Tag Archives: Global Positioning Systems

Family Fun, Hiking, Park Projects, Winter Activities

Geocaching in a Winter Wonderland for 2022

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While the ground may soon be frozen or covered in snow (or not), that doesn’t mean the hunt for a hidden treasure in a state park has to stop.

Through this summer and fall, more than 220 people searching in three State Parks regions found enough geocaches – hidden little containers of trinkets whose locations are identified by Global Position System (GPS) coordinates – to be awarded special 2021 New York State Geocache Challenge coins.

To earn the coins, geocache hunters had to locate at least 45 out of more than 230 concealed caches, with 35 “finds” coming from one of the three regions and the balance from either of the other two regions. Cache-seekers used coordinates with their own GPS devices to locate the caches, and were able to take some trinkets and leave some of their own for subsequent seekers to find.

Altogether, nearly 4,700 people took part in the seasonal challenge, which wrapped up in mid-November and covered 56 state parks and historic sites in Central New York, the Saratoga-Capital District Region, and the Hudson Valley. Odds of finding enough caches to earn a coin worked out to roughly 1 in 20. So obviously, the caches were not in plain sight!

Use the slider bar to compare the front and back of the 2021 New York State Parks Geocache Challenge coin. This coin was available in the Saratoga/Capital District Region, where 78 people found enough caches to qualify for the free coin.

This season, three Parks regions are hosting winter geocache events,

Tthe Saratoga-Capital District Region is hosting a “Winter 33” Geocache Challenge, which will offer 33 “winter-friendly” caches placed in three parks in the region. This challenge will run from Jan. 15 to April 15, 2022. There will no geocoins available during this winter challenge, so it it all just for the fun of it!

In the Taconic Region of the Hudson Valley, the 2022 Winter Geocache Challenge will take place at Lake Taghkanic State Park in Ancram, Clarence Fahnestock Memorial State Park in Cold Spring, and Mills Norrie State Park in Staatsburg.

And in the Central Region, there will nearly 70 geocaches placed at 14 Parks and Historic Sites, including Battle Island, Fort Ontario, Green Lakes, Chenango Valley, Robert Riddell, Glimmerglass, Hyde Hall, Herkimer Home, Chittenango Falls, Clark Reservation, Old Erie Canal, Lorenzo House, and Verona Beach.

And what might a “winter-friendly cache be? Well, that means the items will be hidden in a way that prevents them from being buried in the snow, such as being hung from tree branches or tucked up under a bench or a picnic table.

To find the caches, download the Geocaching app or follow the coordinates of the caches listed on the Geocaching.com website. When you find a cache, stamp your passport with the stamp inside each cache the turn it in to the state park indicated on the passport. Remember to leave the stamp behind for others that come after you.

Geocaching in winter presents its own challenges of snow and cold weather. Make sure to dress for the weather, with warm clothing, gloves and winter boots. Carrying extra water during the winter is advisable to avoid dehydration. And always carry a flashlight or headlamp, as daylight hours are shorter in the winter.

The geocoins awarded previously are trackables, since each coin carries a unique identifying number that can be activated online and then tracked as coins are located, reported and moved to new locations by their owners or subsequent geocachers. “Owners” of the geocoin, along with anyone else who knows its number, can follow its travels online.

So far, the geocoin that has traveled the farthest from a state park is from the 2015  Saratoga-Capital District Region Geocache Challenge. Most recently located in the southernmost point in the U.S. on the Big Island of Hawaii last month, this token (TB6Y60Y) has so far trekked 190,655 miles to such places as the Mediterranean island of Malta, Germany, the Kapaleeshwarar Temple in India, Japan, Israel, and more than 350 other places.

According to the owner’s page, they want to “travel to at least one state park in each state across the USA.” Now there is a mission that we can all get behind!

Happy Holidays and Happy Geocaching!

Seek and You Might Find: Geocaching In NYS Parks

I am not stealthy. This is not new information, but I didn’t realize how sloppy I was at sneaking around until I tried geocaching—a worldwide game of locating some of millions of little hidden stashes. This outdoor activity relies on the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, where participants place caches of trinkets, also…

by New York State Parks

Post by Chris Kenyon, Park Manager, Mine Kill State Park

Family Fun, Hiking, Park Projects

Seek and You Might Find: Geocaching In NYS Parks

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I am not stealthy. This is not new information, but I didn’t realize how sloppy I was at sneaking around until I tried geocaching—a worldwide game of locating some of millions of little hidden stashes.

