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 throughout the Northstar^®  Resort hiking trail system on the 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 to hiking trails. These caches contain treasure, usually toys or other little trinkets.
  
  Northstar-at-Tahoe^TM Resort’s caches (rustic ammo cans) contain a log book and trinkets. See who has come before you and add your name to the log book, and please follow the "take-a-trinket, leave-a-trinket" rule. 
  
  
• How Much does it Cost? Only $10 for a GPS rental and free hiking trail pass. Appropriate footwear is recommended.
  
  
• 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; 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 The North Face store in the Village.
  
  

  Cache 1	Cache 2	Cache 3	Cache 4
  N ­ 39° 15.031 minutes	N  39° 14.829 minutes	N  39° 14.709 minutes	N  39° 14.770 minutes
  W 120° 08.319 minutes	W 120° 08.111 minutes	W 120° 07.500 minutes	W 120° 07.447 minutes
  Elevation:  6,457 ft.	Elevation:  6,456 ft.	Elevation:  6,455 ft.	Elevation:  6,452 ft.

  
  
• Equipment Needed: A handheld GPS device (i.e. Garmin), hiking shoes, and a 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