Geocaching at Bondsville Mill Park

​Find the Secret Garden Geocache at Bondsville Mill Park 

One geocache box has been hidden at Bondsville Mill Park.  Only the girls from Girl Scout Troop 40 and BSA Troop 1776 know where they are!  Find the box using the free APP at https://www.geocaching.com/play. Two bonus boxes with GPS coordinates can be found  at 40 1.1090N 75 45.3480W. and N 40 1.2220 W 75 45.4630.  Register your finds at https://www.bondsvillemillpark.org/program-registration.html for a chance to win four tickets to Longwood Gardens!  Drawing June 22, 2024.
 
Questions?  [email protected]

What is Geocaching?

Geocaching 101

Adults often find themselves at a loss when trying to encourage younger generations to take up outdoor pastimes. The allure of electronic technology and team sports, combined with parents’ busy schedules, sometimes makes it hard for children to participate in traditional outdoor activities. The good news is that there are still many opportunities to get young people interested in the outdoors. Geocaching is a fun outdoor activity for children and adults. The game is educational and fun and encourages young people to spend time in nature.

Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game that is a lot like a scavenger hunt. The game uses GPS technology to guide players to locations where individual geocaches are hidden. Players use clues to search for the geocache. You can find or create geocaches with forest, wildlife, and other natural resource themes and share your experiences online in the geocaching community. The overall goal is to guide people to places of significance where they can learn something about that particular location or topic.

What Are the Rules?

Like all games, geocaching has rules you should follow. They are very simple.
1. Only take something from the geocache if you leave something in return. The item you leave as a trade should be of equal or greater value. For example: An appropriate trade for a toy car would be a toy airplane or a keychain. Remember, if you don’t leave anything for the next player, the game is not as fun for them. Never leave inappropriate items in geocaches.
2. Sign the logbook.
3. Log the visit in the app

So How Do You Geocache?

​The first step to geocaching is registering as a member with a unique username and password. Basic membership registration is free and allows you to access non-premium geocaches and navigate using online app mapping. Premium membership costs about $30 per year and gives you location and description information for all caches as well as other tools. You can find registration instructions for both membership options at www.geocaching.com.

​Once you’re registered, the map function in the geocaching app will show your current location. You will see nearby geocaches and their information, such as cache description, difficulty and terrain rating, size, recent cache activity, and hints to help in the search. At this point, you can select caches that follow a selected theme, such as geological information, forestry, wildlife, plant identification, or anything else you’re interested in. If you have a premium membership, you can find geocaches that provide learning opportunities.

​Next, select a cache to find and use the GPS to begin searching. There are different types of geocaches, and some contain items you can trade. Every geocache should contain a logbook. After locating the cache, sign the logbook and return the geocache to its original location.

​Read more at: http://extension.msstate.edu/publications/geocaching-natural-resources-fun-forests-around-us