This outdoor activity relies on the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, where participants place caches of trinkets, also known as “hides,” in various places, and record locations with GPS coordinates to the website geocaching.com. Cache-seekers then use those coordinates with their own GPS devices to locate the caches, and can take some trinkets and leave some of their own for subsequent seekers to find.

And there are a lot of little hidden treasures out there. For example, the website above indicates there are more than 2,800 caches hidden around the Albany region.

On my first go at it, I found myself lifting low-lying tree limbs and creeping around bushes in search of tiny containers along a busy section of the Empire State Trail, the new 750-mile multi-use trail that connects New York City to the Canadian border, and Albany to Buffalo. While I was doing this, a woman in an SUV noticed me and I could tell I was acting a bit too suspicious for her taste. She stopped her car, watched me, and didn’t continue driving until I left that section of sidewalk.

After this inauspicious start, I was in awe of more experienced hobbyists, known as geocachers or cachers. After examining the map on the official geocaching app, it turned out there was a cache hidden close to my home. Strangers had been snooping around the area to try to find it and I hadn’t even noticed them! Luckily, the 2021 New York State Geocache Challenge is here this summer, so I will have plenty of time to hone my skills.

Volunteers and New York State Park workers have concealed more than 230 geocaches with items like stickers, toy cars, and figurines in 56 State Parks and Historic Sites in Central New York, the Saratoga-Capital Region, and the Hudson Valley. Adventurers who find at least 45 caches (at least 35 in a specific region, and up to 10 in either of the other two regions) will receive a geocache challenge geocoin representing the primary region.

The obverse of the geocoin for the Saratoga Capital Region.

The geocoins are trackables, each with a unique identifying number that can be activated online and then tracked as coins are located, reported and moved to new locations by subsequent geocachers.

So far, the geocoin that has traveled the furthest from a State Park is from the 2015  Saratoga-Capital District Region Geocache Challenge. Now settled outside Salt Lake City, Utah, the token (TB6Y60Y) has so far trekked 160,500 miles to such places as the Mediterranean island of Malta, Germany, the Kapaleeshwarar Temple in India, Japan, Israel, and nearly three hundred other places.

Some geocachers are nearly as well-traveled. Larry Eaton is the Saratoga-Capital region’s geocache volunteer coordinator and during his two decades, he has logged about 17,500 caches, with about 1,500 of those found in State Parks. Though this seems like a daunting number to some, Larry knows cachers who have found hundreds of thousands of caches.

Eaton and his companion, Sadie, out on the trail.

But most geocachers start with smaller beginnings. David Brooks is the education manager at the Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site and serves as the park’s liaison for this year’s Saratoga-Capital District Regional Geocache Challenge. As more geocaches came to his site, he became more interested in the hobby. He decided to try it with his son after being inspired by a volunteer at his historic site named Barbara, who used the hobby to spend more time with her son.

When putting out caches in the historic site, Brooks likes mixing the environment and history of Schoharie Crossing, which focuses on the history of the Erie Canal. One year, he and Barbara put created an innovative cache that involved a small boat on a pulley system.

Some geocachers take pride in creating such clever hiding places. Eaton said once a geocacher in the Capital Region built a replica of the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz out of an old furnace and hid a cache inside of it. There are also different kinds of caches for folks to get creative with, including puzzle caches and different types of challenge caches that require specific skills and tasks to obtain.

A cleverly disguised cache made from an owl decoy.

All the State Parks geocaches that are part of the challenges are free to find and access, though there may be fees to enter the parks. To participate, you can download the pick up a passport in person from a park or historic site or find it on their website.

For passports, click on the name each region involved to download a PDF, which outlines which Parks contain the geocaches: Central, Saratoga-Capital and Taconic.

To find the caches, download the Geocaching app or follow the coordinates of the caches listed on the Geocaching.com website. When you find a cache, stamp your passport with the stamp inside each cache the turn it in to the state park indicated on the passport. Remember to leave the stamp behind for others that come after you. The challenge runs through November 11, 2021.

Stay on or near trails, take care not to trample vegetation, put everything back as you found it.

And please, don’t set up your own geocaches without checking with your Park manager first. State Park rules require that any geocaches in State Parks must be approved beforehand and follow rules to protect sensitive environmental or historic areas and public safety. Keep it safe, keep it fun! Happy seeking!

Cover shot – The reverse side of the 2021 New York State Parks Geocache Challenge. All photos by NYS Parks.

Post by Jessica Andreone, Environmental Educator, Central Region of New York State Parks.