GCPXTX Pokagon Cacher's Campout (Event Cache) in Indiana, United States created by The Herd and Pokagon's Interpretive Services

This cache has been archived.

The Herd: Archiving this one. Still one TB not accounted for...could whomever has it please log it!!!

GCPXTX ▼

A cache by The Herd and Pokagon's Interpretive Services Message this owner

Hidden : Friday, October 21, 2005

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:

Pokagon Cacher's Campout
When- October 21st-23rd
Where- Pokagon State Park, Angola, Indiana

Once in the Park, the above coordinates will take you to the base camp for Saturday, a/k/a the CCC Shelter.

*There is a fee to get into the park, in addition to your camping fee:
Non-resident $5.00 per day
Resident $4.00 per day
Annual non-resident $32.00
Annual resident $26.00

As many of you know, this is a first for me, so PLEASE bear with me!
My hope with this event is that it be casual, carefree, and most of all FUN!

Pokagon State Park is a beautiful State Park located in Angola, Indiana. It is just 16 miles south of Coldwater, Michigan off of I-69. (Exit 154) There is a wonderful campground offering 273 sites, both non-electric and modern. All campgrounds in the Park have modern bathroom facilities. The Park offers over 10 miles of hiking trails, a 1.6-mile bike trail, bike rental, horseback riding, several playgrounds, 2 beaches (though they probably won't be used in October), and a Nature Center that offers many programs that the entire family would enjoy. (You can pick up a schedule at the front gate or at the Nature Center. They are also posted on bulletin boards in each campground.) For those of you who do not prefer to camp, there are cabins, as well as an Inn. This event will also be held during Pokagon's peak fall color week so be sure to bring your camera.

We will be having a potluck dinner Saturday evening, and there will be electricity in the pavilion we are using. Whether you have it at your site or not is up to you. I would recommend making reservations as soon as possible, as this park can get full quick. I believe if you reserve online, you have to reserve two nights, which would work well for this event as there will be night caching Saturday. For camping reservations you can log on to:
www.camp.IN.gov. For more information on the Park itself, you can go to:
www.IN.gov/DNR. Look for a link to State Parks there.

A few quick notes before I post the schedule:

*With the threat of the Emerald Ash Borer, and the new Federal Laws on moving firewood, we ask that if you are traveling from Michigan or Northwest Ohio you DO NOT bring your own firewood! There is a camp store at the Park where you can purchase it, or several places off site.

*BRING CHAIRS!!! You will most likely need them for social hour, or just to take a break! There will be picnic tables at the CCC Shelter!

*As far as signing up for a dish to pass, please just post a note under this event. This is the only meal that will be provided, however you will need to bring your own drinks. You will also need to provide your own breakfast and lunch for Saturday. (There are several restaurants and convenience stores nearby, if you don't choose to bring one with you.)
*Don't forget plates & tableware for you & your group!

*We are in the process of planning a few night caches. Because at the time of the event there will be 6 regular caches in the park, we think that micros would be best. We will be covering them in reflective tape, so you WILL need a flashlight. (Don't worry about the little ones; the newest cache is a Kids Swag Only cache.)

*We are also asking that each group bring one small, new item to be used in a raffle. (Remember, you only need one item per group!) It need not be expensive. Dollar stores can provide very neat things, cheap! Only teams that bring a raffle item will receive a ticket for the drawing. We will be providing a few items to give out as door prizes.

*We will have a signature item trade table. Please bring some of yours!

*There will be a bug drop table. I am not sure how other hosts have handled these in the past, but I think I will just have everyone set their bugs out, and anyone who finds one they can help along can take it with them. Please be sure that your bug has a goal sheet with it!

*Pokagon State Park has been kind enough to donate both levels of the shelter to us for this event.

*This is an alcohol friendly park, and we ask that if you do choose to drink, remember that there will be children present. Please do so responsibly!

*We will be holding a social hour at the Campground Amphitheatre Friday night from 5:00pm until 11:00pm. This is for those that will be arriving Friday night. Food and beverages will not be provided; however, there will be a campfire. If you'd like to bring your own hotdogs & "fixins", feel free. We will be providing marshmallows, so don't forget your toasting forks! We will be staying in the 200-series of campsites for that weekend, not far from the Amphitheatre. Ampitheatre Coordinates are: N 41 42.721 W 085 01.695 In the event of rain, social gathering will be held at the CCC Shelter!!

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:
Friday, October 21st
5p.m. - 11:00p.m. Social Hour at the Campground Amphitheatre.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22nd
8:00 am - 12:00 pm Registration
Registration will be held at the CCC Shelter (base camp), not far from the campground. The CCC Shelter will also serve as base camp for all of Saturday's activities. At the time of registration, you will receive a nametag, and also drop off your raffle items.

10:00 am - ??? Caching
There will be 6 regular caches as well as one or two micros. The information on these caches will be available at the registration table. You can download the regular caches yourself, however the Pokagon Legacy Cache will be altered a bit to suit this event. For those who cache like the wind and get done early, we will have some printouts of a few caches nearby, if you would like to do those.

