WSGA Header
 Member NewsletterFall 2011 

Autumn days are shorter and wetter, but that doesn't dampen our enthusiasm for caching in the Pacific Northwet. There are nine events planned for 11-11-11 (so far)!   

 

Indeed, 2011 has been chock-full of fantastic events - Going APE, the Summer Campout, the Thompson Columbia Brigade, the Wind Farm tour - plus a banner crop of CITOs. Kudos, all!  

 

Our 2011 suncatcher geocoin is a beauty, and we still have a few left - maybe you could drop it into one of our Favorite Caches. PBS did a geocaching documentary that featured area cachers, and a local "Jeopardy" champion covers geocaching in his new book. Speaking of outreach, check out the latest geocaching presentations and brochures. And sadly, our community recently lost a member. 

 

The Board recently established our first official chapter boundaries, and confirmed two Chapter Rep changes - just in time for the 2012 Board election (our last December ballot). Also, WSGA now has a Facebook page so you can keep up with the latest news, and our annual Member Bonus (a lanyard) should hit your mailbox any day. Thanks for supporting WSGA!  

chaptersWhich Chapter Are You In?

After gathering input from members and geocachers across the state, and looking at geographies and caching activity, the Board has approved WSGA's first official chapter boundaries. Our current seven-chapter structure will remain, with revisions. Read about the changes here.


The new chapter borders take effect Jan. 1, 2012. We will revisit them as needed in future, but these changes improve on the previous arbitrarily defined boundaries and should benefit both the club and cachers. (You can always align to a different chapter by updating your online profile.)

 

Our Aug. 25 Board meeting was a busy one - read more news here. 

brigadePaddle On: The Thompson Columbia Brigade

A year ago, we were contacted by the organizers of the 2011 David Thompson Columbia Brigade, which commemorated the 200th anniversary of the trip taken by David Thompson in 1811 along the Columbia River from its source in Canada to the river's mouth. They were geocachers, and hoped we'd co-host events at stops along their 6-week, 1200-mile canoe trip. Sounded cool, so we said "sure."

  

Acfunk coordinated WSGA's participation with Bill Erickson of DTCB, and he and our chapter reps - pazooter (Cache-cadia), kidvegas19 (Inland Empire), and idajo2 (Southwest) - set up joint events at four Brigade stops along the Columbia: Wenatchee (June 26), Kettle Falls (June 18), Richland (July 1), and Vancouver (July 11).

 

The events were big fun: reenactments of the landings, pomp and ceremony, free canoe rides, and a special Brigade geocoin. Thanks to everyone who helped make this fun series happen - great example of what we can do as a statewide org!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

campoutSummer Campout: Air, Land, and Water Caching

The 2011 WSGA Summer Campout, held Aug. 5-7 at Chief Timothy Park near Clarkston, was loads of fun, with caching by air (heli-caching!) and water (kayak power trail, snorkel caches) adding excitement beyond "traditional" land caching. Our hosts, quadsinthemudd and the Inland Empire chapter, know how to throw a party!  

 

The 2012 WSGA Summer Campout will be held July 27-29, 2012, hosted by the 48 North chapter. Lizzy and FluteFace are co-managers, and we're looking at venues along the Mountain Loop Hwy, which has a multitude of must-do caches: scenic hikes and waterfalls, Big Four Ice Caves, Mt Pilchuck, Monte Cristo, Alnilam's contraption caches (this and that), and more!   

 

 

coinGeocoins: 2011 Still Available, 2012 in Progress
 

Our 2011 suncatcher coin is a beauty - black nickel, with translucent "WSGA" colors that glow in light - and we have a few left, so if you don't have one yet, order yours today ($9 members, $12 non-members).

 
Going forward, the Board is moving geocoin production to the fall, so new coins are available near the beginning of the following year. Accordingly, our intrepid geocoin manager, FluteFace, is working on the 2012 tenth-anniversary coin, which is being designed by NepoKama (sneak peak of his winning design). We expect to release it in Jan/Feb 2012.

apeeventGoing APE with a Block Party
 

The first International Geocaching weekend on Aug. 20-21 was a big success for WSGA, Groundspeak, and hundreds of visiting geocachers (and the local economy). On Saturday, WSGA had a booth at the Geocaching Block Party (thanks, Groundspeak!), followed on Sunday by our second Going APE event - WSGA's first Mega event!

 

Back in June, planning for the APE event was going well: Iron Horse State Park welcomed us back, the Snoqualmie Tunnel was reopening July 5 after a 2.5-year closure, and we raised enough money to make the event free to the geocaching community. And then the event's focal point, the APE cache (Mission 9: Tunnel of Light), was stolen (along with other caches on the trail) and archived. Ack!  

