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Post by SSO JOAT on Dec 12, 2013 19:56:01 GMT -9
Again this spring I am hosting a class through Soldotna Community Schools. It will be on April 26 from 2-5pm at the Soldotna Middle School in the Library. Will create an Event listing for it when we get closer to the date.
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Post by NeverSummer on Dec 16, 2013 9:00:40 GMT -9
Let me/us know if you need help!
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Post by NorthWes on Dec 16, 2013 9:51:44 GMT -9
"Spawning" cachers at an early age! This is good...
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Post by SSO JOAT on Mar 15, 2014 13:51:45 GMT -9
Event was pushed to publish at GC50BTEIt was published in the Soldotna Community Schools Winter 2014 program at www.ci.soldotna.ak.us/communityschools.html under the Hobbies section. SCS is run by the City Parks & Recreation department, who are the folks who give us open permission for geocaching on their city properties.
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Post by TheFirefly on Mar 15, 2014 19:44:26 GMT -9
Wish I could be there! Instead, I'll be out-of-state putting finishing touches on the bouquets for a wedding.
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Post by NeverSummer on Mar 17, 2014 10:36:00 GMT -9
And I just got approved for an out-of-state training, and leave that weekend for the east coast.
The 26th is also Earth Day...anyone planning a CITO that early?
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Post by SSO JOAT on Mar 17, 2014 14:20:53 GMT -9
Up until a couple days ago, they could have planned the ADAH CITO for Girdwood already. Not so much as a drop of snow in our 2-miles as of a week ago. But the big storm moved through and changed things up a bit. Historically, the earliest CITOs in Alaska are near the beginning of May.
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Post by NorthWes on Mar 19, 2014 18:29:35 GMT -9
Keep me posted about volunteer needs, Scott. I'm booked through 11am that day, but the road lies outside my morning engagement... complete with a vehicle to drive...
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Post by TheFirefly on May 11, 2014 3:52:08 GMT -9
How did it go, SSO JOAT?
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Post by SSO JOAT on May 11, 2014 6:17:28 GMT -9
Turnout was actually the lowest I've had at one of these. Despite direct contact with many local cachers, none of them showed up (except for one very new cacher that I drug along myself). For some reason, we have historically had very low participation with educational events in the Sonai area. I had a pair show up that had cached before, but have been out of it for a couple years and were looking to get started again. And I had one of the staff from the KNWR headquarters show up to learn all she could about geocaching as she is trying to work geocaches into the Refuge. She was actively engaged and I altered course on my presentation many times to specifically address things about Earthcaches, virtual caches, and multi-caches with virtual stages. I'll be trying to follow up with her to see what else I can do to help the KNWR get up and running with geocaches.
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Post by TheFirefly on May 11, 2014 17:52:33 GMT -9
Sorry about the low turnout...but hooray for a having a few interested folks! The KNWR gal didn't happen to be Michelle O, did it? :-)
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Post by NeverSummer on May 11, 2014 21:24:20 GMT -9
Speaking of KNWR caching...and Alaska NWR caching in general... I was able to do quite possibly the best example of a concept to be used with the USFWS while on the east coast for work 2 weeks ago. coord.info/GC1PWNVWhereigo. Yeah, that old chestnut. It's been mentioned before, but I now have seen and done a cache that can easily be demonstrated at reluctant stations to show how location-based activities can be worked in to help people see and understand how they carry out their mission and work with their management animals and lands. But yeah, I'm with Firefly here... Was it Michelle or Leah by chance?
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Post by akgh519 on May 11, 2014 22:52:23 GMT -9
Sounds like a familiar thought Joel!
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Post by NeverSummer on May 12, 2014 8:26:34 GMT -9
Sounds like a familiar thought Joel! Interestingly enough, the Ranger at the office said that caches are not allowed on Antietam National Park and Battlefield, except the one that is at their Vistor Center. (We had a good chat on it) So, the only way to do it on that battlefield was to have the Whereigo, about which he knew NOTHING! The Ranger had no idea what we were talking about, and the guy I was talking to was a Supervisory Ranger, not some summer hire who has no idea what is going on. So, it is possible to have a Whereigo (or non-physical staged multi for that matter) that takes a tour through Refuge lands. That said, one on the Kenai Refuge would be a slam-dunk for the Skilak Lake road and many of the interpretive signs you find along the way. And, if anything, the Antietam cache showed how well it can be done with some thought to engage people in the site--the Refuge, for example--as well as the geocaching aspect. The battlefield had 11 stops on their tour, all designated from literature and maps for their self-guided road tour of the battlefield. The creator of the Whereigo used those 11 stops and added relevant additional information on top of what you already see, hear, and smell at the sites. It was engaging, interesting, and added a spectacular layer on top of existing interpretive resources at the Park. Slam dunk, anyone?
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Post by akgh519 on May 12, 2014 8:58:23 GMT -9
That is exactly what I intend to do when I am done with my current projects ie take existing 'tours' and turn them into wherigos. Once I figure out how to do so I have a couple of bigger ideas.
I heard the one you did at the 'A' battlefield is one not to miss. Perhaps later this year for me.
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Post by NorthWes on May 15, 2014 1:48:11 GMT -9
That is exactly what I intend to do when I am done with my current projects ie take existing 'tours' and turn them into wherigos. Once I figure out how to do so I have a couple of bigger ideas. I heard the one you did at the 'A' battlefield is one not to miss. Perhaps later this year for me. I've not developed a Wherigo yet, but have mulled over some 'tour' conversions in similar fashion. I'd be open to seeing this modeled on a wider scale. We only have several members who've set one up before. Interesting... From an Ed Committee standpoint, this is a bit of a rabbit trail on this thread. Thanks for the effort to work with your local 'education' folks to present Geocaching, Scott. Your ongoing efforts are appreciated.
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Post by SSO JOAT on May 15, 2014 6:20:43 GMT -9
Whereigo is a great tool. I've been playing with it a bit as I've had a number of whereigo concepts jotted down in my puzzle notebook over the years. Historically, there were only a couple GPS units that could do a whereigo. When the pocket PC died, the whereigo went into remission. Now that there is an official whereigo app for the smarty pants fones, the whereigo is back in business and doesn't require special equipment purchases like it did in the past. The game is back on.
I'll be doing follow up with the peeps over at KNWR soon and in addition to our discussion about multi-caches and earthcaches, I'll drop whereigo on them as well. I think I'll have to get one of my own whereigo ideas up and running so that I have something to use to demonstrate how it works.
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Post by TheFirefly on May 15, 2014 18:56:13 GMT -9
Scott - I spent some time today with the KNWR person that attended your class. She was very appreciative of your patience with answering all your questions. :-) I suspect she'd be very interested to learn more about the Whereigo idea. She was excited about earthcaches, but was wishing they could be more science based and less specifically geological. Whereigo may help bridge that gap.
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Post by NorthWes on May 19, 2014 11:48:54 GMT -9
Scott - I spent some time today with the KNWR person that attended your class. She was very appreciative of your patience with answering all your questions. :-) I suspect she'd be very interested to learn more about the Whereigo idea. She was excited about earthcaches, but was wishing they could be more science based and less specifically geological. Whereigo may help bridge that gap. A Wherigo could incorporate cultural, biological and human-impact related points of information into a non-container-based cache format, where my (beloved) earthcaches MUST focus on a measurable geologic aspect of the site. Hmmm....
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