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 California Mountain!

• 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.
  
  Northstar caches (rustic ammo cans) contain a log book and usually contain treasure, such as toys or other little trinkets. Guests are welcome to bring their own trinkets (no food please) to trade for the trinkets they find in these caches so that they may participate in the trading that is a part of traditional geocaching.
  
  
• How much does it cost? Guests with an alpine or cross-country/snowshoe season pass and snowshoes can rent the GPS for $6. 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.
  
  
• 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