Orienteering
At VanRaalte Farm
A Wherigo by BoxmanCrew
The Setting:
This Wherigo is designed to be played in the Van Raalte Farms Park. Van Raalte Farm is located on 160 acres of land at the northwest corner of 24th Street and Country Club Road. This site is significant in the history of Holland. Reverend Albertus Van Raalte, founding father of the City of Holland, purchased the land from the federal government over 140 years ago for $2.32/acre. Shortly after the Civil War, the barns were built, and then in 1872 the house was begun. The land remained in the family until it was purchased by the City of Holland in 1983.
This city park contains the Van Raalte farmhouse and outbuildings set on a hilltop overlooking pasture and woodlands that include a valley and a branch of the Black River. Parking is located off both 16th and 24th Streets and Country Club Road, providing access to nature trails, picnic shelter, play structures, as well as winter sledding and cross-country skiing.
The Experience:
Before the advent of the GPS navigation systems outdoor enthusiasts had to rely on a compass, terrain association, and topographic maps to navigate. One of the methods used to help develop those navigation skills in young Army officers was participation in orienteering competitions. As a young man the Boxman had many opportunities to participate in these training exercises. So what is Orienteering?
Orienteering is a sport that combines racing with navigation. It is a timed race in which individual participants use a highly detailed map to select routes and navigate through diverse and often unfamiliar terrain and visit control points in sequence. Courses also can be enjoyed as a walk in the woods, with difficulty levels from beginner to expert offered at most events.
A standard orienteering course consists of a start, a series of control sites that are marked by circles, connected by lines and numbered in the order they are to be visited, and a finish. The control site circles are centered on the feature that is to be found. Out in the terrain, a control flag marks the location that the orienteer must visit. The route between "controls" is not specified, and is entirely up to the orienteer; this element of route choice and the ability to navigate through the forest are the essence of orienteering.
This wherigo will offer you much the same experience, although it will not be a timed event. For a more enjoyable experience I STRONGLY suggest you bring a compass and print one or both of the maps linked below.
Topographic course map Satellite view course map
Game Play:
You should begin by determining your pace count (number of paces to go a specified distance). The measured distance from the curb closest to the outhouse to thecurb at the wet side of this section of parking area is 195 ft. walk that stretch and count your steps, do a bit of math and you should know your pace count. Once that is done you will be directed to post Zero. This is the ONLY post/zone that is not hidden. Once you reach that zone you will be given a azimuth and distance to the next post. You must navigate to that post you will be provided instructions that will allow you to navigate to the next destination. The zones are sufficiently large that you should not have to do the Satellite shimmy to get the zones to fire. You should navigate to the post and gather the information there. It may be needed later in the game.
Once you complete the cartridge, you will be given the coordinates to the geocache. After finding the container, you will be able to log this Wherigo geocache.
Is logging my result any different for this cache?
Logging your results here on geocaching.com is no different than any other cache so no changes there. However, you get a new icon 
on your profile page.
Unlocking the cartridge on Wherigo.com is not required, but it would be greatly appreciated. After you've completed the cartridge you should see a "Orienteering.gws" file on your device. On your Garmin Colorado or Oregon you will find it in the Wherigo/Saves directory. Upload that file to the Wherigo website. An alternative method is also available to you. After you finish the required tasks you will be given a completion code. You may enter that as code instead of uploading the save file. (Note: there have been issues reported with this method. You may have to delete the last character of the completion code) You may also review the cartridge by choosing Write a Log.
Acknowledgments:
Special thanks to GVSU4MSU, for beta testing this wherigo.
What is a Wherigo Geocache?
Wherigo is a new way of utilizing GPS technology to play games, take tours, and yes geocache. Visit Wherigo.com to learn more about this new software.
Do I need special equipment?
Yes! To find this cache the proper way and to truly experience the hunt the way it was meant to be experienced, you will need two things
1. The Wherigo Player on Wherigo compatible Hardware (Pocket PC, Select Garmin GPSrs, Android Smartphone, or iPhone).
2. The "Orienteering" cartridge.
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| For the Android Smartphone - visit the Market and search for "WhereYouGo"
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The Wherigo Player comes pre installed on the Garmin Colorado & Oregon series GPSr units.
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For the iPhone - go to iTunes and search for the Wherigo player
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Once you have the Player ready to go, you will need to download the cartridge for this cache.
Click the "Download"button to get it.
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Thanks for playing our second Wherigo. We welcome any additional coaching you'd like to offer to make this more enjoyable.
The cartridge had been field tested in both the iPhone, and android phone, an Oregon 450 and a Colorado.
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