 

But all was not lost...Groundspeak made the Tunnel of Light the first Geocaching Challenge, and Hypnopaedia placed an APE tribute cache. So hydnsek rallied the troops, and on a glorious summer's day, we hosted another apey adventure in the Cascades. Even Fen Dweller made an appearance, spooking folks in the tunnel. The APE event was so successful that Groundspeak awarded it Mega-event status (500+ attendees verified) - a first for WSGA. Thanks to everyone who helped make it happen!  

 

There's enthusiasm from members, attendees, and Groundspeak to make this an annual signature event for WSGA in conjunction with the Geocaching Block Party on the 3rd weekend in August. The Board is discussing this, and your feedback is welcomed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
   

        

 

electionWSGA Elections Coming Soon
 

It's almost time to elect WSGA's 2012 WSGA Board of Directors: the four officers and seven chapter representatives who oversee our statewide organization and individual chapters. WSGA represents geocachers and geocaching across Washington State, and we welcome your participation. If you'd like to get more involved, please consider running for office or nominating someone you feel would do a good job representing WSGA. 

 

WSGA Board members serve one-year terms, and the 2012 election will be Dec. 1-15. This will be our last December election, as the Board voted to amend the Bylaws and move the annual Board elections to March as of 2013, with members taking office April 1 each year (no foolin'). To make the transition, Board members elected this December will serve for 15 months (January 2012 - March 2013). Future Boards will serve one year, as now, except it will be April 1 - March 31. (Why move the election? Holding it in December is problematic due to the holidays and our calendar-year structure for membership and finances.)

 
Our Vice President, acfunk, is in charge of the election process. He will begin accepting nominations at our Oct. 27 Board meeting, and you'll receive an email announcement in early November calling for nominations, so stay tuned.


If you want to learn more about how the club operates or the duties of Board members, please read our Bylaws or contact us. We look forward to hearing from you!  

citoPark Love: CITOs and Volunteerism
 

This has been a banner year for CITO, with 20+ events around Washington. Thanks to our CITO efforts and Park Liaison Program, WSGA members have helped parks at all levels (city, county, state, federal) form positive impressions of geocaching and our community. Cheers to everyone who has hosted or participated in a CITO, as well as our tireless Park Liaisons!

 

Two park systems recently gave WSGA a shout-out for our volunteerism. After our Bellevue Arbor Day CITO, we received a letter of appreciation from Bellevue Parks (kudos, mc3cats, who was also interviewed for Bellevue TV). And King County Parks recognized WSGA at its first annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner (kudos, hydnsek), singling out geocachers as one of its key volunteer groups, alongside WTA, Sierra Club, and other outdoor organizations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

roundupCaching Around the State

As the stories in this newsletter show, 2012 has been chock-full of fun events all over the state - thanks to everyone who's hosted or helped (or attended!). We wanted to highlight a few more that caught our eye and might offer ideas for your own events:
  • Co-hosting: At the Wild Horse Wind & Solar Tour near Vantage, we were treated to a special presentation and private tour of the wind farm (and a windmill). Co-hosted by the South Central and Cache-cadia chapters, the event proved so popular, a second one was held the following day. Mazeracer came up with the idea and worked with pazooter and the facility, who gave us the run of the place and permission for a series of on-site caches.
  • Creative caches: The Puget Sound Summer Picnic featured a Creative Cache Fair, where several cachers showed off their clever contraptions, to the delight of attendees. Thanks to host mc3cats and cache innovators Dayspring, Mr. Gadget #2, Recycled Art Co, DigitalMDX, and Buffaloed.   
  • Wingman: Hosting local events across a large chapter like South Central is challenging, so it helps to have support in satellite areas like Yakima. Props to inchyjworm, one of our youngest members, who enthusiastically hosted his first event on his 12th birthday.   
















faveOur Favorite Caches

Each month, we highlight a cache (or series) that gets Favorite votes but has been overlooked by WSGA's Cache of the Month and Cache Recommendations (until now), and many cachers. Ideally, we're looking for caches that have been around a while but never got noticed, or those in out-of-the-way areas that are a "must do" next time we're in the vicinity.  

This month, we're highlighting an interesting series: the Gem and Mineral Trail by acfunk. Located outside Benton City, the series has 10 caches, each highlighting a gem or mineral (with samples) - for instance, Turquoise. 

Have a favorite cache to recommend that's not on our lists? Contact jcar.
resourcesNeed a Geocaching Presentation?

Groundspeak now offers an Introduction to Geocaching PowerPoint presentation that you can download and use in outreach presentations. There's even a spot to add the WSGA logo for co-branding.

WSGA also has a localized "What is Geocaching?" presentation that we can provide upon request (email hydnsek). Our presentation can be customized to your audience - there are slides for the general public, others aimed at parks personnel, etc.

