Geo-caching

I have a basic understanding of what geocaching is, never done it myself.
I'm curious about it's possible application as a teaching tool for my buddies Scout Troop, I often help him out and we are both curious about it.
He mentioned to me that he had heard that some people use UV headlamps like the kind I use for trout fishing, so he has kinda peaked my curiosity.
So..I'm wide open for input.
Thanks

I know, like everything else, there is a right way and a wrong way to do things. But when I think about geocaching, I think about thousands and thousands of pieces of litter strewn about the globe only to be forgotten about when the newness ofthe hobby is gone.

I guess I'm thinking more in terms of something very local just for his Scout Troop, or possibly the next large overnight event with multiple troops.

I agree with klock. My idea of geocaching is to find the caches and dispose of the junk properly...recycled.

Geocaching - that's a game where people spend hundreds of dollars on an electronic widget, so they can find tupperware filled with junk recycled from the toyboxes of kids who have outgrown useless trash sold for hundreds of dollars and played with exactly once.

I shouldn't be so harsh. After all, I spent many years working in the aerospace industry (after leaving the academic world), designing the upgraded ground control segment and satellites for the Global Positioning System - it's nice to see people using the results of some of my efforts to find their way through the woods and hills, even if it is to search out trash.

Look at it this way, though - it gets people out into the woods and hills who otherwise would be vegetating in front of the idiot box. It might actually reduce the need for medical care for the population as a whole by a tiny amount.

I will admit that I have sometimes planned hikes in areas new to me by loading a string of geocaches into my GPSR and following the resulting path.

About using caching for a scout troop - the kids seem to like the idea of a treasure hunt, so it does get them out there. But try to include a healthy dose of map and compass, and heavy use of that most important navigational tool, the brain with its attached sensors (eyes, ears, sense of touch, and sense of smell).

The standard governing body of geocaching is geocaching.com, and the scout version is geoscouting.com There is a work in progress to develop a geocaching merit badge. Geocaching's version of LNT is CITO (Cache In Trash Out), with cachers encouraged to carry a trash bag and carry any trash found out.

Well, sounds like we should check upline in BSA.
We did discuss the boys learning to read terrain and using terrain features as descriptors, and what we had in mind would probably be more like a treasure hunt actually. It is really hard to keep the boys motivated sometimes, thought this would help.
I can't tell you the number of times we have gotten the boys to dump their packs before a trip and found multiple widgets as you call them, we have been trying to use their fancy for electronics to encourage them to work on their skills.

Geocahing is a good way to learn navigation skills, GPS and compass. As for the junk in the caches, leave it or replace it with nicer stuff. Its the least you can do.

Quote:

Geocaching's version of LNT is CITO (Cache In Trash Out), with cachers encouraged to carry a trash bag and carry any trash found out.

By "Cache(ing) in", is one not leaving a trace? In my opinion, still not exactly cricket according to the principals of LNT. Why not just hide the trash one finds as well?

I do GPS scavenger hunts with kids at our annual Conservation Camp, to look for natural items normally found in the woods. If an item on a predetermined list is found, rock with moss on it, animal bone, fiddle head fern, etc.,the GPS coordinates are recorded, or a waypoint is created. Back at base we look at the area using mapping software to show the participants where the items were found. The items stay where and how they are found. (Except in the case of litter) Extra points are awarded for each piece of litter brought back to the start. If there is a lot, we weigh it with a digital fish scale and award bunus points based on the the weights. As long as the participants stay on trail or meadow walk - No Trace whatsoever.

f klock,
That is about what I had in mind, an activity within a small boundary, not all over town. Maybe caching small items that would be useful to the scouts, and they could keep, thus packing it out. Penlights, belt buckles, lanyard material and so on.
I would of course make sure nothing was left behind. Definitely some natural items too. Sometimes you get a group of boys that are particularly hard to motivate, you know?
I know it can be done, when I was young I was one of them. After spending a week at a summer camp that was in the mountains, with an emphasis on hiking, primitive skills, ect.I was hooked. Have been ever since. They used competition as a motivator, while teaching good moral values.

One of the areas where I have a lot to learn is mapping software, I'm curious, which software are you guys using?
Thanks

Nat Geo Topo! works OK for what we need it to do. I think we have an older version, but it still works with our Garmin etrex units. We plug the GPS into a laptop and map the waypoints.

Great idea f klock, about picking up the litter, I wish everyone would do that! I happen to live next to BLM land, and you will find eveything from refrigerators to old rusty pick up trucks! Its horrible!!

"hundreds of dollars"? Mine cost me like 82 bucks.

You overpaid. You can get an adequate GPSR for $50 new from WalMart, Costco, or a number of other stores.

But avid geocachers buy the more "advanced" models which sell for $400-$700, and most of them buy the "newest, latest, greatest" as soon as they come out (like all electronic gear, new models appear every few months). So "hundreds of dollars" is probably an underestimate.

And I know several avid geocachers who are still taking thousand-mile trips just to add more "finds" to their list (at $4.50 to $5.50 per gallon, some of their cars using premium and some just cost more per gallon because they go to obscure little towns in the mountains).

How could you say I overpaid? You're not even aware of what model I own.

As for those you know who geocache to the extreme, who cares. How's that any skin off your back if they like geo-caching and wasting gas?