be celebrating our engagement to be Married next year in October.
There will be food and refreshments, as well as a few new caches hidden in the park area.
The party will be held in the main shelter inside the park.

Baton Rouge Rec Dept. hosts Geocaching Competition

Cache in on Treasure Hunting Fun with BREC This Fall
BREC's Recreation Department invites you to join in on its first ever geocaching competition. This six-week contest will kick off at the Blackwater Conservation Area (Hooper Road) on November 3 at 10 a.m.

Adventurers will use GPS receivers to track down caches that have been logged on to the BREC Web site, www.brec.org . Caches come in many forms, but the first item should always be a logbook for finders to record observations. Larger caches contain a waterproof plastic bucket filled with items such as maps, books, software, videos, jewelry, tickets, games, etc. Visitors can take mementos from the caches, although if a memento is taken, something should be left in its place. This family-friendly geocaching activity is exclusively put on by BREC and will be geared toward beginners.

The event will happen over a six-week period, taking players on a hunt throughout 30 BREC facilities all over East Baton Rouge Parish. The cost is $2 per person or $5 per family. Participants can either rent a GPS system for $50 or bring their own. GPS training will be provided at the kick-off event on November 3. This competition will end on December 15 at the Blackwater Conservation Area from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Prizes will be awarded at this time for first, second and third places.

For more information on this geocaching event, please contact David Williams at 225-413-5524 or dwilliams@brec.org.

Second Annual LA/MS Katrina Survivors Event 10/20/2007

Second Annual LA/MS Katrina Survivors Event GC13ZD1
An event to bring together the geocaching community along the Gulf Coast in remembrance of the 2005 hurricane season.

This is the second year the LA/MS geocaching community has decided to get together and remember the 2005 Hurricane Season and how we were all affected. Last year's event was held at Percy Quin State Park in Mississippi and was very fun and well attended by people from all over the Gulf Coast. It should be a time of reflection, but also of community and fun. This years event will be at Lake Fausse Pointe State Park near Lafayette, Louisiana. Please note that there is a $1.00 per person day use fee to enter the park.

Monthly CDM Meeting SE LA & SW MS

This is our recurring monthly meeting on the second Wednesday of every month at 7 PM and held at a Cafe Du Monde (CDM) in either Metairie or Mandeville, La. (The location is rotated or decided by previous month attendees.)

The meetings are casual and informal, suitable for adults and children to discuss Geocaching or anything else that we feel like talking about. Check http://www.geocaching.com for the next meeting

Come out to meet your fellow GeoCachers.