12:00 pm - 2 :00 pm Closest to the Pin Contest
Any directions that are needed, as well as the sticks for this contest will be given out upon registration. Held on CCC Shelter Front Lawn.

4:00 pm - 4:30 pm Geocaching Permits, Policies, and Paranoia!
Brad Bumgardner, an Interpretive Naturalist at Pokagon, as well as a member of our team, will be doing an informal presentation on IDNR Geocaching Policies and Permitting, and how it relates to other states.
Program will be held at the base camp (CCC Shelter).

6:00 pm - Dusk Potluck Dinner and Social Time
We are asking that each team bring a dish to pass. We also ask that you provide your own drinks.
Don't forget to bring plates & tableware for all the members of your team!
At 6:45 we will start the raffle drawing

Dusk Night Caching
Coordinates for night caches will not be given out until dusk. NO EARLY BIRDS!!! Caches will be micro and wrapped in reflective tape. YOU WILL NEED A FLASHLIGHT!!!

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23rd
10:00am GeoKids Hike
If attendance is good, I would like to hold a Sunday morning hike with the kids. We will be meeting up at the CCC Shelter Front Lawn. If time allows, we will play a few games after the hike. Nothing educational, just a chance for them to be away from the GeoGrownups for a while. Hopefully a few adults will be willing to help out on this hike.
This would be a perfect opportunity for older cachers who have not had a chance to find some of the other caches in the Park to run out and snag them up. However, please pick up your kids at the CCC Shelter at noon.

12:00p.m. Farewell
For those who would like, there will be an informal farewell at the CCC Shelter Sunday morning.

Because Pokagon State Park is a CARRY IN CARRY OUT Park, there are no garbage cans. "Paws"itraction (from Indiana) has volunteered to bring a few garbage cans, and the Pokagon Nature Center will have them emptied for us.
In appreciation of the park for their support of this event, we will also be holding a C.I.T.O. competition for the kids. Upon registration, each team will be given a garbage bag. Each child that chooses to participate in this event will be given a small prize for appreciation. Adults are encouraged to participate, however only the little cachers will be receiving prizes.

A BIG THANK YOU to "Paws"itraction for their help in planning this event!!!

First of all, I would like to thank EVERYONE who attended this event! It was such a pleasure to meet all of you, and remeet those I have met before. As tired as I am...it was worth ALL of the work that went into it! We were blessed to be accompanied by some of the "infamous" cachers...bgf,1markymark1,Team Shydog, Earthdog Patrick, Pinestrail, GrizzFlyer...among many others! We raised $64.00 for Pokagon's Interpretive Services!!! Thank you to all who made a donation, they were VERY appreciative! Our first cacher was there bright and early Saturday morning to register...a little before 8am I believe. I think he only did this to try to beat bgf to a few FTF's...but it was great to see him there. He was also the first to the social Friday night...Was great to meet you 1markymark1!!! He received the award for Most Desperate Cacher! We had cacher's registering ALL day. The company was wonderful, and the food was great! We had a total of 31 teams register, (over 100 in attendance!!!)though I know that there were a couple who snuck past the table without signing up...:o) A total of 12 teams camped the weekend (including us)and I know how cold it got at night, so many thanks to you for roughing it out. We sure did have a beautiful day Saturday though! The event micros seemed to be a hit, even with the wrong coords posted for a while...lol! 1markymark1 was FTF on "Home Tweet Home" with a total of 19 finders. "Slip Sliding Away" had 26 finders with FTF going to 1markymark1 again! FTF on the "World's Most Ridiculous Event Multi" went to Duckm. Thank you to all who participated in that. I hope you had fun. Pics will be posted tomorrow. It did start to rain during the raffle drawing, but we still had many teams participate in the night caching event. There were no finders on "Sandy Situations?" "Putting on a Show had 7 finders with FTF going to Floating Spots. "An Apple a Day" had 8 finders with FTF going to Gary and Mary Adventurers. For those that didn't have a chance to find "Is Anybody Home" I will let you in on the secret. A certain somebody ;O) posted a log before the event about wanting "company" at his site. So, we hid one RIGHT behind his site. FTF on that went to Floating Spots with a total of 13 finders. Hope Lord Elwood enjoyed the company he asked for...lol. Closest to the pin winner went to "Wolverine Warriors." They were only off by 31/2 inches!!! Hopefully that made up for me stealing the log book from one of their caches!!! The next closest was almost 6ft. away! I want to thank "Paws" for all their help, and for keeping me company while everyone was caching! I also want to say a special thank you to someone. We had a 12 year old cacher at the event. It was his first event! For those that didn't have a chance to meet him, he is Saving Shiloh. I want to thank his dad (a non cacher) who drove all the way from Frankfort so that his son could attend! It was over 160 miles. I can honestly say I was impressed, and I know Shiloh appreciated it. The joy on his face gave us all warm fuzzies!!! I sure hope to see him at events in the future! Again, thank you to everyone who attended, and for all the wonderful comments I received. I am looking forward to doing this again next year. Plans are in the works for a possible get together at Pokagon this Spring! Keep your eyes open for information! Amber momma of "the herd!"

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

pna'g jnvg gb frr lbh gurer!!!

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)