Georgia Magazine - May 2011 - (Page 37)

KAREN LOUGEE A micro-cache can be as small as a pill container and even more challenging to find. Mark and Jacob Lougee, of Duluth, show off a Georgia State Park er gets a bronze coin. Higher levels of historic sites, be- geocache. finds earn a silver or gold coin—each cause of the senemblazoned with the state park’s sitive nature of the areas. traveling gopher mascot and the motKaren Lougee, of Duluth, started to, “Get Out, Get Dirty, Get Fit.” As of caching with her twin sons Mark and January 2011, more than 7,000 finds Jacob four years ago. They used a had been logged. compass, Google maps and a printToday, thanks to generous dona- out of the geocache location from the tions from REI, Skidaway, Fort Yargo, website. After discovering how much Unicoi, Panola, Little Ocmulgee and fun the hunt was, they eventually acElijah Clark state parks, all have GPS quired a GPS unit. units that visitors can borrow by leavLast year, they took a week of vaing their driver’s license at the park cation to tackle the state parks’ chaloffice. lenge, camping in the North Georgia Phase II of the state park’s Geo- mountains and traveling east along Challenge, “History Trail,” will be Interstate 20. The boys have turned kicked off on May 14 with a launch 16, but Lougee says they still love ceremony at Kolomoki Mounds His- caching. Now, they enjoy hiding cachtoric Park. Working with park staff, es as well as finding them, especially geocachers have placed caches at 15 creating puzzle caches for children. state historic sites. “Geocaching has something to “We’ve made it [the cache] more offer anybody,” says Lougee. “You can accessible,” explains Lisa Liu, Georgia Department of Natural Resources marketing coordinator. “It will be hidden in the visitors center with a combination lock. You have to answer three historically significant questions to get the combination.” No GPS unit is required. The answers to the questions can be found at the historic site. While traditional caches are usually hidden under leaves or as part of the landscape, there will be no digging at the There’s a geocache here somewhere! May 2011 More online at www.georgiamagazine.org make it as complicated as you want— a long adventure or a one-hour diversion. There are simple drive-by caches for people with a short attention span or lateral-thinking puzzles for people who are very analytical.” Most agree that the hunt is the best part. The things inside a cache, which is a weatherproof box of some kind, are of little value. Fast-food toys are found in many. It’s also fun to see who else has been there, and where they came from to find this cache. That information is in the logbook, inside the cache and on the geocaching website. There are few rules—take something, leave something. Sign the log. Return the cache to its place, and don’t disturb the area. The box may contain a travel bug. Geocachers enjoy watching, through the website, where their travel bugs go. The rule is that the travel bug stays in the box unless the finder is going somewhere nonlocal, maybe to another state. Businesses and visitors bureaus have learned that geocaching brings people in. Peter Bowden, president of the Columbus Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB), had been caching for a while when he found one at a hotel during a trade show in a Western KAREN LOUGEE 37 KAREN LOUGEE http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - May 2011

Georgia Magazine - May 2011
Contents
Viewpoint
Mailbox
Picture This?
Georgia News
Calendar
Currents
Georgia’s Energy Outlook
Special Energy Report
Dolphin Tales
Agrability in Georgia
Creature Comforts
Georgia@home
Around Georgia
My Georgia
Gardens
Georgia Cooks
Snapshot

Georgia Magazine - May 2011