Or maybe you need handouts for a booth or presentation. WSGA has a customized version of Groundspeak's Guide to Geocaching brochure, available in b/w and color.

Finally, why join WSGA? What does our organization do? What benefits do members receive? If you've been asked these questions, check out our WSGA Benefits flyer. You can print it for events, or forward it to friends.
facebookWSGA Has Facebook Page

WSGA now has a Facebook page (facebook.com/wsga.org) where we post news and updates. So far, it's proven a better outlet than our website for keeping folks informed. Feel free to post your geocaching adventures, advice, questions, and share your photos and favorite links.
repChapter Rep Changes

Over the summer, two chapters shuffled their Representatives. Idajo2 moved from Vancouver to Port Angeles and is the new Olympic Peninsula rep. She did a great job as Southwest WA rep, and we know she'll breathe fresh life into the Olympic chapter. Replacing her as Southwest WA chapter rep is FredNVicki - welcome, and thanks for your willingness to serve!
jennings"Jeopardy" Champ is Geocacher

Ken Jennings holds the record for the longest winning streak on "Jeopardy." He's also a Seattle-area geocacher, and recently published a new book, Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks, which includes a chapter on geocaching. Cool beans!

The book came out in September, and you can read a Seattle Times interview with him here. 
pbsPBS Showcases Geocaching - Twice

PBS logo
Last year, several WSGA cachers were interviewed for two PBS documentaries. The Seattle footage includes our Going APE event, GeoWoodstock, caching in Fremont and on Mercer Island, and features local cachers Jeremy, Bryan, TotemLake, Love, viatru, W7WT, hydnsek, Mr. Gadget #2, and Dayspring.

The first documentary, "Brain Fitness: Peak Performance," has a section on geocaching, and debuted on PBS stations across the country last December. The second, "Treasure Trackers," is an hour-long documentary just on geocaching, and debuted in June - everywhere but here. Seattle's KCTS9 finally aired it on Sept. 28, and hopefully will repeat it again soon.

TotemLake and hydnsek have screener DVDs of both shows, if you'd like to host a viewing.
puppersIn Memoriam: Bob Newell

Sadly, our community has diminished by one: Bob Newell, half of Puppers, passed away after suffering a massive stroke. He was only 54. He is survived by his wife of 27 years, Cristy Johnson.

The Puppers were prolific cachers (#12 in Washington) since 2002. They lived in Woodinville, and got their name from their former canine companion, Maggie.

Our condolences to Cristy and her family; Bob will be deeply missed by all who knew him.  
eventsUpcoming Events
WSGA Membership
Your annual dues help support geocaching in Washington.
From the President's Desk
hydnsek

Wow, October already? Life caught up with several Board members this year, including me. My apologies for the tardy newsletter, and I'm happy to report that all Board members are now back in the saddle. 

  

Thanks for your support of WSGA, and I look forward to seeing you at a geocaching event soon.   

 

  Contact hydnsek    
Activation Codes  for Trackables

APE cachekinz - CACHE
APE coin - TUNNEL
2010 coin - SALMON
2011 coin - SUNSHINE  
Mailing Address

WSGA

P.O. Box 971

Liberty Lake, WA 99019

Board Meetings

WSGA's Board of Directors meetings are open to all members. Meetings are online at 7:00 p.m. on the specified dates, except for the Annual General Meeting at the Summer Campout. To join an online meeting, click Live Chat in the menu bar on the WSGA site.

2011 Board meetings:
  • Jan. 27 - done! 
  • Mar. 24 - done! 
  • May 26 - done! 
  • Aug. 6 (Campout)
  • Aug. 25 - done! 
  • Oct. 27
Questions and agenda items may be sent to the President up to one week before each meeting.  
Board Minutes

The Minutes of Board meetings are accessible from the WSGA home page (lower left column), and an archive of Board Minutes back to 2007 is also available.
boardContact WSGA Board Members
Who We Are

WSGA LogoThe Washington State Geocaching Association was founded in September 2002 to support geocachers and geocaching throughout the state of Washington.

The WSGA exists to:
  • Promote geocaching as a fun, family-oriented activity that increases awareness of the outdoors and our parks and trails.
  • Provide opportunities for the community to enjoy geocaching and to socialize with other geocachers.
  • Increase awareness and support of geocaching through interaction with other outdoor groups, geocaching clubs, and the public.
  • Educate geocachers about low-impact geocaching and promote stewardship of our natural resources.
  • Represent geocaching interests in public forums and to land managers.
  • Promote CITO activities to help maintain parks and trail systems.
This email was sent to wsga.secretary@gmail.com by contact@wsgaonline.org |  
Washington State Geocaching Association | P.O. Box 971 | Liberty Lake | WA | 99019-0971