Last year I hosted a geocaching hike at Hemlock Crossing (sponsored by Ottawa County Parks and Recreation) to give new geocachers a chance to see what existing geocaches look like and to impart some information about this hobby of ours. I also hosted a Community Celebration event before the hike. This year I was asked to do it again.
In collaboration with Ottawa County Parks, the geocaching hike is geared towards new or aspiring geocachers. Following an informal meet and greet before the official start time at 10, there will be a short presentation inside the Nature Center before we take to the trails. Then we will head out into the park where I will lead a hike to find a few geocaches, which will demonstrate some different cache sizes and hiding techniques.
There will be two new caches set to publish around 10:30. This will count as a group FTF, even if you go find it first!.
The planned timeline is as follows:
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9:30 Meet and Greet - new geocachers and those interested can meet some experienced geocachers who are usually glad to help and answer questions. Existing geocachers can celebrate this hobby of ours! We will meet inside the Nature Center.
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10:00 Geocaching Hike - after a short presentation, we will take a 2 to 3 mile hike along the trails, stopping to find a few geocaches along the way. This should take about an hour and a half.
Thanks to Ottawa County Parks and Recreation for creating an event like this in their program, and for contacting me to get involved.
For existing geocachers:
If you would like to sign up officially on the Ottawa County website, this is a free event. If you don't have an account, you can create a free account and sign up for any of their programs (and they have a lot of good programs). You can see a list of their programs here. Look for the activity named Recreation Saturday.
For new geocachers:
If you don't have a geocaching account and would like to create a free account before the event so that you can log the caches we find, go here.
If you would like to download and install the official geocaching app, go here.
There is an official Geocaching 101 page to explain what geocaching is about, find it here.