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Thread: Geocaches within Devils Den Park

  1. #11
    Troop226 Guest
    AR_StickerDude,

    I will try to give you a call soon. We are actually from Greenwood so are local to you. We are a very small troop and most times our campouts only have from 4 to 8 boys and the adults for supervision. It is always a challenge to find things for them to do that are both fun and a learning experience and I think that the geocaches will fit both of those well. I have only hinted that the boys should bring compasses and we might do some orienteering work. They do not know about this at all, and I am going to hold this as a surprise until Saturday morning when we will have classes on map work and refreshers on compass work and I will bring a few GPS units. I think this will become a regular part of all our outings wherever a cache is to be found at the areas we camp at. I am looking forward to finding our first cache and thanks for placing it there so that we have the opportunity.


    I still have not received the email confirm from geocaching.com and since you say that you did not receive your email then perhaps they also did not receive one. I did get the UTM values from BACKPACKNJACK via PM so I am set with that part of it. Thanks for that.

  2. #12
    Geezer_Veazey Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Troop226
    It is always a challenge to find things for them to do that are both fun and a learning experience ...
    Have you thought about the railroad "hump" yard in North Little Rock? It's not geocaching related but very definitely both fun and a learning experience. I haven't been there in several years. They may not allow visitors any more.

    Quote Originally Posted by Troop226
    I still have not received the email confirm from geocaching.com
    Try logging on with the Id and password you chose and see what happens.

    Geezer.

  3. #13
    Troop226 Guest
    Geezer,

    I tried what you suggested and I got right in. I then went to the profile and noticed I had typoed the email address. I corrected that and all seems fine now. Thanks for that and thanks for the additional information about the railroad "hump" yard. That does sound like it would fit the bill although it is a bit beyond our normal travel range.

    I now have the coordinates for the Vista Del Diablo and we will be hunting it this coming Saturday. We will also have time to just play "find on the map and seek" using the maps compasses and GPS. Should be a fun day for us.

    ASD, I may give you a call later today to say hello and introduce myself.

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Fort Smith, AR
    Posts
    846
    I'll have my phone on me.
    If your not living life on the edge your taking up too much space!!!!!!


  5. #15
    Troop226 Guest
    ... and I left mine at home ... I will try to make the call tomorrow, Friday, as it is pretty late in the evening now. We leave for our campout Friday evening and will set up camp in the dark Friday night.

  6. #16
    Phantom_491 Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Troop226
    We leave for our campout Friday evening and will set up camp in the dark Friday night.
    I see some scouts getting their Polar Bear Award this weekend.

  7. #17
    Troop226 Guest


    That is for certain, but will have a good time doing it

  8. #18
    Troop226 Guest
    Troop226 Update:

    On Saturday morning, Nov 19th, after we had made and eaten breakfast, the boys asked what we were going to be doing that day. I introduced them to the concept of geocaching and they all seemed very interested in this. I gave them an overview of geocaching as I understood it, and then gave a short introductory course on topographical maps and UTM and how GPS units worked. We located our camp on the topo maps using the GPS units and this helped to show them how the UTM grids were used to pinpoint locations on the map, and how the GPS was very accurate in determining location. We then locked in the location of the geocache Vista Del Diablo into one of the GPS units.

    I had them identify the terrain where the cache appeared to be located on the map and the compass bearing from where we were currently sitting. The bearing would take us staight up the side of a large hill with some bluffs if we followed directly. This was an opportunity to explain to them how the compass cared little about how difficult it was to get from point A to point B. A straight line was a straight line

    I asked them to take a close look near to where the cache appeared to be located and see if there was anything there that might be used to help find it. One of the boys noticed a trail went past that point. They then backtracked the trail on the map and then used one of the park given maps to identify the trail by name and we were off on our first geocache hunt.

    It was a nice hike along the trail and I had the boys stop several times to lock in their coordinates and locate themselves on the topo map to give some further training the the use of the GPS units and their association with a topo map. As we approached the location for the geocache and the GPSr went from miles to feet on the distance countdown the boys were getting a bit anxious to begin their search. As we drew next to the cache the pointer arrow began to rotate to the right and the distance was at 50 feet and I explained to them that this meant that we were now passing the location and that the cache would be within 50 feet of where we we standing, give or take a few yards, in the direction of the pointer arrow. We then spread out to begin the final search. I had the clues on where it was supposed to be hidden and I wandered over and found it pretty fast. Being as how the cache was pretty near to a bluff, I gave a quick hint to the boys that I had found it already and they all converged over to where I had just been. One of the boys yelled out I found it and rocks began being rolled and boys were digging for treasure.

    This was a nice moment and the boys and the adult leaders both really enjoyed finding this cache and looking through all the goodies that were inside the caches ( 2 ). We signed the logbook and re sealed the cache boxes and then rehid the boxes back in their original location as best we could. The boys who did not go on the campout found out about the geocache hunt and were disappointed that they did not go to this campout. This will become a regular event for us on our trips and we will also do our share of hiding of some of them in the future also.

    Thanks to all who hide these things out there for people to find.

    Troop226

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Russellville
    Posts
    522
    Quote Originally Posted by Troop226
    Troop226 Update:

    Thanks to all who hide these things out there for people to find.

    Troop226
    Stories like this are the reason we hide them. Thanks for sharing it with us.
    "Honey, we're not normal people. We're the Griswolds. "

  10. #20
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Conway, AR
    Posts
    1,392
    Quote Originally Posted by The_Griswolds
    Quote Originally Posted by Troop226
    Troop226 Update:

    Thanks to all who hide these things out there for people to find.

    Troop226
    Stories like this are the reason we hide them. Thanks for sharing it with us.
    Ain't it the truth. This story adds to my enjoyment of the game. It really is our reward for placing caches. Thank you so much for taking the time to share it with us!
    I get my directions from above.
    View my profile

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