Urbandale geocaching

I have accepted an offer to teach geocaching to a Clover Kids group. Having a nice teaching kit from Azrag should help immensely (thank you many times over, Azrag), as these kids are ages 8 and under. Visual aids are good. I also have a couple slide shows to project on the wall -- one from the Iowa Geocachers Organization (probably too technical for this age group), and one that I created for a group of students at United Community School.

In seeking permission to place temporary caches, the local Parks and Rec director and I had the following (shortened for space on this blog, blue text for Parks and Rec, red text for me) exchange of messages:

Parks and Rec: We are actually working on a trails project (putting in 911 signs) along trails in Urbandale, that require GPS locations.

Is this something that you or some of the kids you work with may have interest in assisting with?

juliecache: My kids and I would be interested in finding landmarks/coordinates for the city. As for the others, there would have to be family support and families with gps units, unless the city has some they could use. If there are no loaners or "standards," I guess that would mean that your dept. would need to be OK with my gps unit as well.

Parks and Rec: There is no specific deadline for this project.

The Cities of WDSM and Des Moines are installing some markers/posts along a few of their trails, as a trial for this project.

I thought the trail along Douglas, past WJ Park and maybe into Colby Woods would be a good place to start.

These posts would be at locations perhaps every 1/4 mile, and put at spots would make the most sense (around corners, curves in the path, etc.)
Then we would need to get the coordinates, in order to put the correct markings on the posts.  (The posts will have six digit coordinates, that can be used for a person who may be injured or need emergency assistance when using a trail.)  THese will be given to WestCom and Emergency services, to put in their system.  We are using the US Miliary grid" system.

I can find out of our engineering dept. regarding GPS units.

THanks for your interest.  I hope this works out!

I have since asked the director about putting the word out to the geocaching community, as it is always scoping out places for new hides. If you have an interest in working on this project, please leave a comment or send me a private message. I will be more aggressive in recruiting help with this project via IGO should the city desire.

BIG ART

One of the nice things about geocaching is the places it takes you. "I" of GAIN and I attended a local geocachers' get together this month. This is the first time one of my children has accompanied me. The community decided to release new geocaches at the get togethers, and this month had many new ones to find. One of them is near this big art.

We've passed this thing for about a month now, and today we pulled over to look at it up close. It is very large. I wonder how it stands up to the wind and if its weight is the only thing keeping it anchored to the ground. It must be heavy. The thing about it that bothers me is that the boy is shown from the waist up. Is the rest of him in the ground? The approach from the road makes the perspective opposite of what it ought to be, in my opinion. It ought to be on the other side of the road.

We weren't quick enough to photograph the horses over in the next field. The gravel road was somewhat busy while we visited today. Fortunately, we found a driveway to park the van. Parking is always a challenge in our geocaching. And this was one micro-cache that we were quick (and happy) to find. "G" is the one most opposed to hunting micro's. He also the most enthusiasm to join me in geocaching. He got a kick out of the micro-pencil. The pencil was a nice, considerate move on the hider's part. We signed the log with a pen that "G" brought along (be prepared!). It was much easier to use than the micro-pencil.

Would we have taken a closer look if a geocache had not been there? Maybe, maybe not. Geocaching certainly adds a sense of urgency. Happy finding, everyone!

Park Packs Revealed

I have been asked a few times about Park Packs, mentioned in this blog in March 2007. Here is a photo of the Geology Rocks Park Pack our family currently has. You can see that my older two kids immediately headed for the mineral collection. There are also books, activities with supplies, games, and crafts with supplies. My sister recommended this one to us. We just got it yesterday from the Polk Co. Conservation Board (PCCB) and get to keep it for two weeks. I love that check-out is free. We have always enjoyed our time with the park packs over the years. From the PCCB website:

10 Nature-Themed Backpacks Park Packs will get you hiking, investigating and learning about Iowa’s natural resources.

1. Animals of Iowa
Learn to identify animal tracks, feel furs, play a habitat game and sing the habitat song in this activity packed park pack.

2. Birds
Binoculars, field guide, bird identifier and fun birding activities are included in this park pack. Pack has been sponsored by the Des Moines Audubon Society.

3. Creatures of the Night
Bats, frog calls, firefly talk and owl calling are just some of the creature topics included in this park pack of the night.

4. Geology Rocks
Discover the different types of rocks in your local park or backyard. Make a chalk drawing or sand art picture. Find your favorite rock and make a fossil rub.

5. Insect Safari
Use the nets, bug cubes and insect field guide to discover the variety of insects in your backyard or local park. Learn to dance like a bee, create your own bug song, and build your very own bug.

6. Life in a Pond
Use the aquatic animal matching cards to discover the variety of animal life in the pond. Write water messages on stones, make the frog sounds of a wetland. Enjoy Billie B’s Romp in the swamp tape and boogie down to the beat!

7. Outdoor Skills
Practice your orienteering skills, take a hike and make your own map, learn how to tie a variety of knots, and learn important outdoor ethics.

8. Prairies
Listen to the sounds of the prairie, create prairie artistry, play a prairie camoflauge game, identify prairie plants and flowers.

9. Treeific Trees
Play the tree board game, measure the height and width of the largest tree in your area. Use the tree leaf stamps to create your own field guide, build a human tree and boogie down with Billie B as he sings about trees.

10. Wildflowers and Plants
Go on your own wildflower hunt with the field guide, make a leaf mprint with leaf pounding, read how to plant a rainbow and a sunflower house.

We have also used park packs from the City of West Des Moines, and they are filled with similar things -- books, crafts, etc. Some of the themes are the same, some are different. I have noticed that the Clive Public Library has back packs for check out in their children's area, but I am not sure what the themes and target ages are. My initial impression was that they are focused on early learning, ages 4 and under, but I could be completely wrong.

To give up, or not to give up

My younger son, G of GAIN Academy, and I have searched for a couple of nanocaches in the past week. He and I are beginning to believe that we ought to give up all searches for these small caches. It's just not fun if you are 9 years old and can't find the cache in 10 minutes or so. He isn't patient enough to hang in there with me. So do I give up caching with my son and search alone? Do I just take him to the bigger-sized caches? Will the community begin to place containers big enough to allow swag in the near future? Will the weather stay nice enough for us to stay outside all the time? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

To wrap up, I would like to say thank you to Team GamSci for the Jordan Creek Bookcrossing. "G" and I had a nice bike ride, saw a deer, explored the cache area, and recalled nice things about the old cache that used to be there.