Geocaching

Geocache Adventure Package

Family time in the great outdoors couldn’t be more fun than a Geocache Adventure.  Kids and adults of all ages can test their terrain and intellectual prowess by searching for caches located at the Northstar Cross Country, Telemark and Snowshoe Center.

• What is it?  Geocaching has been described as a “high tech treasure hunt”. It is the activity of using a GPS (global positioning system) handheld device to locate more than 430,000 caches or treasure boxes, hidden in nearly every country around the world, from city streets to ski slopes. These caches contain treasure, usually toys or other little trinkets.
  
  Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort’s caches (rustic ammo cans) contain a log book and trinkets that are redeemable for great prizes including a $5 certificate at Starbucks or The North Face for easy finds, to dinner at one of the restaurant, or lift tickets for two for the “black diamond” rating.
  
  
• How Much does it Cost? $55 for trail pass, snowshoe rental and GPS rental.  Guests with an alpine or cross-country/snowshoe season pass and snowshoes can rent the GPS for $10. Participants can either use their own snowshoes or rent but are not permitted to go up using regular winter footwear.
  
  
• Skills Required:  None! We will show you how the GPS unit works. If you can use a cell phone, you can use the GPS unit.
  
  
• How Does the Game Work? Cache locations are rated as easy (green circle), intermediate (blue square), or advanced (black diamond). You will dial the cache coordinates of your choice into the GPS, three to four satellites will lock onto your position, then guide you to the cache location.  Sound easy? A GPS may get you within 30 feet of a cache, and then the real fun begins; digging in the snow, searching around logs, boulders and tree stumps.
  
  Coordinates are listed below and have already been entered in each GPS unit that you rent at the Cross-Country, Telemark and Snowshoe Center at mid-mountain.
  
  

  Kids
  Marty the Martian's Landing Pad	Green / Easy	N 39 degrees 15.777'	W 120 degrees 7.472'
  Marty's Penthouse	Blue / Intermediate	N 39 degrees 15.768'	W 120 degrees 7.437'
  Snowshoers
  Snowshoer's Stroll	Green / Easy	N 39 degrees 15.811'	W 120 degrees 7.270'
  Snowshoer's Go Fish! (I'm hangin' by a thread)	Blue / Intermediate	N 39 degrees 15.538'	W 120 degrees 6.741'
  Snowshoer's Switzerland (Are you stubbed?)	Black / Advanced	N 39 degrees 16.067'	W 120 degrees 6.225'
  Snowshoer's Psycho (Head into the thick of it!)	Double Diamond / Expert	N 39 degrees 14.576'	W 120 degrees 7.292'
  Skiers
  Skier 66	Green / Easy	N 39 degrees 15.806'	W 120 degrees 7.186'
  Skiers get Gassed! (Chains Required)	Blue / Intermediate	N 39 degrees 15.197'	W 120 degrees 6.640'
  Skiers take a PEAK (Reach for the V in the Tree)	Black / Advanced	N 39 degrees 14.923'	W 120 degrees 5.978'
  Skier's Sky's the Limit (Bird on a wire)	Double Diamond / Expert	N 39 degrees 14.752'	W 120 degrees 7.419'

  
  
  
• Equipment Needed: A Garmin (handheld GPS device), snowshoes, and trail pass.
  
  
• Rules:
  1. Take something from the cache
  2. Leave something in the cache
  3. Write about it in the logbook

For more information about geocaching:

• Geocaching.com
• The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Geocaching