Frontier County 4-H kicks off a geocaching project

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

CURTIS, Neb. -- Frontier County Extension and the Frontier County 4-H Council are announcing the kick-off of a way to continue the practice of social distancing with your family while participating in 4-H fun and the great outdoors.

Beginning June 1, 2020, 4-Hers and their families are invited to participate in a geocaching activity across Frontier County! Four geocaches have been placed throughout Frontier County which will require the use of GPS hand-held devices or the “Geocaching” app on a smart phone to locate. Once the caches have been located, 4-H families will find 4-H swag and a logbook inside a waterproof ammunition box. 4-Hers are asked to write their name and the date in the log book as well as collect a piece of swag from the cache and replace it with an item of their own.

How to get started: There are a few ways a family can successfully geocache. If a member of the family has a smart-phone, the Geocaching app is free and can be downloaded onto the phone. The website geocaching.com is full of information and how-to videos for 4-Hers to watch. If a smart phone or mobile device is not available, 4-H families can reserve and pick up a GPS handheld device from the Extension office.

Handheld GPS: If you are using a GPS device from the Extension Office, you may check it out for a 2-week time frame. Please call 308-367-4424 to reserve a device. The four Frontier County 4-H caches can be found at geocaching.com and are named Frontier County 4-H – Curtis, Frontier County 4-H - Eustis, Frontier County 4-H – Maywood and Frontier County 4-H - Stockville. Just search for those caches on the website, enter their coordinates into the handheld, and get caching!

Geocaching App: If you are using the Geocaching app, search for the Frontier County 4-H caches within Frontier County (there are 4). Your phone will act as a handheld GPS device so you and your family can begin your geocaching experience!

The 4-H caches are located in areas where land owners are expecting 4-Her traffic. The extension office asks that you please be courteous on your excursions and pick up any litter you may encounter. Take a picture of your experience and email it to the 4-H office, to kathy.burr@unl.edu! If you have questions on how to operate a handheld GPS device, how to navigate the geocaching app from your phone or how to navigate the geocaching.com website, please contact 4-H volunteer, Emily Lenz at 308-379-5761.

4-Hers can use their geocaching experience and combine it with their own creativity and imagination to design a 4-H exhibit to be entered in the Frontier County Fair! The exhibit will qualify as a “4-H Workshop” class this summer. Examples of possible exhibits include, but are not limited to a story board, a poster, a scrapbook, a speech, a video, a shadow box, etc.

Have fun and enjoy the outdoors with Frontier County 4-H! Continue to practice social distancing, wash your hands and stay well!

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